E-Pro Live anyone ?

Cringe

Member
Hi guys,

Just checked out this youtube vid of the new E-Drums from Pearl. Thought it might be interesting to see people's first impressions on these.

I personally think they are heading in the right direction, Real Feel, Real Size, and even the ability to switch between Acoustic and Electronic drums with the 1 Shell Pack is an awesome idea. The finish looks awesome too. Great Innovation.

My only concern is that sound quality ( im judging from their youtube promo ) I dunno if its the mix or if it is infact the quality of the sounds in the module, but to me the sounds dont measure up to Roland or Yamaha High End E-Kits yet. ( would love to hear the acoustic sound of the kit too )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8iZr1UqFWo&feature=sub

^ E-Pro Live youtube vid.

Anybody else have any thoughts and first impressions on this kit ?
 
2 of the most innovative company's on the planet are Yamaha & Roland! The new DTX from Yamaha looks amazing especially the new pads. Check them out at: http://dtxdrums.yamaha.com/library/t...drums/dtx950k/
Re the Epro from Pearl, Keep in mind the reason Pearl does not have anyone making electronics in a technology wing at their factory is because it doesn't exist! They have bought this entire idea from another company - which means there is a middle man that results in higher costs and warranty issues. The r.e.d.box from Pearl is a rebranded Alesis DM10. Great innovative new products are The MULTI 12 from Yamaha (which allows you to load your own sounds into it) http://dtxdrums.yamaha.com/library/t...s/dtx_multi12/
& the new Roland Octapad SPD-30 http://www.rolandconnect.com/product.php?p=spd-30

Re the Epro from Pearl Here is a quote from Brundlefly who played it at namm "Played them today. Overall, I think they may be the worst electronic kit I ever played. I also played the Alesis drums and they are in fact, the same. Same brain, same sounds, same hi-hat mechanism. And just like that kit, the hi-hat is almost unplayable and the dynamics are practically non-existent across the entire kit. I was very disappointed because the basic idea of having a convertible kit is great. Too bad they partnered up with Alesis and pushed out a half-assed product.

As it stands, I think the best use for Pearl's new e-kit is as a real kit that can be converted into a nearly silent practice kit. That, it does pretty well".
 
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I'm not quite getting the point of this kit... It's too big and noisy (especially with the brass cymbals) for quiet home practice, and very few drummers would use sounds like those showcased in the video in a live or studio setting. So the e-Pro seems to be stuck halfway between an e-kit and an acoustic kit, but with none of the advantages of either of them.

The sounds left me pretty unimpressed, considering what Roland and Yamaha's top models can do... The cymbal sounds in particular were pretty horrible, IMO, so in a live setting I'd definitely want to use real cymbals. That just leaves the drums, but for electronic drum sounds from an acoustic-looking kit I could just outfit my acoustic kit with triggers for a fraction of the price, and get a more flexible solution (ability to use both triggers and microphones, for example). What would I need the e-Pro for?

Hopefully, the shells are of a decent enough quality, so that the kit can actually be made to sound good in its "acoustic mode", but seeing as the video and material released so far mention nothing about shell material, I fear it's going to be something cheap.

And yes, the Pearl RedBxo module is just a rebranded Alesis DM10:
dm10_module_front_med.jpg

red_box_DM10.jpg
 
Alpine I totally agree about the Roland and Yamaha E-kits I personally love my dtxtremeIII module, sounds are awesome in it, and I mainly use it for practice so I love the metronome training functions. Personally I cant wait for the new Silicone DTX-Pads for the yamaha kits because the only thing I dislike about my dtxreme is the rubber pads.

As for the E-Pro Live, I did not know its just rebranded Alesis Module.. I spose this kit can be stored under the banner of Great Concept -> Poor Execution. I also found it funny that in the promo video they talk about how they can turn into a full acoustic kit, but dont tell you what the shells are made out of, plus they dont even showcase the acoustic sound of the kit.

Naigewron I might be wrong, but those brass cymbals might be optional as in the promo the guy actually says you can get rubber versions of the cymbals aswell.

It's too bad pearl didnt partner up with yamaha or roland to make this concept happen, could of been an awesome product if they did.
 
Naigewron I might be wrong, but those brass cymbals might be optional as in the promo the guy actually says you can get rubber versions of the cymbals aswell.

True, but then the whole concept of the kit looking like a "real" drum kit goes out the window, and you might as well play a normal electronic kit.
 
It actually isn't as noisy as you might expect. However, it sounds and plays very badly, IMO. I found it, like the Alesis kit it is based on, to be down right regrettable in just about every way. I would take any Roland e-kit over an E-pro.

While the E-pro is getting all the hype, the one kit everyone should be paying attention to was one that comes from some a company called 2Box (weird that we have to new e-kits with the word "box" in them). I played these as well and they felt every bit as good as my Roland TD20 and sounded almost as good in most respects (multi-sampled, not modeled). With a real working hi-hat, large mesh heads and a 4GB brain (yes, you read that right: 4 Gigabytes). They claimed that they are aiming for a $2500.00 price point in the US. The only flaw I noticed right off was a really rickety plastic rack system. Otherwise, this was the e-kit of the show, competing favorably against Roland's lower and mid range kits.
 
