Drummers using E kits

drummingman

Gold Member
With how good electronic drums have become over the years I have been thinking a lot about why the vast majority of drummers don't use them in live settings. I know that has a lot to do with the visual aspect of real drums vs pads on stage. But beyond that I'm honestly surprised that more people are not using them live as their main kits.

In the studio so much is either sampled or triggered or at least enhanced when it comes to the actual drum sounds (even eq'ing could fall into this category being that its not drums in their pure forms that we hear on recordings). So the idea of staying acoustically pure is pretty much out.

I do understand E cymblas not being in use that often considering they lack the same response as the real thing way more then current drum pads vs real drums (meaning dynamically and even feel wise).

Being that I've never used E drums live I don't have first hand experience with them in this setting. But the pluses seem to outweigh the negatives. It seems if one can pair some great E drums with a great brain with real cymbals that could be a killer combo live and in the studio.

Thoughts?
 
Pads & modules have come a long way, and the drums sound perfectly convincing for most genres. Pads-as-cymbals are still a weak spot, however. using Zildjian's Gen16 or real cymbals is a smart alternative.

Even for drummers who accept the concept of electronics, and are willing to work around the cymbals, I can think of three reasons that would top the list making them prohibitive:

1) E-drums need amplification, and a monitor for the drummer separate from the rest of the band. Sure there are some gigs ready for that, but suppose there's a gig with just enough p.a. for vocals in a smallish room. The drummer then has to haul an amp around, and balance the volume from a difficult position: behind the kit.

2) As dynamic as pads & modules are, they 'top out' at 100%. They only get so loud. Compare that to acoustics, where you can play at 100%, then really lay into the drums to get that choked, compressed, 'louder' sound. Doesn't happen with pads. It's also kind of deceptive about playing power and the resulting volume, some drummers just can't get used to the feel of hitting pads quietly and getting a rockin' sound, and increasing power and still getting the same sound. Sure there's velocity crossfading going on, but it's not the same as a real drum (or cymbal - see above.)

3) A good E-kit (don't forget the requisite amp!) costs a fair bit of money, maybe twice as much as a nice acoustic kit with cymbals. Yes, I realize there are fantastic sound & effect options on an E-kit, but drummers have been used to having one kit and one sound, so at what point does a sound versatility advantage become worth the expense? For the majority of drummers, that point doesn't exist.

Will E-kits ever conquer the common objections about cymbals, dynamics, and price? Probably. Well, undoubtedly. They're close, but still a way to go. But given the advances in electronics over the last 15 years in particular, it won't be long. :)

Bermuda
 
I think with live playing energy is more important than sound-- quality or variety, the main reasons for using electronics. There's just something more "authentic" about an acoustic instrument, that audiences can grasp, that I think connects better with them. In the playing of it, the acoustic instrument is more immediate-- the sound comes emanates from the actual point of contact with the stick, and there's a direct physical thing related to volume and timbre that I think we all understand— getting a good sound out of a drum or cymbal is one of the most rewarding things in drumming, and I wouldn't want to give that up in exchange for a packaged sound.

I think the place for electronics is really in commercial recording work, or for live use when a highly produced sound is called for, or when sounds are called for that aren't practical or possible to create with an acoustic instrument. Or for meeting weird, extreme volume requirements. None of those are issues in my music, or in things I get called for, so I don't use them.
 
A support band for us at the borderline a few years ago played with a roland td10.

He looked utterly stupid

The sound kept getting drowned out as (Bermuda says) they get a bit lost in the dynamics because you can't go above 100% loudness.

I don't know the whys or wherefores but it sounded bad and looked bad, even though it was played really well.

Catch 22 for drummers
 
I'm a bar band gigging drummer and I love my e-kit at home. For live use, it all depends on your PA system and monitoring. I'd love to use mine live, but my band's PA system isn't up to the task. Some of the bars we play at supply the PA and it would be great but you don't know until you get there, and that's asking for major trouble.

A lot of touring drummers are using electronic triggers or hybrid kits on stage, and the general audience have no idea. How many drummers nowadays have a sampling pad off to the side? Most of them now. Electronics are up there and being used, it's just not obvious.

The only people the looks seem to bother are drummers who don't like e-kits. The general audience don't care at all for the most part. That being said, I've done lots of gigs in the past just using a Roland SPD-8 pad and foot controllers for hihat and kick, and people used to come ask me about it all the time. It got me lots of gigs where acoustic drums wouldn't fit. And you have complete control over volume for the band. And I could go to band practice on my motorcycle and bring my drum kit. lol (yes I've done it)

If my band had an in ear monitoring rig for the whole band, I'd use my edrums all the time. Great sound, no broken sticks, studio quality sounds, smaller footprint, light to carry and no volume issues. Yes Please.
 
