my "not so special" kits

[tolgapala]

Hey everyone!

Here are some pictures of my two kits. One edrum and one acoustic set. Nothing so special except the fact that I have my toms in reverse order and lay down my setup to the very left. Find it very convenient to play this setup. The picture was taken without the twin, an extracowbell and the 13"x5.5" snare that I normally like to use on the left just beside my hi-hat.

http://a226.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/6/l_abf9ffb89579d40dc069f67731a7ec51.jpg

A view from the top:

http://a856.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/115/l_ba60cdfb520f0c00460895a23e61e9bf.jpg

Layout of pieces:

YAMAHA Rydeen
TAMA Artwood Custom Super Maple Snare 14" x 6,5"
13" x 5,5" Snare
20" x 16" Kick
10" - 12" Tom
14" Floor Tom
Cymbals
14" Hi-hat (Istanbul Samatya)
16" Crash x 2 (Istanbul Samatya, Istanbul Radiant)
20" Ride (Istanbul Samatya)
6" Splash (Masterwork)
8" Splash (Masterwork)
Cowbell x 2 (Meinl)

Edrum(YAMAHA DTXplorer):

http://a226.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/105/l_f6fc99f4c8b319ac125e4009fd0b4859.jpg

Recent view of my home recording facility:

http://a977.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/5/l_38d948f41222dfcdc72705b1138dc640.jpg

[Vaibhav "Cross" Gadade]

hey!! i like the acoustic kit. i like the way the cymbals are set up and the fact that they are istanbuls kinda make the kit a special one according to me.

i too have a entry level drum kit, but my cymbals are K series. i can live with ok sounding drums but want my cymbals to sing.

[katman]

Nice looking drums, mate. How are those Istanbuls? I used to have a Mehmet crash which was a great rock crash cymbal. Kind of sorry I got rid of it.

By the way, congratulations on your country's victory in Euro 2008 last night. I thought they were going to blow it against the Swiss.

[tolgapala]

hey!! i like the acoustic kit. i like the way the cymbals are set up and the fact that they are istanbuls kinda make the kit a special one according to me.

i too have a entry level drum kit, but my cymbals are K series. i can live with ok sounding drums but want my cymbals to sing.


my sentiments about drums exactly. if a drum kit is not figuratively "thrash" you can always work your way out for a decent sound using different skin choices, rings, hoops etc. and alter tunings to suit your taste.

I also humbly do not agree with the term beginner level. it may not be the so called best quality of wood and may not be an expensive set but when you go for a wooden instrument, the quality or the satisfactory element that the instrument generates in terms of sound is always a matter of chance even if the manufacturers say there is a strict production standard. and the drummers taste is another important factor as far as i am concerned. most drums manufacturers agree that the sound mostly is generated from the skin like 85-90% of it. The rest is shared between a good shell material, manufacturing technique and the drummer's tuning/playing ability. ;) not that i am contesting your opinions. it's just how i see it as well.

i would definitely go for the same sizes though regardless of the brand and model. they are easy to handle, easy to transport even in a small family car like I drive and 20x16 kick has a very tasteful, punchy sound the way I like it. fits in the car's back door with ease.

Istanbul Mehmet's are gorgeous, especially if you would go for a nice swift but not so sharp crash sound and pinging ride. good grooving hi-hat sound with good rattle and chick sound even in low velocities is a bonus. in my experience, it helps both rock and pop/rock sounding songs. i totally agree if your cymbals sing and you have decent sounding drums, than you are more than good to go. :)

cheers!

[tolgapala]

Nice looking drums, mate. How are those Istanbuls? I used to have a Mehmet crash which was a great rock crash cymbal. Kind of sorry I got rid of it.

