Electronic or soundproofing

[krplunk]

Greetings,

I started playing drums so long ago that we didn't have drum kits, we had "trap sets." I first set up in our living room and later moved to the garage. Many years later my son began playing drums and found out two things. One is that drums are really loud! The other is that my parents were either def or far more tolerant than I gave them credit for.

I have finally decided that I am going to start playing again. However, my wife is far less tolerant than my parents and I must either soundproof a room or get electronic drums.

I have read most of the posts under electronic drums and it sounds like I probably want mesh heads for the feel but after that, I don't know what seperates the toys from the instruments. What should I look for?

The DIY kits sound interesting and I have some experience with electronics but I wouldn't know where to start in converting my accoustic kit, which consists of snare, bass, two mounted, and two floor toms to an e-kit.

What I want to do is figure out how much it will cost to get something I get as much satisfaction out of playing as I do my accoustics. I guess if I absolutely have to, I can sell my accoustics as I would rather have something I can enjoy playing instead of something I stack in a closet. However I know $5,000 for a Roland TD20K is out of my price range.

So what do you think, where do I begin?

[gunit]

Personally. after owning 4 or 5 different electronic sets over the past 20 years and spending time at Sam Ash looking at both the TD12 and TD20 (I used to have a TDK-9 years back and more recently a Yamaha kit), I went back to acoustics. No matter how much you spend, I find them fun to practice on but not quite as dynamic as acoustics. For me, it was a sound and space issue, which I don't have to worry about now.

I just feel $3,000+ for a practice kit is too much.

[2slow]

Welcome to drumchat ! I can help you with the DIY mine is my favorite kit ! It's not hard

[ehc0720]

I'm in a similar situation, like to get the info on converting my kit to electronics, please send me your info, thanks.

[jimbolimbo99]

If you want the mesh heads, but without the price tag, look at the td9-sx, or kx for europe.
I'm also looking into getting an electric set to add to my arsenal and was looking mainly at the td9-sx.

[rmandelbaum]

Here is my 2 cents.

First I have to say I gig and rehearse with my bands with acoustic drums. There is no replacement.

I find practicing on an E kit is great. The volume level is easier on your own ears. It is much easier to mix in music without having to crank it way up to blend with the acoustic drum volumes. I find I am more likely to work on repetitive patterns because I know no one can hear me. The built in metronome is a great tool as well.



So for E kit options;

I looked into building a while back. yeas it is not rocket science. but I have to say that you have to decide if you goal is ti be a builder or a player. If building interests you then go for it. There are some great resources on the web for this.

I have owned a few E kits over the years. I have own two Roland kits and one kit that was a non Roland kit with a Roland brain. With the non Roland kit I finally realized I wanted to play the drums not spending all my time trying to get my kit to trigger correctly. I sold it and went back the Roland.

Pads:

If you are going with rubber pads stay away from the older thin pads. They will hurt your hands, wrists and arms if you are not very careful. Mesh heads are the first and best choice. There are some good thick rubber pads out there as well.

Brains:

When it comes to the brain, if all you are going to do is practice almost any of them will work. All you really need are decent drum sounds and any thing made in the past 5 years has that. The more you spend the more control / tweaking you can do to these sounds.

If you plan on recording then there is a huge difference between the TD-20 and everything else.

For recording it all comes down to outputs. most of the brains out there will have a stereo out and a loft out. This will provide the ability to record a premixed stereo track or two individule mono tracks of the entire drum kit. This means you have to get the individule drums mixed correctly in the brain and hope it all works out in the recording. I believe the TD-12 has four outputs so you can get a little separation by assigning to these ports. A little better but you still have to double up instruments.

Here is where the TD-20 shines, you get 8 individule outputs:

Kick - Mono
Snare - Mono
Ride - Mono
Hi-Hat - Mono
Toms - Stereo
Crashes - Stereo

I am not trying to convince you t go one way or the other, just trying to help you make an informed decision ;-)

Best of luck!

[Roaddebris]

I think the high hats on electrics are the biggest weakness. Even on the super expensive ones, they just don't have the action of the real thing.

[rmandelbaum]

I would agree with that. it will be interesting to see what the TD-20 expansion will do to fix that. but retail is 600.00 on it, thats a pile of dough

[krplunk]

Thank you all for sharing your experience.

It has helped me make some decisions.

I had pretty much decided that soundproofing is not a good option but rmandelbaum’s point about being easier on my ears really made it not an option.

So It looks like I will pursue electronic drums. Would I be right in assuming that I can get better quality for less money by converting my acoustic kit?

Will it require any permanent modifications? I have a pre-serial No. Ludwig super sensitive snare in good condition and don’t want to do anything to harm it.

Sad news about the hi-hat. I use mine a lot. Perhaps I could get away with using it instead of an electronic?