Electric Drums

Newdrumking · #1 06-03-2007, 02:32 AM

I want some electric drums for practising as my neighbours complain. I have been offered two drum kits

A Roland TD-6 for £550

or a Yamaha DTXreme 3 for £375

The yamaha is newer than the roland. I was thinking of using it for recording drums for the bands demos as well as we are not as advanced to have real drums recorded.

What would you go for? can the yammy stand up to the Roland? is the price diffence justified?

bigbang · #2 06-03-2007, 04:40 AM

No contest.....yamaha , hands down

hawk9290 · #3 06-03-2007, 05:23 AM

what type of TD-6 is it- SX or SXT (does it have rubber pads or mesh)

Situation 1:
DTXtreme vs. TD-6SX (rubber pads)
both are comparable- TD-6SX has the better module and the dual zone triggers all around, but the price difference may not be worth it to some people.

Situation 2:
DTXtreme vs. TD-6SXT (mesh pads)
Roland has the superior feel to it, as well as the more advanced module and better sounds. Again, has the dual zone pads. Price difference is worth it.

this is all my opinion, but I've found, as have many other people i know, that Rolands are more reliable and better sounding, even though Yamaha has some features that Rolands don't. However, these features often seem unpolished and unfunctioning. Yamaha's and Roland's can both take a heck of a beating though.

gusty · #4 06-03-2007, 05:50 AM

mesh heads make a lot of difference, they blow rubber pads out of the water. one aspect to consider.

Newdrumking · #5 06-03-2007, 11:58 AM

the only mesh head on the roland is the snare. it is the KV version. Think it was the first one. Do you have a SV in america? Think that is the same.

What about the td8 module. Is that as good as the td6? I have read somewhere that is is not as good and will not support dual triggers on toms?

bigbang · #6 06-03-2007, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hawk9290

what type of TD-6 is it- SX or SXT (does it have rubber pads or mesh)

Situation 1:
DTXtreme vs. TD-6SX (rubber pads)
both are comparable- TD-6SX has the better module and the dual zone triggers all around, but the price difference may not be worth it to some people.

Situation 2:
DTXtreme vs. TD-6SXT (mesh pads)
Roland has the superior feel to it, as well as the more advanced module and better sounds. Again, has the dual zone pads. Price difference is worth it.

this is all my opinion, but I've found, as have many other people i know, that Rolands are more reliable and better sounding, even though Yamaha has some features that Rolands don't. However, these features often seem unpolished and unfunctioning. Yamaha's and Roland's can both take a heck of a beating though.

Dude , you'd better check again, the sounds on the yamaha completely blow away the roland on these two kits.It's not even close!

hawk9290 · #7 06-03-2007, 03:47 PM

The KV and SV are really the same thing. The SV just means that in the store, the rack is included with the box. The KV means that the rack is in a separate box- theres no real difference in what the contents are.

The TD-8 and TD-6 are pretty similar- relatively comparable sounds, TD-6 has dual trigger support all around, TD-8 has more inputs but not d/t support, the TD-8 has the more advanced user interface, but the TD-6 is easy to use and does everything the TD-8 can do and more.

Newdrumking · #8 06-03-2007, 03:58 PM

so am i lead to believe that the dtxtreme 3 is better than the td6? especially for the price?

bigbang · #9 06-03-2007, 04:10 PM

It really all depends on what you're looking to get out of them.
My advice would be to check both out at a local music store and see which you prefer.
Hawk seems to like the rolands , I like the yamahas.But I do say the Yamahas have much better and more importantly, much more useful sounds.
The Rolands have a lot of sounds that aren't very practical.

Edit:
To me , the mesh pad vs.rubber pad thing is a moot point.The sounds these drums make is the only thing that matters , and how I can apply the said sounds in a musical context.

sshu · #10 06-03-2007, 04:53 PM

FWIW - Here's a thread on TD-6 versus TD-8 for some more opinions ...

http://www.vdrums.com/forum/showthre...-6+versus+TD-8

More extensive COSM drum modeling is something else to point out on the TD-8 module. The TD-8 module used to be the mid-range module in the Roland lineup right after the higher-end TD-10 expanded and unexpanded.

