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Featuring a 10" snare with 13" and 15" rubber cymbals.

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More sounds, more preset kits, more play along songs - that's generally what's expected from a new electronic drum kit release. It's rare that manufacturers break with the 'bigger is better' ethos, after all.

So it was something of a surprise when the DTXpress 4 arrived with the news that it has fewer than half the sounds of the outgoing DTXpress 3, fewer drumsets and only 60 percent of the songs. Doesn't sound like progress does it? Despite this, there was something about the news that had us more excited about this DTX than any previous incarnation.

In the past, some have felt slightly let down by the sounds, stumped by the user interface and somewhat short changed by the rubber-padded playing surfaces of the DTXseries. In terms of sonic performance, it's been hard to avoid the conclusion that Yamaha would be better off concentrating on supplying quality rather than quantity.

So is less more on version four?

Top of the line

The latest DTX comes in both Standard and Special varieties, and it's the latter that we're dealing with here. The upgrades over the less expensive Standard include an extra cymbal pad (three instead of two) and a bigger snare pad (10" as opposed to 8"), but there are more similarities between the two models than there are differences.

Both are based around the completely reworked DTXpress 4 module, which is far better to use than the previous version, and both feature the same attractive curved rack. This is a good looking set-up that is both rock solid and easy to move around. Even with all pads attached, it's an easy task for two people to just grab it and shift it.

Before we get to the not-insignificant arrival of that new brain, a word about the physical nature of the DTXpress 4. It won't have escaped your attention that, unlike certain other competitors, the Yamaha still features rubber pads. They're a good size (13" and 15" in the case of the cymbals) and that 10"snare pad also sports a controller to quickly and easily adjust parameters like snare tension, pitch etc. But there's not a 'real-feeling' mesh head among them.

There will be those who immediately discount the DTX because of this, but we wouldn't. Mesh head pads are great - they're easy on the wrist, they're quiet and you can generally tension them to taste - but we don't object to good rubber pads like these. The rubber compounds used nowadays are forgiving and playable, so it's sensible to judge a kit as a whole rather than focussing solely on this feature.

The brain game

The DTX pads are a known component from the DTXpress 4's predecessor, but the module that accompanies them is a completely new proposition. Containing 427 individual sounds where version three boasted 990, the DTXpress 4 brain breaks away from the half-rack format of the previous type.

Instead, the whizzy stuff is built into a silvery brick with a big display. This makes for less squinting at a thin LCD window, and changes to the software brings adjustment of parameters to within easy reach. Fewer button pushes are required to get to what you'll want to tweak most often, and although the DTX still offers a very decent level of control over your sounds, it's a pretty intuitive device.