Our closing article on the full range of Yamaha products at NAMM 2015 and what they can add to a drummer's playing zone. We take you through digital and hybrid-acoustic settings all the way to studio and stage settings. We added six videos featuring the new and free iOS Touch App for the electronic drums, we show all the DTX502 Hybrid Packs including a demo, and we broaden our drummer world by looking into the Yamaha AG06 hybrid mixing console and USB audio interface, and we go literally on stage with the DXR loudspeakers. If you are into programming and creating beats yourself, there is also a demo of the new Steinberg Groove Agent 4.
The free Yamaha iOS DTX502 Touch App The DTX502 Touch app lets the user control all the features of the DTX502 module using their iOS touch-screen when connected via USB. It provides easy sound editing and layering for each pad of any kit to create up to 50 custom user kits. Custom Click, Menu and Trigger settings can also be saved and all user data is backed up inside the app.
Jim Haler, your tour guide for this year at Yamaha, tells you all you need to know about the apps in the first video.
The new Yamaha Hybrid Packs In this video, Jim Haler shows you the solution Yamaha came up with to easily create your own setup of hybrid drums. The three available hybrid packs come with everything you need to turn your drumset into a hybrid kit. All packages include the DTX502 module, two acoustic drum triggers, and one or two electronic drum pads, plus all the cables and mounting hardware.
Yamaha doesn't think small, so a combination of acoustic drums including the DTX502 Hybrid Pack is brought to the market as well. Suggested retail price for this full setup is $2,600.
The three hybrid packs feature:
the HP570 pack with one TP70 7" single-zone pad (price: $660)
the HP580 includes one XP80 8" 3-zone DTX-PAD (price: $990)
the HP587 features both TP70 and XP80 pads (price: $1,150)
The second video shows you the TP70 single-zone pad and 3-zone DTX-PAD. The third video has a full demo and background on the HP587 pack incorporated with an acoustic drumset.
The Yamaha AG06 hybrid mixing console and USB audio interface A key feature of the AG Series is the intuitive 'to pc' switch that allows users to select which inputs get routed back to a desktop or iOS device. Besides the fact that this is a great feature, it has a lot more functions that are very useful and clever. Mari Arakawa from Yamaha gives you all the details and its mobility. She actually used the AG06 in her car, at the beach, turning the car speakers into a PA. That is mobile!
Amplifying your drums with the DXR loudspeakers More speaker talk is done in the fifth video with this article. Yamaha also provides complete systems to amplify your drums. Wheter it is on stage or in the rehearsal room, the quite affordable systems are already on the market for three years. Nevertheless it is good to learn about all the functions the loudspeakers have, how you can have your own drum monitors and to check the demo of the DXR loudspeakers in the video.
Steinberg demo Groove Agent 4.2 And for the die-hard drummers among us who are into Cubase and Cubase Artist, the last video contains a demo of the new Groove Agent SE 4.2. This video goes fast, but it shows almost everything you can do in less than three minutes.
Newly introduced to the Groove Agent SE 4 drum instrument featured in Cubase Pro 8 and Cubase Artist 8 is the acoustic drum kit, Acoustic Agent, with 20 drum style patterns. New is also the Allen Morgan Pop-Rock Toolbox with 30 construction kits, each with 25 to 30 audio and MIDI loops routed to predefined instruments, including channel strip and mixer settings.