Bermuda has done a perfect summary.
e kits are great at home, just to train without being obliged to divorce.
I used to rehearsed with a TD9. meshed head 4 cymbals plus a VH11 hihat.
To train it was Ok but with the band (rehearsal in a very small room), it was difficult : Lack of dynamics, volume pb with the guitarist.. Drummers are used to cutting, and with the ekit I didn't cut at all, it sounded really dull.
All the sound were a bit too studio like - perfect when training with a headphone, very pleasant - but not in rehearsal. I took of the artificial reverb but still.

I used it like a real drum, meaning, once I found my sound I never touched it. There are plenty of sounds, but you dont really want to change it one and every song. I appreciate to use a small cymbal with two type of sound : Edge > big china, body > cowbell.
The other thing that was really great were the recorded song built in, very pleasant to train on, rather than a stupid metronome.
 
Last edited:
Quite aside from the physicality and kick in the chest that you get from an acoustic kit which simply cannot be replicated from an ekit without seroius amplification, I could also imagine they would be a major hassle to use in a live setting purely from a practical perspective.

I have used my ekit for rehearsals but honestly feel that it is more of a pain in the backside to dismantle, transport, set up, tear down and carefully pack in the car than my acoustic kit. Not only does one have to set everything up that you would with a normal kit, you then have to connect all the cables etc. It's a proper PITA!

As a final aside consider these scenarios which are the norm for many of us and the types of venue we play.

1) Drunkard spills beer on your acoustic kit. You're mad but know you can wipe the cymbals down or take the drum apart to give it a good clean / reskin.

2) Same Drunkard spills beer on your $3,000 ekit. Module starts to make a burning smell and then gives up the ghost with a small puff of smoke. In this situation, I would not only be mad but also out of pocket.

Joking aside, in a "real world" venue an acoustic kit makes more sense to me. Gives the audience and bandmates the kick they came for, looks waaaaaay cooler and is far less fragile.
 
There are some bands that eKits are perfect for. A good example is "The Cars". Their drummer used one for their reunion tour and it was great.

I do agree that e-kits are a bad fit for many though.
 
I've used e-kits (TD20) in worship bands for a couple of churches. But you find one sound, set it, and forget it. The sound guy has total control of your sound and volume. Supposedly the pads are velocity sensitive, but I have found very little difference. Ghost notes are negligible. They are either too soft to trigger, or trigger just as easily as hard shots.

There always seems to be one pad or controller that doesn't work properly; either a bad trigger or cable. While that can often be worked around, it doesn't happen on A-kits unless you break a head or something.

While I don't like sitting in a booth to play, that is still better to me than playing e-drums live.
 
I'm not a fan of ekits as a replacement for acoustic kits, doesn't work with most music I play,

however.

there is a type of situation that though not optimal calls for these types of setups.

When you play ina lounge and you're playing a style that can't be done low volume and all sorts of stuff like that.

A certain type of band here, that plays old rock tunes and modern country for dancing wil often opt for the stereo XLR from each member + IEMs and to keep tings small, transporation light and so on. It's the most musak type of gig ever, but the point is for the singer to feel like a star and keep the crowd dancing to their old favourite hit tunes. The lighter you go the happier the boss is and the more money there's left to pay the band.

I played in a band like that or while, guitar though, and we decided to do things the old fashioned way. Sometimes that was cool when we got to turn up, but I'm not sure it was really worth it. With today's technoilogy I'd just get myself a Line6 giutar+board, entire setup in a gig bag, for that sort of thing.

About 2 guys in the audience who played themself would care maybe a little bit.
 
For me the issue has always been dynamics and feeling connected to the kit.

I started out with the Roland TD6, then a TD8 and a TD12. Primarily in a church setting. It was fine as long as the tune didn't require a lot of dynamics or "feel". But during a softer number it Never failed that a soft hit would trigger like a hard hit and destroy the moment. No matter what level of restraint I maintained, or how carefully I would tap the cymbal or pad....at some point-"WHOOSHHHHH"... Admittedly, I am not the type to sit down with the module and the pads and dial them in specifically for my playing, so I am sure many would say "it is your fault for not taking the time to learn the instrument!" Fair enough, but it was much simpler and way more enjoyable to get behind an acoustic kit and "play" without the hassle of tweaking things on a ekit.

I did/do enjoy having huge sounding kits at my disposal, and had/have a great time fooling around on my old TD8 occasionally. But at this point I don't have the money to invest in a newer series ekit ($2500+) that may have cured some of those old ills.

Currently I am working with an acoustic duo so the ekit really doesn't fit in, and I am happy to play stripped down acoustic kits at low volume.
 
