YamahaOrXtreme III Special

Ienjoy being around luxury.I can't always afford it, butwhen I feel that I deserve it,it's time to splurge. It may

cost a little more, but I won't goto a movie theater that doesn'thave stadium seating and thevery hippest digital sound system.I enjoy a great steak dinner at afine restaurant to celebrate mybirthday. And I really like drums.Great drums! Especially reallygreat electronic drums! It may betime to splurge again.

The chance to review Yamaha'snew flagship kit, the DTXtremeIIISpecial was a no-brainer. Thelast great advance in high-endkits from Yamaha came with theDTXtreme II. What a differencefour years makes. I saw the kitat NAMMand knew that it wasgoing to up the ante in Yamaha'selectronic-drumming stable. Ithas a totally new rack, some newpads, and a fully redesigned brain.So let's dive in and see what's up.

THE RACKThose of you who have read myprevious electronic kit reviewsknow that I'm not a huge fan ofrack systems. Being an old-school,one-drum-on-one-stand kind ofa guy, I always seem to have trou-ble getting the drums and cymbalsto sit exactly where I want them.The HXR4LDhas changed my mind.Without question, this is the mostflexible electronic drum-mountingplatform I've ever tested.

Absolutely rock solid, this hex-style, all-metal system looks andfeels as if it was designed by thesame folks at Yamaha who make

350HP outboardmotors. Come tothink of it, maybe itwas. Once you've setthe rack up, it's actu-ally very easy to make any typeof adjustment: the angle anddirection of the toms, the spac-ing between the toms, the spreadbetween the snare and the floortom mounting arm, and even theangle and tilt of the brain. And,once you've put everything whereyou want it and give the wingnuts a finger-tight twist, nothing'sgoing to move on you. Nothing.This rack isn't designed to quicklyfold up and move to your buddy'shouse for some half-baked jamsession. It's an advanced piece ofmachinery. That being said, it's notany more time consuming to breakdown and set up than a traditionalkit with several heavy-duty drumand cymbal stands.

The snare drum stand, hi-hatstand, and bass drum pad are freestanding, so the rack doesn't haveto support any of those items.In many ways, this is a bless-ing rather than a curse. The'bassdrum pad was totally stable bothon a hard floor using the rubberfeet on the support spurs, or oncarpeting using the spurs' metalpoints. All of the cymbal posts arebooms. A longer CH755 model andtwo shorter CH750s are included,making just about any cymbalconfiguration possible.

THE PADSSpeaking of cymbals, the DTX-treme IIIcomes with Yamaha'snew cymbal pads. The two crashpads are the 13" PCY135 models,and the ride is the 15" PCY155. Allthree use the same system thatYamaha has been using for yearsin order to keep the position of the

pad stable without turning on thestand. It's a good, reliable methodthat works just fine. The new padshave a great natural feel and justthe right amount of "swing" afterthe stroke. I had zero adjustmentto make with my touch.

These pads are as versatile asanything on the market. Plus,they all have three distinct zonesrather than two. In tandem withthe DTXtreme brain, both modelswill fire independent voices onthe edge, bow, and bell of the pad.Grabbing the edge after a strokewill choke the sound, and playingthe pad while holding the edgesection produces yet anothersound that Yamaha calls "mute:'And, Yamaha has been able to doall this with a single stereo cable.Very impressive indeed.

There's nothing new on thedrum pad side of things. TheTP100 tom pad and the TP120S

snare pad were first introducedin Yamaha's DTXtreme II aroundfour years ago. If you're notfamiliar with this pad, here's abrief description. Yamaha usesrubber pads rather than the meshheads of its major competitor.The construction of these pads isboth rugged and solid, with a verysubstantial feel. The main playingsurface sort of "floats" to give thefeel of an acoustic head, and therim surface (as you might expect)is significantly harder to betterapproximate the feel of a metaledge. The drum pads are alsothree-zone pads, offering surface,rimshot, and cross-stick sounds.

