questions about the td-12 and dtxtreme III

[gostviper]

Hello Everyone, first post on this board!
I'm currently looking at electronic drums because I'm thinking about buying one in a really near future.
My two choices are the Roland Td-12 and the Yamaha DTXtreme III (3) Standard Edition.
I work on a night shift and I have about 2 hours to play from when I wake up to when I have to go to work. That leaves me with not a lot of time to play drums (been playing for 10 years, yet I've got that job for a month now and I miss drumming). I want to play when I get back from work, which is 4:30 am but gotta love neighbors... I'll use the kit that way. 70 to 80% of the time as a real drum, the rest of the time as an hybrid kit for my acoustic drum, to trigger different sounds (similar to what Peart does before the big band part in his drum solo, both O baterista and Der Trommler)

Here's my dilema...
Yamaha DTXtreme III
Pros :
- Easy-to-use sound module
- Sampling is extremely easy
- Great feeling on cymbals
- USB capability for the sound module
- The drum doesn't look small
- Good pad size
- Easy-to-use Interface

Cons:
- Rubber pads (not that I REALLY care about them, I don't find them annoying, but they're not as realistic as mesh pads
- kick tower is kinda wierd
- Hi-hat stand isn't included with the drum

Roland TD-12
Pros:
- Feeling of the mesh pad -> Awesomeness
- Cosm (See questions below)
- Vlink (see questions below)
- Sound module looks easy to use
- Cymbals are great, find them similar to the Yamaha's, I'd say they're even to me

Cons:
- Midget pad size
- Rim is in the way because of the pad size and if you angle the toms the rims are harder to reach

As for now, that's the pros and cons I've been able to come up for the 2 kits.

So now... questions!

1. I like how easy it is to sample something and use it as a voice for a designated drum pad. I don't know if you can do this on a roland without a computer... can you? (plug a mic in your auxiliary input or for instance a guitar, record, assign, and use the voice you've just made in just a few minutes)

2. Can you change the type, size, depth and etc. of your shells, tension of your drum head with the yamaha module like you can do with the roland? (I think that feature is the "cosm" thing, but I'm not sure at all... didn't read a lot about that)

3. Lets say I like the sound of my friend's cymbal. I take it home with me for the weekend. With the Yamaha, I can record the sound of it and assign it to one of my cymbals for example. Can I do that with roland without having to use a computer?

4. I think you can use different sounds (lets say a trumpet sound) you get on the internet and transfer them as user voice to your module using a usb device. On what module(s) can you do that?

5. If I want to put my own sounds on the td-12, do I absolutely have to use the midi output?

6. Can I use the Roland td-12 pads with the Yamaha DTXtreme III sound module?

That's the questions I had...

If anybody could answer those 6 questions and give me their 2 cents for both kits it would help me a lot

So thanks to everyone who can help me make a better choice and find the right drum for me, or try to, I greatly appreciate your help.

- Gost

['lectric drumma]

Hello Everyone, first post on this board!
I'm currently looking at electronic drums because I'm thinking about buying one in a really near future.
My two choices are the Roland Td-12 and the Yamaha DTXtreme III (3) Standard Edition.
I work on a night shift and I have about 2 hours to play from when I wake up to when I have to go to work. That leaves me with not a lot of time to play drums (been playing for 10 years, yet I've got that job for a month now and I miss drumming). I want to play when I get back from work, which is 4:30 am but gotta love neighbors... I'll use the kit that way. 70 to 80% of the time as a real drum, the rest of the time as an hybrid kit for my acoustic drum, to trigger different sounds (similar to what Peart does before the big band part in his drum solo, both O baterista and Der Trommler)

Here's my dilema...
Yamaha DTXtreme III
Pros :
- Easy-to-use sound module
- Sampling is extremely easy
- Great feeling on cymbals
- USB capability for the sound module
- The drum doesn't look small
- Good pad size
- Easy-to-use Interface

Cons:
- Rubber pads (not that I REALLY care about them, I don't find them annoying, but they're not as realistic as mesh pads
- kick tower is kinda wierd
- Hi-hat stand isn't included with the drum

Roland TD-12
Pros:
- Feeling of the mesh pad -> Awesomeness
- Cosm (See questions below)
- Vlink (see questions below)
- Sound module looks easy to use
- Cymbals are great, find them similar to the Yamaha's, I'd say they're even to me

Cons:
- Midget pad size
- Rim is in the way because of the pad size and if you angle the toms the rims are harder to reach

As for now, that's the pros and cons I've been able to come up for the 2 kits.

So now... questions!

1. I like how easy it is to sample something and use it as a voice for a designated drum pad. I don't know if you can do this on a roland without a computer... can you? (plug a mic in your auxiliary input or for instance a guitar, record, assign, and use the voice you've just made in just a few minutes)
You can't import samples into Roland modules, only in an SPD-S

2. Can you change the type, size, depth and etc. of your shells, tension of your drum head with the yamaha module like you can do with the roland? (I think that feature is the "cosm" thing, but I'm not sure at all... didn't read a lot about that)
I think you can, not sure. But tweaking is possible.

