Feature:
It would be nice to have multi-outs, and a bigger display, but the programming features far outshine the TD-3 I also considered. The voice layering I mentioned above is great. And the stand has extra support bracing, which is a nice touch. Lots of usable sounds.
Quality:
The quality seems appropriate for the price and target audience. I don't think it's marketed towards the touring musician, so they can get away with composite clamps and such, but for home use or a weekly church gig, the hardware is just fine. The pads themselves are very sturdy and have a nice feel.
Value:
The module alone makes it a value compared to the competition. Yes, the Roland sounds good OOTB, but seems brain-dead (function-wise) compared to the DTX3.
Desirability:
It can fit in a small space, has great features and good sound, and heck, that red tubing accents sure are purty. How much did I want it? Enough to buy it!
Sound:
As with any musical instrument, it takes a bit of tweaking to find the "perfect" sound, but the preset kits are a good start. The voice layering and fully programmable velocity-switching fuctions help -- something you won't find on similarly-priced Roland kits.
Ease of Use:
Unpack the boxes, unfold the stand, mounts the pads, hook up the labeled (on both ends) pad cables, plug in the wall-wart and headphones, and go. Initial setup takes well under 10 minutes. Of course, it took a few days to dial the pad heights the way I like them, but getting it up and running is really quick.
Support:
I e-mailed Yamaha to find out about an extra arm brace for the floor-tom support arm, even including a picture of the part I wanted, since the individual RS70 rack parts aren't publised on-line. The response was to call Yamaha here in SoCal. So I called them up and got through to the right department in less than a minute. The price they wanted for the parts (which weren't in stock) were waaaay too high, so I used some parts from old Tama and USS keyboard stands to do the job. I was just impressed that I could get the right person on the phone (and she was very pleasant, I must add) pretty quickly.
Overall:
For my needs (hobbyist musician looking to brush up on drum skills while using minimal precious space and being able to incorporate into home studio without having to use a half-dozen mics or annoy the wife) -- it was almost perfect. My only real beef with the kit was having to use essential a tom pad as a hihat. I immediately resolved that by adding a Roland CY-5 hihat/splash trigger as a hihat. I had to play with the trigger input settings a bit, but I got it to work well -- even the bow and edge triggering (different sounds for each, and layering) and the cymbal choking.
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