Buying first Electronic Drum Kit

Jay C

New member
Hey all, my drummer is finally going to spend about $2500 on an ekit. we will be using superior drummer or ssd. there is a lot to choose from, what i'm wondering is,, is there a brand that we can get that we don't have to pay for the brand name? i realize roland or yamaha are probably the best , but is there anything of equal quality that will not be more expensive b/c of the brand? i bought a Blackstar amp, i felt like i was getting more for my money b/c the quality is there but cost less than say a marshall of similar specs. i felt like this b/c of popularity / name. am i at all right about that? any suggestions for a good ekit for about $2500.?
 
Dang $2500 is a lot of scratch for an ekit.

K here goes my suggestions, others may disagree and that's ok.

1. Since you plan to just use the drum module for SSD or SD2, then sound quality should be the last consideration with this purchase.

2. If you need this to be as quiet as possible then mesh heads are the way to go with rubber cymbals. If noise isn't an issue then snag up something with real heads. Avoid rubber pads, I think they feel the absolute worst and cross talk seems to be a bigger issue (double triggering between drums)

3. If you can swing it then instead of mounting the cymbals to a rack, put them on stands. You can up the sensitivity without having to worry about cross talk.

4. Get a module that has some expandability. Nothing worse than a cheap module that only allows a 5 piece with 2 crashes, a hat and a ride. The Alesis DM10 module for example can do considerably more than what I just put and accommodates both high hat controllers with variable open close settings as well as triple zoned triggers (like rides for example where you have the bell, bow, and edge or the snare where you have rimshot, side stick, and center/head).

Lastly, be prepared to tweak on it. Very rarely do drum modules just work right out of the box the way you want to. My friend with his DM10 Pro (with the surge cymbals) had to tweak it considerably before it was even playable. Apparently the cross talk comes turned off from the factory and he couldn't hit anything without everything else triggering. haha

Not all drum modules will be as bad from the factory as what I described above (like Roland for example) but stuff like sensitivity and cross talk have to be played with.
 
Also: For that price I would buy some extra triggers from the get go. Expand that mofo for more cymbals or toms.
 
Also: For that price I would buy some extra triggers from the get go. Expand that mofo for more cymbals or toms.

so if $2500 is lots to buy a good kit and some extra triggers, why are there some kits for over $7000? what do they offer that a $2500 kit doesn't ?
 
Dang $2500 is a lot of scratch for an ekit.

K here goes my suggestions, others may disagree and that's ok.

1. Since you plan to just use the drum module for SSD or SD2, then sound quality should be the last consideration with this purchase.

2. If you need this to be as quiet as possible then mesh heads are the way to go with rubber cymbals. If noise isn't an issue then snag up something with real heads. Avoid rubber pads, I think they feel the absolute worst and cross talk seems to be a bigger issue (double triggering between drums)

3. If you can swing it then instead of mounting the cymbals to a rack, put them on stands. You can up the sensitivity without having to worry about cross talk.

4. Get a module that has some expandability. Nothing worse than a cheap module that only allows a 5 piece with 2 crashes, a hat and a ride. The Alesis DM10 module for example can do considerably more than what I just put and accommodates both high hat controllers with variable open close settings as well as triple zoned triggers (like rides for example where you have the bell, bow, and edge or the snare where you have rimshot, side stick, and center/head).

Lastly, be prepared to tweak on it. Very rarely do drum modules just work right out of the box the way you want to. My friend with his DM10 Pro (with the surge cymbals) had to tweak it considerably before it was even playable. Apparently the cross talk comes turned off from the factory and he couldn't hit anything without everything else triggering. haha

Not all drum modules will be as bad from the factory as what I described above (like Roland for example) but stuff like sensitivity and cross talk have to be played with.

Thanks for the detailed response , you obviously took some time out of your day, and it's well appreciated.
 
so if $2500 is lots to buy a good kit and some extra triggers, why are there some kits for over $7000? what do they offer that a $2500 kit doesn't ?

