Electric drum kits

[Touring Remo]

Does anyone use/own one?
What are the pro's and con's of having one?
I don't know what to do. Ideally I would consider swapping my kit for an electric kit. Its just I get no practice with my kit (parents and neighbours complain). So I think its my last choice. Its either getting an electric kit or selling mine
Oh well,
Opinions please?

TR.

[GnuBee]

I do...

I've got a Roland TD10 with the TDW1 expansion card. I run MIDI out from the "brain" to my Mac Book Pro and trigger samples from Superior Drummer 2.0 (www.toontrack.com). The quality of the samples is very high and it's about as close to an acoustic sound and feel as you're going to get.

The pads are all 12" type with mesh heads; the playing surface is very similar to a normal head and you can "tune" them so that you can get the tension that you personally prefer.

The more modern modules offer positional sensing and rim triggers across all pads and this is extended to the cymbals as well.

The new VH11 or VH12 hi-hat controllers use a normal hi hat stand and are an order of magnitude better than the old way of doing things.

If you have any more questions ask away...

Edited by GnuBee on Tuesday 10th February 15:11

[TonyHetherington]

Interesting thread! I've considered one for a simlar reason, but also because I effectively want to have two kits; the one I gig with, and then not have to set that up at home to practice if you see what I mean?!

What sort of money are we, realistically talking, for something playable?


edit; something like this, are we talking poor quality or simply not as many gadgets as when you go up to the Roland stuff?
http://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/shop/view_product_l...

Edited by TonyHetherington on Tuesday 10th February 15:21

[Touring Remo]

So is Roland considered the best? I've seen a Roland td12 on eBay for £1100 I think. I think an electric kit is the war forward for me. Now all I need is someone who's got an electric kit who wants to swap.

[MonkeyBusiness]

As an ex drummer I considered getting an electronic kit following a gig I went to. I thought they sounded good and have come along way since the old Simmons kits. I'd want to have more than 5 drums and 2 cymbals though and its looks pretty expensive to expand.

[GnuBee]

I don't know if Roland is the "best" as such but it's what I put my money into having tried Yamaha before hand.

The TD12 is a good brain and is the next generation after the TD8 or TD10.

Cost wise it depends; it can work out very expensive (think high end custom acoustic for example) but you can start small and build up.

I'd say that all told my TD10/TDW1 kit along with the various bits of software etc probably represents something in the region of 3k (I got an ex-Roland demo fleet kit so saved a lot there).

In terms of live performance it's worth bearing in mind that Roland or indeed any electronic kits at this end of the market are very much "pro" kit and they're built with a hard life in mind. I've owned mine for 5 years now and nothing, not even the cables that connect the kit to the brain, has gone wrong. I've never had a "glitch" with the kit and as I move more and more into triggering samples I'd be confident to take the whole lot to a gig.

Other players in the market are Yahama, Alesis and Hart - there's also a pretty active community of people out there who are modifying acoustic kits to trigger samples (replacing the normal heads with mesh ones which reduces the volume output enormously).

[GnuBee]

TonyHetherington said:

Interesting thread! I've considered one for a simlar reason, but also because I effectively want to have two kits; the one I gig with, and then not have to set that up at home to practice if you see what I mean?!

What sort of money are we, realistically talking, for something playable?


edit; something like this, are we talking poor quality or simply not as many gadgets as when you go up to the Roland stuff?
http://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/shop/view_product_l...

Edited by TonyHetherington on Tuesday 10th February 15:21

You'd be better off pushing the budget a bit and looking at something like a second hand TD8 or TD10 kit to be honest - there's a huge difference in quality in all areas and especially if you're thinking of gigging and don't want bits falling off :-)

[GnuBee]

Couple of links that may prove helpful:

www.vdrums.com - un-official v-Drums forum with a wealth of information about the kits etc

www.toontrack.com - watch the demo videos for Superior Drummer 2.0 and listen to some of the example tracks for the expansion packs; things have come a long way since Simmons!

[gbbird]

I am also considering an elecgronic drim kit, mainly for home recording and learning purposes. I don't want the most expensive on the market, just something that sounds real and what can be plugged into Cubase so i can then use it for recording and mixing. What sort of money would i be looking at? Any suggestions for the cheaper end of the market?

[Slikk]

gbbird said:

I am also considering an elecgronic drim kit, mainly for home recording and learning purposes. I don't want the most expensive on the market, just something that sounds real and what can be plugged into Cubase so i can then use it for recording and mixing. What sort of money would i be looking at? Any suggestions for the cheaper end of the market?

Hi Greg

I picked up a Session Pro DD505 for my daughter at the weekend off ebay for under £200.00. Its not the best, but for the money its not bad at all. Steer clear of the USB jobbies though.. .. ..they are nasty.

Edited by Slikk on Wednesday 11th February 09:35

[TonyHetherington]

GnuBee said:

You'd be better off pushing the budget a bit and looking at something like a second hand TD8 or TD10 kit to be honest - there's a huge difference in quality in all areas and especially if you're thinking of gigging and don't want bits falling off :-)

Thanks for the info

I'll not be gigging it; the theory is that at the moment the one (acoustic) kit that I have goes between band practice and 1 to 2 gigs a week. Which is great, but it means that I never set it up at home and practice (the only practice I get is playing with the band).