I've used e-kits (TD20) in worship bands for a couple of churches. But you find one sound, set it, and forget it. The sound guy has total control of your sound and volume. Supposedly the pads are velocity sensitive, but I have found very little difference. Ghost notes are negligible. They are either too soft to trigger, or trigger just as easily as hard shots.

There always seems to be one pad or controller that doesn't work properly; either a bad trigger or cable. While that can often be worked around, it doesn't happen on A-kits unless you break a head or something.

While I don't like sitting in a booth to play, that is still better to me than playing e-drums live.

This 10x over! I'd like an e-kit at home, where I can just screw around at low volumes. I can also get this with mesh heads and the low volume Zildjians. What I don't get with this combo is the constant annoyance of things not working right. Trying to feather a kick and BOOM. Trying to do ghost notes that don't play.

I've been playing at church for a while and while it's my pleasure to serve, I'm fully annoyed by the e-kit and all of its peculiarities. With acoustic, I practice for perfection. with the e-kit, I just learn my parts. Doesn't really make any difference anyway, the dynamics's aren't there, I reach for a bell and hear a crash, I reach for a crash and hear a bell. It's made me feel like quitting numerous times, but it's not about me, so I keep going. the e-kit on stage though, has sucked all the fun out of playing.

The new ones are better. I just played Roland's latest high dollar kit with the electronic/acoustic kick. Better, but still annoying.
 
Last edited:
Well, we have have all these low volume solutions now.

I guess it's just a question of time before we start seeing mid volume solutions. :)
 
I have played a couple top of the line e kits and they were pretty good,better sensitvity response etc,but I still prefer an acoustic kit.
The e kits are good because you can keep the volume down and seem to work well in really "boomy" rooms,or gigs where the volume needs to be really low.

I my current band we have an e kit,a roland and the Guitarist is always messing with it, it seems like it is always mis triggering and the voices change on it all the time and it can be frustrating.The snare especially can drive me nuts some days.

I am greatefull to have the e kit at rehearsal,I don't have to move anything,and it helps keep the overall volume down but the players I play with always end up drowning me out sooner or later.I would like to have a brain and a couple of pads to use with an acoustic kit,having a whole percsson section and some e sounds for certain tunes would be great to have in a cover/variety band.
 
Some folks have weighed-in on this aspect already but I’ll add my recent experience.

A group of 10 friends and I gathered in a central location for a weekend of playing music and socializing. We normally only see each other once a year in August at a music camp and thought it would be fun to get together mid-term. We stayed at a nice hotel and rented one of their conference rooms for the weekend for music making.

I brought my e-kit (Roland TD-9, Octapad, and Zildjian Gen 16 cymbals) to the event. The room was 20’ x 25’ (6 by 8 meters). The bass player surveyed my office and said “Good, my ears won’t be ringing all weekend!”. We had a 20 channel PA with stereo mains and some wedge monitors. I ran the stereo output from my mixer into the board and our sound guy did a killer job of riding herd on levels.

There is absolutely no way we could have pulled that off if I had brought my acoustic kit. We were playing some pretty intense music but the levels were maintained such that we did not get a single visit from a hotel employee the entire weekend.

Granted, it was not as “fun” for me as nuance is pretty much lost. Our sound guy said “Screw nuance, we got to play”.
 
I have a few gigs that I use a hybrid kit on.

Real Cymbals, Kick, Snare and Floor Tom.
The Kick and Snare are triggered and I use pads for a side snare and two rack toms.

My biggest hangup is the amount of setup time. With all the cables and wiring it takes way longer to get all that done. Not to mention the amount of prep time put in ahead of the gig. Programing sounds and messing with the trigger setting. There is just so more that can go wrong.
 
Is there any more time involved running wires with an E-kit than there is with a mic or two on each drum and overheads? When does an Acoustic kit become an e-kit with all of the pads, sampling machines et.al.? Mark Schulman who plays with Pink, Cher, and others, has a mix of both. Neil Peart uses a lot of electronics among the acoutic kit. I think the main objection seems to be appearance more than sound.
 
If it's a long term thing and you can justify spending the money on a dedicated setup that does one thing and optimize that it would probably be very quick.

Reality for most is probably that things change often and you have to work with what you've got.
 
I use a roland e-kit at church.
They do the job fine except we have issues with the monitor i use. After a certain volume level i have trouble hearing my own drums which is a problem.

Sound guys are amateurs like us too so thats a factor. I dont have enough knowledge on soundboard so i cant tell em what to do except to "up my drums" but then eventually they say its now to the point of being too loud for others etc. Having proper monitoring is a huge one. Nobody likes in-ears except me (because i can actually hear myself with it on) so we dont use it.

So other than live eq/sound issues u dont have full control of, i dont mind e-kits
 
I used a hybrid for a while...dealing with amplification is irritating.
 
Back
Top