Simmons e-drums?

mjbphotos

mjbphotos

Moderator
Guitar Center has this set on sale for half-price this week. I'm no drummer (don't think I've even sat behind a kit for 30 years). My only use would be to drive EZ Drummer sounds, and mostly simple beats or accents.

Is it even worth trying out?
 
It looks like a toy. It doesn't appear to have MIDI outs which would be necessary to drive EZD. I'm not sure I'd spend $125 on it even if it did.
 
It does look like a toy, but it does have midi capability through the USB plug. Still not sure I'd bother.
 
I wouldn't spend any money on that. Maybe an Alesis DM5/6 at a little more $ would better suit.

You get what you pay for and I forsee you being bitterly disappointed with that.
 
My friend bought that exact set a while back. It gets the job done, it's velocity sensitive, and it has USB MIDI out. But you can't change the MIDI notes of each piece (hey, I'd like cymbal 2 to be a crash instead of a ride, etc.), and there's no control over velocity curves. It's a step above a toy, but leaves a lot to be desired. I played it for a while...the snare has a strange leather-like surface, and the kit sounds very "click-clack" when you hammer away at it. Not much of a consideration for a MIDI instrument, but just a little weird.

But for $125? I don't think anything else can come close for the price as far as being velocity-sensitive and having MIDI output. But honestly, an M-Audio Axiom 25 MIDI controller keyboard has a much smaller footprint, velocity sensitive keys, and more features for not much more scratch than that Simmons e-kit.
 
I could change the MIDI notes when mapped to EZD, though, I assume, never done anything like that. I've tried "playing drums" on my keyboard before, just not the same as holding a pair of stick in hands.
Guess I'll skip this one anyway - no room, and I just d/l-ed the EZD2 upgrade and haven't even looked at that yet. Too many toys/tools, not enough time.
 
mjbphotos said:
I could change the MIDI notes when mapped to EZD, though, I assume, never done anything like that. I've tried "playing drums" on my keyboard before, just not the same as holding a pair of stick in hands.
Guess I'll skip this one anyway - no room, and I just d/l-ed the EZD2 upgrade and haven't even looked at that yet. Too many toys/tools, not enough time.
Click to expand...

Using EZD (not sure) but SD for sure, you can map them a lot easier than changing the MIDI kit. I have a cheap little DD-65. When I do a new kit, I always remap the cowbell (I just don't use it) for another cymbal. Pretty easy to do in SD, you right click on the instrument, on the right there is a learn function, hit the area you want to remap, done.

Pretty easy on the plug in. I have the capability to do it on the drum interface but it is such a pain to reassign.
 
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