Yamaha DD50 Digital Drum Machine

It's plug and play as far as getting started. Some of the advanced features have cryptic button combinations to get to, but they're spelled out in the manual.

As a drum controller it is quite adequate, I haven't had any crossfiring of the pads. The on-board sequencer keeps up very well and the lessons are nice for drummers-in-training.

Only the pads are velosity sensative. the pedals are not :(. The built in synth does decent drum sounds though.

I would gig with it, as opposed to lugging a full set of drums.

When I first got it, it was awkward. But after building a solid desktop stand for the unit out of 2x4s and screw in rubber stoppers (raised about 5" with about 30 degrees forward tilt), and screwed the pedals to some plywood (up a 1/2" with about a 45 degree tilt), it is quite playable. It has a high cheese factor (the sticks weren't even the same diameter), but I enjoy playing it very much.

The Yahama DD-50 is a digital drum machine with 19 preset drum kits
and one user definable kit - all these using preset sounds in the
machine. The unit has inbuilt speakers, volume capability is adequate
to go with acoustic guitar / vocals.
It may also be used as a MIDI controller, I haven't done this, and I
haven't used the inbuilt drum lessons or the inbuilt sequencer.
The manual seems to cover all the bases and features.
The sounds are more than passable, but there is not a great deal of
variation between them, decent headphones help compared to the tinny
inbuilt speakers.

I didn't have any false triggering problems, but the pads, especially
the smaller ones require accurate sticking and a fair wack to trigger.
The inbuilt reverb helps with the cymbal sounds, but I found the
medium and high reverb settings over the top.
It may also be used as a MIDI controller, I haven't done this, and I
haven't used the inbuilt drum lessons or the inbuilt sequencer.

This is where I have problems with the DD-50. Its just not very
playable. Its very difficult to relax into what your doing without
not hitting the pads in the right place and/or hard enough.
Once you've hitten it hard enough there is a range of velocity
sensitivity, but its almost impossible to play soft accents.
(Perhaps this is the price you pay for no false triggering problems?)
I can't comment on the way the pads behave via MIDI.

This is hard to say as it depends what you intend to use as. I don't
think I have the experience to comment here.

A value rating is very difficult as basically there is nothing else
like the DD-50 available.
As a bass player I bought the DD-50 to mess around playing drum
patterns, and you certainly can helped by the hihat and bass drum
foot-switches, but ultimately its frustrating.
If you want to play drums don't buy this. If you want a midi drum
controller you could consider it but then most of its features are
redundant.
I understand this product sells very well to schools, and probably
this is the target market.
Possibly whatever more serious role is envisaged it is likely to
disappoint.

This is just an update to my last post. After much moaning Yamaha replaced my problematic machine; The new one does not have crosstalk problems but the response is still not great. I tried using the sequencer but it does not hold enough to use effectively. When played from a sequencer all the Midi channels are played with a Elec Piano sound execpt the drum channel.
I am happy with it now it more accurately reproduces my playing, but it still is more a fun thing than a tool.

Easy to use, but when in util mode you get no sound.

28 note poly. 4 Setting reverb. Midi IN/OUT (no through, cheap skates). In built sequencer - Never use it, I go straight to my Midi sequencer.

The sounds vary - many sound identical. The 3 sets of toms differ only slightly. The two tamborines not at all. Some sounds are truncated and only sound resonible with some of the built in reverb.
The response is a bit suspect - A gentle tap gets nothing, a good belt gets cross talk to another pad, no matter what sensitivity setting I used! Also striking two pads at one time does not always trigger both. I sent it to my local Yamaha workshop after complaining and they said that that is just the way it is.

See comments on pad response above.

I own a Kawai K4, Yamaha TQ5 and Aleisis HR16b.
With "backing tracks" etc. it has aspects of an expensive toy. But that did not worry me - all I wanted to do was program my drum machine, even the dubious sound quality did not worry me. But with trigger problems I could not rely on it to faithfully reproduce what I played.
If stolen I would not replace it unless I picked one up cheap 2nd hand.
A fun toy, but expensive just for that.

Yamaha has finally gotten their drums right with this one - the drum sounds on this are PHAT and very useable. Two drum sticks, 7 pads, 2 pedals and you are ready to laydown the best sounding drum track that you have ever put together via MIDI.
The preset sounds are good, although there are some that I think are missing, particularly in the percussive realm. This, however can be remedied - I overca, this problem by mapping one of the pads the the appropriate patch on my keyboard. This was incredibly simple to do, so I am still very happy.
The manual is very simple to understand and is not very long. I primarily used it to find some of the counter-intuitive things, like turning local mode on/off or changing the sync from internal to external.

This machine has 28 note maximum polyphony - which is more than enough for creating drum tracks. This machine offers MIDI in/out so that accompaniment can be played from an external MIDI device, or any one of 100 songs can be played of various styles from internal memory. The design is to teach the fundamentals of creating solid drums. The action/responsiveness is nice. Ot inderstands light touches to heavy touches and responds fairly well. The only built in effect is reverb which comes in 3 different modes. No expansion capabilities past the 75 drum sounds that are loaded in. Touch sensitivity is the only MIDI effect. The on-board sequencer is limited to 600 notes - which when drumming can be fairly short - depending on how complex your pattern in.

The drums are very rich - nothing really sounds bad. With the touch sensitivity everything sounds really good. It works well for all types of music, after all, what drums don't? Velocity if good, and it's reaction to what is being played is also decent. It's not V-drums, but it cost a whole lot less!

I have whaled on them, dropped them and they seam pretty sturdy. I did replace the pedals that came from the factory with a set that is a little more heavy duty. (At $12 for each pedal, I couldn't really complain) But I would gig with it without a backup.

If they were stolen, I would buy it again. At this price, who wouldn't? I have been playing for about 2 years. I own a Yamaha QS300 workstation, Roland PMA-5, Yamaha RX-Series Bass, Yamaha SU-10 Sampler - Ensoniq Mirage, Roland XP-10... possibly more! Nothing really compares with it - not at this price at least... I think it could have a few more pads than the 7 with 2 foot pedals that it already has, but then it would be much larger than it is...
Drum Pads - 7 of them (125mm x 4, 88mm x 3) Thocu sensitive Maximum Polyphony - 28 Drum kits - 20 preset + 1 custom Songs 100 Tracks 4 (Drum 1/Drum 2/Bass/Backing) Custom song - 1 song (approx 600 notes) Drum voices - 75 Aux functions - Track on/off, TAP start, Break, A-B repeat, Demo