Sweetwater DWe kit pricing

Yikes. DW is going to have an uphill battle selling these kits. They're incredibly expensive, which already means 99% of drummers can't afford them. It's a cool idea, but who are these drums for?

They sound good, but they still sound like electronic drums. The machine-gun sound is still there.

My initial impression is that they don't quite sound as realistic as the Roland TD-50. For me, realism is paramount.

The hyper-compressed sound that makes ekits sound "amazing" is great and all.....but I want an ekit to be as close to a real kit as possible, for better or worse. (I may be in the minority on this one)
 
Only a few drummers will ever buy those kits, $9000, There are no drums worth that much I don't care if you use extra exclusive Narnia forest wood and make the hardware out of gold. (well maybe those might cost that much) but ANY other drums are just that, drums. Even people with money are not just going to spend it on that.
IBitePrettyHard said:
Yikes. DW is going to have an uphill battle selling these kits. They're incredibly expensive, which already means 99% of drummers can't afford them. It's a cool idea, but who are these drums for?

They sound good, but they still sound like electronic drums. The machine-gun sound is still there.

My initial impression is that they don't quite sound as realistic as the Roland TD-50. For me, realism is paramount.

The hyper-compressed sound that makes ekits sound "amazing" is great and all.....but I want an ekit to be as close to a real kit as possible, for better or worse. (I may be in the minority on this one)
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I think in a blind test most people wouldn't be able to tell that he was playing an electronic kit. The only reason you think you can tell is because you know he is playing an electronic kit and are already biased about it. To most, this particular kit doesn't sound machine gunny at all, he can do all kinds of dynamics on the snare and toms, the cymbals sound very natural as well. You also might be the first person here to ever say:
they don't quite sound as realistic as the Roland TD-50. For me, realism is paramount.
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Everyone else here things most electronic drums don't sound realistic at all specially Roland... but I disagree, I have tried the best VST kits alone (no backing track) and they sound great, but once you add a backing track (they required significant adjustment to fit right within the mix). On the other hand, the Roland kits alone don't sound nearly as good as VSTs, but when adding a backing track, they mix much better right away, very little adjustment needed. So on the realism department I'm with you, Roland does better. You can have more realistic VST samples (taking a lot of the processing out, but then it's kind of defeating the point, the processing was put there to get rid of little things that made acoustic drums sound bad (excessive drum ringing, too much or too little reverb depending on the room, etc.) If you want to get rid of that and bring all those annoyances back...

Nick asks: "Who this drums are for?"
I answer: Rich people , very rich people.
 
Don't see the point of these from a practical aspect. Electric drums usually take up less space and are ideal for small gigs where noise is a problem and there's a tight setup space.

Having a full sized kit that's a electronic kit defeats the object.

They've priced 99% of people out of affording them too.
 
mikyok said:
Don't see the point of these from a practical aspect. Electric drums usually take up less space and are ideal for small gigs where noise is a problem and there's a tight setup space.

Having a full sized kit that's a electronic kit defeats the object.

They've priced 99% of people out of affording them too.
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Yeah, I never understood the trend of using full-size shells for a dedicated e-drum kit. I realize that some people want their e-kits to look like acoustic kits, but to me, the additional space and weight makes this impractical, defeating one of the main benefits of having an e-kit. It's similar to putting an electronic keyboard in a grand piano shell, which I know some performers do.
 
Maybe someone with recording studio and live performance experience can chime in. Will this solve any problems for recording studios or live performances?

Will the people with very high disposable income interested in Craviotto drums, rare vintage drums, and expensive Tama snares buy these?

It looks like you can not use your own choice of cymbals in the digital mode and they must be purchased from DW also.
It will be very interesting to see which top drummer will endorse, record, and tour with this. For what it is worth, here is another clip.

 
I haven't looked at SW prices, but when I went in today for my drum lesson the DW rep was there and they had one of these kits set up. I'm sure there is more but I only got about 15 minutes with them before my lesson. Someone else (store employee) was demoing them so I didn't get a chance to actually play them.

A couple of take aways.

They are wireless and supposedly immune to outside radio interference.

They have a feature that will subtly change the dynamics of a roll so as not to sound like the machine gun.

Snare and toms seem very sensitive to dynamics.

They have a ton of kits in the module modeled from Gretsch and DW with the goal of expanding that library.

They accept other VSTs and drum sounds from other libraries.

They are convertible back to acoustic without too much work.

They will pitch bend. You know, press your stick into the head while striking with the other to raise and lower the pitch.

The Superduper wood model is $5.00 (five dollars) more if you order it with the electronics verses just acoustic. - Just the shell pack/brain.

The regular wood models are $400.00 more with the electronics. - Just the shell pack/brain.

If you want the cymbals of course that's more. ($2500ish) $500 a cymbal doesn't seem too out of line...
 
