looking to buy an electronic drum kit, which one?

[eyefi]

hello,

i'm looking to finally buy an electronic drum kit and learn to play after years of tapping out rhythms with a piano keyboard. it's time to give C D F# and A# a rest

my requirements:-

• good quality.
• actually works, no missed or fake double triggers.
• the more compact the better.
• quiet as possible (for live recording with mics in the same room).
• good internal sounds.
• programmable midi out to run BFD (or something similar) and sampler.
• a good hihat.
• built in metronome.
• good guarantee.

i'm looking to spend no more than £600, so i have so far listed the roland td3kw kit or the roland hd1. i'm at the beginning of my research so any info or experience would be welcomed.

cheers,

[Irish614]

what makes you want to buy an electronic kit over an acoustic? Do you live in a small apartment/house where the neighbors don't/won't want to hear all the noise? If thats the case you can always just buy mutes to place over the drum heads of an acoustic kit. But if your really hell bent on buying an electronic kit I would strongly advise you to go to your local music store, and try out what they have. Get familiar with all of the features of the kit and such so you don't get it home and say oh man I wish I knew it didn't do this or that. But I'd say go with an acoustic kit, they have a much more natural feel/sound compared to an electronic. I've been playing for over 16 yrs so I kinda know what I'm talking about ha ha or at least I can sure pretend I know what I'm talking about hahaha.

[eyefi]

as much as i would like an acoustic kit, it would just not suit my needs. i'd have to buy a nice kit then i'd start buying expensive cymbals and expensive mics to record it, i would never get a good recorded sound, i wouldn't be able to isolate it in a live situation, i couldn't work at night, it would take ages to put up and take down. a good electronic kit would really work for me, i think they can sound very realistic these days (if that's what you want) and they play fine to to me at my pathetic level. "real" drummers that i know take 5mins to get used to them and then they are fine. i'm not a drum purist

i just want something to take me away from the keyboard that is a bit more than a block of midi triggers because i would also like to get into the act of drumming and maybe get good at it.

thanks for the reply though

[Irish614]

Ok how much is £600 in American $? If you haven't already check out Musiciansfriend.com or Guitarcenter.com and see what they have to offer in your price range for electronic kits. Like I said last night, def. go to your local music shop and play on these kits first. If you have a guitar center in your area they will let you play on everything they got there. Just don't buy any floor models if you can lol for that reason.

[brandondrury]

With DFH Superior 2.0 coming out in April, I expect to push more bands in this direction so I'll probably be buying an electronic drum kit soon. My plan is to drag one of my drummer buddies to Guitar Center and let them go nuts. I'm most worried about feel. The MIDI stuff can can be dealt with, but if the drummer can't do the weird stuff that just about every drummer I know does, than they won't be happy.

Brandon

[eyefi]

there is a lot of crap gear out there and there's a lot of expensive stuff. the roland gear is good but you have to spend serious cash. i'm looking at some pretty cool diy pad kits at the moment which match the best roland mesh stuff for a fraction of the cost.

i'm also probably going to drop the drum module and get an alesis IO and just use the software drums on the laptop.

irish, £600 is about $1200

[eyefi]

Originally Posted by brandondrury

With DFH Superior 2.0 coming out in April, I expect to push more bands in this direction so I'll probably be buying an electronic drum kit soon. My plan is to drag one of my drummer buddies to Guitar Center and let them go nuts. I'm most worried about feel. The MIDI stuff can can be dealt with, but if the drummer can't do the weird stuff that just about every drummer I know does, than they won't be happy.

Brandon

if you are really worried about feel for every drummer you have in the studio then you may have to get a converted acoustic kit. most drummers i know don't like anything new

[thetrooper37]

Honestly, unless you play only blastbeats, I wouldn't limit myself to an electronic kit, especially considering you only have 1200 to spend.

[eyefi]

can you let me know why?

i have no idea what blast beats are, i'm probably getting a bit old.

[Irish614]

Originally Posted by eyefi

there is a lot of crap gear out there and there's a lot of expensive stuff. the roland gear is good but you have to spend serious cash. i'm looking at some pretty cool diy pad kits at the moment which match the best roland mesh stuff for a fraction of the cost.

i'm also probably going to drop the drum module and get an alesis IO and just use the software drums on the laptop.

irish, £600 is about $1200

Thanks for transferring that for me. I have played on the roland mesh pads before. My speed was about 1000x faster on them because they bounced so much compared to a real drum head. I thought it was cool and they sounded like real drums, but like I said not realistic. I would buy them if I was into electronic kits the one I was playing on was $5,000.

Blast beats are usually heard in metal songs. YouTube - Blast Beats And Double Bass. Nothing fancy just really fast drumming.