Going electronic, what are my drums and whats their worth?

[thedude400]

So I can't live the "jam as loud as I want whenever I want" lifestyle anymore. I've got 2 grad students living upstairs now When I lived with my buddy ( a metal drummer) we had the whole house to ourselves and enjoyed shotgunning coors lights and playing whenever we so desired. But now I've settled down a bit and got a new place with the girlfriend (another good man gone ).

Anyways enough about my personal life. I'm going to have to part with my beloved drum set and buy an electronic set. (When I buy a house I'll get me another acoustic set though). I'm not a drummer and when a friend of mine backed into my new car a few years ago, he gave me the entire set to ease my pain (and anger ).The only problem is I have no idea what my drums are worth, when they were bought, or how to find out?

What I do know is they are Yamaha's and are wood. The model number on the toms say TT-810GP and the serial # just says KL. On the kick the model # is BD-9220A and the serial # says IX. The snare says model #SD-065MD and the serial # is PZ-5031.

Is anyone knowledgeable on drum sets willing to help me find what kind of drum set I have or how to find out a rwasonable asking price? Google hasn't been too helpful, just some obscure pages listing a drum or 2 here and there, but I cant get a solid idea of what I've got.

The hardware and wood is quite nice and the toms are mounted with a ball in socket configuration. If the information so far isn't sufficient in labeling this drum set I can try to get a picture link posted. Any help is appreciated.

Also if anyone could recommend an electronic drum set used for around $500-600 I'm ll ears. Looking at the either the TD-3, TD-5, or DM5 Pro. My main interests are accurate velocity sensitivity and a full midi out on the brain of course. I'll be using EZdrummer most likely.

[suprstar]

I have no idea what your drums are worth, but I will say the TD-3's sound great, they have some of the same sample sets as the TD-20's. I have a TD-8 module that's prolly 10 years old and I think THAT even sounds good. I love v-drums, ez to record and I get way better sound than I ever got trying to mic acoustic drums. That's not saying much tho, cuz I have no real experience trying to mic real drums.

[Guitarer]

I'm not gonna outright recommend it, but I do recommend asking about it: The Yamaha DTXplorer.

[timthetortoise]

Another option would be mesh heads + triggers, Roland cymbal triggers, and a cheap module

[thedude400]

Timthetortoise, I may actually consider your recommendation. Are you suggesting I just put mesh heads/triggers on my shells? If so which ones should I consider?

Since a majority of my drum sounds will be processed in the pc, I'm not really concerned with my money going towards a brain with tons of sounds and kits. The most important thing I care about are sensitive pads (or mesh triggers) that can reproduce sonically the behavior of an actual drummer. I.E. soft hits, hard hits, inner & outer skin sensitivity, drum rolls, ghost hits, rim shot, etc. If the only way I can get this is by buying a dm-5 pro or Roland TD-3 then that's what I'll do. If I can achieve this with a cheapo budget set then that's fine with me.

And I also want midi outs of course.

[suprstar]

Originally Posted by thedude400

Timthetortoise, I may actually consider your recommendation. Are you suggesting I just put mesh heads/triggers on my shells? If so which ones should I consider?

Mesh head drums will put a kit way out of your price range. You could get a TD-3 kit and upgrade a drum here and there, thats what I did.. It's addictive tho, I now have a 20-ish piece set with 2 modules and it STILL isnt enuf!!

[thedude400]

I'm a bit of newbie with electronic drums. Am I going to need a midi out of the brain for every pad and a midi in for each one into the pc?

[suprstar]

Originally Posted by thedude400

I'm a bit of newbie with electronic drums. Am I going to need a midi out of the brain for every pad and a midi in for each one into the pc?

One midi cable from PC to brain is all you need. The pads have regular TS instrument cables going to the brain, the brain will compile all signal and send em all out the midi out on the brain.

[thedude400]

One last question. Since I'm most interested in midi drums from my pc and not a brain, should I consider selling the module and buying a brain/unit that just gathers the midi signals and sends them to EZDrummer? Is there such a product?

[suprstar]

That's the brain.. You'll need it to collect the data from the pads, and convert it to midi. It'll have some features you dont need (like samples), but you can certainly record midi. IDK of a module that ONLY has midi and no audio capability..

[thedude400]

Ok thanks superstr. Well I really like the look of the DM5 pro with the white heads but the regular dm5 is quite a bit cheaper. In fact a business on ebay has the DM5 for 399 with free shipping, comes with an extra pad, drumsticks, headphones, throne, and kick. And with ebay's 10% off deal going on were talking $360 brand new shipped to my door by the end of the week.

If anyone can comment on the DM5's pad sensitivity and feel being similar to the DM5 pro (or at least with use in ezdrummer), I just may be convinced to go that route. I'll definitely be upgrading to a mesh snare pad too.

Choices.....somebody help me make the right choice

[timthetortoise]

Originally Posted by suprstar

Mesh head drums will put a kit way out of your price range. You could get a TD-3 kit and upgrade a drum here and there, thats what I did.. It's addictive tho, I now have a 20-ish piece set with 2 modules and it STILL isnt enuf!!

Wha? How do you figure? You can get mesh heads for extremely cheap, and triggers can be made for even cheaper.

Also, if you're into DIY, check out this page

[suprstar]

Originally Posted by timthetortoise

Wha? How do you figure? You can get mesh heads for extremely cheap, and triggers can be made for even cheaper.

