Yamaha Dd55 7 Pad General Midi Digital Drum System

Product Information

The price of the DM Lite is a couple of hundred dollars less than many of its counterparts and there’s no doubt that this will be a major attraction for many customers. Cons The DD 55 has a ton of features. The unit holds many "standard" kit setups for use right out of the box. You can also design your own kit with the hundreds of voices. The lightweight build of the DM Lite makes it ideally suited to kids. It can easily be folded away and moved which becomes a huge benefit when tidying rooms. was finding a solution to isolate the pads and still keep it in one piece. The pedals that it comes with should be thrown away. The HI-HAT is not so bad but you must get a KP-65

The color is just right and very pleasing to look at, its design is excellent, I prefer it to the DD-65. Insensitive to strike VLOC low (<20/120 in the afternoon) because of its compact configuration: it should not be a strike on a pad dclenche another. But that's not the teachers and buzz rolls easily even when pass (although a bit on the end attenus) A complete digital drum kit at an incredible price, the DD55 makes a great compact drum kit for players of all levels. It can also be used as a MIDI controller for recording drum parts much more realistically than you could ever do with a keyboard. Features include new stereo drum samples, 174 total sounds, digital reverb, chorus & DSP, and GM compatibility. Its stereo speakers and headphone output let you play or rehearse with other musicians or privately. If you want something more extravagant, then you've got to be prepared to spend more. But if you don't need additional features why spend more? If I don't need all the extra features that come with a more expensive piece of musical equipment, I always buy the cheaper one.

The sensitivity of the hi-hat is basic and you can play pretty much in three positions – open, closed or semi-open. The hi-hat is not the strongest part of the DM Lite but it has the added benefit of functioning as a second bass drum pedal. You can assign the pedal to play a bass drum when you press down as opposed to a regular hi-hat. Sounds Roland offer the TD-1K which is their bottom of the line electronic kit and has similar qualities to the DM Lite. It’s equally lightweight and has the same configuration of drums, including freestanding hi-hat and bass drum pedals. It’s more expensive than the DM Lite but has some cool features such as the ability to record your playing.

On/off button a bit flimsy for this pro-quality product. Hi hat pad in center--should be on left side. I have done things that way as even if my homebrew triggers are not perfect i can tweak the signal far more than any drum brain would allow to achieve a good response. downside is 8 or more audio inputs are taken up, but I saved shed loads! The MIDI controller functionality is nearly nonfunctional: the pads are supposed to be independently programmable for MIDI note output, and to have a memory that saves the one allowed custom drum kit. Neither of these functions appears to work. The DD55's onboard interface is very poor, the onboard MIDI note programming info does not correspond to its output, the method for searching MIDI motes is poor and time-consuming, programming one pad alters the programming of other programmed pads for some reason, and the memory does not consistently maintain your settings. The DD55's MIDI wouldn't send or receive at all on a fully-functioning SBLive soundcard, even though both the SBLive and the DD55 worked with other MIDI instruments and modules, some of which worked with both the SBLive and the DD55. I was not able to find the source of this problem, but the DD55 does transmit and receive on an Audiophile 2496 card. IMO I believe you can get better response by plugging the pads direct in to an audio input and using ktdrumtrigger or drumagog type fx etc. to trigger a drum vsti. I butchered my dd55 for its pads - they are quite easy to remove.. (yank em). some are now having a new better life as 'cymbal pads' for my diy mesh head edrum setup...

The lighting on each pad makes for enjoyable practicing and is a novel stage show especially when playing in the dark. The light-up pads can also be used as a visual tutorial, which is a handy feature when learning some of the built-in exercises on the DM Lite module. The presentation and layout, the acoustic feel it had and the easy to work controls maybe referring to the manual sometimes but that's what it's there for. Buy this unit if you are just starting or want something to practice with. If you plan to play with a band DO NOT get this. You will be laughed off the stage. The hi-hat on the DM Lite is a freestanding pedal much like the bass drum pedal. Acousitc and some electronic hi-hats have cymbals, a stand and a pedal at the base on which to play with. But the DM Lite has no bulky stand, just the pedal and cymbal pad. The hi-hat controller is connected to the drum module by a cable and can be positioned wherever best fits your foot. This is not merely a cosmetic design. The addition of lighting on each pad means that it can be used as an instructional device. Certain tutorial exercises on the DM Lite module work with this built-in lighting to teach the user how to play certain beats and patterns. This is a clever and innovative feature by Alesis and will be extremely helpful to many budding drummers.