By the way, congratulations on your country's victory in Euro 2008 last night. I thought they were going to blow it against the Swiss.

thanks a lot mate! Those Istanbul's worth every penny that I paid for. They're %100 hand made so even if the series are the same the sound can differ depending on the moulding, lathing, hammering, the alloy percentage so forth. I am sorry that you got rid of your Istanbul Crash bro! They're definitely made to last! from father to son if you have one or planning to have one in the future. :)

funny thing is i care for my left crash(istanbul samatya) a lot more than the right one(istanbul radiant) even if the radiant is a much more expensive series crash. radiant has a quick and high pitch crash sound compared to the samatya. close to a china i would say. but i like the darker and relatively more low pitch samatya better. the samatya is relatively thicker i would say. ride is a 20" with a nice pinging sound and a heavy one also. hi-hat's are also a killer.

thanks for the congrats by the way. :) the first half of the game was nerve-grinding and the weather made it much worse but the second half the team get themselves together and focused on it. it was a close one. hope they can play better against the czechs.

cheers!

[stasz]

Awesome setups! The acoustics are really setup in a very clean way, and everything is within reach. It looks really comfortable. The e-kit looks pretty comfy too. I like your Istanbuls. Looks like you buy them straight from the source, too! There's a member here named GRUNTERSDAD who I believe also owns (or owned) some masterwork cymbals.

[tolgapala]

Awesome setups! The acoustics are really setup in a very clean way, and everything is within reach. It looks really comfortable. The e-kit looks pretty comfy too. I like your Istanbuls. Looks like you buy them straight from the source, too! There's a member here named GRUNTERSDAD who I believe also owns (or owned) some masterwork cymbals.

Thank you very much. I have been playing drums since junior high school and it's almost been 15 yrs. (not that i consider myself at the top of my performance considering that i spent considerable amount of that time without laying hands on drumsticks, i consider myself experienced though.) This setup is i guess the most physically effective one i have decided after reviewing it several times over the years. I sincerely think it is final that I have been playing it comfortably for some time now. There could be tiny modifications though. Additional cymbals etc.

Yep you are right by the way I buy it from the source and am proud owner of Istanbul Mehmet Cymbals. :) I have played on Zildjians but never quite liked them that much. Sabians the same. Paiste is good though in my opinion.

I think i know GRUNTERSDAD, we may have spoken over the forum. Masterwork splashes are definative sounding and affordable splashes. Never tried any other brands though.

DTXplorer is somewhat neat, adequate but not a very fancy edrum set with a lot of gadgets and gimmicks. It is affordable though and I could not care less about some other models fancy features cause i use it mainly for practice purposes to stay in shape and when recording, softwares overcome most of the inadequacies like sample variety, dynamics etc.

cheers!

[tolgapala]

here are some samples from stage:

http://www.nanikatak.com/fig/nanik_atak_@_fest-i-bal_(06.06.08)/sahne2.jpg

http://www.nanikatak.com/fig/nanik_atak_@_fest-i-bal_(06.06.08)/23150006.jpg

http://www.nanikatak.com/fig/nanik_atak_@_fest-i-bal_(06.06.08)/23150014.jpg

http://www.nanikatak.com/fig/nanik_atak_@_fest-i-bal_(06.06.08)/23150019.jpg

[Cribby]

I like the rack tom setup. Very Billy Cobham like....

[tolgapala]

I like the rack tom setup. Very Billy Cobham like....

Thanks Cribby,

I like Billy Cobham very much. I am pretty sure somewhere deep in my mind I had his setup's view when I was setting up mine.

[tolgapala]

speaking of modifications, additional cymbals and an 8" tom would be nice i guess.

[FFFF]

Sweet cymbals! I love your recording studio as well, especially that mini keyboard! By the way, what keyboard is that?

[tolgapala]

Sweet cymbals! I love your recording studio as well, especially that mini keyboard! By the way, what keyboard is that?

thanks mate! that mini keyboard is an M-AUDIO Oxygen 8 v2 USB (2 octaves- 25 keys) which is about $150 dollars. here you can find a link for the details:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Oxygen8v2-main.html

i mostly use it to lay down a decent bass track and some fancy accompanying keyboard tracks. it is very handy, doesn't take up much space and programmable knobs&function buttons work swiftly with the plug-in automations.

cheers!

[eddiehimself]

my racks are at the left like that, but the "normal" way round (or so it's said)

[asht89]

Nice kit and nice set up too. What have you used for the snare drum on the electronic kit? I have a DTXplorer too which i use for practice in my room at university and i was just wondering how you went about adding that

[bojangleman]

man...that is nice kit!

how does she sound running through the PA?(miced)

nice cymbals also...they look very classy!

looks nice on stage....