I didn't watch the whole video (yet anyway), but that cheesy 80's programmed fusion musak doesn't help.

As Dave Weckl once said (about his own albums mind you) "It just sounds like computer music!"

So in that context, yeah, they sound like a Roland kit.
 
OK, the odd thing to me is to use them as an acoustic kit, you have to take out the electronics (?).

I assumed a key component would be having the option of the acoustic sound and the e-sound at the same time.
 
charliedrummer said:
Yeah, I never understood the trend of using full-size shells for a dedicated e-drum kit. I realize that some people want their e-kits to look like acoustic kits, but to me, the additional space and weight makes this impractical, defeating one of the main benefits of having an e-kit. It's similar to putting an electronic keyboard in a grand piano shell, which I know some performers do.
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I get doing that when you're a huge touring act and have massive stages and roadies. Aesthetics on stage mean a lot at that level.

They're an answer to a question nobody asked!

I don't trust the combination of wireless technology and drums. If anything goes wrong it's a catastrophic on stage failure.
 
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striker said:
Maybe someone with recording studio and live performance experience can chime in. Will this solve any problems for recording studios or live performances?
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No. The only 'problem' they solve is the mess of cables. You wouldn't use these in the studio, for medium to upper level bands the crew would take care of setting up and cabling. The only person concerned about cables is the local drummer or weekend warrior. For me they would be better off with a traditional v-kit anyway, rather than carting big and heavy shells everywhere.
 
Chris Whitten said:
No. The only 'problem' they solve is the mess of cables. You wouldn't use these in the studio, for medium to upper level bands the crew would take care of setting up and cabling. The only person concerned about cables is the local drummer or weekend warrior. For me they would be better off with a traditional v-kit anyway, rather than carting big and heavy shells everywhere.
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Hmmm…I have to think that medium and upper level drummers would appreciate the aesthetics of not having an assload of cables to distract from their pretty drums. I also think working pros and weekenders who have to set up their own gear would definitely be better off with the shell free kits, but you know those who can afford them would much rather have drums that look like drums and they’ll buy them.

As for predicting how they’ll go over, I always thought E drums sound like crap compared to real drums, yet here we are in a world where so many people use them in some form or another.
 
mikyok said:
Don't see the point of these from a practical aspect. Electric drums usually take up less space and are ideal for small gigs where noise is a problem and there's a tight setup space.

Having a full sized kit that's a electronic kit defeats the object.

They've priced 99% of people out of affording them too.
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Not everyone has space limitations or issues lugging a full size kit. Everyone hates the look of small electronic pads (yes me included) so, if you can have both, why not?. Yes it's not practical but neither is driving a full size truck as a daily driver, or buying 3 acoustic kits because the one you have is not "new enough"..
I agree with the pricing, Roland has always been ridiculously expensive, I guess now DW must follow suit...
Versa trigger was not overpriced as an individual offering, now they have to also follow suit.
I noticed they are using a custom version of EZ drummer... For that price they should give you the full Superior Drummer (with all available packs).
Like I said before, drums are drums are drums, there is no significant jump in SOUND quality when you switch from a middle of the line kit to a top of the line. (at least not worth paying what they want for top of the line). In this case, nobody is buying those drums for their acoustic qualities so it wouldn't matter if they were the lower line, as long as the electronic portion works well.. I guess they have to convince you to pay that kind of $$ by stating that those kits are "collector series"... who cares? 99% of buyers will never use them as acoustic....
Why can you get the cheapest kit your company makes, use a nice looking wrap and add the electronics? reduce about $5000 of the price, they would sell like hot cakes.
 
Chris Whitten said:
Nope, it's entirely a DW product. It's their sampling, their own samples and their own software. They have obviously copied the general look of Toon products.
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It looks exactly like Toontrack's , wouldn't that be copyright infringement (they must have made some agreement to use that look).
 
I have connections with both, although I haven't spoken with Toon for a few years. I know the DW product is entirely their own work, in connection with Alan (the owner of V Expressions and the V Drum forum).
Toontrack have never licensed their products to anyone else.
 
mikyok said:
I get doing that when you're a huge touring act and have massive stages and roadies. Aesthetics on stage mean a lot at that level.

They're an answer to a question nobody asked!

I don't trust the combination of wireless technology and drums. If anything goes wrong it's a catastrophic on stage failure.
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This is my exact reaction as well.........

On one hand, I do appreciate a company who is willing to try and innovate in a space that has seen largely small incremental changes over the decades as companies try and figure out an angle to get us to fork over a few grand for a kit that most likely will sound like "drums" when all is said and done........

At least it is something somewhat new and different that gets people talking vs. "hey we can't think of anything innovative so we are now making shells like we did 40 years ago with new hardware.....enjoy !!!" While there is nothing wrong with that approach, this is a new spin on things, albeit a very expensive niche one, but that is where new innovation usually starts, expensive and niche.
 
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