Kit advice for Superior Drummer 2.0

M

MetalScar

New member
Hi, so I'm buying the last few bits for my home studio tomorrow and the drum kit is the sticking point.

I'll be using SD2 and have a seperate budget of £550 for the kit itself - will the end result will be any better via the Roland TD-4KP than it would on a TD-1KV or even TD-1KP? Is it £100/200 that would be better spent elsewhere, a guitar modelling suite could be worthwhile as everything will be going through a UR22.

Mostly doing blues, hard rock and metal with some live keys if that makes a difference too.
 
In my limited experience, I think that it comes down to whether or not you're a drummer. If you know the feel of a real kit, and are used to the rebound and feedback of actual drum heads, then it might be worth springing for the more expensive mesh heads. But if you're like me, and really only ever play e-drums, the feel isn't quite as important. When using a kit as a MIDI trigger, I think the most important things are the options for MIDI note configuration, velocity curves, cymbal chokes, hi-hat pedal options (either continuously variable position, or at least having a half-open position in addition to open/close), and how accurately they respond to your playing.

Roland makes good kits, and their "brains" are good quality as well. They usually include these options, and Roland's pads are good quality as well. As far as I know, even their entry-level kits have chokeable cymbals. I say head to Guitar Center or something, and actually pound on a few sets to get a feel for what you like.
 
Hi thanks for the response. Demo'ed a few through cans and the Td4-kp is definitely the best feeling kit in my budget. I could justify the outlay but is more software > comfortable feel the better move?

Tried a Td-1kv and a Yamha dtx450 which were ok but not been round an Alesis or WHD kit. Not sure if they're upto scratch for response or accuracy but they have the usb / midi connectivity required for SD2.
 
It's totally up to you as far as more software or an e-kit. They're both nice to have if you're recording entirely direct. There are free and demo amp sims out there, which could get you by for a while. But there are also other (cheaper) ways to trigger MIDI data than an e-kit. You'll have to set your own budget priorities.

My friend has a TD-1KV and he seems to like it quite a bit. I haven't heard much from him about it, but no complaints. I have the Yamaha DTX-400K that I've upgraded to where it's basically a DTX-450 (3-zone snare, kick pedal and tower, xtra pad plugged into kick tower). I'm a fan of Yamaha in general, and I like how much care they take to put together a great user manual. My only complaints about the Yamaha are that it lacks cymbal chokes, and I've yet to upgrade the hi-hat pedal to one that allows a "half-open" position. I think that the Roland entry-level kit has both of those missing features.

If you're looking to save money, definitely look into the Alesis and Behringer e-kits. There is one member here that has an Alesis kit, and he doesn't seem to enamored with the pads on it (but I think he plays real drums too, so has a feel for actual drum heads). The Behringer kits look amazing on paper, but their brand reputation doesn't carry a lot of confidence with me. I'd say stay away from the Simmons models, they're pretty junky.
 
In my experience all Roland kits trigger fine so yes when it comes to using them with software it's 100% more important to go with feel (who cares about the sound quality of the module if you are using it with superior, it should be the last consideration IMO).

The only other difference is some midi routing bells and wistles, but if you can do without that's also not a big deal.

I picked up an older TD3 and it works great with superior. I did ditch the rubber pads though in favor of some DIY mesh ones.
 
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