Yamaha DTXtreme

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Polyphony: 54-voice
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Model: Yamaha DTXtreme lis
List Price: $3 ,195
Pads: TP120SD, TP 100 (x4). PCY130,
PCY130S, PCYI50S, RHHI30, KP55
Hardware: R150 rack, HS740 hi-hat stand,
SS552 snare stand
Extras: All necessary cables, 2-meter spiral
tube (cable management). drum key
Sounds: 2,171 drum and percussion, 128
General MIDI
Polyphony: 54-voice
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Drum Kits: 130 (90 factory, 40 user)
Songs: 133 (101 fact ory, 32 user)
Chains: 32 (each w ith 32 steps)
Tempo Range: 30-300
Resolution: 1/ 95 ppq
Trigger Inputs: 15 (8 stereo , 4 dual-mono)
MIDI: In, Out, Thru
Computer Port: USB
Other Inputs: footswit ch , aux in
Audio Outputs: 5 assignab le individu al
outputs, digital outp ut (S/PDIF), headphones
Effects : 4 (2 global 2 insertion)
Sampling Memory : 8MB (94 seco nds mono)
Storage : 3.3v SmartMedia Card
More Brain Features : Tap tempo, groove
check, 3D localizer effect, MIDI drivers.
More Pad Features: Three-zone snare and
tom s, three-zone ride, pad co ntroller knobs on
snare and toms, output level adjustments on all
pads.
•
Since rhe very early days of MIDI
and elecrronic percussion, Yamaha
has produced
machines
that
consistently improve upon the feel,
features, and fun factor that
elecrronic drum sers can offer. Their
newly-upgraded flagship DTXrreme
IIs isn't a "from the ground up "
rebuild, bur rhere are severa l
significanr improvemenrs over the
previous version .
The IIs is a six-pie ce kir with hi­
hac and three cymbal s. The big
news: all the drum and cym bal pads
(includ ing the hi -hat) are newly
designed. Th e lIs brain now feature s
the abiliry ro creare sam ples, and a
selec tio n of ph ysically m odeled
voices from Yamaha's popular M orif
produ ct line.
The Pads. The kit 's pad s
include : the TP 120SD 12" sna re
pad with a floaring head surface and
rwo distin ct rim rriggers ; four
TP 100s (a 10" version of the rriple­
rrigger sn are pad ); and th e new
KP65 kick . For cymbals: th e
PCY130 and PCY130S are 13"
single and double-rrigger pads that are design ed as crashes; th e
PCY 150S is a 15" three-zone pad for the rid e; and th e RHH 130
is a 13" stereo hi-hac pad .
The rom and snare pads feel a lircle softer th an previou s
models, and the built-in pad canrroller knobs are a grear idea.
Rather than reaching for the brain to adjust, you can contr ol
Yamaha gets even more Xtreme
cerra in mu sical param erers (like sna re ten sion and rom pirch)
from th is kno b in real rime.
Th e rwo di fferenr rim pads can select berween three different
not e-on mode s, whi ch include: single (which will cur off a sound
assigned to rhe head , perfect for cross-stick rim shots) , hold (used
to star t o r srop loop s or any oth er voice), and wirhpad mode (fires --t
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is d own. Th e ins tant th e pad det ects the minimum
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ped al point , the
foot -closed vo ice fires. If th e ped al is th en released w ith in a ce rta in
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tim e, the spl ash voice fires, Thi s is one of those stic ky issue s that co u ld
eit her be a prob lem o r a featu re dep en din g on how you loo k at it ­
OYAMAHA
foot -closed not e, on e sou nd ; splash, rwo so u nds at once.
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Th e KP6 5 kick pad has an ad d itio na l input so that an other single­
tri gger pad ca n be co n nec ted via a ste reo cab le. Whil e the beat ing
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sur face is large e no ugh ro accommo d at e a d oubl e ped al, it's no t roo
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bulk y. The pa d include s both a Velcro strip on t he botto m o f the p edal
a nd a pa ir o f sp u rs for sta bility.
T he enti re kit was resp onsi ve - t he kick pad was parti cu larly
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impr essive . T he snar e and tom pad s are fast with ou t bei ng too hard o r
roo soft, and the cym ba l pads have sligh tly less give th an th e ro m pad s.
• ill
My favo rite was the rid e, whi ch felt very comf o rt able an d resp ond ed
well ro my ro uc h.