I can only speak for kits that I have personally used in any sort of capacity, I own a cheap Roland TD-3 with some home made triggers. My friend has that Alesis DM10 kit I mentioned and my other friend who drums for Staind uses a yamaha module with a bunch of yamaha triggers, but he rigged the thing up himself, it's a total mut kit. He is running something like 4 crash pads, a triple zone ride, 4 toms, snare and hats. The only problem I have with his kit is I don't like the rubber pads he is using for the toms personally, but he has it dialed in really well.

But take the e pro live by Pearl. One of the reasons this kit runs so much is (and I actually thought it felt pretty good):

1. They use real shells (I guess you can use it as an acoustic by taking the trigger heads off).
2. The sounds they load into the drum module sound pretty good (IIRC they have superior sounds loaded inside)
3. The heads respond a lot more like acoustic heads.
4. The hardware is nicer than your standard cheap rack setup.
5. The high hats do more than just open and closed, there are variable open settings (cheap kits have open and closed and that's it).

With other kits that run more money you get different zones (although I don't think they work with midi) where you hit toward the edge of the snare and it sounds different than when you hit in the center of the head.

More expensive modules like the DM10 for example also allows you to split inputs between 2 triggers if you are just using them for single zone crashes for example where you don't care about the other articulations.

I have never used the TD30/20 or the yamaha DTX90 so I honestly can't comment about the price difference there. I imagine most of the price of those kits is going into the tech of the brain and the ruggedness of the hardware.
 
Dang $2500 is a lot of scratch for an ekit.

K here goes my suggestions, others may disagree and that's ok.

1. Since you plan to just use the drum module for SSD or SD2, then sound quality should be the last consideration with this purchase.

2. If you need this to be as quiet as possible then mesh heads are the way to go with rubber cymbals. If noise isn't an issue then snag up something with real heads. Avoid rubber pads, I think they feel the absolute worst and cross talk seems to be a bigger issue (double triggering between drums)

3. If you can swing it then instead of mounting the cymbals to a rack, put them on stands. You can up the sensitivity without having to worry about cross talk.

4. Get a module that has some expandability. Nothing worse than a cheap module that only allows a 5 piece with 2 crashes, a hat and a ride. The Alesis DM10 module for example can do considerably more than what I just put and accommodates both high hat controllers with variable open close settings as well as triple zoned triggers (like rides for example where you have the bell, bow, and edge or the snare where you have rimshot, side stick, and center/head).

Lastly, be prepared to tweak on it. Very rarely do drum modules just work right out of the box the way you want to. My friend with his DM10 Pro (with the surge cymbals) had to tweak it considerably before it was even playable. Apparently the cross talk comes turned off from the factory and he couldn't hit anything without everything else triggering. haha

Not all drum modules will be as bad from the factory as what I described above (like Roland for example) but stuff like sensitivity and cross talk have to be played with.

Hey thanks, we looked at the DM10 Pro and it's way cheaper than the rolland kits. we looked at all the demo vids we could find and i think it's going to do the trick. we will have to get some mesh heads for replacement, but i worry b/c i've always though in instruments you get what you pay for, and it tends to be true. bet the DM10 looks great i think we're going to order it this week. i just hope i'm not leading my buddy down the wrong path. I don't want him to regret getting an ekit b/c it's taken me sooooo long to convince him to embrace the tech. and after showing him superior drummer he's seen the light, i just don't want him to regret it.
but thanks for pointing us to what looks like an awesome kit for what we need it for.

peeeeeseeeeee
 
Ok as someone who helped setup a DM10:

It will suck, REALLY SUCK out of the box.

I have no idea why Alesis didn't setup that module to play well out of the box but it just doesn't. We had to tweak quite a bit out of the box.

The first thing I would do, possibly before even plugging in the triggers is turn the cross talk both in and out (there should be settings for both) to at least 50%. IIRC the cross talk is turned off from the factory making the kit unplayable out of the box (everything bleeds into everything else).

I'm not familiar enough to remember how to do this so the manual is a must.