I like the feel of these pads.They are responsive without get-ting mushy, and they track like adream. I had no problem getting avery soft buzz roll to sound clearand clean. Plus, there is zero cross-talk between the head and the rimsurfaces. I assigned a snare to thepad and a cymbal to the rim, mak-ing any crosstalk obvious. Evenwhen slamming the pad with fullforce, there is no bleed betweenthe triggers. However, there weresome minor crosstalk issuesbetween the toms that share thesame suspension bar, such asthe two mounted toms and thetwo floor toms. Keep in mind thatthis crosstalk was due to vibra-tions moving through the rack,not within the pad. With all theadvanced features of the DTXtremeIII brain, however, clearing up thiscrosstalk issue was pretty easy.

The most interesting feature ofthese pads is the control functionknob. On the snare, the factorykits often use it to engage or dis-engage the snares, while the tomsuse the knob to adjust tuning.When you're designing your ownkits, you can have the knob do anumber of different things so thatyou can make tweaks to the soundwithout having to go back into theedit modes in the brain. In fact,you can even assign three differ-ent sounds to a pad in the "snareson" setting, and a separate set ofthree sounds in the "snares off"setting. How cool is that?

The KP125 kick pad is a hugeimprovement over Yamaha's olderKP65. Not only is the playing sur-face larger to better accommodate

To the left of the display areeight mode buttons (Yamaha-speak for the editing areas such askit, song, click, trigger, file utility,chain, and sampling). Below theLCDare six dedicated soft-functionbuttons that select operationswithin a mode and six dedicatedsoft-sub-function buttons. Whilethis might sound a little confusing,it's really quite simple: call up themode; call up the function; call upthe sub-function; and you're pret-ty deep inside the machine withvery few clicks. The bottom-leftof the machine is where you'll findthe transport and click controls.The bottom-right contains a largedata wheel, up/down/left/right

buttons, and buttons forincrement, decrement,enter, and exit. Thewhole thing is clear,clean, and functional.

The module hasplenty of input andoutput jacks for allyour connectivityneeds. There are 15trigger inputs. Eachone, except the kickdrum, accepts a stan-dard stereo phonejack to accept triggersignals from the head,rim, and cross-stick

on a single cable. The bass druminput jack will also accept a stereosignal, but it's naturally defined astwo separate triggers (for doublebass drum performance) ratherthan head/rim. There's also adedicated hi-hat control input. Intotal, this gives you the chanceto include all the surfaces in theentire kit and add four additionalstereo triggers.

Of special note is the input jacklabeled "aux in/sampling in." Thisjack also accepts a stereo signaland is used for mixing the soundfrom an auxiliary audio device,such as a CD player, computer,iPod, or DVD player, into the mainmix. It's also the jack you'll use tosample sounds and put them intothe brain of the DTXtreme.

Outputs include the obliga-tory main left/right (stereo witha mono signal merged to the left-side output), and a headphonejack, as well as six assignable,individual outputs. If you run

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a double pedal, theentire system ismuch more physicallystable. The feel of thispad is also better thanthe previous version.Not too soft and nottoo hard, the KP125'ssurface feels justabout right for a bassdrum head in termsof give in the playingsurface and respon-siveness of dynamiccontrast. While somedrum companies don't give toomuch thought to the response ofa bass drum trigger, it's an integralpart of a player's feel and groove.This one seemed to catch thespirit. If you want to use dual bassdrums rather than a double pedal,the KP125 is ready to respond. Aninput jack reads the signal from anyexternal trigger and keeps it uniquefrom its own signal. This way, youcan control two different soundsthrough the brain's single kickdrum trigger input.

