I went to a clinic with Rod Morganstien once, and he we playing a pretty big kit. What I took away from it was his practice technique based on the idea that there are sort of two things you are concerned with, I'll try to sum them up, as I remember/see it:
1- "Using the sticks to hit a single instrument", be that cymbals, drums, cowbell, whatever. For that you can practice on your remo pad (which still isn't the same as a metal instrument, but works the same muscles/techniques). You can also always tap toes or work calves out in whatever position, with or without resistance.
2- "Getting around the kit to hit the different instruments". For this he sat on the floor, legs crossed, and invisioned his kit, or even one with 10 toms, 20 cymbals, or whatever monster kit you want to visualize. The idea here is that the practice/warmup, is all about doing what you do to reach out, twist, and use technique 1 in different playing positions. This is also cool if you travel, and it's not cool to set your kit up in a hotel room! This works pretty well, and if you are on commercial carpet like the stuff in my basement, you can even do doublestrokes/ruffs, and work #1 at the same time.
So the summary of my babbling here is that #2 is about the streching and working of the muscles that facilitate you playing a whole set of drums in different positions, and # 1 is about the technique you use to play each one. Between these two you've got a pretty complete practice "kit" for very cheap.
Don't get me wrong, I would love to have one of those electronic mesh kits if I had the dough, between my basement floor, and beatup old Remo pad, I really don't need one. Plus they'll never replace my acoustic drums, only supplement them.
Besides the Remo practice kits, I've seen guys build some pretty cool little practice kits with a bass pedal and striking surface, a pad or two, and those plastic High-hats. That's not too bad for working your hand-hand, and hand-foot co-ordination in a more realistic setup.
BTW- I don't personally like sound-offs either. They don't feel natural on the cymbals, or really even on the drums. I've seen carpet pad used successfully as cheap sound-off alternatives, and I think it sucked pretty-much equally, but for less money.
/2moreCents