....the kit that is...=P

Alex

[tolgapala]

my racks are at the left like that, but the "normal" way round (or so it's said)

hey there! i find it very comfortable using my rack toms at the left. it gives a lot of space for the ride (close to the kick) also to stand with almost a complete very low horizontal position the way i like it.

the thing with the reverse order is basically to feel more swift with the high tom when laying down a decent fill with open arms position. i am right handed so the fact that they are in reverse order makes a fill sound rather unique because the way they are set. in a standard setup a drummer normally starts the fill with the high tom but when i go reverse i can inject some out of sequence high tom hits while having enough time reach again to the low and floor tom and the snare easily.

[tolgapala]

Nice kit and nice set up too. What have you used for the snare drum on the electronic kit? I have a DTXplorer too which i use for practice in my room at university and i was just wondering how you went about adding that

thanks mate! it is as i have mentioned in the thread not so special but very easy to handle in terms of playing.

the snare that i use with the dtx is the very same snare (yamaha rydeen 13"x5.5 - now i am using an evans power center on it to control the ringing&overtone) you could see on the very left of the kit just below my hi-hat level. there's only one difference i used a mesh practice head and an acoustic trigger (dt20) to connect it to the module. certainly gives you a much more realistic rebound and larger playing surface. be sure to set the parameters right if you are planning to give it a try. if everything is set to suit your playing habits (mesh tension, trigger position, parameters like trigger gain, velocity, rejection,self-reject time etc.), than it works almost as perfect as the vinyl. if not then you would probably find it nerve-grinding when you start to hear a machine gun sound rather than a ghost note. the trigger can misfire pretty badly.i would love to be of some assistance if you have any further questions on that. that was basically my humble solution for a mesh tirgger pad since yamaha does not produce mesh trigger pads like roland or pintech do so.

cheers!

[tolgapala]

man...that is nice kit!

how does she sound running through the PA?(miced)

nice cymbals also...they look very classy!

looks nice on stage....

....the kit that is...=P

Alex

thanks a lot man!

it sounds very pleasing for a drumset in that price range when running through the PA, if you tune it right how you want it.

it is not a very expensive one though. high price may mean high quality but does not necessarily mean satisfactory in my opinion since drums are very very personal instruments and dependent on the drummers' tastes.

thank you about your nice comments on the cymbals also man. i like em and care about 'em very much. that's why they still look newish. =)

cheers!

[tolgapala]

Hey there,

it probably should be in "your playing" forum but i hope you guys would like the very recent performance with my band. it is a compilation of nice moments of our performance that was shot by the audience. unfortunately my wife forgot to charge the battery of our handycam so we could not tape it properly. :) apologies for the sound and picture quality though. even my drumset was miked properly the engineer seemed he couldn't care less about the individuals like volume/tone of toms, overhead gains, is there any sound coming from the monitors at all etc.

anyway here are some samples:

Nanik Atak @ Fest-i-Bal | Pt. 1 (http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=36400735)
Nanik Atak @ Fest-i-Bal | Pt. 2 (http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=36405126)
Nanik Atak @ Fest-i-Bal | Pt. 3 (http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=36412337)

hope you enjoy it. i sincerely do. :)
cheers!

[tolgapala]

hey all!

you can also find some studio performances in my band's myspace page.

cheers!

[tolgapala]

any comments on the performances? :) anybody?

[tolgapala]

any comments on the performances? :) anybody?

no comments huh? :) ummm. ok then.

[Dr.Hook]

That you're mother on vocals??? To my ears, she should be screaming in a metal band, not singing Born To Be Wild!

And I share your feeling on drums and working to get good sound out of them. Those Rydeen you have sound really good. I put some Evans heads on My Ludwig Accents, messed for HOURS with the tuning and damn they sound good as well.

Anyhow, good stuff cat.

[metal overlord]

That you're mother on vocals??? To my ears, she should be screaming in a metal band, not singing Born To Be Wild!

