Why don't many Pro Drummers use Electric Drums?

I play e-kits at some rehearsal spaces. They are good for low-volume rehearsing and I especially like them because they keep me from having to bring anything to rehearsal but sticks and a few beers. I have played e-kits at several churches and once again, I was happy to not have to bring my gear, but I still prefer acoustic sets for live performances. There were times that I hit multiple instruments at once, like a bass drum and cymbal, and one or the other sound wouldn't show up in the system. Not good when you stick a big BD hit on 1 and it's not there. Also, you are at the total mercy of the sound booth and I've had people come up to me after services and tell me that they heard more of the sound of the stick hitting the pads than they did of the electronically generated sounds. Limited dynamic range may be attainable on e-drums, but nowhere near the sensitivity and range that acoustic drums provide. I won't even mention cymbal sound quality because it is not even worth my time to type it. Y'all know what's up.
 
Id say half for the aesthetics of it. They don't look the same. Something about even a top tier roland looks less "cool" than a real kit.
The other half sound. They dynamics are not even close. Even on an 8k ekit.. Sure VST's sound pretty good, but you don't have the touch, feel, dynamics of a real kit.

They work great. and are a fun practice tool, recording tool, toy. Live I wouldn't use one.
 
Why don't many Pro Drummers use Electric Drums?

Why would they? Who gets into playing drums and says "Real drums? Bah! Give me the electronic stuff!" Maybe one percent of drummers? I do not mean to disparage e-drummers, I was one for over a decade, but the thought of choosing to play edrums over actual drums (and maybe even more importantly - cymbals) to me is absurd.
 
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eDrums aren't for everyone.

If your like me(and most drummers) and can't just play your accoustics whenever you feel like it, eDrums are the best solution to an enjoyable practice. Top level eDrums are expensive, but the same holds true for accoustics. I don't see any pros playing Zildjian Z's, or a $100 snare on stage.

the mimic pro is definitely on the right path. I use pretty much the setup in this video for practice/rehearsal and Im getting pretty close to having them dialed in to using them live.(mine e's tho are DIY not store bought) I don't know if I would use live, I love acoustics as well and I agree you can't do certain things on E's that you can on A's. But you also can't do certain things on A's that you can with E's.


these sound pretty close to acoustics to me. lol.
 
As someone who has owned top tier ekits and many akits I'll add this.

The new ekits (mimic) and VST's "SOUND" like real drums. without the feel, dynamics, touch, etc. Midi is only 127 layers. and when you hit a snare 1 inch from the same spot it sounds different, every single time. the ekit doesn't do that.

Ekits make you sound much better and more consistent than you are. That being said, I still enjoy playing them.
 
I think it's playing two different instruments like difference between piano and an electric organ. An e-kit could just be the pads on a table-you set it up to emulate a drum kit. You could easily just walk in with a board with all the pads-and maybe some feet triggers or the band use a drum machine (lord forbid). I guess I'm a bit of an anal-og guy.
 
The thing is this though. The non-drummer listening don't give two shirts as long as it sounds good and / or can be danced to in the mix.
E-drums are are here to stay, deal with it. They will probably never be mainstream on stage. People just don't like change.
 
It isn't a change it's more the difference between playing a piano and an electric organ-you go through same motions. But organs have changed from vacuum tubes in a Hammond to modern digital. So it's a digital world now and I can see an Electronica Jam band going all Digital and use an e-kit in time-things are always evolving.
 
Whatever floats one's boat. It's a tool to use, or not. They aren't actual drums though, so they can only be compared to other E kits. That's where the friction happens I think. It's not fair to compare and E kit to an A kit. They both make drum tones, but a plum and a pear are both fruits too. I don't compare pears to plums, only to other pears. Same deal here.

I will admit it is fun to bash them though lol because they fall so short. And no, that's not a comparison :)
 
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The thing is this though. The non-drummer listening don't give two shirts as long as it sounds good and / or can be danced to in the mix.
E-drums are are here to stay, deal with it. They will probably never be mainstream on stage. People just don't like change.

LOL is that what it is? They just don't like change? Just relics of a dying era, clinging to their ancient, obsolete ways?
Come on. I don't mind change. That's why I buy new real drums and real cymbals.
What I'm not going to do is try and replace them with something that is designed to mimic the real thing. Why would I do that? The whole reason I started drumming was to play a drum set, not merely produce the sounds by any means.

Edrums are good for many things, including some live performances. Buy they certainly aren't the future of drums lol. What they are is a supplement. They're a stand in, for when the real thing is not practical, whether it's for certain types of music, low volume, practice, etc.
 
