Roland TD-9KX vs Yamaha DTXP IV Special

[Bogester]

Hi

I'm new to the electronic drum kit market and until last week I was almost certainly going to buy a Roland TD-9KX kit. However, after doing a bit more research I've found that Yamaha's DTEXPRESS IV Special kit gets good reviews and also seems worth considering. What's more, Yamaha's kit comes with a 'real' hi-hat, unlike Roland's. I was wondering what people's thoughts on this are. Is the lack of a 'real' hi-hat a significant drawback of the Roland kit compared to the Yamaha one? For example, can you do the usual sorts of things with the Roland hi-hat (e.g. pedal eighth-notes, splash) that you can do with an acoustic hi-hat? Has anyone played on both the Roland and Yamaha kits and can provide a comparison between the two?

Many thanks!

[StevenK]

Hi,
the "real" hihat of DTXpress is something I would stay away from. The pad doesnt react in a natural manner (for me it feels like hitting a brick) and is - together with the module - not very responsive. The VH-11, -12 AND the latest Hihat pad of Yamaha (that comes with DTXtreme) are great gear - but not that ugly big "thing"....
The hihat model of the DTXpress module is quite simple. The TD-9 hihat sounds better - but I cannot tell if it is true (what Roland states) that the model is more complex. (To my opinion the multisamples are clearly better but I could not see new nuances in between open-half-close - owners of TD-9 may tell you more about that.)
Having a "real" hihat for a edrum module is not per se an improvement - a cymbal pad + pedal combination gives you free configuration possibilities (like a remote hihat). In the case of DTXpress you only have the disandvantage of limited setup and the advantage of choosing the hihat-machine you like (instead of the vendors pedal) is not that big when the pad feels that bad.
Both modules support the basic operations - to me the TD-9 is more responsive. But: both modules are far away from an accurate Hihat simulation. These module are "entry-level" to "mid-range" modules. At the moment the TD-12/20 have the best hihat model (to my opinion), although the DTXtremeIII is very nice, too.
CU, Stephan

[Shorty]

Having tried both I plumped for the Roland. The rubber pads for the kit are simply not as good as the mesh pads. They don't bounce properly and the kit sounded really hollow. Try them both I say

[Bogester]

Hi Shorty and StevenK

Thanks very much for your input. I've just placed my order for the Roland Kit.