The RHH135 hi-hat pad fits on anormal acoustic hi-hat stand. Theunit consists of two parts: a pres-sure-sensitive bottom plate andthe top cymbal pad. As is typicalfor hi-hat pads, this one requirestwo cables. One is connected tothe hi-hat pad input in the brain,and the other connects to the hi-hat controller input. In conjunctionwith the brain, the hi-hat systemresponds to open and closed notesplayed on the bow and the edge of

the plate. It also reads foot-closednotes as well as foot splashes. As ahi-hat must be, this one is respon-sive and natural feeling.

When playing the DTXtremeIII, the acoustic volume of the kitis about the same as playing on"real-feel" pads - maybe justa tad more. It's not as quiet as amesh surface, but it's not nearlyas loud as a Remo-style pad. Evenin an apartment, I can't see howplaying on this kit would disturbthe neighbors.

THE BRAINFrom the very first look, you cansee how the DTXtreme's brainhas matured. The face of thebrain is full of buttons and slid-ers, but it's laid out in a mannerthat is both ergonomically andfunctionally organized. The cen-ter of the brain contains a large240 x 64 dot graphic LCD displaythat serves as your window intothe machine's operation.

trol the volume of the click, andone to control the output of the"accompaniment." The accom-paniment is Yamaha's term for allthe sounds that are not assignedto MIDIchannel 10 in song play-back. In other words, anythingthat's "not drums."

For the kit itself, there are fad-ers for the kick, snare, toms, cym-bals, hi-hat, and miscellaneousvoices. This is a well-designedsystem, as these instrumentswould often be sub-mixed in astudio setting. However, if youdon't like the assignments, youcan override them and have anypad routed to any fader.

The DTXtreme IIIcomes with ahuge selection of audio effects.There's reverb, chorus, and some-thing Yamaha calls "variation."Don't let these broad classifica-tions lead you to believe that thechoices are simple and one-dimensional. The variation blockincludes compressors, harmonicenhancers, lo-fi and other audiodegradation effects, flangers andphasers, and distortion and waheffects. The reverb and chorusblocks contain even more funhouse mirrors for your sounds:cross delay, stereo tempo delays,ring modulators, frequency isola-tors, talking modulators, and voiceslicing. With each effect, there area number of editing parameters.For example, calling up the rotaryspeaker emulation, there arecontrols for the volume balancebetween the horn and the rotor,and rotor/horn speed controls forboth the fast and slow settings.

THE OUTSIDE WORLDOne important note concerninghow the DTXtreme IIIdeals withgetting information in and out ofthe machine: Since all externalfiles are stored in DIMMmemory,everything is lost once you turnoff the machine. For this reason,it's imperative that you grabyourself a USB thumb drive andformat it for this machine. Nowthat large flash drive prices arefalling through the floor, it's timeto invest in a drive and fill it withall the great sounds and MIDIfiles that you can pull down fromthe Web, or create from othermusic software you own. You're

also going to need the requiredDIMMmemory cards that holdthis information in the brain, asit can't stream data directly offthe USB drive. These DIMMcardsare not included with the kit, butYamaha sent two along for thereview unit. To get the most fromthis machine, I recommend youpurchase a set of DIMMs that fillup the available memory.

After popping a flash drive intomy computer, it was only a mat-ter of minutes before I grabbedsome sound effects off the Web,captured some snazzy vocalsfrom a brief iTunes demo, andcreated a nifty loop in Reason 4. Itwas actually a thrill to blow thesevoices into the DTXtreme and firethem from the pads. While nearlyeveryone interested in buying akit like this will own their owncomputer, everyone may nothave the necessary software tocreate the sounds they need. Noproblem, as the DTXtreme III hasonboard sampling capability withpretty sophisticated editing.

With both DIMMs installed, theDTXtreme IIIwill store up to 6:20of CD-quality stereo audio at44.1kHz. If you need more sam-pling time, you'll have to lowerthe sampling frequency. But, formany types of drum and percus-sion sounds, a lower samplingrate isn't a huge sacrifice. In addi-tion to sampling sounds from amicrophone or a line-level signal,you can resample the signal com-ing from the DTXtreme's output.Once you've created your sample,you can trim the start and stoppoints and even reverse the soundor create a loop. Other samplingfeatures of the DTXtreme IIIinclude normalizing, time stretch-ing, and changing the pitch.

