Last Updated on July 30, 2021 by Danny
Yamaha is one of the biggest names in electronic drum set manufacturing. It has come a long way from its humble beginning in the late 1980s, introducing a variety of electronic drum kits with the most advanced features for almost three successful decades.
In 2013, Yamaha has remarkably reached another milestone upon marketing one of its most famous mid-level electronic drumkit, the Yamaha DTX562K.
Yamaha DTX562K Electronic Drum Kit Review
The Yamaha DTX562K is an 8-piece electronic kit, famed for its DTX-Pads, advanced hybrid DTX502 sound module, and flexible features, that are designed for maximum playability and astounding performances.
With its wide range of built-in features, realistic sound, and satisfying response, several drummers all over the globe have come to love this product.
Whether you are considering buying this product for road performance or studio use, this drum kit offers a variety of options and possibilities that will satisfy your drumming needs. Also, this kit is more expensive than other kits in the DTX series.
Each product has its set of strengths and weaknesses, and DTX562K is no exception. While this product has earned numerous positive reviews, there are still specific areas and features that could be improved.
Pros
- This drum set has a user-friendly interface and an advanced sound module with massive expandability, compatibility, and playability.
- With its sound module, it is possible to signal trigger sounds from your acoustic drums and incorporate it with a specific trigger sound from your sound module, allowing a natural sound reinforcement. This module expands your setup to a hybrid acoustic-electronic kit, which most modules today are not even capable of.
- The Silicone drum pads are made with multiple zones of sensing technology, ideal for performing dynamic grooves, fills, and complex techniques. The snare pad can respond dynamically and allows head, open-rim, and closed-rim stokes.
- With its headphone out and volume reduction, you can play for hours without bothering anyone in your house or around your neighborhood.
- The response and the realistic sound of the multi-zone cymbal pads encourage creativity and extensive playability, without causing discomfort to your wrists even after prolonged playing.
Cons
- With these high-quality features, the kit comes at a more expensive price which is not a good option especially if you are planning to invest for an affordable electronic drum kit.
- Some buyers are disappointed with the module’s limited memory capacity for sound samples and added drum kits.
- Some buyers prefer mesh heads over Yamaha’s silicone pads because, with silicone pads, you can not tweak or tune the pads using a drum key.
What’s in the box?
As mentioned earlier, the Yamaha DTX562K is an 8-piece set featuring multi-zone drum and cymbal heads, and Hybrid designed Drum module.
- It comes with a DTX502 sound module, which has great features, expandability, hybrid configurations, and training functions.
- With this sound module, you’ll have more options and features to explore, while providing you an intuitive interface where you could work and do functions such as recording, sound layering, and groove/rhythm training.
- Upon purchase, you will be able to use some of Yamaha’s well-crafted drum pads, starting from its XP80 12-inch Snare pad, two XP70 7-inch rack tom pads, XP70 7-inch floor tom pad, and a KP65 6.5” rubber head kick pad.
- Like most of mid to high-level electronic kits, the product does not come with the bass drum pedal, snare stand, and drum throne. But the snare, tom, and cymbal holders are all provided upon purchase.
- The only hardware you’ll get upon purchase is the HS650A hi-hat stand, PA-130 Power adapter, audio cables, Module holder, and Yamaha’s RS-502 Rack Stand.
- Aside from these, the DTX-562K comes with a solid set of cymbal pads, designed with advanced multi-sensing technology, capable of pre-choke, choke, and cymbal swell response.
- It has one PCY-135 13-inch Crash, one PCY-135 Ride cymbal, and Yamaha’s famous RHH-135 Hi-hat.
The quality of the drum and cymbal pads together with its advanced hybrid sound module make Yamaha DTX562K stand out from most of its counterparts.
Key Feature
The Yamaha DTX562K has a wide variety of features that have been applauded by amateurs and professional drummers alike. From its hardware, pad architecture, and sound module design, this kit has surpassed the expectations for an average drumkit.
The intuitive interface, excellent response, and quiet nature of the kit have made this kit the top choice of intermediate to professional drummers.
Realistic RHH135 Hi-hat
Yamaha has made an excellent job in engineering the RHH135 Hi-hat. With this hi-hat, you can do more dynamic techniques such as sizzles, hi-hat barks, and accented notes.
Upon purchasing the DTX562K, you also get Yamaha’s HS650A Hi-hat Stand. This is an exclusive stand specially made to mount the given hi-hat cymbals just like in an acoustic setup.
Large 3-Zone Cymbal Pads
It comes with 2 massive triple-zone cymbal pads, modeled to replicate the acoustics, motion, and response of acoustic cymbals.
With this multi-sensing technology, you can perform bow, edge, and bell strokes with a striking natural sound that would make you feel like you are playing an acoustic kit.
By holding the cymbals and hitting it with your other hand, you get a nice “pre-choke” sound, a feature that makes Yamaha’s cymbal pads stand out.
Multi-zoned Textured Cellular Silicone Heads
While some people prefer mesh heads over Yamaha’s Silicone heads, the unique silicone pad allows for quieter practice sessions without compromising the response and stick rebound.
With Yamaha’s DTX drum pads, you get a nice range of dynamic sounds, allowing you to perform soft ghost notes, cross-sticks, rimshots, and multiple buzz rolls.
