Yamaha DTX900K Electronic Drums

[Anderton]

Full disclosure: I’m not a drummer, even though I’ve played drums on actual major label recording sessions. These were electronic drums, and back in those days, I was pretty much the only kid in town with electronic drums (I’d made them myself)...so people who wanted that sound kind of had to hire me. The secret of my, uh, “success” was never playing above my capabilities, which are – hey, I’ll be real – best described as “limited.” However, my father was a drummer, and I must have gotten his sense of rhythm because I can at least lay down some decent grooves. Still, when Yamaha asked about doing a DTX Pro Review on HC and asked if I could be the one to do it, I said “Look, I’m not Steve Gadd, you probably would be much better off with Dendy Jarrett.” But their reply was very interesting. They see the DTX drums as not just something a drummer packs up and takes out live, but the ideal backline drum set to have in the studio. After all, it makes a ton of different sounds, you can trigger computer software modules like BFD, and it’s always ready to go. They also know that I do have “real” drummers come through my studio here (which will come in useful when I need an expert opinion), but another element is that the DTX series is heavy on the electronics. Well, I certainly know electronics...so here I am. And frankly, I’m very excited about doing this review because I’ve heard the DTX in action at trade shows, and it’s an interesting combination of acoustic drum expressiveness and electronic drum versatility. I’m in. Actually “DTX” is the prefix for a line of electronic drums. The kit here is the DTX900K, which is a rack-oriented drum set with a kick pad, three 10” tom pads, 12" snare, hi-hat, 15" cymbal, two 13" cymbals, tone generator module, a curved rack mounting system, and all necessary cables and clamps—everything except the kick drum pedal and throne. (And a tip o’ the hat to Brian Hardgroove, my partner in musical crime with EV2, for letting me have a really nice kick drum pedal for this review...next time he’s in town, I’ll sit him down in front of the DTX900K and see what he thinks.) And when I say “everything,” I mean everything. The first attached image shows what happens when UPS showed up – all those boxes include DTX900K components, and some of the bigger boxes have smaller boxes inside (similar to the ones stacked up in the upper right). Daunting? Yes. Difficult? Not that bad. From first opening boxes to having everything set up took about 90 minutes (less than I expected). However, placement in my studio is not optimum, which I found out after getting the rack put together. So if you don’t see too many posts the next couple of days, it’s because I’m rearranging the studio! And I'll also be setting it up so I can take pictures that don’t have a lot of clutter in the background.

[Anderton]

Let's take a look at some of the elements that make up the kit. It's too bad you can't tell the "feel" of the drum heads from a photo, but I'll describe it as best I can later on when we check out the pads in detail.

 

The first attached image shows the top of the snare pad. Note the rim around the edge, which is also a sensor (there's more to hit than just the main part of the pad).

 

The second attached image is something that would be excellent in a UFO sighting hoax - I was tempted to use Photoshop to add some of the characters from "Mars Attacks." But actually, it's a side view of the snare. Although a photo can't show sturdiness per se, take a look and you'll see that it's not cheaply made, to say the least.

 

Each pad also has a trigger out, and level trim control on the bottom (third attached image). This level control is more of a trimpot; there's also a control on the pad top for easy access, which we'll see in the next group of photos as it's more easily visible in the tom pad shots.

[Anderton]

Now let's look at the tom and cymbals. The first attached photo shows the tom pad, which is thinner and somewhat lighter than the snare. Note the black, round control in the lower part of the picture, on the top of the protrusion.

 

The second attached image shows the clamp that mounts the tom to the rack. Again, this is very solid - the part that attaches to the rack is plastic, but my sense is that's to avoid marring the aluminum rack, not a cost-cutting measure as the rest of the clamp is solid metal.

 

The cymbals are not metal, having a rubbery playing surface with multiple zones. The third attached image shows the cymbal's playing surface, while the fourth attached image shows the underside, and how the cymbal is reinforced.

[Anderton]

Now let's turn our attention to what Yamaha calls the "Drum Trigger Module," but I would call a "Pretty Complete Synthesizer."

 

The first attached image shows the module's front panel. We'll do some detailed shots, but you can see that the layout is uncluttered and functional: Navigation on the right, function buttons that relate to the display in the middle, utility buttons and transport on the left, and mixer toward the bottom.

 

The second attached image shows a close-up of the mixer section. These are 30mm sliders, so you do need to be fairly precise with your slider movements to zero in on the setting you want. However, these are more set-and-forget parameters, so once you have them set up, you probably won't alter them much.

 

Referring to the third attached image, the Transport controls are quite straightforward but note that the Click has a dedicated on/off button with LED indicator. Clearly this is far better than having to turn click on and off deep in some menu.

 

The fourth attached image shows the relatively unexciting, but definitely useful, buttons for accessing various functions. And yes, the Sampling button is for real: You can sample with the DTX.

[Anderton]

The DTX display is large, and Very Green. So, I thought it might be helpful to show some representative displays. But, this is also important because the display shows parameters you can edit.

