Recording Electronic Drum Set as if they were Acoustic drum via MIDI

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pisces7378

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Hello again,
I was just wondering... I am in the market to buy an electronic drum set. And I mean the best. I am looking at the Roland V-Session Drum Set. But I want to record it all MIDI. Is that possible with the Roland V-Drum TD-10 "brain" that comes with it? At the moment I am using a Roland JV 1010 and a keyboard controller to, one track at a time, build the drum set sounds I want. I would love to be able to play in real time, as if I were playing an acoustic set, but have to flexibility of MIDI. Can this brain do it? I e-mailed distributors that did not know. Music store guys do not know, even American Musical Supply, and Musician's Friend"s Tech guys do not know. Anyone here know?

Here is a link...


http://www.americanmusical.com/item.asp?UID=2001072606301853&item=ROL+VSSET&sprc=False


Thanks,

Mike
 
QUOTE]I e-mailed distributors that did not know. Music store guys do not know, even American Musical Supply, and Musician's Friend"s Tech guys do not know.[/QUOTE]

Seriously? Wow, I am amazed. But I followed your link, and I took a quick look at Roland's site, and sure enough, I didn't see anything that comes out and says this.

But the entire point of electronic drumkits is to be able to trigger samples. The way this is done is to convert the signal created by hitting the pads into MIDI notes. The "brain" of the unit is what doies this, and the sound module portion then responds to these MIDI notes. I cannot imagine that Roland would put this set on the market without MIDI i/o. It is almost as inconceivable as Ford offering for sale a car that has no wheels.

OK, curious as ever I've looked further and found some Roland marketing BS about the "brain," the TD-10. Though they never specifically mention it in the product description verbiage, in the list of specs at

http://www.rolandus.com/PRODUCTS/INFO/HTML/TD10FX.HTM

here are the connectors it shows:

Connectors:
1 (touch sensitive) Trigger Input (dual) x 12
Output x 8 (4 stereo pairs),
Phones
Hi-Hat control
Footswitch (stereo)
MIDI (IN, OUT/THRU)
Monitor Mix In
Wave Expansion Board slot
 
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wow, that's a beauty!

How much you paying for that there machine? Zzounds has them for $4995 with free shipping and they'll probably beat anyone else's price if you email them. The link to their V-drum is http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/love.music?f=4580&p=p.ROLVSSET&z=1129695769695

By the way, I have a roland drum machine and it has Midi in and out and all the stuff you'd expect. Roland makes great stuff, great sounding. I'd try one of these puppies out in a store before laying down the money, though.
 
Hey Mike, I have done sessions with a guy using that Roland Drum Set, and it definately does what you want it to, or else they couldnt sell even 1 for that price.

Just Curious:

1: How much does that new job pay, sounds like you got serious cashnow!

2: Why do you want the drum set? You live in a cramped flat in Munchen if I recall, and you are not a drummer, correct? Wassup with that, unless you are building a real studio?

Do a post in the Drum/percussion forum, I would be very curious to hear what they think. Most drummers I know cant stand that stuff, because you are so limited by timbre compared to acoustic drums.

To me, it is like having a Steinway Grand and using it is a midi controller for a JV-1010; after all, the steinway won't make the JV-1010 sound any better.

Unless you are a great percussionist, the results you will get with an electric drum kit wont be much better than triggering the drums sounds with a keyboard. In fact, although I am not a drummer, I have learned enough tricks to play the "drums" on my keyboard live and impressive anyone who comes to my house, and we are talking about classical snobs!

$5,000 would buy you some tasty powered Monitors, a few cool mics, a channel strip or mixer, another sound module, and enough spare change to buy a few more doodads.

Think about this one for a while.Dave
 
Appreciate the concern

David,

Thanks for the concern. After all you are the man that helped me the most back when I needed it the most. But nah, I am not "in the market" as in I am going to buy anything at the moment. I must have phrased some stuff wrong earlier. But as to my being a drummer or not. That is my strongest area. I got my first pro level drum set when i was the ripe ol` age of 12 and have taught drum lessons to people of all ages. When I was in High School I had written all the percussion parts for the marching band. I am not a marching band person as in I don't sit around and listen to John Phillip Sousa, but it earned me $1,000 per song, plus a steady salery as the drum instructor for rehersals... and for a 17 year old, this was big bucks. I have won a few award that modesty prevents me from blabbing about. But anyway, yes, I am a drummer.

