Electronic Drums for Church ???

E

Ed Dixon

New member
We need to purchase a set of Electronic Drums for our church youth area. They will be used for services there with guitars, vocalists, etc. Because of space limitations, acoustic drums have already been eliminated as an option.

We have an existing high end Roland V-Drums set now used for the main services. They work well, however the cost is a bit high for the youth area.

What suggestions would others offer for selection? I think our budget range is around $1K or so.


Ed
 
I bought a used TD-8 kit for $900. Right here, in fact. Doesn't replace a real kit, by any means, but I have been able to learn to play, which was my goal. It does sound reasonably drum-like.

At that price point, what you are going to lose out on is mesh head pads. You might get one for the snare, but that's it.
 
yamaha...

...their xtreme kit works well for a kit in that price range. You might look at one of the small kits by DW, yamaha, etc...acoustic is almost always a good way to go. Good luck!
 
Just get a 4 piece jazz kit with an 18 inch bass drum. Unless you are worried about noise this will fold up about as small as another electronic kit. That kit that you are looking at looks terrible to me. Hideous really. I dont want to be such a snob but a church will have a couple of big rooms and they will sound good with real cymbals. I would get a tiny acoustic kit and somw of those wrapped dowel type of sticks so things don't get too loud. I imagine that is what you are going for.
 
The size of the room and stage make acoustic drums mostly impossible to use. With youth, just way too loud for the room, which has low ceilings and hard walls. In fact, the church already has such a set, and they just did not work there at all.

The primary benefit of the electonic approach is that wonderful knob labelled volume...

Ed
 
One thing we did that worked very well was to run the v-drums into four channels at the mixer, kick, snare, cymbals, toms. That gives the FOH guy a lot more control over what the crowd hears which is probably very different from what the drum wants in his cans.
 
I'm not sure the Roland unit we have has those options. I remember it having stereo outs, but not much else.

Ed
 
Ed, Gotta tell ya, I just bought an electronic set for a little over $300 and it is pretty sweet. We have a Guitar Center locally and I demo'd everything they offer. Then went on that Ebay and found a brand new set of OSP digital drums. It took me a couple of hours to put them together. My regular drummer lives on them when he comes to my house. I can barely get him to play our acoustic set now. ]

These really are good drums and I'll put them up against anything I demo'd at Guitar Center.
 
i paid $400 for a used TD-3 kit. only bought it cause i got it cheap, and it has a mesh snare head. i also got a slightly messed up peavey keyboard amp, throne, and kick pedal.

found it on ebay i think, it happened to be local and we met up. really, just a killer lucky deal.
 
the customer ratings were 6 out of ten stars, thats not so great...
i play in my churchs youth band thing... we had the same problem type thing....
just go with a smaller acoustic set, and have them use hot rod sticks or whatever
so it doesnt get too loud. works really well.

just please dont spend over 1k on a set that isnt so great... like that one u were lookin at
 
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haha...space limitations?

this is obviously not the problem.

space in storage? performance space?

you can stack drums in storage...and performance space would probably be the same.

the obvious place you're poking is that they are too loud.

i would say a plastic drum shield will be the best route. many churches use them.
here's a very nice kind of drum shield for much less than your budget. there's even cheaper one that are like...90 bucks on ebay too.

http://cgi.ebay.com/6-ft-x-12-Ft-Dr...ryZ10175QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


that...and i despise electronic drums.

drum shield and some different sticks maybe. there's brushes or those sticks that look like a bundle of smaller sticks. made by promark.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150022435619&category=41456

really, i know you said space issue, but i know how older people work.

you guys just want something you can turn down.

if this is for youth, no one is going to care if the drums are stored in a corner somewhere. i'm looking at the set in my room and really just not seeing how you're going to take your electric set and lean them up against the wall in their entirety and make them take up less space. and i'm staring at cymbals, stands 3 toms, a kick, and a snare.

the drums are stacked 5 high, and the stands lean up against them. the drum shield wouldn't take up any room at all really.
 
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Ed Dixon said:
The size of the room and stage make acoustic drums mostly impossible to use. With youth, just way too loud for the room, which has low ceilings and hard walls. In fact, the church already has such a set, and they just did not work there at all.

