All user reviews for the Yamaha DD-55

I contributed to this as a christmas present from Sound Control for 121 of your english pounds. A VERY good deal seeing as the RRP is often quoted as £199. I got it because I am now in Uni, and can't take my 8-piece Premier Kit with me.

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.

Ok, so it's no set of V-drums. But then I Couldn't fit that in my student digs anyway. (and the fact i didn't have £1500 to spend also swayed my dersicion!) It also isn't a real drum kit, so don't use it for gigs folks!
Sometimes, if you set the kit to it's most sensitive, it'll play two voices when you hit one pad.

Very sturdy construction, the pedals maybe are a little buit light, sometimes they skid around on wooded floors. Other than that, top class!

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.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I purchased the unit from Grandma's Sound in Albuquerque, NM. I paid $199 and it came with a power supply.

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 good stuff pretty much stops there. The pads are not positioned like a true drum set. The hi hat is the center pad, and the snare is the lower left pad. The pedals are a piece of whimpy plasitc with a tiny button in the ceneter of it. After about 2 monts of playing the bass pedal finally gave out. On a minor note, the pads also mark your sticks up with a black film that gets onto other sets. The quality of the voices is ok, but they aren't quite right. The hi hats are the most noticible.

The construction is great except for the pedals.

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.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Purchased from ZZounds.com for $250 + shipping March 2003. I chose this unit because it had the most drum pads available short of a full electronic stage kit, which I didn't have room or money for.

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.

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.

The unit is reasonable for light use, but likely wouldn't withstand heavy hammering. Another complaint would be that the smaller "cymbal" pads should all be along the top, with the larger pads along the bottom, more like real drum sets. People totally new to drumming won't notice these shortcomings so much, but those used to real stage kits will quickly be disappointed, because many types of common hits can't be done because of the arrangement of the pads. The arrangement of pads also seems a bit cramped; it would benefit from a couple more inches between all.

The unit does well as a standalone unit if used with headphones or an external amp+speakers, but the MIDI functinality is a near-disaster. No instrument profiles I could find allowed the DD55 to function as normal as a MIDI controller on my computer. The only way I can use it as a controller is to simply record whatever MIDI data it puts out when played, and then edit the MIDI files in PC software after recording to put the signals into the right notes. It's disappointing because there really isn't anything else currently competing with the DD55 now, you can either spend a lot less and get only four pads, or spend a lot more for a stage-level instrument.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Argos (uk) 160 pounds-bargain!
I wanted to drum in the most confined space and not disturb the family or neighboors.

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.
An authentic sound and playing on this and a set of drums don't make a difference really. Easy storage tuck under the bed or in a cupboard. General MIDI compatible.

The Hi hat mas in the centre. and the excessive noise made when hitting the drums,
knocking against the unit. The dial was a bit annoying to use. It hasn't got a tutor on it, pedals were a bit strange to use

Stable, can take lots of punishment and manical drumming (Keith Moon style). Very compact I mean compact no kidding, my house is tiny and there's stil space for it. Quality is good, well built. The feel of the pads as well eg. the floor tom pad is bouncier than the snare.

Recommendable to anyone even the serious drummer, good for jamming with the band

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Amazon.com for $229.00 with free shipping. This is the lowest price I've been able to find anywhere.

Very responsive and comfortable pads. Very professional high quality sounds (stereo sampled). Very easy and intuitive to use--lots of pre-loaded kits included. Price is a steal! I have a Roland V drum professional set and the DD55 makes it almost obsolete (sound wise for extra drums sounds). The DD55 has plenty as an add on to an acoustic kit. Also, important to note is this blows away the Roland SPD-6 and SPD-11 and SPD-20 (if you're a drummer. maybe not if you are a programmer). Has MIDI too. I play depeche mode remixes so i need lots of cool electronics, and this suits me okay...certainly better than a huge v drum setup.

hi hat pad in center instead of on the left

Very high quality pads--plastics could be more solid. This will hold up though. WILL FIT ON A SNARE DRUM STAND!!!

for $229, buy two--one for you to use and one to send to Roland to show them what there SPD pad controllers should be like.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Purchased for $229 with free shipping on amazon.com. Tried it out at Sam Ash Music first. I wanted a single solution pad set up becuase I own a Roland V Drums Pro setup and it's too big and gets really boring to play (not as fun as acoustic drums NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE SAYS)I still need plenty of electronic in my performances and recording.

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!

On/off button a bit flimsy for this pro-quality product. Hi hat pad in center--should be on left side.

High quality sounds. Plastic construction could be improved. Silver color. Nice LCD.

DO NOT waste time and money on Roland pads--I own them. Yamaha DD-55 is just as good and has MIDI too for all you programming freaks. I remix Depeche Mode (so I need lots of cool sounds) and had no problem with the DD-55

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

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).
Assets:
- Compact, fits any snare stand
- The look hot plate, we like it or not
- Two books with replaceable pedals, including the sensitive vlocitbr /> - Compatible with General MIDI (GM)
- Fashion hand-percussion
- 170 multisample sounds excellent bill and any order (drums jazz, rock, reggae, classical ... as well as congas, timbales, bells ...)
- Reverb intgredsactivable
- 100 songs of all styles to learn how to use it
- 7 + 2 pedals pads (8 controllers VLOC the sensitive pads with 4 large (5''large''and 3 small)
- Free assignment pads (allows for the equivalent of a double pedals
- Volume of each pad individually adjustable
- 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)
- SETTING THE sensitivity of the pads

Cons:
- Quality of pedals really mdiocre (fortunately what are replaceable!)
- Arrangement of pads requires adaptation PERIOD
- A single custom kit!
- A single song recorded!
- Reset all the presets if you unplug (even if the batteries): ultrachiant if one carries
- Rods supplied throwing IMMEDIATE
- 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)
- No progressive opening of the hi-hat (open or close only)

In conclusion: the IDAL tool for entering drum patterns in computer music thanks to MIDI for drummers who need to train in dplacement. A dsireuses avoided for people to really learn the drumkit (valid for all batteries in electronic general) I use it to make my drum patterns much more human and add a little improv (bearings, buzz roll, daddy-mommy, mills ... go flawlessly). Today, I could not do without it and I would do so this choice without hsiter. The sounds and pads are available - for me - much better than the Roland SPD-20 and SPD-S.
The quality-price ratio is excellent (classic Yamaha).
It possde everything you ask of a drumpad. Go, I put a 9 for the pedals and not super "problem of memory"