Mesh heads will be slightly less noisy than rubber pads.
If you're playing in another room? No problems. In the living room while everyone watches a movie? Not so much...
I have a ridiculous need to smash the hell out of my drums (Don't take that the wrong way) when i play certain songs i can really get into, and with my current situation I can't really do that, let alone practice repetitive things or play for too long without feeling like im bugging alot of people.
Electronic drums seem like the perfect solution for my problem. Before getting too seriously into this idea I need to know a few things, just how loud are electronic drums for other people, like if i was playing along with a song? Does it give that annoying plastic sound, or does it depend?
Also I'm trying to get a basic idea of what brand/price range i would want to buy out of.
Id like it to:
Be as quiet as possible
Have a decent amount of sounds to pick
Something I can keep for quite a long time
CAN BE USED WITH HEADPHONES (thats huge)
And possibly be able to have more toms, bass pedal added to it in the future.
Note: In my situation even with silencer pads on, they are still quite loud
Mesh heads will be slightly less noisy than rubber pads.
If you're playing in another room? No problems. In the living room while everyone watches a movie? Not so much...
Its a family room, but its only my grandpa down there (he watches tv, and usually sleeps even through my regular drumming, also hes at work alot and doesn't mind at all) I mean for like people upstairs and all, because real drums can be annoying throughout the whole house
Note: Its an open-type room
Oh and also, id probably have them without headphones for a good amount of time, but not too loud, so it wouldn't be just the noise of pads getting hit the whole time.
E drums will not hold up being "smashed" as you say. Although it may be a good thing for you to get an e set and start to learn dynamics but on the other hand, because your a very hard hitter, unless you want to change, i would say don't waste your money on e drums ! Start looking for another place to play ! Check out one of my favorite dynamic drummers !!
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V70BYk5D0e8"]YouTube - PETER ERSKINE - drum solo - PASIC 2004[/ame]
E Drums !! !
There are no loud instruments just loud players !
Protect Your Hearing !!!!
Good stuff, 2.
Signature here
Well by that i mean something sorta like this [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW2AKkwJb_c"]YouTube - Queens Of The Stone Age - Avon (Feat. Dave Grohl)[/ame]
But to less of an extent and not as stressed motions, and we may have different meanings of hitting hard, cause i can barely hit at all with a real set in my situation, i mean just like you'd see any live drummer getting really into their playing.
E-kits (at least quality ones) can take a good beating, so they'll hold up even if you're a "hard hitter". However, you WILL eventually wear them down faster than someone who doesn't "smash" his drums. Not to mention the damage you'll likely be doing your wrists and forearms.
As far as quiet as possible, the quietest are Yamaha's silicone DTX pads. These are also the most comfortable to play, in my opinion. If you want a complete set with these pads you'll have to opt for Yamaha's DTX950, their flagship, which costs around $4,000. Or you can get the mid-level DTX550 which comes with just the silicone snare (toms and rubber pads). That'll set you back around $1,400.
Second quietest are the Roland mesh. A little louder than silicone and also give off an annoying "chang" sound when you hit them, but still much quieter than rubber. To get a complete set with mesh heads you'd have to get the Roland TD9KX2, which can be had for around $2,000, or a higher model. They have all mesh on the TD4KX2,but those are six inch pads, which is just annoying.
Lastly, rubber pads are the loudest and are acoustically equivalent to playing a practice pad. Even if you have rubber pads, nobody in the next room will really notice your playing. It will, however, irritate whoever is in the same room. But if it's true that your grandpa sleeps through regular drumming, then even going with rubber pads will be like singing him a lullaby.
All e-kits, even the worst, can be played with headphones. So that's no biggie. But as for as sounds and longevity, pretty much anything you buy from Roland or Yamaha will be the best quality you can find and will have a nice array of sounds. Roland has a significant edge with sounds in that there's a company called Vexpressions that creates sounds that you can purchase and load directly into your module. They emulate of lot of famous kits and the sounds are amazing, so that's REALLY cool. You can play the kits of MANY popular drummers by buying their "Vex Pack". For example, here's the "Master 50" set that they sell for only $45:
1. Akiro Jimbo - Yamaha Oak Custom
2. Cozy Powell - Yamaha Tour Custom
3. Thomas Lang - Sonor X Ray
4. Steve Smith - Sonor Designer
5. Jeff Porcaro - Pearl MLX
6. Neil Peart - DW Collector
7. Simon Phillips - Tama SC
8. Bill Bruford - Tama
9. Mike Portnoy - Tama SC
10. Terry Bozzio - DW Exotic
11. Steve Gadd - Yamaha Rec Custom
12. Mic Fleetwood - DW Exotic
13. Roger Taylor - Duran Duran – Tama Imperialstar
14. Jason Bittner - Tama SC
15. Jonny Raab - DW Collector
16. Rodney Holmes - Tama SC
17. Jojo Mayer Sonor -Designer
18. Derek Roddy Sonor -Designer
19. Alex Acuna - DW Collector
20. Matt Chamberlain -Craviotto
21. Jimmy Degrasso - Pearl Masters
22. Joel Rosenblatt - Tama SC
23. Ginger Baker - DW Collector
24. John Bonham - Ludwig Custom Classics
25. Ringo Starr - Ludwig
26. Gavin Harrison - Sonor Designer
27. Dave Mackintosh - Tama SC
28. Steve Adler - Rockett Drumworks
29. Stet Howland - Yamaha Rec Custom
30. Vinnie Paul - Pearl Masters
31. Alan White - Ludwig
32. Alex Van Halen - Ludwig
33. Paul Leim - Yamaha
34. Vinnie Colaiuta - Gretsch
35. Dave Weckl - Yamaha
36. Buddy Rich - Ludwig
37. Gene Krupa - Slingerland
38. Peter Erskine - DW Collector
39. Ed Shaughnessy - Ludwig
40. Dennis Chambers - Pearl Masterworks
41. Cindi Blackman - Gretsch
42. John Blackwell - Tama SC
43. William Calhoun - Mapex Orion
44. Todd Sucherman - Pearl Masterworks
45. Louie Bellson - Rogers
46. Rod Morgenstein - Premier Genista
47. Mike Mangini - Pearl
48. Jason Rullo - Tama SC
49. Virgil Donati - Premier
50. Danny Carey - Sonor Designer
^^^ SGD's Evans Empire ^^^
*sigh* I knew it would cost a lot of money.. just didn't want to believe it, I'll have to work my *** off during the summer for this, but thanks for the input.
I've been playing my Roland e-kit in the house for more than a year with no complaints.
The loudest sound is the kick pedal hitting the pad. I use the plastic side because the felt was leaving fibers in the pad. There are lots of work arounds that let you use the felt side, but I didn't really need any, and just turned the beater around.
I got my Roland TD-9 set for about $1000 new from a large retailer in my town. They had some better deals on used gear in the store too.
I would think the Roland set would hold up if King Kong was playing it, so I wouldn't worry too much about that aspect of things.
I enjoy playing through headphones as much as I do playing through my amp. I have an Alesis Transactive mobile PA that has a built in iPod dock, so I can play songs through it and play to the music too. It has separate volume controls for several inputs.
An e-kit is an excellent alternative to acoustic drums. And I still enjoy playing both kits.
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