So I'm after something that I can simply play at home, not make any noise but still get a half decent practice session out of. I'll not be transporting them anywhere, nor gigging them at all.

Interesting reading this thread, thanks everyone for the info.
Tony

[Touring Remo]

What is the roland TD-9kx like? i've also seen the td-9k but i can't really find a difference except the triple trigger ride cymbal.
Is that a kind of in the middle jobby? Nevada music do a good video on you tube showing all the effects. Seems like the one to go for and priced abouit £1500 new.

[TonyHetherington]

(PS sorry to steal your thread a bit )

[gbbird]

Slikk said:

gbbird said:

I am also considering an elecgronic drim kit, mainly for home recording and learning purposes. I don't want the most expensive on the market, just something that sounds real and what can be plugged into Cubase so i can then use it for recording and mixing. What sort of money would i be looking at? Any suggestions for the cheaper end of the market?

Hi Greg

I picked up a Session Pro DD505 for my daughter at the weekend off ebay for under £200.00. Its not the best, but for the money its not bad at all. Steer clear of the USB jobbies though.. .. ..they are nasty.

Edited by Slikk on Wednesday 11th February 09:35

Thanks for that sir. So what is the preferred method of connection if not USB? Do you connect directly to your soundcard? Via a pre-amp?

[Slikk]

gbbird said:

Slikk said:

gbbird said:

I am also considering an elecgronic drim kit, mainly for home recording and learning purposes. I don't want the most expensive on the market, just something that sounds real and what can be plugged into Cubase so i can then use it for recording and mixing. What sort of money would i be looking at? Any suggestions for the cheaper end of the market?

Hi Greg

I picked up a Session Pro DD505 for my daughter at the weekend off ebay for under £200.00. Its not the best, but for the money its not bad at all. Steer clear of the USB jobbies though.. .. ..they are nasty.

Edited by Slikk on Wednesday 11th February 09:35

Thanks for that sir. So what is the preferred method of connection if not USB? Do you connect directly to your soundcard? Via a pre-amp?

It has both midi and mono / stereo jacks which should suffice. What I meant by steer clear is that in my experience the "usb only" kits tend to be physically rather flimsy.

[Touring Remo]

TonyHetherington said:

(PS sorry to steal your thread a bit )

Not a problem I think we'll all learn something from it. Hopefully il find someone who want my kit

[GnuBee]

Touring Remo said:

What is the roland TD-9kx like? i've also seen the td-9k but i can't really find a difference except the triple trigger ride cymbal.
Is that a kind of in the middle jobby? Nevada music do a good video on you tube showing all the effects. Seems like the one to go for and priced abouit £1500 new.

I've not played the TD9 but the tripple trigger ride cymbal is something to aim for if possible. Basically it gives you an edge, bow and bell trigger positions which will then trigger appropriate sounds allowing you to get a more realistic "feel".

A bit more on the trigger stuff...

Basically the Roland pads use a mesh head with either one or two triggers; one is for the head itself and this (according to the type of brain) can be used for positional sensing which means that the character of the sound changes as move across the head just like a real drum. The second trigger is for the rim and the brain will interpret combinations of the 2 triggers to allow proper rim shots etc.

For the Cy14 crash cymbals you will get an edge and bow sound; there is also a switch built into the edge allowing you to obtain proper choke sounds.

The ride cymbal is as described above.

The one cymbal where this is the most choice and often confusion is the hi-hat; There are basically three types that you're likely to encounter:

1) The most basic version is really just a hi-hat shaped pad; it works in combination with a foot controller and still gives you edge, bow, open/closed and foot splash sounds

2) Next up is the VH11 - this is a pad that's like a thick top hi hat cymbal and it sits on a special sensor; you mount this on a standard hi hat stand and it plays much more like the real thing

3) The final version is VH12 - this has both an upper and lower pad, sits on a normal stand and when combined with the most recent modules offers the best playability with the primary difference between the two latter versions being the much greater range of sounds obtainable between the fully closed and fully open positions

If you're looking at alternatives to the Roland stuff I'd suggest you make sure that whatever you go for has a good MIDI implementation; that way you can easily fix any inherent weakness in the quality of sounds by using external software.

[TonyHetherington]

Sorry for asking a simple question - I've looked around the net but can't really find anything simple;

all I want is to play with a sound coming through into headphones, and the option to mix in a song from an ipod or laptop or a click track from a laptop into what comes into the headphones.

Is that anythign extra special, or fairly standard?

[GnuBee]

TonyHetherington said:

Sorry for asking a simple question - I've looked around the net but can't really find anything simple;

all I want is to play with a sound coming through into headphones, and the option to mix in a song from an ipod or laptop or a click track from a laptop into what comes into the headphones.

Is that anythign extra special, or fairly standard?

No this should be standard - usually they have a mix in jack which will allow you to just what you are asking. Many of the modules will also have a metronome built in and some have various options to help you practice timing etc.

[gbbird]

So what is the best, reasonably priced kit for a non expert drummer like me, who simply wants to practice and do lay down some drum tracks for home recording? Slikk suggests a Session Pro DD505 which are about £300 give or take. Is there anything else in this price/quality bracket which would be suitable, the main requriement being to be able to plug into my PC and record drum tracks onto Cubase?

Many thanks

Greg