Customer Reviews

Yamaha 4 Pad Digital Drum Machine

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I recieved this as a Christmas gift from my wife. I am very
pleased with the overall performance . I am a muscian who
plays a variety of instruments including drums and have been
for30 years. I write and record original music and find this
to be an excellent aid to keep me in time while recording
stringed instrument tracks.The effects and rythymn tracks
included are also a plus. This is a good beginner item for
that young drummer to learn the basics on, without having
to shell out mega bucks for a big set of drums that the
child may loose interest in. They are also all but silent
when used with headphones, so everyone in the house will
not have to hear them. One cautionary note-mine DID NOT
include the ac adapter as advertised; amazon.com is
attempting to remedy this. You can pick up a 12 volt ada-
pter at any Radio Shack for about twelve bucks.

I don't see the point in a digital drum set. My parents bought this for me for christmas when I asked for a drum set...but I played with it some and it didn't help me learn much. These things just don't have the feel of a drum set. And as for this particular model, it's quite low-end. My advice is to save a bit more money and buy a snare drum.

I got this for my 9 year old pounding the desk daughter. She really likes it and I like it too. Sounds are adequate and it offers some pre-recorded beats (hundreds) that are fun to plug in and play along with my guitar.
I'm not sure she could become a great drummer with this alone but, it comes with a DVD and gives you a nice adequate beat pad for playing along with the radio or tv and for the price..was a great choice.

Where's the electrical chord guys?????? Seems to be the one negative but batteries AA will suffice for now.

I'm a guitar player that decided to pick up the drums as a second instrument, and also to help in developing a better sense of rhythm.

In the course of my studies, I happened across the DD-20C, and it seemed to offer some really nice features for what seemed like a reasonable price. The unit itself has 10 preassigned drum kits, plus the ability to assign your own custom setup. In addition, it offers 16 special effects, 4 drum roll effects, adjustable tempo, and 100 different styles to play along with which cover a wide range of genres. Not only that, but it offers the package in a very intuitive interface that will get even the rank beginner up and going quickly. Sounds like a pretty nice deal, right? It would be... if it worked like it's supposed to.

Actually I'm on my second set right now, and this one is about to go back for a refund. The first set I had the pads were so insensitive as to make the unit nearly unplayable. What I mean by this is that there was maybe a square inch or so of a sweet spot where the pads would sound at all, and even then I really had to strike hard. The second set I'm on now is far better in response than the first, but still falls short of acceptable.

For starters, the pads don't feel like a real drum skin at all. If one were to compare against an acoustic snare drum for example, the snare has a certain "bounce" to it that this unit doesn't have. Basically the pads absorb most of the impact, and this in turn makes doing any kind of fast work or rudiments all but impossible.

Also, even though my second set is more responsive from the first, I have found that it still takes a considerable amount of force in comparison to a real drum to get the pads to sound off. Keep in mind that the pads themselves are only 4 inches or so in diameter... an actual snare starts at 12". In all fairness though, I really can't hold the pad size alone against the DD-20 as Yamaha did have to keep the overall size and cost manageable, and in reality if there weren't the feel and responsiveness issue, the pad size should be sufficient. HOWEVER, when these combined factors are taken into consideration, I have found that it makes for a frustrating experience.

My opinion for what it's worth, is that new drummers who are looking to the DD-20 to learn on should do it the old-school way, and start with a quality practice pad instead. They are considerably less expensive (a ReelFeel 12" pad and sticks will run about half of what this unit costs), indestructible, easier to work with, and offer at least a reasonable approximation of the feel of a real drum. Not only that, but a pad also inherently allows for quiet practice.

Maybe Yamaha will fix the feel and sensitivity problems with the next revision of this drum set... then it might be worth it. Until then, I feel that the DD-20C is best avoided.

My son loves it. The only two drawbacks were; no AC Adapter and you will need a mini jack adapter for headphones. I would recommend this product for any future beatnik.

My five year old wanted drums for christmas so my dad got her this. she loves it and so do we. it has volume control and you can use head phones with it. It has good sound and so far isnt driving me nuts. she hasn't had any of the problems other people described with thiers.

In the description that ToysRUs has on the Amazon page it states that the AC Adapter is included in the box. There is no adapter and I don't look forward to using AA batteries. We selected this item because it said that it WOULD have batteries.