Just got a DTX-6 kit! Some teething problems...

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dkouts

New Member
Hi all. I purchased a DTX6-K2X kit and I'm loving it, but experienced a few bugs, maybe of my own making!

Some context:

I didn't want the noisy rubber toms on the K2X, or the tiny 7" pads on the K3X.

So I paid off a K2X kit over three months - during which time I picked up an XP80 8" pad, and an XP100T 10" pad from ebay (both in great condition and trigger well)

I now almost have what I consider the perfect DTX6 kit: Larger 10-inch snare, two 8-inch toms, (rubber floor tom will be upgraded to an XP80 pad too), all TCS in a compact footprint with the sweet Pro module, KP90 kick and physical hi-hat stand/pedal.



Questions:

1. When I initialize the module, it asks which kit I have (KX, K2X or K3X). I'm a bit confused as mine is actually none of them now! Does it matter which I pick? Will it affect dynamics/what the module expects?

2. There's a noisy interference when I move my iPhone near to the module or plug in via Aux In - a rapid triggering of the click track sound at full volume - just bumping the cable causes a flurry of clicks - my old cheap e-kit never did this! Irritating when in headphones! Is this normal?

3. The 2nd tom (the new XP80 that would've been the K2X snare) seems to trigger secondary sounds randomly - shakers and clicks - Im wondering if the module is getting signals from the multi-zone xp80 toms when its expecting XP/TP 70 single-zone pads. When I half pull out the toms stereo cable, the main TOM2 triggers reliably (but now the cable isn't secure so this isn't a fix). Should i use a stereo-mono adapter for the XP80 toms? Maybe this is related to question 2?

4. Snare cross-stick and rimshot work great on the 10" XP100, but I was hoping to have all 3-zone TCS pads trigger three zones each - map my XP80 tom Rims to a whole bunch of percussion - cowbells, shakers, tambourines etc for custom kits - but it seems this isn't possible?

5. Finally - does anyone know if Yamaha plan to release an iPhone app for controlling the DTXPro module with a slick interface? Response curves, EQ, instrument selection etc would be amazing to interactively control, like the 502 Touch app?

Thanks for any help/advice on anything above!
 
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1. The kit choices are just a simple way to set all the pads if you've bought an off-the-shelf kit - so the module can set all the pads appropriately with one config change. Obs, you can setup anything you want.
2. Dodgy cable/wrong cable/ mobile phone interference (put on airplane mode) etc
3. Tom2 is a dual piezo socket. XP80 is a single piezo (+2 switches) pad. Use a mono cable.
4. The 3-zone (piezo + switch + switch) inputs are clearly stated in the manual. They - as all DTXs (and as I'm always posting on here) are the ones with a single name/number on the socket. The ones with 2 names/numbers are dual-piezo for dual-piezo pads or two separate single piezo pads.
5. Yes.
 
Hey - thanks for the quick reply!

1. Yep - thought so.

2, 3 - So I just discovered its not actually phone interference, but some sort of proximity sensing that only happens on the XP80 toms.
I just assumed it was the phone/bad cable because I was holding the phone when I first encountered the noise.

Whats happening is - Anything coming within 5-10cm of the XP80 tom pads causes the glitchy sounds - drumstick, phone, even just my hands.

I've posted a video, showing the effect in action. See it here... (Turn sound on to hear what I hear.)

My hand doesn't even make contact with the pads, just putting anything near the tom pads causes the noise - tom1 triggers a cymbal wash, tom2 triggers the click track sound in rapid fire. Is this normal?

Floor/Tom 3 pad is the k2x original TP70 and doesnt have this effect.

4. Apparently I can use stereo-to-mono splitter (Y) cables to leverage the XP80 tom rims for percussion effects (cowbell etc).

I'm looking through the manual, but any advice while I'm looking would be appreciated! Clearly I have a lot to learn about the distinction between piezos, switches, triggering and how stereo/mono cabling relates to my goals.



Thanks.
 
dkouts said:
4. Apparently I can use stereo-to-mono splitter (Y) cables to leverage the XP80 tom rims for percussion effects (cowbell etc).

I'm looking through the manual, but any advice while I'm looking would be appreciated! Clearly I have a lot to learn about the distinction between piezos, switches, triggering and how stereo/mono cabling relates to my goals.
Click to expand...

Nope.