And I share your feeling on drums and working to get good sound out of them. Those Rydeen you have sound really good. I put some Evans heads on My Ludwig Accents, messed for HOURS with the tuning and damn they sound good as well.

Anyhow, good stuff cat.

Really? A Metal band? Hahaha.

I thought she did pretty well singing wise.

[tolgapala]

That you're mother on vocals??? To my ears, she should be screaming in a metal band, not singing Born To Be Wild!

And I share your feeling on drums and working to get good sound out of them. Those Rydeen you have sound really good. I put some Evans heads on My Ludwig Accents, messed for HOURS with the tuning and damn they sound good as well.

Anyhow, good stuff cat.

well she's not my mom and i believe i am a little older my friend. :) i humbly disagree with your opinion cause she's a hell of a blues singer actually and speaking of born to be wild, it was chosen for the playlist only to impress the audience (namely high school kids). it's an old song but they like it. :) i know there seems to be something wrong about it - song is old they are young but that's the way it is. life is not with the sense of irony.

anyway the sound could be a lot more prettier if the guy behind the desk was not a total schmuck not to mention the bad video quality. aside from that i am happy with my rydeen. i use evans power center on my 5.5x13 snare on my left. now i am happier with it's tone.

cheers!

[tolgapala]

Really? A Metal band? Hahaha.

I thought she did pretty well singing wise.

i couldn't agree more! :D

[tolgapala]

recently bought a pearl p-122tw power shifter twin pedal and i have to say it is swift, responsive and durable and that was exactly what i was looking for with a reasonable price tag. i am very happy with it. unlike the eliminator and the iron cobra it is affordable, not to mention the dw5000, dw8000's monstrous prices.

here it is:
http://cachepe.zzounds.com/media/quality,85/brand,zzounds/fit,400by400/P-122TW-d4bd4daf2b2c6363614cc9ddd0dd60f8.jpg

[tolgapala]

here's a photo of myself working on a friend's song. laying down&editing the bass line. the other pic is the dtxplorer with my new pearl twin pedal on.

http://a232.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/60/l_e0d06195df035acd3f200566254798b7.jpg

http://a335.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/98/l_5f393712e4a368106c9e7e3ca02d4726.jpg

[metal overlord]

recently bought a pearl p-122tw power shifter twin pedal and i have to say it is swift, responsive and durable and that was exactly what i was looking for with a reasonable price tag. i am very happy with it. unlike the eliminator and the iron cobra it is affordable, not to mention the dw5000, dw8000's monstrous prices.

here it is:
http://cachepe.zzounds.com/media/quality,85/brand,zzounds/fit,400by400/P-122TW-d4bd4daf2b2c6363614cc9ddd0dd60f8.jpg


I have those pedals on one of my kits. For the price, great pedals. Better than the Tama Iron Cobra Jr, in my opinion.

[asht89]

I notice in the picture you've got your DTXplorer plugged into an M-audio fast track pro. Ive used these m-audio boxes at uni and they seem really good for recording using 1/4 jacks and cannons. How well does the dtxplorer record with that? cos ive only used guitar, bass and keys through one of those boxes

[tolgapala]

I have those pedals on one of my kits. For the price, great pedals. Better than the Tama Iron Cobra Jr, in my opinion.

my sentiments exactly.

[tolgapala]

I notice in the picture you've got your DTXplorer plugged into an M-audio fast track pro. Ive used these m-audio boxes at uni and they seem really good for recording using 1/4 jacks and cannons. How well does the dtxplorer record with that? cos ive only used guitar, bass and keys through one of those boxes

i am not sure if fast track pro and dtx could be considered as a perfect marriage but recording performance (audio) is excellent in my opinion. it is not seen on the first pic but my dtx is also connected to the m-audio through midi out (the gray cable coming from the module) and i use samples/sample sets and recording dynamics from toontrack' s ezdrummer. (and sometimes fxpansion' s bfd).

here's something fun i have recorded for testing it as soon as i bought the m-audio. it's toto's georgy porgy acoustic version (probably have listened to it before no drums, only percussion) and i have recorded some drums on it just one take. then i had some reverb on the drums to match the excitement and the concert hall feeling of the actual recording. that is all i have done but could be a good example for the performance of dtx-maudio pairing.

cheers!

