Why are drum modules so bad?

Philaiy9 said:
Jeez. It's cheaper to buy a nice mid level kit and a dedicated laptop with Steven Slate
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Absolutely. I think in one way Pearl have created the "holy grail" of modules in that they have real samples built into the module (without the need for laptop/ other software) but you'll pay dearly for it.
 
Mimic didn’t seem fully compatible with Strike Pro or DTX10 out of the box ….
 
toddmc said:
If money is no object I'd say go for it. The difference between even the flagship Roland module and the Mimic is night and day to my ears when you hear a side-by-side comparison....

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Not a fair comparison. Roland modelled/synthesized vs sampled ;)
 
toddmc said:
Absolutely. I think in one way Pearl have created the "holy grail" of modules in that they have real samples built into the module (without the need for laptop/ other software) but you'll pay dearly for it.
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As an example all DTXs have "real samples built into the module". Up to 120 samples per pad....
 
Chris Whitten said:
It's either a price issue or a reliability issue, but the Mimic has never taken off.
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Price mainly, but reliability is a close second, the electronic drums made by Pearl were never as good as the ones made by other companies (I am talking about the pads only) e\Merge seemed to be their answer to Roland, and apparently those pads are good, but they haven't had enough time to prove themselves in the reliability department. I also don't think you can buy the e\Merge kit with the Mimic instead of the module that comes with it so that leaves you with companies like DrumTec to get your pads and Mimic module bundle but that also would be a very expensive kit.
 
For me the issue is always the toms. It's too easy for them to sound like isolated drums, like an 80's drum machine.
kicks and snares are usually OK.
Overall, for me, the big issue with drum modules is the obsession with letting users dial in any modification - room size, pitch of drum, amount of drum wires, amount of drum damping etc....
In a real recording you decide all that upfront and don't really change it after the fact. In VSTs you can alter many of those things, but likewise, the further you depart from the default sound of the drum, the more it sounds weird, unreal.
In programs like EZdrummer and Superior I generally scroll through until I find a sound that I like. I don't select an 'ok' sounding drum and heavy edit it. People tend to want to heavily edit their drum module kit pieces - and knowing that, the module makers build in all kinds of editable factors which compromise the drum sound in the first place - like impulse rooms instead of ACTUAL room recordings.
 
Philaiy9 said:
Ah, I wasn't aware of that--a great idea by Pearl. I wish more companies would swallow their pride and do something like that.
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How many of these sets do what I found is called round robin with samples without VSTs? Always hated single samples for those things and early drum machines and programs.
 
On some of the Roland modules you can add a single sample of your own. On the factory sounds no robins are needed because the sounds are not samples strictly speaking.
I think Yamaha and Pearl state how many individual samples they include in their drum modules. Again, generally I find kicks and snares in most modules sound decent, it's the toms where the deficiencies show up.
 
Chris Whitten said:
For me the issue is always the toms. It's too easy for them to sound like isolated drums, like an 80's drum machine.
kicks and snares are usually OK.
Overall, for me, the big issue with drum modules is the obsession with letting users dial in any modification - room size, pitch of drum, amount of drum wires, amount of drum damping etc....
In a real recording you decide all that upfront and don't really change it after the fact. In VSTs you can alter many of those things, but likewise, the further you depart from the default sound of the drum, the more it sounds weird, unreal.
In programs like EZdrummer and Superior I generally scroll through until I find a sound that I like. I don't select an 'ok' sounding drum and heavy edit it. People tend to want to heavily edit their drum module kit pieces - and knowing that, the module makers build in all kinds of editable factors which compromise the drum sound in the first place - like impulse rooms instead of ACTUAL room recordings.
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I'm guessing that EZDrummer was created in part to alleviate some of that obsession for editing everything. Of course their selling point was the EZ part, you didn't need a music degree to get great sounding drums, they were mostly done for you, and of course the price, way cheaper than Superior (yes obviously smaller). Those things may have added to its appeal.
Listening to a lot of modern recordings, it seems that many "producers" tend to go for very similar sounds, so you end up "creating" what has already been over done. You start to hear the same or very similar samples everywhere.
I do agree with straying away from the natural sound making drums sound... unnatural. Unless, it is on purpose to achieve a certain effect for example Pantera using a lot of reverb on the bass drum and snare in the song Domination.
 
Chris Whitten said:
On some of the Roland modules you can add a single sample of your own. On the factory sounds no robins are needed because the sounds are not samples strictly speaking.
I think Yamaha and Pearl state how many individual samples they include in their drum modules. Again, generally I find kicks and snares in most modules sound decent, it's the toms where the deficiencies show up.
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Could you please explain what you mean by sounds not being samples strictly speaking? And how do they eliminate that computery sound when you do a roll?
 
JimmyM said:
Could you please explain what you mean by sounds not being samples strictly speaking?
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It's exactly like the difference between a keyboard module with piano sounds and a sampler (like an Akai) with piano samples.
I believe that Roland believe loading actual samples into memory is less stable and reliable than having a module with the sounds built in.
 
doggyd69b said:
I'm guessing that EZDrummer was created in part to alleviate some of that obsession for editing everything.
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I think it was made to serve the less experienced person who just wants good sounding drums out of the box. It is both easier to use and cheaper to buy than Superior. I have both, but most of the time reach for EZdrummer because it sounds good to me, uses fewer computer resources and has hundreds of sounds to choose from (if you have a few expansions).
If you are playing at home using v-drums to trigger a VST, I don't really see the point in a fully editable product like Superior. Superior is more for people recording, who need to find that perfect sound for their project.
 
Chris Whitten said:
It's exactly like the difference between a keyboard module with piano sounds and a sampler (like an Akai) with piano samples.
I believe that Roland believe loading actual samples into memory is less stable and reliable than having a module with the sounds built in.
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So it’s a softsynth VST type of design?
 
Chris Whitten said:
I think it was made to serve the less experienced person who just wants good sounding drums out of the box. It is both easier to use and cheaper to buy than Superior. I have both, but most of the time reach for EZdrummer because it sounds good to me, uses fewer computer resources and has hundreds of sounds to choose from (if you have a few expansions).
If you are playing at home using v-drums to trigger a VST, I don't really see the point in a fully editable product like Superior. Superior is more for people recording, who need to find that perfect sound for their project.
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I prefer Steven Slate Drums for the sounds, but EZ for the available expansions. Now there are other companies selling good sounding drums for cheaper, Get Good Drums being one of them. Of course EZ is optimized to be used with edrums while others have to be configured to work correctly so for the non technical EZ Drums is probably the best choice.
 
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