Hybrid drum setup

[Pyo]

Hello all,

I'm looking for advice on building a hybrid drumset, exclusively for live performances. The reason for going hybrid is getting low volume while still retaining acoustic feel.

To that end the setup I had in mind was the following. Toms, kick drum and snare would remain kitted with acoustic heads but I would install triggers. I wanted to know to what extent I could deaden the sound of the drums (to keep volume down) whilst still retaining the acoustic heads. I was thinking of filling the drums with pillow stuffing. Anyone has any experience with this?

The rest of the set will be equipped with all Jobeky: Hi hats, 2 crashes and 1 ride.

I plan to run the kit through EZ drummer 3. What modules would be best for that, knowing I wouldn't use any integrated sounds from the module?

In summary:

- To what extent can I deafen the drum shells whilst still keeping on the acoustic heads? Is this even practical?
- What drum module would be best for using sounds exclusively with EZ drummer 3?

Thank you so much in advance

 

[electrodrummer]

Module - eDRUMin 10.

As for damping - try it. Obs if you dampen too much you'll affect the trigger response away from the trigger itself - gonna be trial and error and a balance of your playing technique against damping level etc. And of course the damping level can/will affect the "acoustic feel" you mention - to the degree you might just look at pads e.g. Yammy silicone - which are quite Mylar in feel (subjective, obs). Actually mentioning Yamaha - they did a range of wooden shells with Mylar heads[1] - their RHP ones - "[cough] real head pads". Others, including Alesis also had Mylar-headed pads. (even Simmons did back in 79/80 on the SDS3/4.

So and try some stuff. Do hit some sample-based (ie. not Roland) gear and you may find you can not even bother with the computers and VSTs and audio interfaces and hassle....

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[1] Yamaha DTXtreme from 2000ish with Mylar heads. Current DTXs also have options of wood shells like these, but with silicone or mesh heads.