[tolgapala]

any comments on the attachment anybody?

[tolgapala]

Here are some pictures of my little recording studio, upgraded with a condenser microphone, a PreSonus TubeAmp and a CME Headphone Amp (4 outs).

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=13&pictureid=318

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=13&pictureid=317

http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=13&pictureid=316

[tolgapala]

i am going to send the first ever serious recording session's samples for a friend's project as soon as i have a decent mix down. working on it as we speak.

there's also a thread we started in the forum. it's all about virtual studio technology, howtos, questions and comments. you can reah the thread in the following address:

VST Drumming (Share opinions, howtos, knowledge and discussions) (http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35539)

[tolgapala]

hey everyone!

i am just posting the sample song's very first and incomplete primordial version from couple of weeks ago. you can reach it in the following link:

Dinle - by: Uygar&Tolga (http://www.davulcuyuz.biz/ugi_dinle-05.mp3)

just to let you guys know. any feedback is appreciated.

a few insights about the song that i would like to be taken into consideration if anyone's interested to give any feedback:

my friend (who used to be the lead singer and guitar player of my band) and i are taking things kinda slow to make it as good as we can and the fact that we can find so little time of our own to make music is another reason. this recording is the export of the cubase project as it was couple of weeks ago. working on it as we speak.

it is basically a very crude mixdown. the channels are all to be dumped one by one and replaced with the final performances eventually as the project grows. so please nevermind the guitar tone, the vocals etc. they are all temporary and recorded in 3 am in the morning roughly for laying down a basic picture of the traffic. i played the drums live (using my dtx connected to ezdrummer software via midi) to see if what i think fits the overall spirit of the song. no editing whatsoever and this is take two for the drums. :)

i did play the song from beginning to end without any pause and restart, rather than laying down the midi notes from the screen cause it feels more like the real deal and i never liked the editing process. i think it's the main thing with home studio recording for a musician, either you learn to play flawlessly or you become a very swift cubase editor. :) you know if i blunder i start over again. time is mine since it is my little recording studio i am not pressurized by a tight production schedule or a producer pushing me and reminding me of the budget&deadlines.

you will probably notice the bass stops playing just around the end of the solo because i haven't finished writing it. i was laying down the bass line. i just applied some effects for the vocals to make them bearable at this stage. and some overdrive to the guitar.

i had to give a link for the song because of the constraints for the file size in the forum.

i said too much already. :) hope you enjoy it. i sincerely do. i will post the final version as soon as we two part time musicians (with different professions for daily bread) find sometime of our own and get up our lazy butts and get together to finish the song. :)

[harryconway]

Love the cymbals. I've a fondness for Turk plates as well. Istanbul Mehmet 20" Turk ride and 15" Turk hats. 16" Soultone Extreme crash and 16" Masterwork Legend crash. The simpleness of my existence here: http://harryconway.typepad.com/ I believe Yamaha no longer produces the Rydeen series, which is too bad. Great sounding drums, for the money.

[tolgapala]

Love the cymbals. I've a fondness for Turk plates as well. Istanbul Mehmet 20" Turk ride and 15" Turk hats. 16" Soultone Extreme crash and 16" Masterwork Legend crash. The simpleness of my existence here: http://harryconway.typepad.com/ I believe Yamaha no longer produces the Rydeen series, which is too bad. Great sounding drums, for the money.

Hello Harry,

I really do love the sound of Istanbul cymbals, not because I am Turkish and being patriotic. :) I tried other major brands like Sabian, Zildjian, Meinl and Paiste. Paiste is the only brand that I would go for if I wasn't using Istanbul Mehmets. I realize brand choice is a highly debatable subject cause it is so personal. But hey, having so many components and setup options involved, if drums aren't the most personal of it all, what else is? right? :)

Basically cymbal production is a very historic art and craftsmanship in this part of the world. As you may already know it has come from way back from maybe even before the Ottoman Empire was ruling this territory for 600 years. Most of the master cymbal makers known throughout the world now are mainly descendants of those masters roughly 5-6 hundred years ago. Hand hammering is the main characteristic with Turkish cymbals and event though Zildjian family has migrated from Anatolia and being the starters of this heritage they are not hand hammering anymore except for a few of their series as far as i am concerned considering their marketing throughout the world and high production volumes.