As for the notion of dual triggering, one complex point to be aware of is that in the Roland world, there is often flexibility between dual-piezo triggering on mesh pads and "dual" piezo/rim-switch triggering on rubber pads such as the PD-7. To complicate things further this option varies by module by input jack. Thus on my old TD-8 setup, I used to have two sounds/dual triggering on my tom inputs with rubber PD-7 pads (one sound for rim [e.g., cowbell], one for center of pad [e.g., tom]).

All said, my sense is that most people don't use of dual triggering on the toms very much. Some people will find use. I did for awhile, but then cut it out of my play after upgrading to a TD-12 and chaning my setup.

Steve

Newdrumking · #11 06-03-2007, 04:57 PM

oh, it is the dtxpress 3 not dtxtreme 3. will that make a difference?

Newdrumking · #12 06-03-2007, 05:07 PM

Ok, here is a better one for you.

Would you by a brand new Roland TD-6KW or a New Yamaha DTXpress IV special edition?

They will cost £1000 each.

My heart tells me the yamaha on this. Everything I have read suggests that they have took over the entry-mid range with the express 4.

hawk9290 · #13 06-03-2007, 05:32 PM

I guess it all comes down to opinion- I think the Roland sound quality blows away the Yamaha sounds. I also thought that sounds such as the hihat controlled tympani were going to be useless, that is until I actually had to use them for church and musical theater productions. And as for mesh vs rubber, I figured the difference wouldn't be that big when I was researching kits, but now that I have an all mesh kit, I question how I ever believed there wouldn't be a huge difference. To me the rubber feels like its trying to grab my stick and gives me an akward bounce, the mesh gives me a nice rebound (plus when I tighten it down a lot, then I can get so nice a rebound that I can play stuff I never could play on an acoustic kit- yes I know, its kind of cheating...) I would agree the DTXpress IV took over the entry level, but the TD-6 is hands down dominating the intermediate level right now

Trying to be objective as possible-
Yamaha DTXpress IV
50 Preset drum kits, 427 Drum and Percussion voices, 22 backing/keyboard instruments, 32 voice polyphony, Advanced hihat controller pad, 3 cymbals, 3 zone snare (3rd zone for controlling adjustments), all rubber pads, does not have cymbal choking capability, very solid and durable rack, good kit durability. single trigger toms, solid kick trigger

Roland TD-6
Mesh snare pad, 1000+ drum and percussion sounds, 250+ backing instruments, 64 voice polyphony, cymbal choking capability, does not include advanced hihat but the included cymbal pads never miss a hit, dual trigger toms, intuitive and user friendly module, solid kick trigger, good kit durability, rack allows for great positioning variance.

My opinion- for the same price, you will get more bang for your buck out of the TD-6. Though it lacks the more realistic hihat, everything else it has to its advantage surpasses the importance there. The more flexible and broad sounds are most important to me, as I find that every day I have a different snare sound that I choose, and having 150some snare sounds really helps. I know that with only 427 percussion voices, I would quickly run out of sounds. The 250 backing instruments are also great for midi sequencing and allow you to run a whole band off of your set. Plus the hihat tuneable tympani and steel drums, and the pad-to-midi triggering features are just too cool.

Newdrumking · #14 06-06-2007, 12:14 PM

I went for a TD6kv secondhand for £521.

Bargain. and what a machine it is! Can you get more sounds for it? I heard you can but I thoght it would just be higher models?

sshu · #15 06-07-2007, 12:07 AM

Congrats on the purchase. Hope you like it.

You cannot really load new, core sounds into the module, but you can learn to tweak the module settings. If you are not the best at tweaking sounds, you can try this site ...

http://www.vexpressionsltd.com/td06.html

Also make sure to check out www.vdrums.com now that you are a Roland owner.

Edit: Note that you can trigger off-module sounds by using the MIDI out capabilities of the module into another MIDI device (e.g., another module, software sampler, hardware sampler). Too detail to go into here, but depending on the route you take, the level of complexity goes up.

Best,
Steve