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Yamaha DD-55
by Steve87
I can't believe I found this....
When I was 12 I decided I wanted to play the drums because let's face it, they're awesome.
Well, Christmas morning comes and wouldn't you know it, I have these sitting there in all their shiny glory. Much to the annoyance of my parents I spent the next 6 months playing these babies ... and they were nothing but good to me, the pads are ULTRA heavy duty, they stand up to anything you throw at them.
On many occasions I dropped these things onto hard floors and they just stood up to it, definitely a Yamaha product.
The sound bank is absolutely huge, and the editing of your pad sounds is as simple as pie, any kind of drum combination you want is right there at the press of a button, and it's very easy to get to know your way around. I have always been into metal music so naturally I want double kick pedals, all I had to do was take a minute to find one out of the many choices to replace my hi-hat pedal sound and BAM!
The sound quality itself is absolutely fantastic, the sounds are crisp and clear and depending on your volume setting they can be very loud, you could always whack in some headphones and stop people getting jealous at how good you're getting, however this doesn't cut out the loud sound of stick on pad.
There is a hand percussion mode which makes the pads more sensitive and allows you to play with your hands, this is kinda cool but tbh I never really remember using it for anything except smashing out some bongos on occasion, which is always fun.
I do however have a criticism, I often found myself getting frustrated as sometimes certain things I did wouldn't register, sometimes I'd hit two things simultaneously and one or both would just cancel and I'd hear nothing at all, this obviously was a major pain in the bum as it just throws everything out of whack.
If you have a certain someone you know or even you yourself would like to learn how to play the drums I would definitely recommend these to get yourself off the ground and get yourself a basic understanding of rhythm.
I found the transition from this set to a real set very easy when it came to making the leap, this is a very cheap and effective way to get yourself going. Very fun.
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Yamaha DD-55
by danny691
I think one of a number of obstacles in front of many youngsters wanting to learn the drums is the fact that they take up so much room. Portable instruments are obviously a lot easier to transport for practice, and the space they require can be a clear barrier. The other issue you may be faced with is the cost. Full-sized drum kits can ... cost many hundreds of pounds, and if you fall out of love with the instrument it can be a pain to shift, as again the issue of size comes into play. The solution may be a slight compromise but here we have the Yamaha DD-55 which is effectively an electric drum kit. Priced at around the £80-£100 mark it isn't cheap, but it is competitively priced in comparison to your average drum kit.
This isn't the only electric drum kit Yamaha make, but I find it is the most accurate in terms of real sound and natural positioning of the pads. There are seven touch-sensitive pads on this 'kit', each one is fully customisable to your personal needs. The reactions of the pads are dependant upon how hard you hit them, and this is a key feature for me. There are two foot pedals with the kit, ensuring as close a match to a full-sized kit as possible. Don't get me wrong, this IS NOT going to perfectly replicate the natural drum kit experience, but it is great for practicing on at home. You can position the bongo, tom-tom and snare drums wherever you desire, which allows you to make the 'kit' your own. The foot pedals finish off the effect.
The possibilities really are endless, as you are able to add a backing beat to help you along the way. You can record and play back your own customised beat, or select one from the Yamaha catalogue stored on the DD-55. There are other useful features, one of which you would expect with this kind of product. A headphone jack allows you to 'silently' play without disturbing anyone - something which places it at an advantage over a real drum kit!
One thing I do think could be improved on is the basic and tiny screen towards the front of the DD-55. This is a very basic feature and could offer a lot more information to the user. There is an Official Yamaha stand, designed specifically for this model. For an extra £20 it is surely worth the added cost and although you can rest the DD-55 on a table the stand is a very valuable accessory. The reason I say this is that the stand is fully adjustable - something a table cannot be, and this allows you to achieve the correct and comfortable playing height.
Although this is a very realistic piece of kit, both in terms of sound and technique it will never replace the drum kit. There is nothing like playing a drum kit, apart from playing the real thing. The Yamaha DD-55 is a great piece of kit and gives anyone practicing the instrument a taste of what it is like to play. The conclusion here is that the DD-55 has its place when it comes to practice for drum players, but there will always be the need to play the physical kit regularly, also.
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Yamaha DD-65
by SJ2011
This was bought for my boyfriends 9 year old son who desperately wanted a drum kit for Christmas a couple of years ago unfortunately his mum said no way and we live in a flat with no room for a full size kit so the compromise was to buy him the Yamaha DD-65.
The DD-65 is one unit with eight touch sensitive rubber pads ... providing snare, toms and cymbals and two pedals to control the bass drum and hi hat. There are various programmable drum sounds and patterns and also some pre loaded tracks to play along with. The unit doesn't come with a stand so you can just use in on top of a table or if you want a stand any snare stand from a normal drum kit holds it perfectly and you can pick the snare stand and a basic drum stool up quite cheaply.
The unit is pretty robust ours is still in good condition and all the pads still work. We've had it since Christmas 2009 in that time it's had plenty of use by us and the various nieces and nephews who come to visit even my boyfriends son who now has a full size electronic kit at home still mucks about with this when he stays over.
The DD-65 has a speaker and a headphone jack the speaker is ok but the sound is better with a decent set of headphones and also means the rest of the household don't have to listen to it although don't think this means it is silent as there is still noise from the sticks hitting the pads! Both my boyfriend and I play guitar and bass so already having amps at the house meant the temptation to connect this to a bass amp was too much for us although I'm not sure if the people next door shared our enthusiasm or appreciated the racket it did sound pretty good through the amp!
One of the good things about this is the aux in feature which allows you to connect a cd or mp3 player so you can play along to tracks this makes it great fun for practice and a useful learning tool. It also means there's less chance of getting bored which you probably would if you were just playing drums with no music. There's also the option to record yourself and save it to play back although you can only save 4 or 5 tracks.
The one downside is the pedals it comes with the small plastic pedals do not simulate the action of real pedals in anyway although there is the option to buy a kick bass pad for use with a normal drum pedal and a pedal controller for the hi hat. The hi hat pedal and kick pad cost around £60 plus you still need the bass drum pedal to use with the kick pad so it's not a cheap option with the DD-65 costing around £140 then adding another £120 for the extra pedals if you have the room it might be best to buy one of the full electric drum kits or an acoustic drum kit with silencer pads for quiet practice.
We were lucky a friend gave us an old kick pad from his Yamaha electronic kit and an old drum pedal when he upgraded his kit so we only had to buy the hi hat controller.
Although this was bought for my boyfriends son we've both used it as well it's fun to play and although hitting a rubber pad doesn't give you the feel that you get with acoustic drums it is a good practice tool and will help when you move onto a real kit. The pads are obviously much smaller than real drums but the DD-65 will help you get the basics of playing and more importantly can help with keeping time by letting you play along with tracks rather than just pounding drums with nothing to keep time to.
The DD-65 has also been used by us as a drum machine for jamming along to with bass or guitar the pre programmed drum tracks plus the ability to record your own make it a useful practice aid for guitar and bass as well as drums.
Overall this is a good alternative for anyone who wants to play but doesn't have room for a full kit.The DD-65 doesn't take up much room and it's perfect for kids as well as adults. It's a shame the extra foot pedal and kick pad aren't a bit cheaper as they do make a difference over the plastic pedals. If you have the space for a full kit I would say buy a full acoustic or electronic kit as you can buy them for the same price of buying this and all the extras.
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