Suggestions on a beginner's electric drums kit

[Li Shenron]

Hello all,

 

I am long-time member of the forums, and I am actually a guitar player. I've been away for years, mostly busy in offspring-generating activities... in the meantime those offsprings have apparently grown, and thanks to one of them it seems that now the time has come to finally welcome some drums into our house, and therefore here I am, visiting the drummers' forums for suggestions

 

Let's frame the general situation:

- the kid is only 8 years old, has tried many instruments at school music classes, and being basically a wild puppy from hell he wants to get a drumset

- for a variety of reasons (space constraints, evening practicing, kid's preference), we're going to get an electric drumset

- being a wild puppy from hell also means his interests are volatile, no guarantee he'll stick to drumming for long, hence no reason to go high-quality, not yet

- on the other hand, the whole family is somewhat music-savvy so we won't buy toy instruments, or excessively cheap ones

 

Because of these, we've agreed on a ~400e budget.

 

I've scoured the Thomann websites for all e-drums within our budget, googled for "best X e-drums" articles, narrowed down the list and read as many reviews I could find on the most promising models. But I am still undecided, mainly between the following two:

[h=1]Alesis Nitro vs Millenium MPS-750 E-Drum Mesh Set[/h] PROS of the Alesis Nitro:

 

- seems like the most popular e-drums kit on Amazon, possibly a sign of best value for money

- Alesis brand (to my knowledge) is generally better than Millenium

- looks easier/faster to setup and dismantle, more sturdy and durable (some negative reviews can be found on the Millenium bassdrum stop working)

- the control module looks easier to use by a kid

- there aren't many complaints about the quality of the module sounds, unlike the Millenium

 

PROS of the Millenium MPS-750

 

- we can get a second-hand one (1-year old, rarely used) for the same price as the Alesis Nitro

- has mesh snare and toms (2-zones), and has 2-zone crash and 3-zone ride (all Alesis pads are 1-zone rubber)

- has an extra crash, and also a double bassdrum pedal

 

So essentially our indecision is between the better reliability/sturdiness of the Alesis, and the better playing response of the Millenium (due to mesh and multi-zone components).

 

I haven't had a conclusive opinion on the sounds quality on either modules, but I suppose there isn't a significant difference.

 

So all in all, I am counting on YOU to help me make the best decision for our kids, before he destroys all our kitchenware while waiting for his drumset to arrive

 

[daddymack]

I might look at the Simmons kit, the Yamaha DTX400 and possibly the Alesis Surge.

[Mikeo]

I am a guitar player also, but like 20 years ago I bought a set of real drums. I usually drive everyone nuts playing them and a few years ago I bought a set of digital drums.

I set off to buy a Roland kit, but however I personally like the Yamaha kit better.

 

 

The Millenium MPS-750 looks rather nice, as long as everything works. You still need a kick and a throne, unless the preowned kit comes with it all.

 

 

 

 

[Li Shenron]

I might look at the Simmons kit' date=' the Yamaha DTX400 and possibly the Alesis Surge.[/quote']

 

Which Simmons kit do you suggest to investigate?

 

The Yamaha DTX400 was actually the third choice, and it's even cheaper than the other two on Thomann. I dropped it at some point, because it seemed similar enough to the Alesis Nitro, but with a worse user interface of the controller (unless you also buy an iPad and use the apps) and with half the sounds available (which admittedly is not necessarily a problem if they are GOOD sounds, considering that 400 crappy sounds are much less usable than 100 good ones... but how do I know?).

 

The Alesis Surge is 50% above out budget.

[Li Shenron]

The Millenium MPS-750 looks rather nice' date=' as long as everything works. You still need a kick and a throne, unless the preowned kit comes with it all.[/b']

 

By "kick" do you mean a bassdrum pedal? I think that is definitely always included! Or did you mean something else?

 

[Mikeo]

 

By "kick" do you mean a bassdrum pedal? I think that is definitely always included! Or did you mean something else?

 

Yes

I had one, but mine was not included in the purchase of my Yamaha digital drum kit.