Did you tell him to splurge on the surge cymbals (it's the kit that has cymbal triggers that look like real cymbals)? They do actually feel pretty good compared to the rubber ones.

The other thing I remember was it was kind of a paint to get that module to play nice with Superior drummer 2. He ended up going with Addictive drums for ease of use, but he wasn't much of a sit around and tweak guy so if that doesn't bother you then re mapping stuff should work.


Good luck. :)
 
Ok as someone who helped setup a DM10:

It will suck, REALLY SUCK out of the box.

I have no idea why Alesis didn't setup that module to play well out of the box but it just doesn't. We had to tweak quite a bit out of the box.

The first thing I would do, possibly before even plugging in the triggers is turn the cross talk both in and out (there should be settings for both) to at least 50%. IIRC the cross talk is turned off from the factory making the kit unplayable out of the box (everything bleeds into everything else).

I'm not familiar enough to remember how to do this so the manual is a must.


Did you tell him to splurge on the surge cymbals (it's the kit that has cymbal triggers that look like real cymbals)? They do actually feel pretty good compared to the rubber ones.

The other thing I remember was it was kind of a paint to get that module to play nice with Superior drummer 2. He ended up going with Addictive drums for ease of use, but he wasn't much of a sit around and tweak guy so if that doesn't bother you then re mapping stuff should work.


Good luck. :)

well, as it turns out my drummer is getting a late income tax for like $5000 so he decided on a rolland. ( i think . lol ) but if for some reason he does go with the D10 your advise will be well appreciated and would probably save us hours of fuckin around. thanks. i've heard some of addictive drums and always thought superior sounded better, so that's huge for me. since i'll be doing all of his tweaking and am already familiar with SD. Steven Slate drums are pretty awesome but seems like all the eq and compression has been done, and i need to learn how to mix, so SSD is out. what's your favorite Drum VST?
 
Honestly a roland will work fantastic out of the box and seems to play nicer with all of the drum VSTs out at the moment. If he can swing a Roland I say go with it.

I own superior 2, addictive, and SSD 3.5 platinum. Out of the 3 I like superior the most.

However I have had a chance to play SSD 4 plat on an ekit and must say it plays nice with the yammy I was on. It actually felt better than 3.5 does.

I only mentioned addictive because it seems to play nice with most electric kits out on the market. Superior maps fine for me on my roland but I had to mess with the notes on the ride because the bell was mapped to the bow.
 
Honestly a roland will work fantastic out of the box and seems to play nicer with all of the drum VSTs out at the moment. If he can swing a Roland I say go with it.

I own superior 2, addictive, and SSD 3.5 platinum. Out of the 3 I like superior the most.

However I have had a chance to play SSD 4 plat on an ekit and must say it plays nice with the yammy I was on. It actually felt better than 3.5 does.

I only mentioned addictive because it seems to play nice with most electric kits out on the market. Superior maps fine for me on my roland but I had to mess with the notes on the ride because the bell was mapped to the bow.

a lot of the vids i see are of AD, and i do like how natural it sounds and also has a great interface, just something keeps me going back to SD for my tracks. all i do i a basic drum beat for my songs untill he can redo the tracks, i do play the drums and am not bad, but i've never delved into the world of ekits , but i do feel confident that we'll get it sound great now that i've had a little help. thanks a f#ck lot dude. if i have any problems i'll be running back to you. LOL.. my drummer read all of this and said " why is this guy so helpful, must be a church goer " LOL. i told him that those who are excited about what they do are excited for others doing or attempting the same. anyway he and I say thank you very much, your obviously a pretty nice person, and we know we got a shortage of that in this world..

Peace :thumbs up:
 
I think your drummer needs to go to a local shop where they have some kits available to play. I'm a long-time V-Drum user, having owned the original TD-5 and then TD-7 back in the 90's, now on a TD-8k (don't think they make these anymore). I've also played on Alesis and Yamaha kits, but didn't like them. For your drummer, so much will be determined by the feel of the kit, he really just needs to play some and see what he likes.

