Electronic Drums

TelePaul

J to the R O C
So I went the electronic drums route. Roland TD-4K, entry level but I still went over my budget. I'm excited though, I'm a complete newb on the sticks and it's great to have a quiet way to practice - it's nearly worth the money for that alone, as my mum is getting fairly pissed at the Phil Collins efforts coming from upstairs. However, I'm also excited about the recoridng capabilities - it really came down to whether to throw some money into new cymbals, skins, a D112 and an SM57 (and still contend with my poor room) or by-pass this and go with the electronic kit with it's MIDI ouput.

I have a few questions. Firstly, is controlling something like EZDrummer or even the LM57 VSTi that came with Cubase SE3 as easy as plugging ina midi cable, settting the Roland to input and the LM7 to output? I don't know much about drum mapping but I assumed it was fairly standard? Secondly, is taking an audio out from the module as simple as hooking up two TRS cables (L and R) and setting two line-in channels on my mixer to the same gain level?

Thanks guys.
 
This is somethig I want to do eventually. But the price of the Roland is pretty steep for my budget. Toontrack/EZDrummer has a forum for e-drums, maybe your answer is there. I'd be interested in what you find.

http://www.toontrack.com/forum/tt.aspx?forumid=52

As for the audio outs, wouldn't they be regular 1/4" plugs instead of TRS?
 
Yes it IS that easy. midi cable from the module to your PC, the midi notes already correspond to the correct samples in ezdrummer for sure, and probably LM7. I thought I'd have to map roland's tom4 to E3 or whatever and go one by one thru all the drums, but they were all perfect right from the start. Even the hi hat / pedal interaction. You MIGHT have to change a setting in the module, so the module doesn't think it's the sync source.. My TD-8 was driving me crazy for hours til I discovered that ....

And yeah, you can record the modules drum tones with standard TS cables to your interface. When I record my v-drums, I record the midi AND the actual audio out. IDK how many outputs your module has, it might have direct out's. Then you can record the snare and kick on separate tracks, and leave the toms / cyms in the stereo master outs.
 
Yes it IS that easy. midi cable from the module to your PC, the midi notes already correspond to the correct samples in ezdrummer for sure, and probably LM7. I thought I'd have to map roland's tom4 to E3 or whatever and go one by one thru all the drums, but they were all perfect right from the start. Even the hi hat / pedal interaction. You MIGHT have to change a setting in the module, so the module doesn't think it's the sync source.. My TD-8 was driving me crazy for hours til I discovered that ....

And yeah, you can record the modules drum tones with standard TS cables to your interface. When I record my v-drums, I record the midi AND the actual audio out. IDK how many outputs your module has, it might have direct out's. Then you can record the snare and kick on separate tracks, and leave the toms / cyms in the stereo master outs.

Thaks Suprstar. Hey, does the snare and cymbals on those drums have different zones for stuff like sidestick, rimshots and bell??
 
Thaks Suprstar. Hey, does the snare and cymbals on those drums have different zones for stuff like sidestick, rimshots and bell??

Yes, snare shots and ride zones. Dynamics seem really excellent. No tom rim shots though but I think tom rim shots sound like fail anyway...at least for me.
 
Yes it IS that easy. midi cable from the module to your PC, the midi notes already correspond to the correct samples in ezdrummer for sure, and probably LM7. I thought I'd have to map roland's tom4 to E3 or whatever and go one by one thru all the drums, but they were all perfect right from the start. Even the hi hat / pedal interaction. You MIGHT have to change a setting in the module, so the module doesn't think it's the sync source.. My TD-8 was driving me crazy for hours til I discovered that ....

And yeah, you can record the modules drum tones with standard TS cables to your interface. When I record my v-drums, I record the midi AND the actual audio out. IDK how many outputs your module has, it might have direct out's. Then you can record the snare and kick on separate tracks, and leave the toms / cyms in the stereo master outs.

Wow thanks! Exciting. So stick with internal sync, yeah? How do you record both audio and midi? Just set up a stereo audio track for the two outputs (it's just a L and R output) and also run the midi through a midi track?
 
Wow thanks! Exciting. So stick with internal sync, yeah? How do you record both audio and midi? Just set up a stereo audio track for the two outputs (it's just a L and R output) and also run the midi through a midi track?

I had to change my module to EXTERNAL sync, then it just blurts out whatever notes you hit, like a midi keyboard. IDK about the td-4's tho. And yeah, exactly. The midi and audio are totally independant, you can capture one or the other, or both. Like I said tho, that's a TD-8, like 15 year old technology. The newer stuff might be configured like that out of the box, in which case you can plug and play. Super fun to play, and you can get some good results:

http://www.supr-star.com/songs - ALL off my td-8 / td-7 frankenstein kit.

chili: depending on the module, some have NO dual zone triggers, and some are ALL dual zone with some 3-zone (ie ride bell/middle/edge). Of course if you have dual zone inputs, you need a dual zone trigger to go with it. I think the tri-zone cyms have 2 cables too, I'm not sure, my modules dont have tri.
 
Yes, snare shots and ride zones. Dynamics seem really excellent. No tom rim shots though but I think tom rim shots sound like fail anyway...at least for me.

Superior Drummer 2 has all of those options, and they sound pretty good to me. With dual zone pads, you'll have to choose on the toms whether you want the rim to be a rim hit or a rim shot. The beauty of MIDI is that you can change any hit to any other hit with just a few clicks of your mouse, so you can change your mind later if you want.
 
I know, perfect corrections, so easy.. Last night I dragged some snare rim shots to just be regular snare hits, and fixed a buncha tom roll velocities that were a little too light, it'd be impossible on regular drum tracks. vdrums and midi rule, I'm a fan for life!
 
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