Gear Talk: Yamaha DTX Multi 12

March 5, 2015 - 5 minutes read

Yamaha DTX Multi 12One of the most frequent questions I get asked when it comes to gear is, “what is the DTX Multi 12 like? Are they any good? Everyone seems to be using them…” Because of that I decided to put pen to paper (well actually, finger to keyboard – but you get the idea) and write about how I’ve found using it and give some detail based on the questions I normally get asked so when people ask, I can direct them here.

I am not a Yamaha endorser, neither did i get my DTX for free so my thoughts are unbiased and based solely on user experience… I originally had a Roland SPD but needed to upgrade as the OS was out of date and finding compatible compact flash cards was hard, not to mention the limited trigger inputs (2). I set out to go for the SPD SX as an upgrade as I was used to SPD way of working and it just made sense… On paper. When i started looking around i realised that the RRP for a DTX was over £100 cheaper, had more trigger inputsmore pads (3 more) and more organic feeling pads.

My Experience:

The DTX is very straight forward and easy to use. You can be up and away in no time. The on board samples are really good too and if (like me) you just need to fire off samples (claps, 808’s or even phrases) or want a simple all in one way of getting a triggering set up on the go then the DTX wins hands down. Even if you don’t need to use any of the 12 pads, the DTX can be the brain for your trigger set up offering expandability (in the form of the pads) should you need to use them later down the line. For feel, user friendliness, price, expandability (adding triggers etc) you can’t go wrong with the DTX. I just wish it had more outputs (it only has a stereo output and a headphone output) which (ironically)the SPD SX has (stereo output and 2 additional assignable outputs), which is useful if you’re triggering off more than just drum samples and need to route sounds to different outputs to get separation for the FOH engineer. Currently i have kicks/low frequency samples coming out of the left channel (panned hard left) and snares/higher frequency samples coming only out of the right channel (panned hard right) so the FOH engineer can get some separation and for EQ/compression purposes.

USD compatibility means I can add samples very quickly. After getting used to the work flow I can add a sample, assign it to a pad/trigger and set the level and output in seconds which is great when you need to crack on in rehearsals. Still not sure why samples have to be 16-bit but it doesn’t affect the sound in any way.

There are trigger presets that pretty much allow you to plug and play, not having to do much in the way of editing cross talk settings etc and they tend to work across brands. I use Roland acoustic triggers | RT-10S | RT-10T | RT10-K | KD-7 and a Yamaha TP65 pad trigger in various ways depending on what I need for the music I’m playing. [Picture below]

I think if you’re buying a drum/sampler pad for live Electro music and think you may need to filter stuff and apply effects live during a song, then the SPD SX is better suited for that application, but you’d still be able to get around with a DTX, maybe just not as easily.

The pads on the DTX are great. The pads respond like drums (not just hard rubber pads) and the pad layout makes it easy to hit them all. The pads are also sensitive enough for you to play with your hands, so if you’re a hand percussionist you can play percussion samples with your hands and get a great response with velocity/sensitivity and be able to play it like percussion instrumentnot just a sampler pad.

Yamaha DTX Multi 12 Trigger Set Up

Yamaha DTX Multi 12 Trigger Set Up

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