3. Lets say I like the sound of my friend's cymbal. I take it home with me for the weekend. With the Yamaha, I can record the sound of it and assign it to one of my cymbals for example. Can I do that with roland without having to use a computer?
See above, you can't use samples on Roland modules, only on an SPD-S

4. I think you can use different sounds (lets say a trumpet sound) you get on the internet and transfer them as user voice to your module using a usb device. On what module(s) can you do that?
Again, see sampling.

5. If I want to put my own sounds on the td-12, do I absolutely have to use the midi output?
Again, the same.

6. Can I use the Roland td-12 pads with the Yamaha DTXtreme III sound module?
I'm not sure.

That's the questions I had...

If anybody could answer those 6 questions and give me their 2 cents for both kits it would help me a lot

So thanks to everyone who can help me make a better choice and find the right drum for me, or try to, I greatly appreciate your help.

- Gost

What you can do with the Roland is use it as a TMI. From what I've heard, the feel of the Yamaha is great, even it's not mesh. I also think the DTXtreme III is competition for the Roland TD-20, not for the TD-12.

If I'm wrong in my answers, I'm sure someone will correct me.


Stijn

[gostviper]

thanks a lot, 'lectric drumma.
I was sure samples could be imported, that's what was making it tough for me to decide which kit I should get because I'm gonna be doing lots of sampling. As for the td-20 kit, it's 6k in canadian dollars. the td-12 is 3599.99 bucks and the dtxtreme III standard is 3637.50. The special edition is 4295.00 and the difference between the 2 is the rack (standard comes with a regular edrum rack and SE with an acoustic rack with special mounts for your pads and cymbals and you can also use the rack as a dual purpose rack), an additionnal cymbal and an additionnal floor tom.

I'll just have to see if the td-12 pads would work with the module because I think I'm gonna get tired of the rubber feeling after a couple months but mesh pads are fun to play. the sensitivity of the pads is so impressive, the snare reacted just as a real acoustic snare.

Anyway, thanks again for your comment and for answering my questions, I've made my choice on what kit to get, at least for the brain. If the roland pads work with the yamaha module I might get td-20 pads and I'll be in heaven... big mesh pads...

['lectric drumma]

If you do a search for the SPD-S as well? I don't have one and don't know really that much about it, but it seems to be a nice tool as well. I don't know how many triggers/pads you can add to it, but it might be nice as well.

Good luck with whatever you purchase anyway! And BTW, welcome to the forum.


Stijn

[Sook]

I have no preference as I'm not a drummer (now a wannabe drummer) but I do have a few mates who are, one bought the Yamaha DtEX a few month ago and so far its been back at least twice too the shop and a pad has given up the ghost another friend had a DX11 and passed it on very quickly.
An unbiased view but I do own a Td-6 (blue module) and a Td-12 and had a td-3 that have given no trouble I've also owned two other Td-6's, two friends have bought the new mesh pad TD-6's (black module) and the hi-hat is pretty much rubbish sounding and the rims on the Toms only trigger every now and then and that's the same on both kits. Personally I think the best value is the td6 for home use. I'm not sure if I actually addressed any of your questions

[gostviper]

thanks!
tbh, I was thinking about peart triggering different wind instruments sounds during his solo, or custom samples used during mystic rhythms for example. I guess it's just being triggered using some sort of computer application since the td-20 sound module doesn't allow sampling. going to the music store in about 4 hours to try the roland pads with the yamaha module and to test the sampling feature on the yamaha. If everything is really what I thought, I'll be ordering the kit in about 2 weeks (new job = hard to get credit...). I'll post pics of it as soon as I get it. pics of my hybrid setup that is. hopefully I'll change my acoustic drum before 2009. Playing a trak, but I've been looking at sonor's force 3007 and s classix... anyway, that's another story

- Gost

[gostviper]

I have no preference as I'm not a drummer (now a wannabe drummer) but I do have a few mates who are, one bought the Yamaha DtEX a few month ago and so far its been back at least twice too the shop and a pad has given up the ghost another friend had a DX11 and passed it on very quickly.
An unbiased view but I do own a Td-6 (blue module) and a Td-12 and had a td-3 that have given no trouble I've also owned two other Td-6's, two friends have bought the new mesh pad TD-6's (black module) and the hi-hat is pretty much rubbish sounding and the rims on the Toms only trigger every now and then and that's the same on both kits. Personally I think the best value is the td6 for home use. I'm not sure if I actually addressed any of your questions

well thanks for your comment, that's one more input!
the only thing I won't get (if my roland pads + yamaha console kit works) is the sensitivity you get from the roland. ghost notes are extremely accurate and the sensation you get from the pads when using them with a roland module is incredible and the feeling is probably as realistic as you can get from an acoustic drum.