I have never owned an e-kit before, but I have tried them out in stores and the technology as of today is still in the toilet stage of what MIGHT happen in 15 years. But I do, as you mentioned, live in a TERRIBLY small flat in Munich, which is the reason why I am interested in buying an ELECTRIC set as opposed to an acoustic. Let me put it this way, if I could do the same thing with this set that I have been doing with my keyboard keys, PLUS I would be given the gift of being about to play the drums in a kit format again, then I am all for it. I haven"t hit a drum in over a year and a half, and believe me, that is like cutting off someone"s oxygen.

Just trying to stay sane, :D

Mike
 
i had been seriously thinking about recording some drums via midi...i have access to the nice Roland kit, but i was thinking i'd use triggers instead on an acoustic kit......you can make triggers from stuff you get at radio shack, it's cheap........with velocitiy sensitivity and the software samplers available you could probably get some great drum tracks with a very low noise floor......but this could turn into a real headache........probably better to learn how to record an acoustic drum set.........that's what i've concluded anyway.......i'm really into to recording everthing at once, or at least as much as possible.
 
I built a drumset out of an alesis d4 pvc pipe, particle board, speaker wire and piezo buzzers from radio shack.

It's for sale.

Before I had a place where I could practice acoustic I bought a yamaha ds10. The cool things about recording midi is that you can change patches afterwards, change tempo afterwards, and quantize afterwards if you screw up. No they are not like acoustic drums, they are like electronic drums but I can still groove on them anyways.

Now, I have a basement studio with an old gretch set and killer cymbals and I am happier. I use the yamaha brain for practice patterns and the drums are permanently miked and triggered so that if I play something I can layer midi sounds over the other sounds. This makes for some cool bass drum sounds.

I was just like you, wanting to play drums and living in a tiny apartment and it was killing me too.
 
Omaha???

Thanks for identying with me.

That is an interesting story. PVC pipe ya say?:D

I just wanted to ask... You couldn"t find a remote enogh place to play and acoustic set.... in NEBRASKA???

Only a joke. I am from Georgia, so please know that I know the ins and outs of barron nothingness.

Mike
 
Mike, I didnt know you played drums, that obviously changes things...

How bout this new roland drum thingee that sits in your lap? I read a good review of it, I cant think of the name, but its small and about $1,000 I think. Would certainly solve the space problem...
 
Lap Drums

Hey DavidK,

I think I have seen what you are talking about. I am just now looking into electronic percussion after an entire life of viewing it as absolute CRAP!!! So I too can not remember what it is called. I assumed that it is crap as well. There are 2 main sources for concern when it comes to electronic (midi) drums. And these are: 1.) Quality and realism of sound (Naturally) 2.) Ease of use. Which includes responsiveness and intuitiveness with regards to a realistic as possible druming experience. I have already test driven the Roland V-set and from a player's perspective, it would be hard to tell the difference between playing real drums and these e-drums. Actually the e-drums felt better than my $3,000 set of Tama back home, because there was nothing to tune or worry about cracking etc. HOWEVER, the lack of customability, such as tunings etc... are also the downside of the whole idea as well. I just wish I had never seen them. Because now I want them. But I will probably never get them.

Mike
 
DUDES!

Hey guys how's it goin ? Ever seen the yamaha DTX ?
I played one at the music store one day. I'll tell ya, if I would have had $1000, that sucker would have been comin' home with me. I was quite impressed with this drum kit for the money. It has MIDI in/outs also (as most electronic kits do). Now, granted this was atleast a year ago, so I don't know if any bad reviews about it have popped up since then, as I have not been following things to close since the birth of my son, but I'm gettin' back in there. All I can say is when I get the dough, I'm goin to get one. Unless you guys tell me in the past year, reviews say this thing is junk. But I don't think it is, the sounds were all real nice, And it was pretty easy to use.
Anybody seen one or used one?, Watt do ya tink mon!

T.J.hooker :cool:
 
A DS10 is a yamaha DTX. There is the original and the new red box one. They are about the same. I have had a DTX for ... since about the time they came out. They costed about 2000 then.

It plays fine. The Roland with the drum heads with the webbed coating plays better in my opinion. The sounds are probably not that much better, but they play closer to acoustic drums
 
That's a given

Yes I agree. The Roland with the Canvas I'm sure Plays much more like an acoustic set. That's a given. That's why I did'nt mention that. I was talking about the sounds and such. You think there pretty close, that's cool. I would think so too.

T.J.Hooker:cool:
 
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