But wait, there's more. Down-load the USB driver from Yamahaand plug the DTXtreme IIIdirectlyinto your computer! If you wantto use this brain to fire voices andkits from any software programsuch as Reason, BFD, Superior,Ocean Way, Evolve, or whatever,you're good to go. While you cando this with just about any drumbrain by using a MIDIinterfaceattached to your computer, theDTXtreme IIIdoes it without anyadditional necessary hardware

t the brain's USB out to theuter's USB in. As a bonus,; typically faster than MIDI,sone and latency may be bet-th this system than with anyIf you really want to havefun, take the audio outputIr computer back into the~me Ill's aux input, and you'lle to blend onboard soundshe computer's sounds. And,e you're wondering, yes, thisonly high-end kit that hasility to send its MIDImes-out through USB.

~ABELLS & WHISTLES)se of you who might be19 about using the DTXtremen advanced MIDIcontroller"textural drumming," you're. The brain allows for anIte of up to 100 events, eachs own MIDIchannel, note!r, and gate time betweend 9.9 seconds. If you wantpercussion sounds exclu-or mix and match withnstrumental voices, you can

do it. You can even mix stacks andalternates together. For example,the first strike of the pad can firethree events, the second strokecan fire three different events, andso on. If your creative sparks arestarting a brushfire, I understand.

Yamaha's DTXseries has longincluded a number of featuresthat can be used as importanteducational tools, and this newincarnation is no exception. Thereare plenty of play-along songs ina number of different styles such

as funljazz, beven sumef,drumsall thethe dnyou necan rolfor 50,the brcmetrorknown"groov,

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- just the brain's USB out to thecomputer's USB in. As a bonus,USB is typically faster than MIDI,solag time and latency may be bet-ter with this system than with anyother. If you really want to havesome fun, take the audio outputof your computer back into theDTXtreme Ill's aux input, and you'llbe able to blend onboard soundswith the computer's sounds. And,in case you're wondering, yes, thisis the only high-end kit that hasthe ability to send its MIDImes-sages out through USB.

do it. You can even mix stacks andalternates together. For example,the first strike of the pad can firethree events, the second strokecan fire three different events, andso on. If your creative sparks arestarting a brushfire, I understand.

Yamaha's DTXseries has longincluded a number of featuresthat can be used as importanteducational tools, and this newincarnation is no exception. Thereare plenty of play-along songs ina number of different styles such

as funk, rock, shuffle, pop, dance,jazz, bossa nova, reggae, andeven second line. Using the vol-ume faders, you can drop out thedrums to play along or drop outall the other instruments to studythe drumming that fits the style. Ifyou need more practice songs, youcan roll your own as there's roomfor 50 additional user songs inthe brain. There's a sophisticatedmetronome, and Yamaha's well-known and sometimes humiliating"groove-check" feature. For your

SOUNDlABown creations, there's a two-tracksequencer that can be used torecord drum tracks with or with-out the play-along songs.

Yamaha should be congratu-lated for offering a great userweb site at dtxperience.com.From this site, you can downloadnew MIDI songs and samples, andtake part in forums specific tothis instrument. Other Yamahasites offer video tutorials forusing the kit from basic setup tovoice editing. U

EXTRA BELLS & WHISTLESFor those of you who might bethinking about using the DTXtremeIIIas an advanced MIDIcontrolleror for "textural drumming," you'rein luck. The brain allows for analternate of up to 100 events, eachwith its own MIDIchannel, notenumber, and gate time between0.0 and 9.9 seconds. If you wantto use percussion sounds, exclu-sively, or mix and match withother instrumental voices, you can

Defining The Term "New Era"

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