Yamaha DD-9 Electric Drum Kit (Yamaha DD-9 Drum Pad Machine)

Member Name: mo79

Product:	Yamaha DD-9 Drum Pad Machine
Date:	26/06/00 (9010 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, good for occasional hobbyists or kids

Disadvantages: Poor responsive pads, no longevity, not a very diverse, product or useful too for the 'musician'

Yamaha's DD-9 electric drum kit, which is still around and has been since the early 90's (atleast that's as far back as I can trace it) is the budget electric percussion solution for the budding drummer...Only it's crap. Maybe I'm being a bit more biased as I own a proper acoustic kit, but no matter what; no electric drum kit, or drum machine for that matter, will deter the natural sounds of cowskins and a person working up a sweat behind a kit.
The best thing about this kit is that it's portable, somewhat attractive (the design has changed slightly over the years), it has tempo settings and a song bank of around 100 styles which you can play along to or try to emulate. Also battery life is good, though you can plug into an AC Adaptor too.
The range of mix and matchable drum sounds are diverse enough and 'okay' too for the price tag of about £100 (atleast when I bought it), and there's a predefined selection of kit styles, which will save you the hassle of choosing a right combo for the four pads, most of the time.
The pads are rubbish! As with most non-expensive home electric drum kits (you know the ones, you see them in Argos or Index with all the 3rd rate 'beginner' instruments; nearly coupled with the toys pages!), when you hit the pads you hear more of the rubber which is so unsatisfying, and the pad strike doesn't initiate a sound instantly, and sometimes not at all - this is the danger of volume/hit sensitive pads; this feature won't work here.
Though all in all, it's not a bad machine for a kids, but it's just a toy. It's an insult to call this an instrument, as it's longevity is poor and it's pointless and unproductive to use. If you've got one sell it, buy a drum machine (i.e. a programmable drumming solution), or shell out for a proper kit. Don't buy this at all if you're serious about music; recommended for the hobbyist however.

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