THE DANGERS OF GOING FROM ACOUSTIC TO ELECTRONIC DRUMS

This thread was from before my reintroduction to drumming and I'm glad someone pulled it back so I can add my 2C.



. The bounce from the heads was so much greater than my acoustic kit. I was tearing that kit apart just blazzing all over it and I thought man I am going to have a great night tonight.


I know exactly what you mean. I picked up an e kit (or three) about a month ago for some quiet headphone practice and my skill level immeadiately jumped a few points :)

My A kit is set up in a room with terrible accoustics (hard floor, bare walls) and just sound bad. With the E kit, I can now hear every note and adjust the drums from rock/funk/metal with a touch of a button.

I'm only a month in the e-drums so I am in no position to make any long term claims. All I know is that, they rock. I still move back to my a kit and the feel (to me) is not really different but the sound is still poor.

My style of drumming probably has a lot to do with my preference for the e's.

First, I'm kind of lazy and don't want to have to coax anything out of my drums. I paid good money for my drums so I expect them to do the heavy lifting. I jut want to hit the targets at the right time and have a specific sound come out. That's not too much to ask. :)

Second, I'm not a technical drummer. If I feel a single stroke is sufficient, that's what I will use. After all, I am the drummer. I get to make that decision. I'm not necessarily going to play something technically challanging just because I can.

Third, in theory, the e-drums should simplify the drum mix. When you mic an A kit you just add something else that can go wrong. I know that the sound from behind the kit has got to be extremely different than the sound out front. Unless you can be in two places at once, how do you really know what you sound like?


And...as far as expense? I picked up everything from CL. Roland Td6=$375 Yamaha DTX w/2 kicks=$400, Hart/Alesis=$140. The Roland are the superor set. I leave the Yamahas at my cabin and I am building an experimental set with the Hart/Alesis.


I will eventually (probably/maybe) learn to tune my acoustics and experiment with the heads etc. but for now, I'm a E convert.


Bottom line, I don't care if I am a good drummer, I just want to sound good.
 
Please don't think I'm trying to argue with you here ok, because i'm not. To each his own and whatever makes you happy is cool. I would be happy for you but I had to tell you that what you said here in this last sentence bugged me. You won't sound good if your not a good drummer no mater what you play man. You can have a great sounding electric kit and a good drummer on water buckets would sound better. Just my 2 cents for what its worth.

Joe

Bottom line, I don't care if I am a good drummer, I just want to sound good.[/QUOTE]
 
Obsolescence

In 30 years from now, my $8000 drum set (or what ever price) will likely provide a better return on investment than my $8000 electronic drum set. Have you seen the prices of vintage Gretsch Round Badge kits these days?

GJS
 
I think you hit the nail on the head there. I can imagine jazz/blues wouldn't be as easy to replicate on an e-kit due to the feel issue. Where as I mainly play hard rock sort of stuff so it's less off a drama pulling those delicate sounds out of an a-kit after I've been practicing on my e-kit.

I used to have a Roland TD-3 eKit when my brother moved to college and took his TAMA kit with him. I absolutely loved it to be honest, but after a while I found myself longing to play on an aKit jus because I missed the feel of it so much. They're great at first, but after a while they leave something to be desired.
 
Firstly, any flaws in your chops on acoustic drums will be greatly amplified on the e-kit, a weak hand on an e-kit will show up at times as mis-triggered hits and many would turn up volume or sensitivity of the pads which is the wrong thing to do. Obviously the right thing to do would be to work out the weak hand but a lot of people think well I can play this just fine on my acoustic so it must be the e-kit that needs adjusting so you'll get people hitting the pads harder and possibly causing some type of physical stress/tension or even injury over time.

The e-kit can be used for many things with positive results as long as the person in the drivers seat understands it's strengths and weaknesses and as well as understand his or her own strengths and weaknesses.

A weak hit on an acoustic drum will still produce a result, on the e-kit it may or may not so consistency between left and right hands is extremely important on the e-kit if anything it really emphasizes a drummers weak areas. .

I agree with some of that, but really only if the eKit is fairly bottom line. I owned a Roland TD12 and was very impressed. However I found the opposite - my playing sounded excellent on the eKit but when I went to play on an acoustic I had completely lost the ability to actually get music out of the drums. I was so reliant on 'just being able to hit it and let the clever electronics do the rest'. They do have uses - independence, syncopation, patterns etc but you need to regularly play on an acoustic kit as well.
 
And a helpful reminder that there are some people here who have absolutely no job at all to get done, since they're hobbyists ;)

... sounds a bit elitist?????

Haha flying a plane? That's not actually too difficult xD

Although I do honestly prefer aKits, I was at an open day for a local drum shop and the latest line of Yamaha eKits are very responsive and easy to play.

What about mesh kits? That seems to be one thing overlooked here. Mesh heads on an aKit for playing quietly and mesh heads on an eKit because of the responsiveness, realism, etc.

What do people think about them?

There are old pilots anf there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots.....

Now each to his/her own here - I didn't like the feel of the Yam silicone kits at all, but the module sounds in the top line model were pretty good.

And there is a great variety of mesh skins - again imo, the single / light mesh feel awful but the heavier mesh (Roland and Hart Maxxums) feel very good - especially when cranked up tight - see my post further back - that's an a-kit with mesh and triggers - it's more bouncy than mylar but feels more like playing a-drums than my previous Roland kit did.

I used to have a Roland TD-3 eKit when my brother moved to college and took his TAMA kit with him. I absolutely loved it to be honest, but after a while I found myself longing to play on an aKit jus because I missed the feel of it so much. They're great at first, but after a while they leave something to be desired.

Yes, but the TD-3 is really an entry level kit - the rubber pads work but they're a bit hard on the limbs - a quality e-kit is a different bag altogether.

Don't forget another danger is electrocution. :)

Ha! best line so far - I'm shocked.


A few more righteous comments - at this stage of evolution the e-cymbals just don't come near good a-cymbals, but they're a lot better than bad a-cymbals. A well configured TD-20x module sounds every bit as good as the VSTs (I use both btw) and it would take a very discerning ear to tell it apart from an a-kit...... but there is something about playing an a-kit, perhaps it's the sheer volume when you launch it, perhaps it's the variety of sound textures available.
 
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