Specific brain info needed...

[franklinj]

Heyguys, I need some help. Its funny, because I posted this on the PDF and I got NO responses. Yeah, hopefully someone can help me here.

Ive been wanting an electronic drum set for a while and am now looking at the roland TD6 and Yamaha DTXpress IV brains. These two seem to be the best for the price, but other than that, I dont really know which one to get. I saw that the Yamaha lets you record whatever you play onto the brain and lets you play it back, and I was wondering if the Roland lets you do this, too. This is one of the big selling points for me. If either sets let you do this, could you load that onto, lets say a four track (hey, I gotta work with something) or something and get that direct sound?

I was also wondering if the Roland can sample any other sounds than what is directly built onto the brain. Im pretty sure the Yamaha can sample almost any sound, and thats another big selling point. Id be using my electronic set half of the time like Akira Jimbo uses electronics, so being able to sample anything and load it onto the brain would be incredibly helpful.

Bear in mind, im trying to compare just the brains, not the actual pads. Thanks in advance

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

I know you can sequence things on the TD-6. I haven't tried it on mine... always wanted to though. To get it on a 4track, or any other audio recording for that matter, you'd just play the sequence back with the audio cable hooked up to the recording interface. I know you can even trigger sequence starts and stops by hitting a designated pad (useful for triggering say a percussion loop while you play the rest of the kit). You can't sample anything onto the TD-6. I don't think any of the Roland brains can do any actual sampling on their own, but I may be wrong about that. I know the nicer ones can be updated with new sounds. Best bet would be to get a dedicated sampler and control it via MIDI from the brain. Roland makes a few in differing prices and features.

[Legacyrik]

Heyguys, I need some help. Its funny, because I posted this on the PDF and I got NO responses. Yeah, hopefully someone can help me here.

Ive been wanting an electronic drum set for a while and am now looking at the roland TD6 and Yamaha DTXpress IV brains. These two seem to be the best for the price, but other than that, I dont really know which one to get. I saw that the Yamaha lets you record whatever you play onto the brain and lets you play it back, and I was wondering if the Roland lets you do this, too. This is one of the big selling points for me. If either sets let you do this, could you load that onto, lets say a four track (hey, I gotta work with something) or something and get that direct sound?

I was also wondering if the Roland can sample any other sounds than what is directly built onto the brain. Im pretty sure the Yamaha can sample almost any sound, and thats another big selling point. Id be using my electronic set half of the time like Akira Jimbo uses electronics, so being able to sample anything and load it onto the brain would be incredibly helpful.

Bear in mind, im trying to compare just the brains, not the actual pads. Thanks in advance

Although I haven't done it I'm pretty sure you can record your play directly onto the brain. I think you can make it loop it while you play along afterwards also.

The TD6 will output midi so you should be able to trigger samples on your pc if you wanted to. I believe the higher models will actually output each instrument as a different track as opposed to a single track which evidently is a plus for EQing.

[hawk9290]

You can record what you play onto the Roland drum brain, but you cannot sample other things with it. However, I found that the Yamaha sounds in comparison to the Rolands were very very lackluster.

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

I believe the higher models will actually output each instrument as a different track as opposed to a single track which evidently is a plus for EQing.

The nicer Roland modules have individual audio outputs for a lot of the pads, so ya if you wanted you could keep everything separated in the mix. There is a way to do it with the TD6, but it is a bit more tedious. Basically, you record your drum tracks as a MIDI file onto your PC (or whatever), then separate that MIDI file into different MIDI files for each part of the drum kit. Then, play each MIDI track back to the module (one at a time on solo) while you record the audio from it. It's a pain to do, but it works.

[franklinj]

Argh, this is all kinda confusing to me. Lets say I wanted to sample a keyboard or something and have it play on the pads, like Akira does. Would the Roland be able to cut it? I would also like to use this for live playing, in the same way (yet again) that Akira does, so obviously going into a PC and working on each track cant be done live. Can either of the brains do this kind of thing live?

Sorry guys, I know acoustic drums, but electronic drums are still somewhat of a mystery to me.

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

so obviously going into a PC and working on each track cant be done live.

Well, that was kind of a separate bit, and probably shouldn't have even been put in this thread because I can see how it is confusing to the original question. Sorry!

Akira uses Yamaha stuff- more specifically the DTXTU DTXTREME. I got that from the Yamaha website. I'm not sure if those are onboard sounds on that module, or if he uses the drums as MIDI triggers connected to a different sampler or synth.

The Roland brains have melodic samples on them, so you could do similar stuff. The TD6 will not sample anything (neither will the DTXpress IV according to its features list). What's on the TD6 is what you get. You can however, hook the TD6 (like any of the other modules with MIDI connections) to an external sampler or synth to control sounds on that piece of equipment.

Electric drums are basically MIDI controllers, and nothing more. The brains are glorified drum machines. You can program rhythms on them and they store samples. The nicer brains can be expanded with new sounds via expansion cards- no onboard sampling features... not even in the most expensive ones.

If you want to use your own samples with an ekit, you will need to get a separate sampler. Have you considered the Roland SPD-S? It has the trigger pads, but also a built in sampler. This is probably the closest you will get to a single unit to do what you want.

Check out the Roland SP-404. It's a stand alone sampler and small enough to easily work into your set up.