High-quality DTX-502 Sound Module
The high-quality sound module of the DTX562K provides a wide variety of features designed for hybrid setups, complementing both acoustic and electronic drums and cymbals.
The DTX-502 module offers great built-in features and functions that would help you both in your training and sound recording. It contains 691 sounds, 50 drum kit presets, 50 user-defined kits, 128 melodies, and training functions, which are all guaranteed to give you a rich playing experience.
Quick Access Metronome
The sound module supports tap-tempo, and an adjustable click track with a range of 30 Bpm to 300 Bpm. You can further adjust the click by putting accents on specific note subdivisions such as the quarter note, 8th note, or 16th notes. The module also offers a metronome capable of providing a solid tempo for different time signatures.
VSTi Plugin
With Yamaha’s DTX502 sound module, you can easily use any of your VSTi plug-ins and assign them to your kit.
With the right settings and configuration, you can implement and assign triggers and sounds, and access a wider range of options that would make your kit sound the way you want it to be.
Sound layering is also possible with the kit’s sound module, allowing you to customize more sounds, melodies, and kits to your liking.
Integrating Electronic-Acoustic sounds
As mentioned earlier the sound module is designed to handle hybrid kits, meaning you can both use Yamaha’s electronic pads together with your acoustic drums/setup.
Adding electronic pads
To add drum pads in your setup, you’ll need to attach Yamaha’s CSAT924A cymbal stand with an acoustic drum holder. The module supports 12 input triggers. Given that you originally have 8-pieces of input pads, you can assign 4 more additional pads.
Using an Acoustic drum
On the other hand, if you plan to use an acoustic drum, you can attach a signal trigger to any of your drums and connect it with your sound module. The signal trigger sends a signal to your sound module, and depending on what response you want to happen, the acoustic kit and the sound module will produce one solid sound. This is ideal if you want to put more sustain, or natural reinforcements on the sound of your acoustic kit.
Training functions
Yamaha offers a wide variety of training functions with this drum kit which is beneficial for your improvement as a drummer. Some of the things that the kit offer is Tempo increase/decrease, click/sound muting, Fast blast, groove, measure break, and Rhythm gate.
These features are all in the module’s training mode, giving you an accurate visualization of your hits so you can work well consistently with the song’s groove and time.
Play-along and Recording
Aside from the training functions of the sound module, it also offers massive play-along tracks. With this feature, you can play along with the built-in songs or records, or you can import your Wav files so you can practice on any song you want.
If you want to work on a specific part of a song, you can mute, or loop specific parts until you feel comfortable playing it.
Furthermore, the sound module has a recording function which you can easily start by clicking the record button.
You can choose to record your performance with the preset songs, allowing you to evaluate your performance by listening to the recording afterward. You can also save any of your recordings or songs after performance.
Connectivity and Compatibility
In terms of connectivity, you can connect the sound module to your computer through a USB host-port to perform more advanced functions with your Digital audio workstation software.
The DTX-502 is also compatible with MIDI Devices and could also be used as a MIDI-controller.
Setting up Yamaha DTX562K
The Rack is partially pre-assembled upon purchase, making the DTX562K setup of this kit a lot easier. First, you can start by connecting the cymbal arms, and flank legs on the rack, then the drum pads on their specific rods on the rack.
Attach the snare pad on the lowest left rod, the two XP70 7-inch rack toms on the middle, and the XP70 floor tom on the rightmost rod.
After that, you can now position the cymbals on the cymbal arms and adjust the height to suit your reach and preference. The kick pad is intuitive to set up, make sure it stands firmly on a vertical position, and attach any of your kick drum pedal on the base of the KP65 Kick Drum.
Like most electric kits, plastic or non-felt beaters are recommended. Finally, once you have properly connected the cables to the sound module, and set up the right triggers, you can now start playing.
Alternatives to DTX562K
If you are looking for a kit similar to DTX562, there are good electronic kits in the market offering competitive features at the same price range.
For one, Roland’s TD-25KV is a good consideration for its features and price. The pads are made of mesh heads, so if you prefer to mesh more than Yamaha’s Silicone pads, you might want to check the TD-25KV in detail here.
Another good alternative is the Alesis DM10 MKII. For a price almost similar to Yamaha DTX562K, the DM10 MKII offers a wider setup featuring 6 pieces of drum pads, 2 crash cymbals, 1 ride cymbal, and a complete hi-hat.
If you think you’ll need a bigger setup than what the Yamaha DTX562K offers, the DM10 MKII is indeed a great option.
Summing it up
The Yamaha DTX562K is a great option that comes with a uniquely powerful sound module, versatile for all your drumming needs.
With this module, you can use any of your acoustic drums together with the electronic pads to create one solid hybrid acoustic-electronic setup. All drum pads are made from Yamaha’s unique Silicone heads, designed for maximum playability with the least amount of sound.
Positional sensing for the snare pad allows dynamic techniques from silent ghost notes to multiple buzz rolls. The cymbal pads integrated with a triple-zone sensing technology offer similar acoustics and response as that of copper-based cymbals.
The training functions, Kit customization, play-along songs, and recording features are some of the things that made the Yamaha DTX562K stand out. If the price is not a problem for you, this kit will leave you breathless and engaged to pursue improvement in your drumming pursuit.