T he re wasn't any cross talk between t he pad s' hea d and rim tt iggers
Bird's eye view of the brain's panel
(even t he tripl e-trigg er pads ), b u t so me adj ust me nts had to be m ad e ro
speci fic pa d reject io n sett ings w he n playing w it h a ve ry heavy han d .
Som e vib rat io ns traveled thro ugh the rack betw een th e two mo unted
ro ms an d betw een the tw O floo r rom s. T his was fixed w ith a simpl e
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Spea k ing of the rack , the kit's RS 150 fram e feature s sligh tly arced
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ce nter pipe s, uses rwo ce nter p ipes betwe en eac h vert ical pill ar for
The lis has 12 input jacks
add ed stab ility, and t he pad an d boo m cy m bal holder s are mou nt able
an ywh ere alo ng th e ce nte r pip es w ith n ewly-d esigned clam ps. It's eas ily
both th e rim an d head so u nds wi th a sing le strok e). W ith differ ent
ins t ru me nt s assign ed ro all rhree t rigger areas, that 's a lor of so u nd at
ad justa b le, plent y so lid , and goo d- loo king ro boot .
The
Brain.
Th e tOP pan el of th e lis is nearly identical to t he
or igin al DT Xrr eme. T he lIs b rai n is organ ized in a log ica l m ann er w ith
yo u r di sp osal.
Th e ne w round cymb al pads fearu re a di m p led playing su rface rh ar
each b u tt o n, kno b , and slider wit h in easy reach . Ten faders adj us t all o f
gives rhem a slick "han d -h amm ered" lo o k, and in clud e ant i-sw ive l
the volume paramet ers, an d above the fade rs are fou r butt ons th at ca n
br aces th at attac h to rhe mo u nt ing rods and allow rhe cym ba ls ro swing
be used ro m ut e o r acr ivare th e rhyt h m, bass, "o thers," or clic k tracks
in a natu ral mann er. Whil e rhe PCYI30 is mono, th e PC YI 30S h as a
dur ing so ng playba ck. Ed it ing is ach ieved prim arily by five dat a entty
rim- sty le rrigger so rhar you ca n assign ano rher crash (or any oth er
kn ob s u n der th e LC D screen. Th e playback section of the IIs cont ains
so u nd) whe n you str ike rhe ed ge of th e pad . And afte r yo u st rike, g rab
five t ransp ort b utt on s used ro COnt ro l so ngs: reset (also used for groove
th e cymbal's edge to ge t that "ch oke." T he PC Y1 50S has all the
cont rol ), rewi nd, pla y/stop, fo rward, an d recor d . It also co nt ains the
afor eme nt io ned featu res w ith rhe ad d itio n o f ye t ano the r tri gge r o n the
click/t ap temp o butt o n .
bell.
T he lIs also has 12 input jacks that ca n h an dl e a max imu m of 16
Th e kit's m ost notew o rth y ad vanc e is t hat th e RH H 130 hi-hat pad
tri gge r input s (eigh t in puts d esigned fo r stereo pads and fo ur d esigned
ca n sit on to p of a norm al hi -h at stand . Th e ped al ac t io n feels like yo u r
to acce pt rwo mo no pad s co n nec ted wi t h a Yca ble), a h i-h at co nt ro ller
favo rite hi-hat pe da l becau se ... well ... it is your favo rite hi-hat ped al.
jack , a nd a foo rsw irch jack. To co n nect w it h the externa l wo rld, t he lIs
Th e H S7 40 sta nd is includ ed w ith th e kit, but yo u ca n use any ot he r
has M ID I In/ O u r/T h ru alo ng wi th a U SB POrt for co n nect ing th e
m odel o r brand .
br ain d irec tly ro your com puter. Aud io o ut p utS includ e the m ai n L/ R,
By way of a sp ecial c1utch/p adllever system, th e pad "kn ows" if
six ind ivid ua l audi o o u tp u ts, and a S/ P D IF di gital ou tput. Th e back
yo u're playin g th e su rface of th e cym bal, clos ing th e hat w ith YOUt foor ,
a lso spo rts 16 sma ll input arre n ua t io n DIP sw itc hes used ro bo ost
o r even playin g a sp lashed not e. The ped al can also serv e as a MIDI
ind ividual t rigger signa l levels.
co nt in uo us co ntroller, so its positi on ca n be p rog ra m med to send
co nt ro l cha nge messages ro u ted to afrerro uc h, pir chb end u p o r d own ,
Under
The Hood.