It actually isn't as noisy as you might expect. However, it sounds and plays very badly, IMO. I found it, like the Alesis kit it is based on, to be down right regrettable in just about every way. I would take any Roland e-kit over an E-pro.

While the E-pro is getting all the hype, the one kit everyone should be paying attention to was one that comes from some a company called 2Box (weird that we have to new e-kits with the word "box" in them). I played these as well and they felt every bit as good as my Roland TD20 and sounded almost as good in most respects (multi-sampled, not modeled). With a real working hi-hat, large mesh heads and a 4GB brain (yes, you read that right: 4 Gigabytes). They claimed that they are aiming for a $2500.00 price point in the US. The only flaw I noticed right off was a really rickety plastic rack system. Otherwise, this was the e-kit of the show, competing favorably against Roland's lower and mid range kits.

Just an fyi...2box kits have been out for approx. 1 year (in europe)....the owners/engineers of the company are the old Ddrum e-kit people (a very good product)....and from the videos I've seen/heard of the kit...to my ears it sounds better (i.e., more realistic) than anything on the market...my hope is...yamaha and roland get up with the times (with regards to memory/file size) and give us a module with 5-10 GB's here in the near future!:)
 
I dont want to sound un-informed but I dont spose anyone could explain to me why memory is so important on these modules? im not as tech savy as I would like, and I own the dtxtremeIII but I only use it for practicing i.e. I dont know how to record with them etc. Is memory important for loading extra drumkits / samples ?
 
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I dont want to sound un-informed but I dont spose anyone could explain to me why memory is so important on these modules? im not as tech savy as I would like, and I own the dtxtremeIII but I only use it for practicing i.e. I dont know how to record with them etc. Is memory important for loading extra drumkits / samples ?

To get really nice sounding e-kits you need to layer/stack multiple drum sounds on top of one another...to do that it takes memory (obviously)....VST (i.e., drum sample software) libraries, such as toontrack, BFD, Ocean way drums, etc... sell drum libraries that are pristine samples (layerd/stacked up to approx. 100+ sounds per drum) this is why they can take up as much as 50 GB's of memory (for the whole library...not one kit)...however, they sound soooooo much better than ANY drum module currently being offered!...the easiest way to use VST software is to download it to a laptop and then MIDI out of your e-kit (module or TMI) to the computer and then select which drums you want to trigger (based on the library of sounds in your computer)....the disadvantage is...it is not as portable and one more connection to go to...so most people use them to record and then just use the module for live stuff....I am hoping that in the near future modules will have these types of sound libraries already loaded in them...they're certainly heading in that direction...Yamaha has partnered with OWD (ocean way drums) and is now offering downloadable kits from OWD that sound pretty nice...they are not as layered as full VST type kits (only 70-128mb's in size per kit)...but they do sound better than regular module sounds (from any company)...hope that helps explain it somewhat:)
 
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I'm not familiar with electronic kits, so I can't speak for sound comparison (although those cymbals did sound terrible), but it took away one of the main reasons why I would possibly buy an electronic kit. E-kits are small and portable. I would never get one because I want it to look like a real drum set, I'd get one because I want something to hit that makes drum-like noises when I can't play my real kit!
 
Seconding all the above. I can't think of a single good reason to buy a gigantic "full sized" e-kit.

Anyone who needs the quietness of an e-kit is almost certainly in a situation where space is a premium as well. It just seems pointless. A cute gimmick, but not anything I'd ever consider purchasing.
 
Dennis Chambers face in the video is like "Why the hell am I playing this? This thing is a piece of crap. I'm gonna go play a roland or yamaha"
 
how would the shells affect the feel of the drum? wouldn't it have more to do with the heads and how its tuned? After watching the video I have a hard time believing that those plastic looking heads would offer a great feel.... but who knows, maybe their not actually plastic. On the positive side it's pretty neat how you can switch them between an acoustic/electronic kit. how ever s****y the acoustic version may sound that's still neat.

One reason these are a big turnoff to me is mainly due to the size. If I'm gonna spend upwards of $2500 CAD on an e-kit i want it to be light and portable, which this kit certainly is not.

I dunno i'm pretty skeptical about these.... maybe I should play them first.

-Jonathan
 
Seconding all the above. I can't think of a single good reason to buy a gigantic "full sized" e-kit.

Anyone who needs the quietness of an e-kit is almost certainly in a situation where space is a premium as well. It just seems pointless. A cute gimmick, but not anything I'd ever consider purchasing.

+1 on this..,.Cute but I'd pass
 
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Yah, that's the one. I played that extensively at the show. I loved it. I think the Roland modeled sounds outshine it in some cases, like fast rolls and ride cymbals. But it also costs less and the pad sizes feel more like a real kit. I would consider ditching my TD20 for a 2Box.
 
I'm a bit sceptical by what I've been reading, but as always I'll hold judgement until I'm actually able to play them.

Dennis
 
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