I hope this helped clear things up a bit. I know the electronic stuff (MIDI mainly) can be confusing at first, but once you get into it you realize it's not hard to understand at all. It just looks intimidating. Small dog big bark. :)

[franklinj]

Thanks man. Ill look into all of this info.

[franklinj]

Well, that was kind of a separate bit, and probably shouldn't have even been put in this thread because I can see how it is confusing to the original question. Sorry!

Akira uses Yamaha stuff- more specifically the DTXTU DTXTREME. I got that from the Yamaha website. I'm not sure if those are onboard sounds on that module, or if he uses the drums as MIDI triggers connected to a different sampler or synth.

The Roland brains have melodic samples on them, so you could do similar stuff. The TD6 will not sample anything (neither will the DTXpress IV according to its features list). What's on the TD6 is what you get. You can however, hook the TD6 (like any of the other modules with MIDI connections) to an external sampler or synth to control sounds on that piece of equipment.

Electric drums are basically MIDI controllers, and nothing more. The brains are glorified drum machines. You can program rhythms on them and they store samples. The nicer brains can be expanded with new sounds via expansion cards- no onboard sampling features... not even in the most expensive ones.

If you want to use your own samples with an ekit, you will need to get a separate sampler. Have you considered the Roland SPD-S? It has the trigger pads, but also a built in sampler. This is probably the closest you will get to a single unit to do what you want.

Check out the Roland SP-404. It's a stand alone sampler and small enough to easily work into your set up.

I hope this helped clear things up a bit. I know the electronic stuff (MIDI mainly) can be confusing at first, but once you get into it you realize it's not hard to understand at all. It just looks intimidating. Small dog big bark. :)

So the TD 6 or td8 could do all of this? Damn, not bad.

Whats the stand alone sampler youre talking about? How does that work?

[grue]

you can pick up a alesis dm5 pro on ebay for pretty cheap. it has the ability use sampled sounds. but unless metal is your cup of tea you may be happier with the yamaha.

[Skitch]

Heyguys, I need some help. Its funny, because I posted this on the PDF and I got NO responses. Yeah, hopefully someone can help me here.

Ive been wanting an electronic drum set for a while and am now looking at the roland TD6 and Yamaha DTXpress IV brains. These two seem to be the best for the price, but other than that, I dont really know which one to get. I saw that the Yamaha lets you record whatever you play onto the brain and lets you play it back, and I was wondering if the Roland lets you do this, too. This is one of the big selling points for me. If either sets let you do this, could you load that onto, lets say a four track (hey, I gotta work with something) or something and get that direct sound?

I was also wondering if the Roland can sample any other sounds than what is directly built onto the brain. Im pretty sure the Yamaha can sample almost any sound, and thats another big selling point. Id be using my electronic set half of the time like Akira Jimbo uses electronics, so being able to sample anything and load it onto the brain would be incredibly helpful.

Bear in mind, im trying to compare just the brains, not the actual pads. Thanks in advance

My brain........

Thru the use of MIDI interface you can pretty much do anything you want. I am not certain about the TD-6 specifically, but most Roland products have built-in, on-board sequencers. You really need to get some spec sheets and compare.


Mike

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[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

So the TD 6 or td8 could do all of this? Damn, not bad.

Whats the stand alone sampler youre talking about? How does that work?

The TD6 is pretty basic in the TD line, but it does have an onboard sequencer (I haven't used it though). With MIDI you can get access to more sounds if you have a separate sampler (or your computer).

A sampler is basically a device that records audio clips, and lets you play them back. Typically a sampler can hold a bunch of samples, and will have a few buttons to trigger them or they can be triggered via MIDI. This depends on its memory, though some can be upgraded with more memory or sample banks can be swapped out by the use of things like flash media cards. Some samplers have built in FX that you can apply to the samples. They range in price and features.

Here are a couple of budget samplers to give you an idea. Personally, I think the Roland one would be a great addition to any ekit. The Korg one is geared more towards someone wanting to sequence complete music tracks on the unit, but I imagine it would also get the job done.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Roland-SP404-Portable-Power-Sampler-with-FX?sku=700451
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Korg-ElectribeESX1-Music-Production-Sampler?sku=701947

Then there are sound modules. There's a plethora of those out there. These are basically units that have sounds stored on them- no sampling capabilities. They are typically used by keyboard players, or someone doing a lot of sequencing on the computer who wants an external sound bank. Again, these range in price and features. Some of these sound modules will have drum banks, but most will be melodic stuff. You could control sounds on one of these modules with your drums as well. You see, each pad on your ekit will correspond to a certain note, say F2 for example (that would be F in the second octave- from the bottom up). I think you can change the assigned MIDI notes for each pad on the kit. I haven't messed with that stuff so I can't say for sure, but I can find out for you. Typically the ekit is setup for a General MIDI drum map, and usually drum and percussion data is sent on MIDI channel 10. I know this is getting a bit deep, and I should probably cut it off there... but I just wanted to briefly explain that.

MIDI is just a data transmission. You can use it to control music stuff, or even something like stage lights! There are a lot of possibilities and it will take a little time to get into the more in depth stuff.

Here's a couple of references to get you started.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampler_%28musical_instrument%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_module
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIDI