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Electronic drum kits, suggestions please


Mikeo

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Ok, I'm basically a guitar player and I do have an 5 piece acoustic drum kit here at the house. Premier makes the kit I have. I have redone the head with Evans, and learned how to keep a simple beat on a kit.

 

I am think maybe I should have a set of electronic drums and I could practice quietly, plus when I'm recording I wouldn't have to mic up a kit.

 

Sounds pretty simple, but what kit. They make a lot of em. I'm currently looking at a Roland TD 11 on line, at about 1000 bucks, so you know my price rage. I could go a little less money and maybe a little more money. I want real drum sounds, but I don't think I'm gonna get a real drum feel with any of the electronics kits. Read bad things about Simmons stuff, Yamaha would be fine too, it just so happens the the local GC had the Roland. Any suggestions would be helpful. My wife goes to bed early and she's killing my drumming time.:D

 

Thx in advance

 

 

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Go to under live sound and production and go to back stage with the band forum, there is a guy in there that plays electronic drums exclusively....ummmm forget his name..... something42. I've thought about it, and I've played a couple in stores, it just isn't the same feel, I'm sorry, just an opinion. I spose the more expensive kits maybe worth it but a good quality wood drum will be of value in 80 years if taken care of, the electric kit will eventually fail sooner or later.

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Go to under live sound and production and go to back stage with the band forum' date=' there is a guy in there that plays electronic drums exclusively....ummmm forget his name..... something42. I've thought about it, and I've played a couple in stores,[b'] it just isn't the same feel,[/b] I'm sorry, just an opinion. I spose the more expensive kits maybe worth it but a good quality wood drum will be of value in 80 years if taken care of, the electric kit will eventually fail sooner or later.

 

 

You know it.

I'll look him up

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I've got a roland TD9 and I think it's pretty great. The new Yamaha's are excellent too. The choice is basically between roland's mesh and yamaha's new soft rubber pads. I personally wouldn't go near any other brands. Not worth the headache just to save a few bucks.

 

If I were to do it today I would probably go with a yamaha kit. (they weren't out yet when I bought mine)

 

But honestly.....as an acoustic drummer who couldn't play for a while because of loudness issues....I basically wasted WAY too much time worrying about getting the "best most realistic feeling e drum heads". What I have come to realize is it doesn't matter. None of them are real heads. I just had to get over that. And in the end you just adjust your playing to what you have. I mean, both roland and yamaha surfaces respond very well. You just adjust....and it doesn't take long. The rebound on both is fantastic and not hard on the hands. In fact...in some ways they are probably better for your wrists than real drum heads. Certainly no worse.

 

My biggest concern was realism in sound. That's why I don't even use the Roland sounds from the module. Even roland and yamaha's best offerings pale in comparison to triggered software.

 

I run BFD3 on a computer and trigger it in real time with my TD9 kit. I can play probably....oh I don't know.....100 different kits at this point? All recorded at amazing studios like AIR in london, and Sound City in LA. Every mic option you could think of. Some of them Engineered by guys like Andy Johns and Jim Scott. Hell I can even play one of Ringo's own kits and one of Jon Bonham's kits too.

 

Now...they will never give you THAT sound of being in a room and hearing a drum played acoustically.....but....

 

For recording it's not even close. I would never go back to acoustic drums. There is no way I could ever come close to getting the sound quality I get using software, let alone the shear number of drums at my disposal. (and yes...they play perfectly...ghost notes..dynamics from loud to soft...all of it). It's so good I made a clip ages ago and posted it here and nobody could tell they weren't real.

 

And when just playing in real time messing about....it's like you are monitoring in an amazing studio and playing a perfectly mic'd kit........cause you are!

 

So yeah...if you want sound realism....it's software. The module sound have improved...but they are still not there yet.

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I use an expanded Roland TD-20 set up triggering a PDP drum kit using mesh heads. The only give away is the Roland cymbals, but I do use Sabian and Zildjians for live playing if the venue is large enough, most of the time I just use the Rolands.

 

 

I get a lot of compliments on the drum kit and the sounds. It normally is like " I don't like electronic drumkits, but yours sounds amazing." I spent a lot of time tweaking the module to get the sounds I wanted.

 

I agree with soundcreation that the triggered software is the best sounding, but that involves other equipment that you may or may not have. I get good sounds out of mine and my bands loves my kit, the sound of it, and the lower on-stage volume when we play out. And what he says about the drum heads is correct also.....it is an adjustment. The guitar player in my band loves to mess around with my kit.

 

The band i am in just finished recording about ten original songs and are in the process of mixing and the drums sound really good.

I have not had anyone be able to tell the recordings were done on an e-kit. I know some people can probably tell the difference, but most will not know the difference if you spend enough time on the sounds.

 

 

A used TD20 module is $1000+ by itself, but a td12 kit is a close alternative if you can't find a td20 kit, It is very close in sounds to the td20 but with less features.

 

I can't comment on the Yamaha kits as I have not been able to play on them, but I have heard very good things about them also.

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yes it is true that using software adds more "links to the chain". For me my set up is stationary. I don't gig and really just want it for home use and recording. It is one more thing to worry about playing live so you'd need to have a powerful set up to run software. And yeah it does add to the expense for sure.

 

That's the thing with the sound quality though....Jim is correct..... You can use module sounds and probably 99 % of the non drummer public will NEVER know the difference. Hell....most people can't even tell you what the low "thud" sound is and the high "crack" sound is on a real drum set.

 

The reason I chose software is simply because I could hear a difference in the detail things... and I couldn't live with it. If you can live with module sounds and they don't bug you then that's a bonus for sure cause you'll save money.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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soundcreation and others

 

 

Just wanted to thank you folks on your replies on the electronic drums. I went over the the GC yesterday to test drive a few different sets. I thought I might like the Roland TD 11K's the best. I also test drive the Roland ones with the full mesh heads. I thought the full mesh heads were a touch bouncy, but I think you can set the bouch . I also test drove some Yamaha ones. What I liked about the Yamaha ones was the sound samples of there kits. Yamaha is a real acoustic drum company and I figured if they can't sample there own acoustic drums who can.

 

So I walked away with a Yamaha DTX 522K electronic drum set. The silicon snare is nice, but didn't have a better feel than the Roland Remo mesh snare. Tweaked out my kick pedal a bit too,

 

The kit took a bit to put together, but it wasn't that bad at all.

 

I recorded some drum tracks this afternoon, and I'm super happy. I mean really super happy. I still have the acoustic drums, but this is pull and play and I'm not spending time mic-ing up a kit. My cats are happy too, and my wife is happy, no noises from the house that I can hear in the mics.

 

Thanks

 

I'm basically a guitar player that never like the drum machine thing ( I still have one at the house). Many years ago a friend of mine left his Ludwig Kit at my house while he was going through a divorce. I sat at the his drum kit and learned to keep a simple beat. I'm not great, but I almost can get the job done.

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Congrats! That's a great choice. The more you play the snare the more "normal" it will start to feel and in time you won't care.

 

Great thing with e kits are the practice features....play along songs and metronomes that show you a visual of your accuracy. Use those to practice and your learning curve will be a short one.

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