The TOM inputs - as stated - indeed, all inputs labelled with two numbers - are piezo + piezo inputs. Using a y-cable you can separate out the two piezo trigger channels. (it's basically two separate mono trigger channels sharing a single socket)

SO - for example ④TOM2/⑤ - is two piezo trigger channels, 4 and 5 sharing a single socket.

Your XP80 pad has one piezo. Switches are used for the rims. (the piezo picks up the hit, the combination of switches that are closed enables the module to deduce the location of the hit - head/rim1/rim2). To get all three zones it needs to be plugged into a piezo/switch/switch input.

Using a y-cable on a piezo + piezo input separates it to gives you two separate piezo inputs for plugging in two piezo triggers. You can't plug a switch into a piezo input - a switch is not a trigger.
 
Dude thank you - so much falls into place now!

So this is what I've learned, tell me if I'm correct now...

Switches will never trigger sounds, only PIEZO's do.

Switches function like "shift" keys on a pc keyboard

"3-Zone TCS Pads" like the XP80/100 only work like I originally imagined on the (1)snare and (8, 9, 10)cymbal inputs.


The module will NOT see XP80's as 3-zone toms - their only advantage is TCS surface and larger playing surface.

The older flagship kits like DTX-900 had modules that DID recognize all zones of all pads, but my DTX6 / Pro module wont? This is something I missed in my research/wasn't well explained in reviews.


I CAN get percussion (cowbell etc) by Y-splitting the TOM inputs to TWO separate mono devices - one my XP80 pad, the other say a Roland BT-1 or my TP70 rubber pad - devices just need to contain a PIEZO sensor.
 

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dkouts said:
Dude thank you - so much falls into place now!

So this is what I've learned, tell me if I'm correct now...

Switches will never trigger sounds, only PIEZO's do.

Switches function like "shift" keys on a pc keyboard

"3-Zone TCS Pads" like the XP80/100 only work like I originally imagined on the (1)snare and (8, 9, 10)cymbal inputs.


The module will NOT see XP80's as 3-zone toms - their only advantage is TCS surface and larger playing surface.

The older flagship kits like DTX-900 had modules that DID recognize all zones of all pads, but my DTX6 / Pro module wont? This is something I missed in my research/wasn't well explained in reviews.


I CAN get percussion (cowbell etc) by Y-splitting the TOM inputs to TWO separate mono devices - one my XP80 pad, the other say a Roland BT-1 or my TP70 rubber pad - devices just need to contain a PIEZO sensor.
Click to expand...

1. Switches can be configured on some modules to generate a sound. But with zero velocity curve - as they can only be "on" or "off". Cheapo Alesis kits and drummy toys often have a switch for the kick pedal. Every hit sounds the same.

2. Yes a switch is like a "shift" key. Or indeed, a switch. "on" or "off". Like a doorbell. A "momentary" switch.

3. Piezo/switch/(switch) pads only give multiple zones in an input that is a piezo/switch/(switch) input. The head (piezo) will always work plugged into anything - but use a mono cable to save issues.

4. All DTXs over the last 2+ decades have a combination of both piezo/switch/(switch) inputs and piezo/piezo inputs. The combination is different on each module, yet the socket labelling system has remained the same throughout (two numbers=two piezos. One number=piezo+switch(es). One of my ancient DTX v2 modules from the late 90s has two piezo/piezo inputs and a number of piezo/switch inputs, for example. All DTXs have at least one dual piezo socket.

5. To reiterate - a piezo/piezo socket is two separate piezo trigger channels. So - will react to two different piezos. These could be in the same pad, e.g. one of the wood-shelled Yamaha pads or a Yamaha DT50s dual trigger for an acoustic drum, or could be two totally different pads a couple of metres apart from each other.

obs. (silly example) if you had a dual piezo pad and no spare piezo/piezo sockets, you can plug into two physical sockets!

It's all very flexible.

To a degree the use of piezo/piezo sockets means the module can be made much compact as you can double up the trigger channels in the space of a single socket thus saving space, without resorting to evil proprietary cable snakes (yuk). As an example - your module is much smaller than the DTX900, yet only misses out on one trigger input channel (14 inputs vs 15 inputs). Similarly the DTX-PROX individual outputs 1-8 share 4 physical sockets, whereas on the 900, individual sockets were used (and there's only 6).
 
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Thanks again. Ill be back here to double-check your notes as I finalizing upgrading the kit.

Presumably the weird proximity triggering will stop when I cable it all up right. Just a strange effect.
 
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