As with any electronic drum kit, the Yamaha Dtxplorer is driven by a neatly packed trigger module which is located above the hi-hat pads to the left hand side of the facing musician. This enables the drummer to easily change a variety of settings on their kit with relative ease and which can even be done during songs depending of the complexity of the change. This article will give a high level basic overview of the trigger module and explain the various buttons and their respective functions.
Looking at the module front on, you will be faced with four buttons on the left, four on the right and a display screen and toggle wheel in the center. The most common buttons you will use on the module are the 'drum kit' button and the 'song button'. The drum button when pressed will show on the display screen the pre-selected drum kit that you are playing at the moment. The Dtxplorer has 32 preset drum kits which range from acoustic kits, reggae kits, hip hop, techno and even spoken voice which can be a lot of fun. You'll find yourself mucking around on these various kits a lot and trying to find a different drum sound to add to your arsenal. As well as the 32 preset kits, there is also space on the module for you to add 10 custom-built kits in the 'user kits' spaces. This enables you to choose exactly which type of drum sound you want for specific pad locations. You can take a tom-tom sound from a techno kit and add it to a snare drum sound from the reggae kit - the possibilities are endless.
Below the drum kit button is the song button. The Dtxplorer has 22 preset songs comprising 2 demo songs and 20 pattern songs. You can play along with the songs as they are or you can get the drum part of the song muted so you can hear yourself better and also you can just have the bass part to play along with. This is a great function of this kit and Yamaha have been spot on in understanding what a drummer needs to be paying attention to when they're practicing.
Another awesome feature of the trigger module is the groove check function. Hold the shift key and press the 'click' button (which also has 'grv.check' bolded). This function basically will score you on how well you've kept in time with the metronome or the song track and you can get great feedback as to how good your timing is. As drummers, it can be so easy to get carried away during a song and either speed up or slow down depending on our emotions. Using the metronome and groove check function over and over again will make you a better drummer as you'll be more adept at internalizing a tempo and sticking to it.
This is just a brief overview of the major functions of the trigger module on the Yamaha Dtxplorer. There's a whole lot more stuff which I'll describe in another article. Happy drumming!
Will Hansen is a drumming enthusiast and has been playing for over 25 years. For more trigger module information and a full Yamaha Dtxplorer review, visit http://www.yamahadtxplorerreview.com/.
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