Electronic Drums anyone?

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 28 Mar 2014 2:12 pm

I am getting rid of my complete set of Pearl drums. Nice set but miking and heavy handed players. Considering a set of electronic drums to jam and record. Anyone have any experience with this setup? Brand, model, configuration?

I don't play drums so "a little help here" $:\$

Rick Schacter · Post by **Rick Schacter** » 28 Mar 2014 4:55 pm

Len Amaral wrote:I am getting rid of my complete set of Pearl drums. Nice set but miking and heavy handed players. Considering a set of electronic drums to jam and record. Anyone have any experience with this setup? Brand, model, configuration?

I don't play drums so "a little help here" $:\$

I'm a guitar player who likes to tinker around on drums every now and then.
I bought an inexpensive Roland V kit because I got a noise complaint with my Gretsch drum kit.

As far as I can tell, the Roland kit is great for most of what I need to do.
I've had "real" drummers come over to my place and use them for jams or rehearsal.

I would hang on to your real snare for using brushes when you need them.
I also prefer using my real hi hats.

My Roland kit only has two outputs too. So it limits my options at mix down time.
It's not terrible, but it would be really nice to assign more outputs to separate tracks.

Rick

p.s. - Many older recordings only used two mics for drums and they still sound wonderful.
Brubeck's Time Out comes to mind.

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 5 Apr 2014 6:23 pm

elec drums dont sound anything like the real thing. dont get rid of real drums!!!

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 5 Apr 2014 9:40 pm

Uh, no...

Rick Schacter · Post by **Rick Schacter** » 6 Apr 2014 12:12 pm

Bill Hatcher wrote:elec drums dont sound anything like the real thing. dont get rid of real drums!!!

Absolutely correct.
For that matter, it's better to have a real orchestra rather than midi instruments too.
But if you have a problem neighbor who likes to complain about noise, or if you don't have the budget for the orchestra, you make due with what you have.
Last but not least, which drum tracks would we be talking about?
I can think of plenty of pop records that have had the drums soooo processed that they don't sound like real drums either.

FWIW, the weakest part of the electronic drums seems to be the hi hat cymbals, IMO.
That's why I suggested continuing to use real hi hats. As far as I know, you can't perform jazz style brushes on the snare either.
So at the very least, keep the real snare and hi hats. If you can keep the entire drum set, even better.

Rick

Jim Buttrey · Post by **Jim Buttrey** » 25 Apr 2014 6:06 pm

Acoustic "vs" Electric.
I have used both over the last 40 plus years I have never gotten along with the el kits until I bought Roland's TD30 Kit. Close your eyes and you will never know your not on your acoustic kit. No double triggering, real dynamic control, position sensitivity and great sound samples. Plus 8 direct outs giving me direct lines into my Interface. I know you don't have the capability to do that but the are some things you can do. with a lot of Roland's gear you can assign pads left and right out the mains and the same with your phones output...left and right. you might need a jack to split the signal coming out of your phones jack. but with that set up you can get 4 sends or at the least 3 if you decide not to split your phones. I never thought I would get along with el drums but for the last two years I have used my TD30's on the road. and I love the sounds , feel, controllability. an I have been happy with the cymbal's, hat and ride . Hope this gives you some ideas. Good Luck going forward... Jim

Rick Schacter · Post by **Rick Schacter** » 29 Apr 2014 9:20 am

Jim Buttrey wrote: I know you don't have the capability to do that but the are some things you can do. with a lot of Roland's gear you can assign pads left and right out the mains and the same with your phones output...left and right. you might need a jack to split the signal coming out of your phones jack. but with that set up you can get 4 sends or at the least 3 if you decide not to split your phones.

I have experimented with the midi out jack on the module. I'm going to try it again.
By using the midi out, I can use a program like the Steven Slate drums, then perform a function in the DAW called "exploding notes" which separates each midi voice giving me lots of flexibility at mix down time.
It also gives me the option of using the quantize feature to fix the fact that I occasionally stray from the click (I'm a guitarist).

Rick

Bob Isaac · Post by **Bob Isaac** » 30 Apr 2014 7:05 am

I bought a Yamaha DTX 500 series a few years back that I've been very happy with. It records nicely (using a Fostex 8-track) and doesn't come across sounding "artificial". The heads are sensitive to pressure, so you can nuance the beat. For a kit under $1K, it works nicely. I also like the kit presets (Ludwig, Pearl, etc.) Definitely gets high marks on the WAF scale.

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 1 May 2014 9:30 am

A few months ago while driving through town, I noticed a set of electronic drums set up at a garage sale. I went back and rang the doorbell the next day and bought the full kit for $180. It is the Yamaha DTX-500 kit, and my sons love it.

Bud Angelotti · Post by **Bud Angelotti** » 17 May 2014 4:25 pm

Nice score Mike !

Bob Isaac · Post by **Bob Isaac** » 17 May 2014 8:23 pm

Wow! $180??!! Fantastic deal, way to go Mike!

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