This is a summary of different opinions and recommendations I received from over the years. I do not own an electronic kit, so this is about the limit of my knowledge. However, I think this info will give anyone a good place to start and make some informed decisions. Your options:
1. Buy a Roland kit and be done with it. Obviously, as with anything, cost is the biggest issue. Several people I know own these and swear by them. An equal number of people say you are paying too much for what you get. Big advantages are the mesh heads, which I’ll get into later.
2. Drums by Spacemuffins. These look and feel like real drums, but are set up to work as electronics. I’m not sure how they work, but I assume you could put traditional drum heads on them and use it as a real kit, which definitely make these worth considering. Check out their web site at www.boomtheory.com
3. Electronic kits have two different types of heads; mesh (Roland, Alesis) and rubber pads (Yamaha). A few people have commented that the rubber pads will cause more fatigue; one drummer reports ‘tennis elbow’ after 9 months of playing about 15 hours a week. This is even more of an issue if you use traditional grip. There are two schools of thought on rubber pads: First, they cause you to hit harder because you have no immediate sound coming back, which can cause injury. However, just as many people say that they can play quieter, which also means faster, because the sound can be adjusted from the drum module. This sounds like a discipline issue that each player will have to address. The ‘harder/softer’ debate isn’t much of a concern with mesh heads, because the surface is more forgiving, hence lower chance for injury.
4. Consider if the drums have dual triggering zones. I know that the Roland kit has dual-trigger mesh heads, unsure about others. This is especially important on the snare, where you want to emulate rim shots and the like. Maybe splurge for a Roland head for your snare and piece the rest together. Also, I know that the Alesis (I think I’m spelling that wrong) has the ability to sample sounds, which means you could put in the sounds of your own acoustic kit, then play your electronic kit at 2:00 am or take it to gigs where you wouldn’t dare take your vintage Slingerlands, or whatever.
5. Buy electronic drum heads by Pintech. They make rubber pad and mesh heads. For example, a Pintech mesh head runs around $100, while the Roland is around $300 (don’t quote me on this....). This frees up more money for a brain. Models I’ve been told to consider include the DM-Pro, or better yet the Roland TD-8 or Yamaha DTX-Pro, both of which have built-in sequencers, so you can program a drum loop and trigger it from a pad. Don’t forget, you’re going to need some kind of rack system to hold these heads, which you could spend from $150 on up. Gibralter is very common, but there are others.
6. Build your own electronic pads. I know two people who absolutely swear by this, as one person said “cheap, simple, effective”. Again, this allows you to spend your money on a better brain, which is what is really important. The web link I have doesn’t work anymore; I’ll do some more checking and post again.
7. Some links
http://www.alesis.com/products/drums.html
http://www.drumtech.com/
http://www.dauz.com/drums/
http://www.edrums.com/newhome.htm
http://www.hartdynamics.com/
http://www.rolandus.com/
Hope this was helpful
1. Buy a Roland kit and be done with it. Obviously, as with anything, cost is the biggest issue. Several people I know own these and swear by them. An equal number of people say you are paying too much for what you get. Big advantages are the mesh heads, which I’ll get into later.
2. Drums by Spacemuffins. These look and feel like real drums, but are set up to work as electronics. I’m not sure how they work, but I assume you could put traditional drum heads on them and use it as a real kit, which definitely make these worth considering. Check out their web site at www.boomtheory.com
3. Electronic kits have two different types of heads; mesh (Roland, Alesis) and rubber pads (Yamaha). A few people have commented that the rubber pads will cause more fatigue; one drummer reports ‘tennis elbow’ after 9 months of playing about 15 hours a week. This is even more of an issue if you use traditional grip. There are two schools of thought on rubber pads: First, they cause you to hit harder because you have no immediate sound coming back, which can cause injury. However, just as many people say that they can play quieter, which also means faster, because the sound can be adjusted from the drum module. This sounds like a discipline issue that each player will have to address. The ‘harder/softer’ debate isn’t much of a concern with mesh heads, because the surface is more forgiving, hence lower chance for injury.
4. Consider if the drums have dual triggering zones. I know that the Roland kit has dual-trigger mesh heads, unsure about others. This is especially important on the snare, where you want to emulate rim shots and the like. Maybe splurge for a Roland head for your snare and piece the rest together. Also, I know that the Alesis (I think I’m spelling that wrong) has the ability to sample sounds, which means you could put in the sounds of your own acoustic kit, then play your electronic kit at 2:00 am or take it to gigs where you wouldn’t dare take your vintage Slingerlands, or whatever.
5. Buy electronic drum heads by Pintech. They make rubber pad and mesh heads. For example, a Pintech mesh head runs around $100, while the Roland is around $300 (don’t quote me on this....). This frees up more money for a brain. Models I’ve been told to consider include the DM-Pro, or better yet the Roland TD-8 or Yamaha DTX-Pro, both of which have built-in sequencers, so you can program a drum loop and trigger it from a pad. Don’t forget, you’re going to need some kind of rack system to hold these heads, which you could spend from $150 on up. Gibralter is very common, but there are others.
6. Build your own electronic pads. I know two people who absolutely swear by this, as one person said “cheap, simple, effective”. Again, this allows you to spend your money on a better brain, which is what is really important. The web link I have doesn’t work anymore; I’ll do some more checking and post again.
7. Some links
http://www.alesis.com/products/drums.html
http://www.drumtech.com/
http://www.dauz.com/drums/
http://www.edrums.com/newhome.htm
http://www.hartdynamics.com/
http://www.rolandus.com/
Hope this was helpful
