Yamaha DTXplorer

5 single zone rubber pads, plus 2 more single zone cymbal pads. Bass drum trigger tower and pedal which are wicked. Way better than those reverse-beater style bass triggers that others come with. Good action on the pedal as well. Nice simple, but sturdy universal power rack. Brain and hi-hat controller. Basic stuff, but I'm slowly upgrading it into a Frankenstein set and it's getting better all the time. Still finding new little details in the hardware that are nice, like the hi-hat controller adjuster. Brain has 200 plus sounds, a metronome, and some mind-blowingly outdated demo tracks to play along with. Really, it's like they put old PSR-100 presets in it, some of which don't even loop in correct time. I like the big jog wheel on it.

My first band in high school, the drummer had a Yamaha electronic set(this was 1994) and it sounded exactly the same as this one that was made in 2006. Not that that's too bad. It's got more than enough sounds to build several solid all purpose kits out of. The tone is great on bass drums and snares (though a couple of dirtier snares would be nice). The toms are okay but not nearly enough choices--basically two realistic ones, one good analog, and some fx that are lousy. Toms are the weakest department. Cymbals, which I thought would be the worst, are actually pretty decent, but you really need to do some kit editing to get them right. While there are definitely enough to get by, some cymbals are poorly sampled with background artifacts, and decay hiss. Nothing on the kit overly expressive. When I got it the first thing I did was work with the global velocities and such, and you can squeeze out a decent amount of texture, but not nearly what I think many modern electronic kits like v-drums can do. But I knew it was an entry level kit, and for that, I'm pleased.

I went with Yamaha because of their build quality, and this is in line with that tradition. Had one cracked connector for the rack, but the set was used so I have no idea what may have been done to it by the prior owner. I would definitely feel comfortable playing out with it.
Be nice if the brain was in a metal case rather than plastic, but thats picky I guess.

No idea thank goodness.

I had to get an electronic kit because my wife got into vet school and acoustic drums seem to somehow make it hard for people to study. I was dreading them at first. Don't get me wrong, I'm an electronica dork all around...all I do is production work, but I just love that live rock drum feel. However, I've since found a warm spot in my heart for these little Yamis. I play more often because I can do it anytime without police intervention or domestic violence, so I get better as a player. The nature of them too is that you have to play more precisely for it to sound good, again improving my skill. No they don't sound as cool as huge sloppy crashing acoustic thunder, but on the other hand, now I can have way more fun doing computer sequencing with them. The first mod I've done is to upgrade the ride cymbal to a triple zone cymbal pad (PCY130SC) and it took it from okay playability to really nice (though the choking feature is a laugh). I would recommend the same to anyone. Also, I know a lot of people say that the hi-hats on electronic sets blow, but I've found they're just different. Yes there's more to them than just open/closed sound, there ARE in between levels, you just have to work the pedal with a bit more finesse. Yes, I would like more sounds, and I'll probably trade up on the brain eventually, but what it does, it does well (except the preset songs!) Might get a mesh snare eventually too. But even as-is out of the box, it's a cool little set. I will definitely stick with Yamaha. I'll never be able to afford the the good v-drum sets, and this is way, way, WAY better that what I've seen of all those generic kits that come with old Alesis brains, or other strange imported entry level kits, and it costs only a tiny bit more (if any). So on the whole I'm very happy with the xplorer.

This little kit really impresses me. It's so simple, portable, and durable, yet has terrific feel. The frame holds the pads tight, and is easy to set up and adjust. The module is a little difficult to understand, thought without even opening the manual I figured out how to create a kit and access jam tracks, etc. the sounds are anywhere from very realistic to silly as most electronic kits offer. I created a very nice standard 5 piece that would be all I really need, so the rest is candy. Nice reverb effects, plenty of indidvidual sound adjustability, nice 1/4" stereo outs, and so cool to have the aux. input and MIDI capability. It's great that you can upgrade to a 3-zone snare and touch sensitive symbal pads. The volume knobs on the module and bass pedal could be a little bigger. Color coded cables would be a plus. The HH sounds left me wanting more, but really for the price these are fussy comments. I think for the money I would recommend this kit, although no doubt there will be better technology right around the corner.