The primary benefit of the electonic approach is that wonderful knob labelled volume...

Ed
Click to expand...
Well the fact that one set does not work does not necessarily mean that another won't. One kit can be entirely different from another and react differently with the room. Up at my church we have the youth kit which is maple and standard size toms. Works great in the room it is in , but it's way too loud for other rooms. We also have a Gretch Catalina which is birch and has fusion size toms and a smaller kick and it works fine in those other rooms. Not just the size makes a difference, but the wood and the manufacture too.

With drums in a church, there is always a delicate (and difficult) balance between the needs of the soundman and the needs of the musicians. Every drummer I've met not only vastly preferred acoustic drums to electric, but actually played significantly better on acoustic. If the instrument itself is being a limitation, then it is negating its purpose. The companies market electric drums by how authentic they sound and how good of a feel they have to play....but I would say that the majority of drummers really just do not like them.

That volume control is all well and good, until you realize that you can actually hear the clack of the sticks hitting the pads. Not very musical. My honest opinion is that an electric kit would serve no purpose other than to frustrate the kids playing on it. As far as physical dimensions go, electric kits have almost exactly the same footprint as acoustic kits when set up, and actually can take up more space when stored.
 
true with the plastic drum shield things, but i dont think kids would feel to cool sitting behind a big plastic shield, u know what im saying?

really those hot rods or whatever (made by promark i think) are really great...
u can still hit hard and not be too loud
 
I appreciate the comments on acoustic drums, but we've already made the decision to go electronic. So my question remains as to the best electronic sets in the $1000 or less range.

Ed
 
And the unfortunate answer is that there aren't really any that cut the mustard. I'm not even a drummer regular drummer (just occasionally when the church needs me to) and the only electric kit I could stand playing and that had decent feel and sound was about $2.5k
 
The youth area is what used to be the old fellowship hall for the church (which is now someplace different due to additions). It is in a basement area with low ceilings and block walls. There is already a permanent stage area that is inset and ideal for a band area. That space will hold the drums, amps, monitors, musicians, vocalists, and stands. The gear will not have to be moved as the area can be secured easily. It is not large, but big enough.

We are adding a new sound system, video projection system, furniture, etc to the room as well as moving some walls in the back. We removed the dropped ceiling and are painting that area a flat black. The youth themselves will be involved in selecting the colors and paint design for the walls, and for furniture selection (we have decided against using any hand-me-down pieces).

Today the youth play and practice in the main sanctuary, where we have Roland V-Drums. No one has a problem with the electronic approach. All who play drums agree that the sound and feel of acoustic is better (I started as a drummer many decades ago) but they just don’t work in this space (we have tried a number of combos). We need to find a reasonable priced electronic set that has reasonable sound. Roland and Yamaha are two clear options, but others also have similar sets.

Volume is also a factor, as the rest of the same building is used for many adult events at the same time. As others have already said, it a balancing act between what the youth need and sound leakage into other areas with somewhat quieter activities going on at the same time.

Most electronic sets include two components. One are the pads, usually mounted on a fixed rack. The second the, sound module, which generates the sounds from the triggered pads. Some kits come with a selection of various sound modules (Alesis, Roland, etc) whereas others are fixed brand. Just looking for those here that have experience with the various components and which works work well or not.

Ed
 
I've used everything from the Roland TD5 up through the TD 10... The sounds will be fine for what you're needing them to do (brainwise). I tried the Alesis D4 and D5's... Just wasn't the same ease of use or sound quality IMHO

As far as pads, someone already mentioned the 'click' that will be prevelant at lower volumes... This alone is the best argument for getting mesh heads.

Pintech, Hart, Roland, Yamaha... There are plenty of brands that sell triggers with the mesh heads... I preferred the Harts but go with what your budget dictates. .

Cymbals... Again go with the roland CY series... You can get CY 6 and 8's for under $75 pretty much anywhere. The other brands are way too 'plastic' and you're back at the 'click' again.

I play all acoustic now but still miss a lot of the little things my electronics provided me.

They'll be fine for your church

:)
 
Appreciate the comments. We hope to get all setup in the next two months. The youth starts their service on 8/13 in a different area while the youth area is being fixed.

Ed
 
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