Th e li s can keep 130 di fferent drum ki ts in its
int ern al m em or y a t o ne ti me, and sh ips w ith 90 ki ts p re-p rogrammed
o r any o t her co ntinuou s co nt roller numb er. Th e RH H 130's play in g
by the factor y and 40 user-p rogramm abl e kit s. Up ro 99 more user kits
su rface has a tri gger under th e edge - eve n mor e flexibili ty. You may
can be srore d o n an exrerna l memo ry card. For yo u "m usic-minu s-one"
have ro tweak t he " h i-hat o ffset" values to fin e-tune yo u r foot "sp lash"
fans, the lIs com es wi t h 10 1 facto ry p re-ser so ngs a nd room for up ro
respon ses, but all in all , it's a p ret ty co mp lete solution for an elect roni c
hi -h at.
32 user son gs. T he included II demo so ngs cover ever ything fro m hard
rock ro salsa ro blu es to dru m ' n' bass.
Whil e first playing th e RHH 130, I noti ced a slight del ay from t he
Wa nt sou nds' You ger 127 aco us t ic and 87 elect ro ni c k icks; 249
ti m e 1 played a fo o t sp lash to w hen I heard rh e sou nd. Tu rn s out t hat
acous t ic, 12 5 electro n ic, and 105 "other " sn ares; 26 7 aco ust ic and 96
the " h i-ha t offse t" va lue need ed a little adjus tme nt ro fix t he p ro b lem.
elect ro ni c tom s; 126 cy m ba ls and I02 hi -h at s; 227 percu ssion so u nds;
Also no ticeabl e, w heneve r I played a spl ash, I also heard rhe sound
30 8 effect s; 80 loop s; 7 6 voices; and 34 mel odi c fragm ents. O h yeah,
assigned ro th e fOOl-closed not e. Acco rdi ng ro Yam aha, th e system
th ere's also a co mp lete G en er al MIDI so u nd modul e th row n in for
detect s the foot- splash by measu rin g th e tim e-du ration th at the ped al
extra m easure. A major ity of the new vo ices faJI in the aco us t ic d ru m
118 DRUMI
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WWW.DRUMMAGAZINE.
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th e cymb al's edge to ge t that "ch oke." T he PC Y1 50S has all the
cont rol ), rew ind, play/stop, fo rward, an d recor d . It also co nt ains the
afor eme nt io ned featur es w ith th e ad d itio n o f yet an o the r tri gger o n the
click/t ap temp o butt o n .
bell.
T he lIs also has 12 input jacks that ca n h andl e a m ax im um of 16
Th e kit's m ost notew o rt hy ad vanc e is t ha t th e RH H 130 hi-hat pad
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tri gger input s (eigh t in puts d esigned fo r stereo pads and fo ur de signed
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w nil ruur compJere Jy separare errecrs
sections , the brain has a lor of aud io flexibiliry.
Th ere's a reverb and a choru s rhar are global
sysrem effects, as well as two separate inserr
effects that can be applied ro ind ividual voices.
k n ow roar ( D IS leve l or CQJ1UUI
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avaua ni c
If
ou rpur fOUlin g, rever u seno , anu cnoru s sen u ,
you want ro experiment.
The unit comes from the factory with six
pre-defined "trigger sets." If you pu rchased th e
brain with a recom mended pad set, one of
Test Drive. Th e DTXtr eme JIs is a blast
ro play. After rhe first hour , you might thin k,
"I can sell my acoustic kit on eBay and buy
this." I thoro ugh ly enjoyed playing along with
signal (rha r's righr, no stereo). If you wa nt ro
record a sample that has m ovem en t with in the
stereo field, such as a pad or special effect,
you're our of luck. T here's a way around this
problem: create a sample on a com put er, copy
it over ro a SmarrM edia card, and then load it
into the lis. Th e brain will read bot h .wav and
.aiff stereo files and play them back in tru e
stereo.