The volume levels are about right, and they can be changed seperately if needed (according to the manual) Where do I start? Well, right from the word 'go' everything is customisable. The touch sensitivity of the pads, the voices of the pads, the reverb. It isn't as heavy as I feared, and the pads are quite similar to drums themselves. There are hundreds of voices, every one of which can be assigned to different pads/pedals and the stereo speakers work very well. It also has MIDI, which means you can connect it to a computer/keyboard etc. When using it with a midi you can turn the speakers off, so that you don't get any double notes. CONTRARY TO POULAR OPINION, THE HI-HAT PAD CAN BE MOVED TO ANY ONE OF THE PADS, just make sure you assign the foot pedal to the same voice. Intgr Speakers and headphone output (the quality is not top of HP, and must be plugged into a stereo amp or guitar to fully enjoy the richness of the sounds included) The DD55 works well as a stand-alone unit. The drum pad sensitivity is fairly expressive, perhaps a bit too much so. The pads are very sensitive to not only velocity, but also how centered your hits are. The small onboard speakers sound rather disappointing, but the unit sounds much better played through good headphones or an external amp and big speakers. Two books with replaceable pedals, including the sensitive vlocitbr /> - Compatible with General MIDI (GM)It's by far the best of all the 'practise' kits and would work well in an acoustic kit (where do you think mine will be going when I'm at home!?) and by itself for small events like tiny church services, or soething. A complete digital drum kit at an incredible price, this Pre-Owned Yamaha DD-55 makes a great compact drum kit for players of all levels. It can also be used as a MIDI controller for recording drum parts much more realistically than you could ever do with a keyboard. Features include new stereo drum samples, 2 included foot pedals, 174 total sounds, digital reverb, chorus & DSP, and GM compatibility. Its stereo speakers and headphone output let you play or rehearse with other musicians or privately. Mine came with the drum pedals, the drum pedal I inserted into a custom made base, so mine doesnt go anywhere when I am playing.

It teaches u to be sensitive and as I play in a praise and worship group in my local church its ideal. I use the DD-55 prs since two months now and I'm starting to have well in hand. It comes with a silent snare stand and AC adapter, but I understand that all stores do not offer systmatiquement the adapter (it also works on drumkit for dsesp rs). The sample quality of the sounds on the DM Lite are pretty basic, limited dynamically, but better than most sounds that come with a kit of this price. You could spend twice the price on a ‘better’ kit and find the sounds are no better.Surprisingly, this unit blew away both the Roland SPD-6 and even the SPD-20. Pad response and feel was superior to Rolands. The round pads are more intuitive than Rolands. The sounds blew out the SPD-6, and were just as good as the SPD-20. Very high quality samples-fun and easy to use. If you want a pad setup no need to go with a Roland SPD. If you want the VDRUM sounds but dont want to buy the entire VDRUM kit, get the Yamaha DD55--has all those popular sounds in it. Also, fits on a snare stand! Very sturdy construction, the pedals maybe are a little buit light, sometimes they skid around on wooded floors. Other than that, top class! This kit is more about getting started on an extremely portable setup that can be played practically anywhere. In this respect, and considering the cheap pricing, sounds are not really a priority. That said, you can modify and store your own configurations of the onboard kit sounds if you like. Notable Features Yamaha offer the DTX400K which is their most basic model of electronic drums. It costs around as much as a Roland TD-1K but on many online stores it comes with a few extras, such as a pair of headphones that you can use to monitor your playing. The Yamaha DD-55 marks a transition to a more professional and versatile digital-drumming instrument. New stereo-sampled voices, a bass boost system and digital stereo processing give the DD-55 an irresistible, thundering beat. And with the addition of adjustable pad sensitivity, you can pound out a spicy Latin rhythm with your hands. With its powerful features, this is no mere toy, although anyone can enjoy it.