New to electronic drums - Please help guys?

so, after careful deliberation I think I'm going to stick with an acoustic kit and possibly order a custom set from Ludwig or DW - therefore making it easier for me to get smaller sized drums (7.5 x10 & 8x12 toms with a 13x14 floor for instance) which will greatly help with the ergonomics of the kit and my aging body. I will say that I think in the not so distant future electronic drums will essentially take over the marketplace. The advances in sounds and technology plus improved aesthetics just make it seem almost inevitable to me. I'm not advocating for the absence of acoustic drums by any means, I just think that in the coming decades (as continual improvements are made) electronic drums will be the way most drummers opt for.

I want to thank everyone who responded to my query. I appreciate everyone's time. And I'll lastly say that despite my "likely" final decision I'm thoroughly impressed with some of the e kits available today from the research I've done. Compared to what they used to be like when I was young a quantam leap has truly been achieved IMO.
 
averageguy said:
I'm not advocating for the absence of acoustic drums by any means, I just think that in the coming decades (as continual improvements are made) electronic drums will be the way most drummers opt for.
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They are as different as an electric piano vs grand piano. It's not going to happen. There are as many downsides to electronic drums as positives.
They mostly sound not as good as acoustic drums (IF that is what they are emulating), they require a different technique - acoustic drums are more forgiving and offer hundreds more tones and timbres. You need power and amplification, which is more of a hassle for small gigs, or outside. If your power goes down, the acoustic drums are often the only instrument that can keep playing.
 
averageguy said:
so, after careful deliberation I think I'm going to stick with an acoustic kit and possibly order a custom set from Ludwig or DW - therefore making it easier for me to get smaller sized drums (7.5 x10 & 8x12 toms with a 13x14 floor for instance) which will greatly help with the ergonomics of the kit and my aging body. I will say that I think in the not so distant future electronic drums will essentially take over the marketplace. The advances in sounds and technology plus improved aesthetics just make it seem almost inevitable to me. I'm not advocating for the absence of acoustic drums by any means, I just think that in the coming decades (as continual improvements are made) electronic drums will be the way most drummers opt for.

I want to thank everyone who responded to my query. I appreciate everyone's time. And I'll lastly say that despite my "likely" final decision I'm thoroughly impressed with some of the e kits available today from the research I've done. Compared to what they used to be like when I was young a quantam leap has truly been achieved IMO.
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I know you said you're primarily a rock drummer, but if you're going for smaller drums and portability have you looked at the Whitney Nestung Penguin kits? Definitely next on my list, I started a thread on them the other day asking for feedback from owners.
As for Ekits, I'm getting some great sounds out of mine now I'm getting to grips with programming and using sample layering, but it's a pain to setup up at gigs and although I've not had any problems yet, it's always in the back of your mind there's a lot that could go wrong with it. For all it's versatility I'm looking forward to using an acoustic kit regularly, as Chris Whitten said in the earlier post, there's far more expressiveness in an acoustic kit, and for that reason alone I don't think E kits will take over. I'll definitely be using both in the future as I can see benefits with the E in the covers band, but for jazz work it couldn't come close to an acoustic kit.
 
Chris Whitten said:
They are as different as an electric piano vs grand piano. It's not going to happen. There are as many downsides to electronic drums as positives.
They mostly sound not as good as acoustic drums (IF that is what they are emulating), they require a different technique - acoustic drums are more forgiving and offer hundreds more tones and timbres. You need power and amplification, which is more of a hassle for small gigs, or outside. If your power goes down, the acoustic drums are often the only instrument that can keep playing.
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You can get an electric piano Keyboard to sound exactly like a grand piano with VSTs just like you can make e-drums sound like boutique drums with VSTs.
I used Steven Slate Drums, you could get your drums sounding exactly like Led Zeppellin, Metallica (black album), Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dream Teather, Pantera , Deftones and a bunch of others, just like the recording but you could also get the less processed versions and mix your own.
They worked so well that when playing covers using them, I had to change them because they blended so well with the original you couldn't hear your drums...

Not sure if you have tried the Roland digital snare, hi hats and ride. I don't think you would miss an acoustic drum at all, they are pricey but the performance is there, for toms you don't need all that much but the toms on those kits do have positional sensing and the weak point, being the cymbals, have been greatly improved. I think the problem that people have is that they spend a long time dialing a perfect sound for their place (studio/rehearsal room), but when they try to use that same sound to play live, it just doesn't translate because the room/venue is different. Then they feel that their drums sound bad when all they have to do is minor adjustments to the live setup, then save that kit for live and save a different kit for studio. I have been playing both acoustic and electronic kits since the 80s, Never had an e-kit sound bad live, of course it sounded electronic because it was, but it didn't detract from the music, if anything, it sounded big and full vs mics and acoustic that I never got to sound that good. it sounded Ok, but not that good, I think the difference was that with the e-kit, I could emulate a stadium and with the acoustic kit I was only able to mic the kit based on the room it was at and the speaker size, so it sounded good but not as good as stadium. Yes you need amplification for e-kits, you need amplification for acoustic too unless you are playing very small venues. Both setups can be a hassle, but also both setups can be made more efficient too.
 
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