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Hey everyone,
the other threads discussing the TD-9 were getting a bit unwieldy with all the availability discussions and speculations, so I thought it may be useful to start a new one for the lucky people who already have one.
Please contribute any useful tips and tricks, hints for upgrades or customization, and general opinions and reviews.
Please don't use this thread for discussing shipping dates and availability, including expressing your jealousy (see this thread for that), and please use the search function before asking questions - the TD-9 discussion thread has a ton of information buried in it, and anything that isn't specific to the TD-9 may have been discussed elsewhere already. A FAQ would be nice
For starters, here are my initial impressions of the TD-9KX after a few hours. In general I'm very impressed by it, it's everything I was hoping for. Be aware that I'm fairly new to e-drums (and drums in general), my previous experience was limited to the Yamaha DD-55 all-in-one kit and Rock Band, plus a handful of lessons on an acoustic kit, so your mileage may vary of course.
*** Module ***
The module is very easy to use, has cool built-in sounds, and offers good customization features. The scope feature works very well to provide feedback how accurately you're playing, which is especially nice for beginners.
If you expect the ability to create totally unique and customized sounds, you may be happier with the TD-12/20 (disclaimer: I haven't used those myself), but you could also switch to a PC/MIDI based solution such as EZdrummer sometime down the road if you feel too limited by the built-in sounds. That's not something I'm currently worried about, I'm happy with the way it sounds.
*** Hardware ***
The rack is very solid, and it's easy to set up and adjust. It's nice that it's partially assembled in the box, so the initial setup is fairly quick.
The triggers feel great to play, and the pads and cymbals are not very noisy as far as stick noise is concerned (important for me since I live in an apartment). I've ordered a Hart mesh kick drum since I don't like the rubber trigger's feel and it's a bit noisy, but that's a matter of taste. I suggest trying out the shipped kick trigger and seeing how you like it.
The hi-hat pedal works fine for foot "chick" sounds, and the foot "splash" needs a bit of practice but works well also (the trick is not to push the pedal down all the way). I'm a bit disappointed by the half-open sounds, so far I haven't found a way to get a satisfying sizzle/sloshy sound, but maybe that's something that more tweaking (or better technique) will fix. I'm curious if a VH-11 would have any effect on the sound variations due to more precise inputs, or if it would only affect the playability and feel.
*** Hints and tips ***
The manual is very helpful, but since people tend not to read manuals here are some things that took me a while to figure out...
Please share your experiences also!
-Klaus
the other threads discussing the TD-9 were getting a bit unwieldy with all the availability discussions and speculations, so I thought it may be useful to start a new one for the lucky people who already have one.
Please contribute any useful tips and tricks, hints for upgrades or customization, and general opinions and reviews.
Please don't use this thread for discussing shipping dates and availability, including expressing your jealousy (see this thread for that), and please use the search function before asking questions - the TD-9 discussion thread has a ton of information buried in it, and anything that isn't specific to the TD-9 may have been discussed elsewhere already. A FAQ would be nice
For starters, here are my initial impressions of the TD-9KX after a few hours. In general I'm very impressed by it, it's everything I was hoping for. Be aware that I'm fairly new to e-drums (and drums in general), my previous experience was limited to the Yamaha DD-55 all-in-one kit and Rock Band, plus a handful of lessons on an acoustic kit, so your mileage may vary of course.
*** Module ***
The module is very easy to use, has cool built-in sounds, and offers good customization features. The scope feature works very well to provide feedback how accurately you're playing, which is especially nice for beginners.
If you expect the ability to create totally unique and customized sounds, you may be happier with the TD-12/20 (disclaimer: I haven't used those myself), but you could also switch to a PC/MIDI based solution such as EZdrummer sometime down the road if you feel too limited by the built-in sounds. That's not something I'm currently worried about, I'm happy with the way it sounds.
*** Hardware ***
The rack is very solid, and it's easy to set up and adjust. It's nice that it's partially assembled in the box, so the initial setup is fairly quick.
The triggers feel great to play, and the pads and cymbals are not very noisy as far as stick noise is concerned (important for me since I live in an apartment). I've ordered a Hart mesh kick drum since I don't like the rubber trigger's feel and it's a bit noisy, but that's a matter of taste. I suggest trying out the shipped kick trigger and seeing how you like it.
The hi-hat pedal works fine for foot "chick" sounds, and the foot "splash" needs a bit of practice but works well also (the trick is not to push the pedal down all the way). I'm a bit disappointed by the half-open sounds, so far I haven't found a way to get a satisfying sizzle/sloshy sound, but maybe that's something that more tweaking (or better technique) will fix. I'm curious if a VH-11 would have any effect on the sound variations due to more precise inputs, or if it would only affect the playability and feel.
*** Hints and tips ***
The manual is very helpful, but since people tend not to read manuals here are some things that took me a while to figure out...
- Important: always use the POWER button to switch off your module, since this is when it will save your settings. You'll lose customizations if you just pull the plug. If you've done extensive edits, you may want to power cycle it just to ensure that they are saved.
- It's essential to adjust the trigger sensitivity to your playing style. The defaults seem to be geared towards people used to banging on acoustic kits, and if you're playing more softly (did I mention being in an apartment?) you need to raise those up quite a bit. There's also advanced options including sensitivity curves and other parameters that I haven't fiddled with so far.
- Change the metronome tempo by pressing SHIFT+CLICK together, then rotating the wheel or using the +/- buttons. This changes the speed of the built-in songs also, which is great since most are too fast for beginners to play right away.
- The scope works while playing along to the built-in songs, just press the SCOPE button. By default this will activate the metronome clicks also, but you can turn those off by pressing the CLICK button. Try various zoom settings to see which view you find most useful.
- The toms are all dual-trigger, and I don't have much need for tom rimshots, so I reassigned the tom rims to cowbell, china, and splash instead. Maybe not as nice as adding extra triggers, but a whole lot cheaper
- You can hook up an MP3 player to play along to. I haven't tried WAV files on a USB stick so far. Since the muting and tempo changing features of the built-in songs don't work for WAV files, the external player seems about equally convenient if you don't mind an extra gadget being connected.
- In case you have the Rock Band game, that gives you access to a ton of songs to play along to. Go to drum practice mode, let the song play without you doing anything, and record the resulting track which is the full song minus the drum part. If the song starts with drums immediately, play a bar or two to establish the beat in the recording. An MP3 player with recording feature makes that very easy. (Please don't distribute these tracks, that would be a copyright violation and illegal.)
Please share your experiences also!
-Klaus
) and think it's great because of the large buttons and display of the unit. An MP3 player usually has a small screen, small buttons, etc and connecting a laptop offers a lot more features, but doesn't work as fast and easy as the USB stick. The built-in songs are nice, but I prefer to play with the songs that I like.
).
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