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Thread: Help Pick Electronic Drums

  1. #1

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    Default Help Pick Electronic Drums

    Hello everyone,

    I am new to the forum, but not drumming. I have been playing for over twenty years now. I have reciently moved and keeping a practice set in the house in not really an option any more; mainly due to noise and closeness of neighbors. I am going to sell my home practice kit and pick up an electronic kit. I am totally new to electronic drums, so I have several questions.

    1) What is a good starting off sound module/controller? I would like something has a fair number of inputs so that I can grow with. Also, I would like to be able to change the pitch of each drum.

    2) Can different triggers, either drum of cymbol, be used with different makers of sound modules/controller? If I have a drum pad from X, can I plug it into Y?

    3) Where would a good place to look for a nice used kit?

    Thanks,
    Keith

  2. #2

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    Hey Kromberg, welcome to Drumchat! I have had a Roland TD-8 kit for the last couple years. What kind of price range are you looking at? A good starter would be the Roland TD-3 module, but I would spend the extra $100 to move up to a TD-6 or TD-7. They have room for 5 drums, 2 cymbals, and hihats, plus room to add 2 more triggers. The tom sounds are totally tweakable, so you will be able to get them to sound any way you want. For the bass trigger, go with a KD-7 instead of the KD-8. They are known to break. Roland modules will accept Roland and Pintech triggers. Roland pads can be switched out of phase so they can go to any module. The Yamaha DTX series kits are very similar, but the mesh toms from Roland feel a lot more natural.

    As far as finding a good used kit, I would check Ebay or Craigslist for a complete kit. I just sold my kit on Craigslist for $1000. You should be able to find a complete TD-6 kit or Yamaha DTX kit for less than $800. You could also go with an old Alessis module and put just about any triggers on it.

    I hope that helped a little bit. Good luck and let us know what you come up with!
    Da' Bum
    Rockin' the beat for fadedblue
    Keepin' time for Andy Harrison & the AOP
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    DW Performance 5 pc. in White Marine Pearl
    1972 Pearl Deluxe Custom 5 pc. in blue sparkle
    KAT KT-3
    Paiste cymbals
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  3. #3

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    hey krom burg i have an electric kit for the same reason and i went for the yamaha DTXprlorer it has a good number of different kits to choose from but like all others u have to bye an amp. also it is a 5 peice kit as i am only starting out.

  4. #4

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    Smile Hey there!

    Hey welcome to drum chat Kromberg!
    1stTimeDrummer

  5. #5

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    welcome kromberg ....can`t help you with the electronic kits ....but welcome !!

    dave

  6. #6

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    Thanks for the replies. As I look more into this, the more questions I am thinking of.

    After looking at some of the modules listed here, I see that the inputs are labeled. Can I only plug a corresponding trigger into its input: tom into a tom or can I plug a cymbol into a tom input and still make it sound like a cymbol?

    For money wise, I have about $1000 saved up and will have about $2500ish when I sell my old kit. I would like to get something now as I am starting to get 'itchy finger' to be playing more., but.... I do not want to buy something I will out grow quickly.

    Keith

  7. #7

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    I know on the Roland and Alesis modules that all the inputs are fully programmable. You can get a footswitch for the Roland that will allow you to change the program for the kick drum 1/2 and the aux 1/2 during the middle of playing. A friend of mine uses 2 TD-10 modules, 1 for the drums (8 piece) and 1 for cymbals (10 piece) so he never changes any of the programs as he has everything he will ever need in one setup. On the kit I had, I would set it up so the first patch had 5 drums and 7 cymbals, the second patch had 6 drums and 6 cymbals, the third patch had 5 drums, 3cymbals, cowbell, chimes, wood block, etc. You can not go wrong with the versatality of the Roland modules as they will do just about anything you want them to. It can be used as a MIDI controller, has a built in metronome, you can sample some of your own playing, and if you get the SP-1 sampling pad, you can import your own sounds (not that you ever would need to, unless you are trying to make some strange sound effects).

    I would really suggest going down to a Guitar Center near you and play with them. They are great for practicing at home and easily transportable for gigging. If you are playing really small venues, you can run them through a moniter or for a large one, run them into the main PA.

    Good luck!
    Da' Bum
    Rockin' the beat for fadedblue
    Keepin' time for Andy Harrison & the AOP
    http://www.facebook.com/fadedbluemusic
    DW Performance 5 pc. in White Marine Pearl
    1972 Pearl Deluxe Custom 5 pc. in blue sparkle
    KAT KT-3
    Paiste cymbals
    Gibraltar hardware
    Axis pedals
    Vic Firth sticks
    Evans heads

  8. #8

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    What is everyone's opinion on the Alesis DM5 module? It has 12 inputs which is nice, but it does not have effects, eq, compression, or reverb like some of the others. Are the midi in and out jacks like a PAs effects loops where effects can be added in externally? Boy I could pick up two of these for the price of one Roland TD-6V.

    Is the Yamaha DTXT2S module good? It has more inputs than the Roland units, has about the same features, and costs a bit less.

    Keith

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by kromberg
    I see that the inputs are labeled. Can I only plug a corresponding trigger into its input: tom into a tom or can I plug a cymbol into a tom input and still make it sound like a cymbol?
    Of course you can… but you don’t have to. You can program that from the module it self.
    I personally would go for the Roland. I own a TD-6 V-Drum technology electronic drum set and let me tell you its awesome. I can't have an Acoustic drum set in my house becoz I live in an apartment and you know neighbors and all that… So the electronic drum kit was the perfect solution for me.

    You can do a lot of stuff with it like rim shots "the snare drum is double triggered" and you can hit both cymbal rim or bell plus the toms and cymbals are shock sensitive like if you hit a cymbal and hold it with your hand the sound will stop which make's it more realistic.

    There are a lot of places where you can find electronic drum sets…
    Check out those for example
    http://www.music123.com/Electronic-D...94906158.music
    Or
    www.amazon.com or www.ebay.com

    And if you have any question about the Roland I would be happy to answer

    Good Luck \m/
    Last edited by MoKu; 11-14-2006 at 03:02 PM.

  10. #10

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    This is a bit off topic but I'm curious if you guys who have electric kits find all the bells and whistels distracting? I've watched my son play around with the Roland set at GC, and he seems to spend more time making silly noises than drumming. I know that when I got my PODxt I spent the first week just making space ship noises and not really playing. Is this just something that runs in my family, or has somebody had the same experience?

  11. #11

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    well...it's like any nifty toy...you have to choose whether you want to be serious and make music or just play with your toys....for me, seriously playing music is alot more fun, but some people would just rather play with toys and acomplish nothing....neither one is right or wrong, just all in one's priorities....me, i would prolly do what u did, play with the toys for about a week and then get back to business....sorry, i guess i didn't really say anything important...

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