 

It's a bit of false advertising by Yamaha, as you see one in all the photos

 

 

 

[ATTACH=JSON]{"data-align":"none","data-size":"full","title":"1CB641E2419A4358BDFC15914451DD9B_12073_735x735_e68ad8222d8fd52eb8602192e7ace814.jpg","data-attachmentid":32204040}[/ATTACH]

[Li Shenron]

As an additional question... how do you normally amplify the e-drums? Do you need a specific type of amplifier, or do you just connect them to speakers, and passive or active?

[Phil O'Keefe]

As an additional question... how do you normally amplify the e-drums? Do you need a specific type of amplifier' date=' or do you just connect them to speakers, and passive or active?[/quote']

 

There are companies like Roland and Simmons (and I think Alesis too) who make amps designed specifically for electronic drums, but just about any powered (active) PA speaker (or decent bass or keyboard amp) will work.

[Li Shenron]

Thanks! I've found for example these two, which look nicely small for living room usage:

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/kustom_kpm4_powered_personal_monitor.htm

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Behringer-ULTRATONE-KT108-Keyboard-Verst%C3%A4rker/dp/B0010KGD4Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1523947240&sr=8-1&keywords=behringer+ultratone+kt108

 

Indeed the latter is said to be for keyboards, but it was featured in a "best amps for e-drums" article.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Of the two, the Kustom would probably be my choice since it has a bit more power and a separate tweeter, but neither of those is going to give you a lot of low frequency / bass response - they'd probably be fine for practice at home though if you don't try to push them too hard by turning them up too loud.

[pogo97]

If that's your budget, then so be it. I was going to recommend Electro Voice ZLX 12p or ZLX 15p. They are powered speakers, as Phil mentioned. I have a single ZLX 12p ($400) that serves beautifully as an acoustic guitar monitor, piano amp, and PA for small to medium venues. Very clean, accurate sound and nice tight bass, though the 15p would reach a bit deeper. 1000 watts class D amp. I don't know yet how loud it will go because that would probably hurt.

 

I think one of those would serve you very well.

[Li Shenron]

More (general) questions coming

 

1) How easy is it generally to replace specific elements of an e-drum set? Do manufacturers use proprietary technologies so that you have to buy all elements of the same brand or are different brands compatible?

 

2) Is it typically possible to upload custom sampled sounds to a module?

 

These would be good to know for the long-term, for example if a drumset turns out to have a poor snare or hihat that would be good to replace, or if we wanted to expand the sounds.

[Li Shenron]

2) Is it typically possible to upload custom sampled sounds to a module?

 

Trying to find an answer myself... it seems like UPLOADING samples to the module is possible only in selected models (typically not the low-end models), but instead almost all models allow to use the drums as a trigger to samples in a PC, thanks to the MIDI connection, which could be fine enough.

 

Both the Alesis Nitro and the Millenium definitely has a USB for MIDI connections, but there are several websites where people are complaining that they plugged the Millenium into their PC via USB and it was not recognized. Anyone has had a direct experience with this? It might be kind of a dealbreaker to be stuck with the default samples forever :/

[bill5]

I asked this question here, I think it's worth a read overall - hope it's OK to post: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/elec...lec-drums.html

[RebeccaUTB]

The Roland TD-1K is an ok option, it caries the Roland name but it's not amazing compared to higher up Roland Models. The TD-1KV (note the V here) would be a big step up if it's available just because of the Mesh head on the snare drum. The snare is the one that you will use the most for ghost notes etc, so having that as a mesh head is very useful and will be useful to you as you get more advanced.

 

The Alesis Nitro Kit is pretty good. Actually not bad at all for the price range.

 

TBH - I don't think any of these kits are amazing really. You could consider getting a used kit for the same price that would be a lot better.

 

Check out the linked guide below for more ideas on this. The Roland TD-11K is quite expensive for example, but there are quite a few previous generation models that are very good that you could get your hands on as a used model. These would also not take up that much space really.