I checked out your "simple existence" :) and I really loved it. The fact that your setup is utilized by trigger pads is very cool in my opinion because I also am fond of hybrid setups. Are those Mandala Drums you are using?

I consider myself very lucky to have a Rydeen set. As you have elegantly put it, the series are no longer produced by Yamaha and was in the market for a very short period of time. I grabbed one and am happy ever since. The fact that the equivalent series that are around in the market now, are not as good sounding as the Rydeen makes me even happier. Was a hell of a good deal.

Cheers!

[harryconway]

Somewhere in my cymbal bag, I have a few of those "other" brands. Paiste, Zildjian, Meinl, Ufip, but I got the handcrafted bug a few years ago. There's just a "spirituality", a "je ne sais quoi" about them. I'm very familiar with the Mandala drum. One of my co-horts has two V1's and two V2's. And two Korg wave drums. No, what you saw in my kit were old school Tama Techstar drums. Real analog synthesizer stuff. And a Roland SPD-S and a Electro Harmonics looping station. So his machines and my machines play very well together, but they don't replicate each other. I had a Yamaha Recording Custom, and that made me fall in love with their drums and their hardware. At some point in time, I'm sure I'll be driving Yamaha again.

[tolgapala]

Somewhere in my cymbal bag, I have a few of those "other" brands. Paiste, Zildjian, Meinl, Ufip, but I got the handcrafted bug a few years ago. There's just a "spirituality", a "je ne sais quoi" about them. I'm very familiar with the Mandala drum. One of my co-horts has two V1's and two V2's. And two Korg wave drums. No, what you saw in my kit were old school Tama Techstar drums. Real analog synthesizer stuff. And a Roland SPD-S and a Electro Harmonics looping station. So his machines and my machines play very well together, but they don't replicate each other. I had a Yamaha Recording Custom, and that made me fall in love with their drums and their hardware. At some point in time, I'm sure I'll be driving Yamaha again.

my sentiments exactly. :) they have this "je ne sais quoi" which i couldn't find in others. i do not have any of the other brands in my cymbal bag but i have tried nearly every one of them at studios, music shops or friends' drums that i had the chance to play with. have you got the chance to check out the sample i have posted by the way? is it as "old school" as we tried it should be?

[tolgapala]

hey all,

i have prepared some samples in the drum gear forum. they are midi drums individually separated (kick, snare, hat) to different channels and compressed and eq'ed.

hope you all like it.

VST thread (http://www.drummerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?p=468856#post468856)

[jazzkidding]

Hi, I also have a similar set up with a low end PDP drum set. Reasonably priced drum sets are ok if they stay put in one place. The reason is the hardware will fall apart if moved often. Most of my hardware is now Pearl anyway.
Although John H. Bonham allegedly said He loved drums more than cymbals, I reasoned I needed to purchase the best cymbals I could, given my budget, and go cheap on the drums. From reading this forum I understood that the sound of drums can be changed but cymbals are what they are, unless you put tape on them and I do not want do that.
So I got the Samatya cymbal pack: 14" hi hats, 16" crash and 20" ride.
They sounded very much like much more expensive cymbals you can hear on the major cymbal makers' web sites. And really as a beginner drummer it was hard for me to decide which cymbal was better. I could hear the difference but most sounded good to me.
After months of playing I needed to know if my Mehmet were really any good. So I purchased the best cymbal I could that was reliable. I added an 18" Paiste Signature full crash worth in itself more than all the Samatya cymbals I own.
Well the Paiste sounds good, but no better then the hand hammered Samatya. I think they actually go well together and my Samatyas are a keeper.
More money doesn't mean better necessarely.
I put Evans G2 heads on my drums, moved the 13" tom to the floor next to my 16" floor tom and gave my ride cymbal some space. Because a good set up is really all about the ride cymbal location, nice and low. Subsequently I added a vintage 6.5 Slingerland cob snare and a good DW throne. I am a happy man.