electronic drums:are the learning features any good/any use?
Discussion
OK, I've been looking at getting an electronic kit for myself and my kids (10 & 13) to learn on.
We bought a Roland digital piano a couple of years back and ended up getting one with a small LCD screen that showed digital notes and had games and stuff on it - whilst at the time I thought it was just a gimmick I'm sure that was what kept my daughter playing and she's now getting pretty good so I'm really interested in what learning features the kits have.
I've done a lot of surfing and even taken a quick look at the Roland and Yamaha kits in a shop but what I cannot find anywhere is information on which of the kits has the best features for beginners?
They all seem to offer an input for MP3 player so you can play along with them.
From what I can find, there's little more than a built in metronome on the Yamaha ones.
For Roland the TD9 seems to have 'scope mode' which gives a visual display of playing accuracy but it doesn't seem to mark good/bad notes or summarise and I'm not sure (even from the manual) that it has any actual training stuff for you to play.
Whilst a lower model, it seems that though the TD4 is missing this visual 'scope' it does contain more in the way of practice aids in its coach mode with a variable length warm up and several practice tools which are scored to show how accurate you were. However, I'm not clear on what you're meant to play - do you just play whichever drums you feel like?
So, any suggestions on which, if any, of these features are actually useful to beginners?
We bought a Roland digital piano a couple of years back and ended up getting one with a small LCD screen that showed digital notes and had games and stuff on it - whilst at the time I thought it was just a gimmick I'm sure that was what kept my daughter playing and she's now getting pretty good so I'm really interested in what learning features the kits have.
I've done a lot of surfing and even taken a quick look at the Roland and Yamaha kits in a shop but what I cannot find anywhere is information on which of the kits has the best features for beginners?
They all seem to offer an input for MP3 player so you can play along with them.
From what I can find, there's little more than a built in metronome on the Yamaha ones.
For Roland the TD9 seems to have 'scope mode' which gives a visual display of playing accuracy but it doesn't seem to mark good/bad notes or summarise and I'm not sure (even from the manual) that it has any actual training stuff for you to play.
Whilst a lower model, it seems that though the TD4 is missing this visual 'scope' it does contain more in the way of practice aids in its coach mode with a variable length warm up and several practice tools which are scored to show how accurate you were. However, I'm not clear on what you're meant to play - do you just play whichever drums you feel like?
So, any suggestions on which, if any, of these features are actually useful to beginners?
I havent played on an electronic kit for some time now, but to my knowledge none of them have anything other than a few backing tracks you could play along to, and a metronome facility.
Im sure there would be CDs (or DVD obviously) available that would talk you through basic exercises with the added benfit of the learner hearing the new drum pattern first - but other than that Im not sure.
Im sure there would be CDs (or DVD obviously) available that would talk you through basic exercises with the added benfit of the learner hearing the new drum pattern first - but other than that Im not sure.
Ah, OK. The really good thing about the piano is that because it has a screen it can show you which notes you played incorrectly (wrong note, or bad timing) and gives you an overall 'score' for the piece. You can also load MIDI files and it will mark you against those.
It seemed like the TD4 had something similar for drumming, just not really sure if its any use for improving and (more importantly) wanting you to keep coming back and having another go. I guess I'm looking for Rock Band on real drums! The whole 'getting better' thing is clearly visible by a better 'hit' ratio.
The challenge of getting 100% was certainly a major factor in my daughter playing the piano far more often than she would have done with just a 'try this piece from a book' and got her through the difficult first few months when repeatedly playing the same piece over-and-over to improve is a rather boring and non-rewarding effort...
It seemed like the TD4 had something similar for drumming, just not really sure if its any use for improving and (more importantly) wanting you to keep coming back and having another go. I guess I'm looking for Rock Band on real drums! The whole 'getting better' thing is clearly visible by a better 'hit' ratio.
The challenge of getting 100% was certainly a major factor in my daughter playing the piano far more often than she would have done with just a 'try this piece from a book' and got her through the difficult first few months when repeatedly playing the same piece over-and-over to improve is a rather boring and non-rewarding effort...
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