Yamaha DTXMulti 12

Reviews | Yamaha DTX-Multi 12
90
Y
amaha’s DTX line
incorporates several different
drum orientated products,
including their pad kits and
the DTXT3 module – the drum brain
from which many of the DTX-Multi 12’s
sounds are taken. All products in the
range are intended to replace or
augment traditional acoustic kits, add
sounds to use with external MIDI gear,
or to simply use as standalone
percussion boxes.
The DTX-Multi 12 can be a perfect
accompaniment to an acoustic kit,
allowing a drummer to have easy access
to his/her favourite samples/loops and
beats/patterns or the included 50 preset
kits, or it can be coupled with additional
kick, hi-hat and snare trigger pedals to
use as a completely self-contained
electronic kit. On top of this, you can
use the DTX-Multi 12 as a MIDI
controller for inputting beats into your
DAW’s sequencer, using sticks or even
your hands on the pads for more
dynamic realism.
It’s the beat
Build quality seems good throughout,
though it worries me that you can easily
hit the controls or display with sticks
causing considerable damage if you get
a little carried away. You can also use
your hands/fi ngers or anything else,
though, initially, I was having trouble
getting the unit to trigger sounds
consistently using fairly light drumming
with light sticks and my hands.
However, once I’d dug into the
trigger options and selected Hand
Trigger Mode, the unit reacted much
more sensitively. Generally, the pads
feel good for both stick and hand
playing and, while the operating system
is fairly cryptic at fi rst, it just about
makes sense after a little practicing!
There are 12 textured rubber pads
that work well for most applications and
there’s a nice bounce to them, while
they aren’t too hard either. Pads can be
set up to trigger the onboard sounds or
to trigger user content uploaded from a
DAW and sent over USB via memory
stick, USB hard drive or direct from
your computer. Yamaha also include a
cut down version of Cubase to facilitate
the recording and transfer of sounds to
the DTX itself. One beef here is that the
fl ash memory is fairly small at 64MB
and coupled with the fact there is no
onboard card storage, this may be an
issue for some users.
Sound-wise, Yamaha have provided
a limited number of preset kits, some of
which are pretty average, while many
are fi lled with clichéd DJ one shot
samples, though thankfully the majority
of kits, onboard effects, and percussion
samples are pretty good, cover a wide
range of styles and trigger well.
There’s further space onboard for
200 user kits too and here you can
upload your own sounds or mix them
with the onboard sounds.
Promising pad
Other features of note include the
ability to mute/trigger sounds from a
single pad (much as you would stop a
drum or cymbal ringing with your hand
after triggering) and you can also layer
several sounds on a pad, plus sequence/
trigger your own loops and patterns.
Each sound is editable too, with amp
envelope, fi lter cutoff and res and some
basic effects.
This a useful bit of kit with some
nice features, some good sounds, some
fi ller (why so few useable preset kits
onboard?) and some limits, including
the measly fl ash memory and lack of
onboard removable storage media. At
£700, it’s not cheap either but then
there aren’t many boxes in production
with these capabilities, so defi nitely put
it on your list to check out.
Yamaha DTX-
Multi 12 | £700
The DTX-Multi 12 is Yamaha’s latest addition to their
DTX drum line. Dan Goldman gets percussive…
WHAT IS IT?
Percussion unit with 12
rubber pads and sound
module with sample
upload capability, various
trigger modes, MIDI, USB
and a pattern sequencer
all in one portable box.
CONTACT
Who: Yamaha UK
Tel: [phone]
Web: yamahasynth.com
HIGHLIGHTS
1 Sturdy, portable and can
be stand-mounted easily
2 Feels good to play
3 Wide range of sounds
onboard plus ability to
upload your own
SPECS
Built-in pads: 12
External inputs: 5
Wave memory
Drum and percussion:
1,061 keyboard – 216 total
Drum kits Preset: 50
User-defined: 200
Effects: Chorus, Reverb,
5-band EQ
Wave memory: 64 MB
Connections
3x pad input, hi-hat control,
foot sw, output
L/mono and R jacks, phones
jack, Aux In, MIDI I/O, USB
and DC IN.
Dimensions
345 x 319 x 96mm
Weight
3.3kg
VERDICT
BUILD
❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚
VALUE
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EASE OF USE
❚❚❚❚❚❚❚
VERSATILITY
❚❚❚❚❚❚❚
RESULTS
❚❚❚❚❚❚❚❚
It’s not cheap and it has limits but
if you’re after a self-contained
percussion box, test it out.
ON THE DVD
FMU224.rev_yamaha 90 4/2/10 2:16:25 pm