The time is drawing near!

[Rogers-stuff]

I will soon have my "Economic Stimulus check" so that means I am very close to purchasing a new edrum kit and I am still undecided. I have had a chance to sit down behind the new Alesis dm5 Pro and I like it.

There are also some really good deals on Yamaha dtxpress III kits on ebay right now.

I'm so confused. ??? :-\ ???

Hey, Can anyone tell me, Are the DYxpress III moduals expandable? I mean can I add more pads If I want to?

How do the Moduals compare? The DTXpress III and the Alesis DM5. Witch would you recomend for a newcomer?

Any and all insite is appreciated. Thanx

[BobbyMck2]

Rogers-stuff. all Yamaha owner manuals are readily available online in pdf format. You can find the DTXpress III one here.

http://www2.yamaha.co.jp/manual/pdf/emi/english/ssdrums/DTXPRESSIIIE1.PDF

[CaTaPulT]

Hi Roger.
The DTXpress III kit is not a bad little kit, the sounds are very similar to those found in the DTXtreme IIs.
Maybe keep your eye out for a DTXtreme IIs, with the Xtreme III now being available I would imagine the IIs will be on the eBay sites soon if not already, maybe you can pick up one of these cheap, it blows the doors off the Xpress III due to many more features and the 3 zone pads, better cymbals as well.
The DTXpress III is not very expandable, only one port can be split into two single zone pads by using a Y-adapter.
The tom ports however can handle 2 zone pads even though you normaly get single zone pads.
The DTXpress IV is a nice kit also, 4 ports on it can be split to handle 2 single zone pads using Y-adapters, thus a extra 4 mono pads can be added.
The biggest drawback of the Xpress IV is the lack of a midi in port, it does have a midi out. The sounds are of high quality comparable to that of the new Xtreme III.
I cannot comment on the Alesis module since I have no experience with the Alesis products.
The Xpress III is a nice module/kit as long as your getting for a steal, it's kind of dated, the IIs is still a good kit and module by today's standards, has many bells and whistles to mess with including sampling (8 megs), the Xpress IV is a nice kit with Yamaha's new higher quality drum sounds (samples), they include the Oak, Maple and Beech custom kits and they sound quite good, this little module has some decent sounds but lacks in the features dept.
If I were in your shoes, looking for a good Yamaha kit on a low budget, I'd be looking for a used DTXtreme IIs that hasn't been trashed by the previous owner. That would be your most bang for the buck if you can find one cheap.
Good luck.

Regards: >>>> Jack <<<<

[WildWes]

Buy the Yamaha DTXpress III (or any other Yamaha module). I've owned Alesis D-4 and DM5 modules and didn't care for their cymbal sounds - JMO. Also, I don't recall the DM5 module having dual-zone capability or an "aux in" jack for external music feeds. What I did like is it's rack-mountable into one rack space.

- Audio Outputs: 4 (2 stereo pairs)
- Trigger Input Jacks: 12 (each with 5 user adjustable trigger parameters)
- DAC Bit Resolution: 18
- Sample Rate: 48kHz
- Sounds: Over 500; includes stereo samples with reverb, ambience and dynamic articulation
- Polyphony: 16 voice
- Panning: 7 position, user programmable
- Velocity Response: 127 levels of loudness via MIDI or trigger inputs
- Kits: 21 Memory locations w/defaults permanently stored in ROM
- MIDI Jacks: In, Out/Thru
- Headphone Jack: 1/4" TRS w/variable gain
- Switchable Footswitch Jack: 1/4" jack can be assigned to hi-hat or program advance mode
- Tuning Scheme: Coarse (chromatic) and Fine (cents)
- Data Input: Data knob, front panel keypad (sound auditioning via velocity sensitive Preview button on front panel)
- Expanded Dynamic Articulation

[Rogers-stuff]

I want to say Thank you to everyone for all the input. I am still uncertain but things are a little clearer. I think I am going to use my accustic cymbals for now. The cymbals on the kits I can afford don't begin to compare to live cymbal sounds. The cymbals that come with the kits I believe I will just mount differntly and use them for other percussion sounds.

Can you tell me, will the cymbal mounts that normally come on e-drums handle accustic cymbals?
Thanx,
Roger

[CaTaPulT]

If you go Yamaha, I can't see why the cymbal stands wouldn't be able to hold your acoustic cymbals since they are the same shaft and spindle as their acoustic kits, the weakest link will be the plastic mount than connects the shaft to the rack, and they are reasonably sturdy.
Good Luck getting your kit together.
Take care

Regards: >>>> Jack <<<<

[Rogers-stuff]

Hello all,

Hey, I just saw a roland TD3 kit sell on ebay for $501.00 with $150.00 s&h. That seemed like a good deal to me. Is that about what a kit like that should go for?

I've noticed a few TD3 kits on ebay lately. How do they compare to the Yamaha DTXpress III.

My biggest problem is I live in a very rural area. The nearest music store is almost 2 hours away and they don't have demo models set up to play with.

Thanx, Roger

[OverLord]

The TD-3 is pretty basic and cramped. There are different pad configurations, some with mesh snares, some without. But almost all have rubber toms, which I hate.

I think the sounds on the TD-3 are better than the DM5 - especially the cymbals. But not by a huge amount.

TD-3 sets are normally about $900, so $500 is decent.