Also, if you're into DIY, check out this page

Yeah, maybe if you can make em.. IDK about the Alesis stuff, I have all Roland vdrums. A used 12" dual trigger PD-120 or PD-125 costs ~$225 on ebay, the 10" version is like $175, and the 8" ones are $130-ish. +50% if you want new. You can blow thru $600 real quick.. The heads alone costs around $35 ea! You can prolly find some cheap loose 1-ply mesh heads for a lot less, but I wouldn't count on em lasting all that long.

Wow, cool link btw.. If you got the time and are handy, you could certainly save a bundle..

[Yonce N Mild]

Originally Posted by suprstar

Yeah, maybe if you can make em.. IDK about the Alesis stuff, I have all Roland vdrums. A used 12" dual trigger PD-120 or PD-125 costs ~$225 on ebay, the 10" version is like $175, and the 8" ones are $130-ish. +50% if you want new. You can blow thru $600 real quick.. The heads alone costs around $35 ea! You can prolly find some cheap loose 1-ply mesh heads for a lot less, but I wouldn't count on em lasting all that long.

Wow, cool link btw.. If you got the time and are handy, you could certainly save a bundle..

I think he's talking about putting mesh heads on his existing shells.
Like these> http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ad-?sku=445444
At most $35 each. That's $175 or less for a 5 piece set. Add a DM5 module and some triggers and you have a pretty nice electronic kit and you also have the ability to put real heads back on and go acoustic if the need ever arises.

Actually if he is looking only to send midi data to the pc and not using any internal sounds the Alesis trigger io would be perfect and it's only $150.

[suprstar]

Originally Posted by Yonce N Mild

I think he's talking about putting mesh heads on his existing shells.
Like these> http://www.musiciansfriend.com/produ...ad-?sku=445444
At most $35 each. That's $175 or less for a 5 piece set. Add a DM5 module and some triggers and you have a pretty nice electronic kit and you also have the ability to put real heads back on and go acoustic if the need ever arises.

Actually if he is looking only to send midi data to the pc and not using any internal sounds the Alesis trigger io would be perfect and it's only $150.

Ahhhh, you're right, I somehow missed the part about 'his own shells'. He could put some heads on his shells and DIY piezo's, that would def. be his least expensive option. Plus his drums would look great, like real drums. I'm not sure how easily he could get heads for his bigger drums, but if he can make em himself..... I'd love to see the final product if he goes that route!

[suprstar]

bah.. doublepost..

[thedude400]

Sorry to bring up a week old post but I'm the OP and I thought I'd follow up in case anyone reading this post wants to know the edrum outcome. DISCLAIMER: This post is aimed towards those who want a good, low-cost, natural feeling edrum kit for use with ezdrummer (or other drum sampling programs) and don't care to use the DM5 Pro brain. If you're reading because you want a portable edrum solution for gigging etc, this post won't likely help you.


So I sold my acoustic drums and picked up the Alesis DM5 pro kit as planned. While the kit isn't overly durable (the pads or the frame) it still gets the job done just fine, especially in consideration of the price. The pads are all accurately sensitive and quite tweakable in the brain to work quite well with ezdrummer. (PM me if you would like me to send you the settings I used from the brain as far as velocity, gain etc) The one complaint I did have though is this: The dual trigger snare didn't quite cut the grade. Firstly, due to the fact that it gets most of the stick traffic, the thin plastic layer may start to loosen. In addition to this, the pad is only about 8" which is just plain too small for anyone wanting a natural snare feel. I'd say a 10" should be the minimum if not a 12". Lastly the kit comes with (at least in my case) a dual zone cable for the dual-zone snare only theres no dual done input into the brain or dual output from the pad. Kind of odd I thought, but maybe I missed something. Also the hi-hat is iffy too but that can be subject for another post.

In any case, the DM5 pro brain sounds are useless for my homerecording needs since I find them dull and unrealistic, ezdrummer is much more suited to my needs. Aside from gathering midi signals and sending them to my pc, I don't need the sound module. All is not lost though. Here's is what I've done to try to alleviate my problem without spending any additional money.

I've researched the going price of my Dm5 brain new on ebay and it' selling for around $200 used to $350 new. Also I found a buyer for my dual zone snare pad for $45. Say I get on average $275 for the new dm5 module and $45 for the snare pad, I've come to $320.

There's a nifty little Alesis USB trigger IO on the market now that will do all my triggering and midi routing and there's a company on ebay now selling them for $139 with free shipping. That takes care of my midi trigger routing. Now for the snare problem. The 12" mesh haeds are rather pricy so I looked into the 10" ones. There are many Roland PD-100's on ebay used in good condition for around $150-$200. I found this one for $174 shipped.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search...=32%26fsoo%3D2

So there's $313 dollars spent of my $320 I got for the original module and snare pad and I've even got $7 to spare. Now YMMV and you may end up paying a little less or a little extra depending on what you get for the module and how much you pay for the mesh snare. If you don't like buying used you will most likely have to spend a little bit extra. And yes I'm still stuck with the mediocre hi-hat pad and cymbals that don't feel exactly realistic, but there's plenty of time for saving and upgrades as time goes along. For now I've found a cost effective way to attain very realistic sounding and feeling drums into my pc.

I hope this post will help someone who is put in a similar position.