Best Electric Drum Kit Out There

[laj35]

Hey Fellas,

My little brother, whom I'm always trying to convince his time is best spent doing musical schtuff, used to own an acoustic set a couple years back, and learned to play fairly decently. That kit is long gone now and I, being into electronic tunes as well as R&R (he has similar music tastes) am a big proponent of him getting an electronic kit. Granted I haven't done any research on these babys, as I'm sure I will, but I was just wondering what ones (if any) you guys would recommend, or just some thoughts on them as a whole. Like I said, as of right now I know very little about these things, do they have modules that have sampling capabilities? Can you assemble a kit piece by piece (that is: the sound module, the rack, the pads, etc.); is this the way to go??

Thanks in advance for any and all ideas y'all might have!!!!



Laj

[Tim Brown]

Well, what is your budget, because that is going to totally dictate how much control you have over the electronic sounds.

The best two electronic kits on the Market are the Roland V Drums and the ddrum4 setup.

You can get a V-drum brain for $800.
Their Pads will cost you, but they are really good, and use Mesh/"screen" (A Material that is woven like a screen door) drumheads, which means there is literally no noise at all.

They have a higher priced Vdrum brain, but this one does essentially everything that a drummer needs...I didn't see the higher priced one being worth the $600 Extra dollars for what it did.


It's not cheap, any way that you look at it.
I have some friends who use an all V-drum setup live, even electronic cymbals, and they love it.

I would have to use regular cymbals at least!


Tim

[elevate]

V-Drums are probably the best solution. The module has tons of features and the pads more closely mimic the feel of real drums than anything else I've played (there are some copycat manufacturers now that use mesh heads).

The Alesis DM-Pro is another good module, which has some limited sampling features.

Just to confuse the issue, Danny Carey, in a Modern Drummer interview, says he prefers the old Simmons pads to V-Drum pads. The reason he gave is "surface intelligence." I'm not really sure what that means, but he has absolutely the best mix of acoustic and electric drums, so I think he knows what he's talking about, even if we don't.

Another thing, if you're gonna be using lots of samples, you'd be better off using a sampler. I used to use an Alesis DM-5 which triggered an Akai S-5000 for my electronics.

[mikeh]

Sampling:
Most drum modules can not sample - although I thought I read that the Drum module does sample. Most drummer use a drum module to trigger a sampler via MIDI.

Buy a kit - or buy components?
You can by pads seperate from the module. Pintech and Hart make decent pads which trigger most modules. Alesis make some of the best low cost modules. Keep in mind some modules do not work well with some pads.

Also keep in mind as a rule if you go with a Roland or Yamaha - you will pay a premium when buying all the individual pads, vs. buying a v-kit.

Whats best?
Loaded question!!! I think the V-drums with the TD10 is one of the best - but it's over $3,000 - the TD8 kit is about $2500 and the TD6 is about $1200. Yamaha makes a $1,000 kit as well as more expensive kits. Many people think the Ddrum kits are the best.

It all depends on what level of editing you want, what is your application (recording, live, etc) and how much $$$$ do you have.

[mikeh]

Correction:

In my last post I meant to reference the D-drum module as possibly having sampling ability.

[Uladine]

Can you use any kind of Trigger with the Roland TD-10? I've been thinking of buying one of these as a module for acoustic triggers.

What about the DDrum Brain?

[Tim Brown]

Yep, a Trigger is a trigger. Some have certain special features that they claim you need to use their own brand of triggers to be able to use, but for the most part they all use the exact same thing-which is a Piezo transducer, and you can get that at Radio Shack for Under $2.00!

The 2" Hart "MONDO" Bass drum trigger that costs about $30?

Available at your local RS for $3, add another $2.00 for the 1/4" Jack, and you can even get the clamp that mounts it to the tension rod.

I have the older Ddrum triggers, and they are the same as the Simmons.

Why some guys don't like the Newer triggers, is that the "hotspot" (where the trigger is) can be alot louder than the rest of the head, because they use a cone of foam to trigger the sound (thesmall end of the foam touches the head, aand the large end of the cone sits on the trigger), where it used to be relatively even through the whole pad surface, because there was an aluminum or wooden plate inside that the trigger was mounted to.


Tim

[Village Idiot]

I have the Yamaha DTX 2.0 kit and I absolutely love it.

Has every single feature you could imagine.

It is less expensive than the Roland V-Drums, but I went with the Yamaha when I realized spec for spec the DTX 2.0 was the same, and that you were paying more for a "Cosmetic" appeal with the V-Drums.

VI

[Badger]

What about the alesis kit?

[DrumCop]

I'd have to give two enthusiastic "thumbs up" for Boom Theory's Spacemuffins. For quality, dependability and FEEL(!) you can't beat the 'Muffins. I have one of their second generation kits from 1994 and it ROCKS! It looks and feels just like an acoustic kit. Not as quiet as the Roland or Hart mesh heads but a much better feel. They also make a module...I haven't had any experience with it.

[laj35]

WOW!!!


Hey thanks for all the great replies guys, I didn't expect quite as much of a response. As I've said I've just begun researching this schtuff, so thanks alot for so many ideas of where to start looking.



Laj

[mikeh]

Alesis Kit:

The Alesis kit is a DMPro module with pads made by Hart. I've heard a couple or people indicate various problems with the DMPro.

I personnally like Alesis drum modules and have owned an HR16, D4 and D5 - and they always worked great.

However, talking to several sources in the industry leads me to believe the DMPro just has not been a good seller - and given the success of the other Alesis modules (D4 is almost a studio standard) I think there must be a reason the DMPro is not more high profile.

[VOXVENDOR]

Do you electric drum guys ever trigger the snare with a pedal.... I always thought that was a good Idea.... You already know that Rick Allen from Def Leppard does it that way to make up for him missing an arm, but It would be cool if regular people would do the snare with a left pedal also, and then both hands are free for all the other shit on the top of the kit....

Anyways... you guys ever tried that?..