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Omar Hakim did a clinic at "Drum Daze" in Columbus a few years back. (It might have been more than a few.) He split his clinic up between an acoustic Pearl kit and an electronic Roland kit. He said something that stuck with me. He approached acoustic and electronic drums as two similar, but different instruments, like a keyboard player approaches an acoustic piano and a Fender Rhodes.
 
If I was mostly playing any other genre than jazz, I would still be using the Yamaha DTX700. There are still no good electronic drums for jazz due to the multitude of sounds you need to get from the snare and ride in particular, but for anything else they are perfect.
 
There's an irrational bias against them, usually based in fear of the unknown, and being stuck in the technological past. If you play them, you are many times triggering acoustic sounds anyway. I play full acoustics on some shows, a hybrid on some, and when space demands it, cover an acoustic set with my Roland Handsonic.
Once doing the latter, an organic, Patchouli-oil soaked millennial (drunk of course) went off on me, said he just wasn't "feeling it".
After about a half-hour of it I suggested he first screw himself, and that I'd been playing live shows on drums since his mama was in sh*t-pants.
I'm relatively certain that once someone said a Hammond B3/67 Strat/Mini Moog "sounded like shit" too.
 
I have one of these for practise purposes (same finish, but just the one floor tom). That said, because I'm lucky to gig a lot, I don't use it regularly, unless I'm working on a difficult exercise with my teacher that's been defeating me.

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If I was mostly playing any other genre than jazz, I would still be using the Yamaha DTX700. There are still no good electronic drums for jazz due to the multitude of sounds you need to get from the snare and ride in particular, but for anything else they are perfect.

How about Futureman??

 
Bass player here - I recently converted an inexpensive Ludwig kit with the MegaDrum 32 input – Cantabile Host – Superior Drummer 2 and Jamstix – UFO Drums ebridges, rim protectors and mesh heads – Yamaha PCY15 ride , PCY135 hi-hat with DIY hall effect hi-hat stand. I've been into VST keyboard instruments for a while and needed low volume drums so I built the above. I've got it dialed in - that took quite a bit of research and trial and error but I enjoy yelling at electronics :).

I'm responding to dboomer regarding Futureman. I've been to many Flecktones shows since the 90's. I love the originality and innovative approach but always found some of the drumming oddly dissatisfying. I decided that for the Flecktones, the innovation balanced the dissatisfaction but one time happened to catch him on an acoustic set and thought maybe he should do that for Flecktones shows.
 
Staying true to my brand of being incapable of having original thoughts on a topic, here are Bill Bruford’s reasons for playing and eventually giving up electronic drums. This comes from hiswebsite’s FAQ, which is worth a read.

Why did you play electronic drums?
Rapidly advancing technology in the early 80’s offered the drummer a kaleidoscopic range of sonic possibilities, at once seductive and intriguing. The ability to play melodies, chords, and repetitive pitched loops opened new horizons. Surely it would be easier to play “new music” if you have “new sounds” at your fingertips? Well, yes and no. It depends how much your new timbres become the essence and form of the piece without which the piece could not exist, rather than just the icing on the cake. But at the start the sky appeared to be the limit. I introduced them into King Crimson with considerable enthusiasm.

Why did you give up playing electronic drums?
a) The excruciating amount of time needed to extract something interesting from a reluctant and unreliable group of disparate instruments played a part. The things only became interesting beyond their design capabilities, and when you intermarried them with other instruments and got them to talk to each other through MIDI. In the fourteen or fifteen years I was actively on board, I suppose I gave rise to no more than fourteen to fifteen compositions which were absolutely a function of electronic percussion, and whose charm arose uniquely from that instrument. At about one a year, that’s not a great output, given the time it took.
b) The complexity of the instruments caused the bottom to fall out of the market and the manufacturers were forced to cater for the home-entertainment market , where everything remains on preset one, and comes ready cooked.
c) Shipping costs, maintenance, and unreliability, all took their toll.
 
Well, I'd never willingly play live on a e-kit, though I have owned several mid-priced Roland kits. But those were all necessary for practice reason only (living wall-to-wall with a neighbor that rarely leaves the house, I have no other option when I want to be able to do some practice at home). I live 1 hour of driving away from my band's rehearsal place where my acustic kit is, so I'm only able to use it when I practice with the whole band... The e-kit is just for getting by on a practical level. I used it "live" once as a fun skit/one song only performance with some friends at a christmas party at work, that's as far as I would go (when the stakes are as low as can be). I just don't trust the e-kits for live use, and they don't look good on stage either in my opinion.
 
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