See the first attached image. Aside from the preset name in big letters and an icon for the type of drum kit (in this case, acoustic drums), note the row of parameters along the bottom, and the lines that go to various buttons. These buttons "open up" the parameter to be edited; for example, if you wanted to access the Pad options, you'd hit the F5 button.

 

The second attached image shows the display for the House Kit - this is to show that yes, you do have drum machine sounds. I included the third attached image simply because I couldn't resist showing a display that said "Sci-Fi" and has an icon of a waveform. Okay, I admit it, I'm a geek...onward.

[Anderton]

We've almost reached the conclusion of the photo tour, so let's look at the rear panel (first attached image). The row of jacks along the bottom accepts the trigger outputs from the drums; note the ho-hat control jack to the left.

 

The middle row shows the six individual output jacks along with the S/PDIF digital out, MIDI in/out, and USB connection (which can host devices as well as connect to a host. The top row includes the main stereo outs, headphone outs (I think a better place for this would have been the front of the unit), and the Aux/Sampling in.

 

Note there's no IEC cord; the DTX module uses a "line lump" transformer, with the transformer itself located in the middle of the AC power connector and the connector that terminates in the tone module.

 

Finally, the second attached image shows something helpful: Labels for the rear panel connectors that you can see from the front. This makes it easier to verify connections and do setup.

[Anderton]

Update: I'm very sorry for the delay. I had the drums set up in my office so it would be easier to write the review, but it became apparent that wouldn't work for bringing in other drummers. So I needed to move the drums into my studio, but as it's not set up for recording drums, I've had to move around amps, keyboards, and various storage units, as well as do some re-cabling. This has taken more time than I expected...but it should be complete in the next couple days, and I can play the DTX properly. Oh yes, and speaking of setting up drums in offices, I can say that I understand completely why drummers don't go onstage sitting between two file cabinets

 

Thanks for your patience.

[Anderton]

All right...I played the drums for about an our tonight, and there's much to cover. But, let me start with the hi-hat (I'll try to have photos tomorrow; the lighting in my studio isn't very good, and flash causes too many reflections off the metal).

 

Anyway, I'm starting with the hi-hat because it really surprised me. There's a standard pedal and it looks pretty normal, except for there being only the "top" of the hi-hat - where there would normally be the lower cymbal, there's a support instead. There are two jacks on the bottom of the top cymbal, one for the pad itself, and one labeled "high hat control."

 

But the main thing about the hi-hat is that the feel and control is exactly what you'd expect from a real hi-hat, including "halfway" pedal positions. When open it rings convincingly, but close it down, and it sounds for all the world like you're closing a real hi-hat. The dynamic control is stellar as well, with enough sensitivity to give a live, dynamic feel. This isn't to say the other drums aren't impressive, but I was not expecting this sort of "half a hi-hat" to do such an extraordinary job.

 

FWIW, about the amp...I'm going through the Bose L1 PA system for a couple reasons. First, it's already set up But also, the flat response serves electronic drums well, as do the bass bins. I actually have two L1 systems with a total of four bass bins, so the sound is very full and hi-fi, and suitable for stereo. The L1 also has good transient response, which of course is crucial with drums. Finally, I feel it gives a good representation of the samples in the Drum Trigger Module.

 

I'll add one more thing: The pads are definitely easy on the wrists. Thank you, Yamaha...

[Anderton]

Nothing like AES to take a month out of your life Well, at least when you shoot, edit, and render 75 videos. You can see them on our YouTube channel, but they're also posted in the Recording Space on the content side of the site. There was lots of interesting gear - don't believe the pre-show hype that it was going to be a "slow" show.

 

Anyway, it's good to be getting back to pro reviews. I've also been thinking about what to cover next with the DTX - you can only say "the pads are really responsive, and feel great" so many times! Granted that's probably the most important part of the set, but it's also the easiest to cover because Yamaha nailed it.

 

So here's my plan: First, I want to finish off the photo tour with pictures of the hi-hat and kick drum. Next, let's check out how good the triggers are with drum software like BFD, Toontrack, and their ilk. Then we'll look at the tone module in detail - audio examples, editing options, and the like.

 

The first attached image shows the two connections to the hi-hat, one for the trigger out, and the other for hi-hat control. You need both to take advantage of all the articulations the hi-hat offers.

 

The second attached image shows the hi-hat. As you can see, there's no "top" and "bottom" - only a single cymbal, but it picks up on the articulations just fine.

 

The third attached image shows the hardware, which is as rugged as the rest of the kit.

 

Now let's look at the kick drum, as I haven't yet posted any pictures of it.

 

The fourth attached image shows a top view, and how it hooks mechanically to the kick drum pedal. It's really refreshing to have a kick drum that you can carry under your arm The "kickstands" on the back keep it pretty secure in the face of serious footwork.

 

The fifth attached image shows a detail of the front and the beater.

 

Now we've seen photos of everything, so let's move on to the next part of the review.

 

Oh, and did I mention that the pads are really responsive, and feel great?