Most all of the modules on the market are going to have proper MIDI implementation to trigger software kits or samplers. The V-Drums react a little differently to these, but you might find that the internal sound banks on those are sufficient to use on their own (I do).

Also, look for the I/O options that will work for your situation. A module with stereo out only is, in my opinion, more of a toy than a recording tool. At a minimum, you need to track kick and snare through their own outputs and a stereo image of the rest of the kit. If you are strictly sampling through SD, though, this won't matter.
 
I think your drummer needs to go to a local shop where they have some kits available to play. I'm a long-time V-Drum user, having owned the original TD-5 and then TD-7 back in the 90's, now on a TD-8k (don't think they make these anymore). I've also played on Alesis and Yamaha kits, but didn't like them. For your drummer, so much will be determined by the feel of the kit, he really just needs to play some and see what he likes.

Most all of the modules on the market are going to have proper MIDI implementation to trigger software kits or samplers. The V-Drums react a little differently to these, but you might find that the internal sound banks on those are sufficient to use on their own (I do).

Also, look for the I/O options that will work for your situation. A module with stereo out only is, in my opinion, more of a toy than a recording tool. At a minimum, you need to track kick and snare through their own outputs and a stereo image of the rest of the kit. If you are strictly sampling through SD, though, this won't matter.

Outputs aren't the determining factor here though.
 
2,500 dollars should go a long ways if you are willing to look at used. I wanted an ekit so I could play at home whenever I wanted.
I came up (locally) with a TD-20 Roland. All Hart dynamics mesh "drums", chokable e-cymbals, road case etc. even some of the original rubber cymbals. total 2500 bucks.

I dont play it any more, I love the acoustic kit so much more, so I did a studio at the house so I can play the big kit any time I want.

IMAG0043.jpg
 
2,500 dollars should go a long ways if you are willing to look at used. I wanted an ekit so I could play at home whenever I wanted.
I came up (locally) with a TD-20 Roland. All Hart dynamics mesh "drums", chokable e-cymbals, road case etc. even some of the original rubber cymbals. total 2500 bucks.

I dont play it any more, I love the acoustic kit so much more, so I did a studio at the house so I can play the big kit any time I want.

View attachment 80264

That right there is a really nice ekit. I probably would have preferred having the roland VH12 trigger on that setup though.
 
I think your drummer needs to go to a local shop where they have some kits available to play. I'm a long-time V-Drum user, having owned the original TD-5 and then TD-7 back in the 90's, now on a TD-8k (don't think they make these anymore). I've also played on Alesis and Yamaha kits, but didn't like them. For your drummer, so much will be determined by the feel of the kit, he really just needs to play some and see what he likes.

Most all of the modules on the market are going to have proper MIDI implementation to trigger software kits or samplers. The V-Drums react a little differently to these, but you might find that the internal sound banks on those are sufficient to use on their own (I do).

As far as the 'most all of the modules are going to have proper...' part of your post - I don't see it. The major plug in vendors focus on vdrums.
 
There are mapping presets in superior under the mapping tab, but they don't list specific kits like AD or Slate does.
 
Hey all, my drummer is finally going to spend about $2500 on an ekit. we will be using superior drummer or ssd. there is a lot to choose from, what i'm wondering is,, is there a brand that we can get that we don't have to pay for the brand name? i realize roland or yamaha are probably the best , but is there anything of equal quality that will not be more expensive b/c of the brand? i bought a Blackstar amp, i felt like i was getting more for my money b/c the quality is there but cost less than say a marshall of similar specs. i felt like this b/c of popularity / name. am i at all right about that? any suggestions for a good ekit for about $2500.?

Do you plan on gigging the kit or just use in studio? Build quality and Play feel (mesh heads v hitting rubber - multi zone triggers) on the pads is the only real difference other than that all e-drum pads operate pretty much the same.

Either way I would not spend the money on a drum module if you are just going to trigger samples - the module is a waste of money especially a TD-20 or 30 (I know I have a TD-20). All you really need is something like an Alesis Trigger IO to trigger the samples - like $125 verses 1K for a TD-20/30.
 
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