Editing. Th ere are 17 edit pages to the
trigger serrings area of the brain . Thi s may
seem like a large number of editing op tions,
and it is. Howe ver, getring co nrro I of a
complex insrrurn enr like th e JIs requires a
pretry deep operati ng system . For those of you
who may use the ki t for acoustic drum
emulation and practice at home, you'll rarely
need ro go into these settings. But, it's great ro
know that this level of con tro l is available if
you want ro experiment,
T he unit comes from the factor y with six
pre-defined "trigger sets." If you purchased the
brain with a recomme nded pad set, on e of
these set tings shou ld work perfec tly. If you
want to use any ot her rypes or brands of pads,
there are plent y of o ptio ns. The trigger
functions co nr ro I rhe pad rype, gain, velociry
curve, pad contr oller, level, velocity, trigger
rejection (self rejections and specifi c rejection),
u igger fun ction , key-on mod e, note on event ,
veloc iry crossfad e, tri gger copy, M ID I
envelope generaro r, hi-hat contro ller function ,
foo rswirch funcrion, kit com mon setti ngs, and
kir name.
Inputs 1-6 can be assigned ro stack up ro
six notes simul tan eously, or alterna te between
up to nine notes. Each alterna te note can have
its own MIDI not e num ber, M ID I channel,
and gate rime. Thi s is perfect for int er facing
with the on -board GM soun ds, or external
hardware or softwa re sound modul es. Each of
th ese modes can be either monoph oni c
(cunin g off previous sounds) or rnulriphonic
(allowing all notes ro cont inue soundin g). Th e
hi-ha t co ntrolslet you program uniqu e sounds
for the foll owing physical act ions: open,
closed , foot closed , splash , closed on the rim,
open on the rim , and open on th e rim 2.
Th e JIs gives you everything you might
need for voice ed iting. Param eters includ e:
voice, out put volume, tuning (over a four­
octave range in one-c en t increm en ts), pan
po sition , layer ba lance (when a voi ce is
compri sed of two separate layers), low-pass
filter, Q, envelope at tack, envelope decay, note
polyphony, alr group, receive key on and off,
output tout ing, reverb send , and chorus send.
Test Drive. Th e DTXtr eme JIs is a blast
ro play. After th e first hour, you might thin k,
"I can sell my acoustic kit on eBay and buy
this." I th oroughly enjoyed playing along with
the facrory songs and trig ger ing the
ou tstand ing sounds. Interacting with the kit
got my creative juices going with new groove
patt ern s, soloing ideas, and song con cepts.
Sure, there are some things abou t the JIs
that are a lirrle disappointing - no on-bo ard
ste reo samp ling, minim al sample ed it ing
featur es, and do ub le tr iggers on hi-h at
splashes. But th ere are eno ug h majo r
improvem ents to make the kit a winner in rhe
ban g-for- the-buck de part m en t. T he new
sounds are fresh and hip , the new pads and
rack feel just fine, and the whole package is a
joy to play.fJ.
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categor y. In th e sim plest term s: th e new
sou nds are great, especially the new kick d rum,
rimshor, ride , and rom voices. H owever, some
of the soun ds, especially from the percussion
and effects sound sets, are gen ing dated .
Th e DTX has always includ ed a sequencer,
and the new JIs is no exception. Two tracks
hold data for 16 MIDI cha nne ls each.
Recordi ngs can be made in replace, overd ub,
or step-time mo des. Th ere are plenty of
contro ls that let you edi r and tweak ind ividual
events from not e numb ers, program cha nge
messages, con tro l cha nge messages, pitc h
bend , channel afterto uc h , poly key pressure,
tem po, and pad song event s. If you don't wa n t
ro create your own songs from scratch, the lIs
will read standard MIDI files from th e
SmarrMe dia card.
Wi th four com pletely sepa rat e effec ts
sections, the brain has a lor of aud io flexibility
T here's a reverb and a cho rus that are global
system effects, as well as two separate inserr
effects that can be applied ro individual voices.
Each inserr selects from 44 different effect
rypes covering the gamut from basic reverbs to
mor e sophisticated rotar y, distort ion, auto
wah, and amp simulations. In each effect, one
pre-determined parameter (such as wet/d ry
balance or LFO speed) can be controlled in
real time using t he in tern al MID I EG
fun ction or an externa l MI DI con troller.
Ir's cool th at th e brain can sample, bu t you
shouldn't conside r it to be a rep lace me nt for a
full-featur ed sampler. Th e lIs samp les the
signal com ing inro th e auxiliary input. You
have the choice of samplin g the left cha nnel ,
th e right channel, or th e left and rig ht
channe ls com bined togeth er in to a mo no