electronic drumkit?

mucus

Junior Member
Hi guys, I would like to get an e-kit to practice at home, I would need one with double kick actually.
What models could I look up to?
 
What's your budget?

Other than double kick, do you need any other facilities?

Have you tried the Yamaha or Roland kits?

Davo
 
What's your budget?

Other than double kick, do you need any other facilities?

Have you tried the Yamaha or Roland kits?

Davo

I don't need much really, only double kick, snare, 2 toms and floor tom, 2 cymbals and ride, a kind of the basic set. Any difference between yamaha and roland?
 
Check eBay and Craig's List. My 13 year old nephew scored a used Yamaha e-kit for $500 and that included an amp. I just picked up 5 Yamaha pads and a rack, for $174. I already had a Roland TD-7 module that someone gave me for free.​
I would also suggest sticking to Roland, or Yamaha. They are the two largest e-kit makers, and very competitive, each having low, medium, and hi-end kits.​
Roland is the largest drum manufacturer in the world, and they don't even make acoustic kits. Yamaha, of course, makes acoustic drums, and uses samples of their different drums in their e-kits.​
 
I use a TD3 with mesh head snare and it works well. The hat pedal is awfull. I would far prefer a regular hat stand from a higher end kit. It's 2 toms up, one down and 2 double trigger cymbals. Just like my acoustic kit minus my spash and ride. But I play an Iron Cobra Lever Glide and moving to this roland hat pedal is bothersome. Need a 5 pound weight on my toe maybe.
Still better then pads and I plug my laptop into it and play with the headphones . I even used it through the PA at a small house party. Worked well enough.
It will work fine with a double pedal.
 
I use a TD9 with all mesh heads for home. Great kit and I even use it for really small gigs where the acoustic kit is just too noisy as it's robust enough....

Things to understand are:

1. Rubber heads have a horrible bounce. They take some getting used to.
2. Mesh heads are much closer to a real acoustic feel but are not the same as acoustic
3. The cymbals definitely don't have the same feel at all
4. Cheaper versions have very limited velocity triggering, so light ghost/grace notes & dynamics will suffer.

E-Kits are great but make sure you decide what you want to do with it, they can be very restrictive (sound and playability) if you buy a too cheap model. Go to a shop/store and try a few.

Me personally? The Roland TD-9 does the job for what I need (home practice, song writing sessions with the occasional live use).
 
Roland use different technology from Yamaha. Yamaha use samples whereas Roland use software generated sounds. You would think that this gives Yamaha the edge for acoustic drummers but Roland are more popular. I guess Roland spend more on R&D and have some excellent hi end products. Ther are companies that sell Roland compatable kits for download onto your TD6 and upward models. These downloaded kits are very good and do sound authentic. I prefer the compactness of the Roland kits and the general feel of them.

Comments about hihats and cymbals. It is undoubtedly true that the biggest difference between acoustic and electronic kits is the cymbals and the ride and hihat take the brunt of this criticism. The hi end Roland VH-11 and VH-12 hihats are better than the other lower models but there are so many nuances to an acoustic hihat that it clearly is difficult to simulate. Nevertheless the VH-11 that I have has a separate and floating upper hat, and it has edge and main section sensitivity. The hihat opening also has a few steps between fully open and fully closed. Thus, there are still a lot of tones that can be generated. The ride is possibly slightly less an issue with rim, shoulder and bell tones.

What isn't often said though is how much fun they are. If you suck they are fun as you can play along to built in tracks or any external source. It has a built in metronome. You can record to the module and listen back (to check how much you suck). All with the push of a few buttons. The biggest plus for me is being able to play at any time. Otherwise I would never get the chance to practice. They are excellent for doing recordings as well, as you can record to midi, correct your mistakes (or mine) and then choose other sampled sounds if you want to change say the snare etc.

E-kits get a lot of stick from acoustic players. I'm not defending the cause per se, but they work admirably for me.

Davo
 
I have a Roland TD-9 with the mesh heads. It's so fun to play. I have a DW acoustic kit as well. The Roland is great for times when noise is an issue. The mesh heads have a great feel. The cymbal feel doesn't bother me at all. The Roland kit is less fatiguing to play. I would use this kit live. It also is great for playing with an iPod. Just plug it in and the mix is great. I use a Tama Iron Cobra double pedal and it works great.
 
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