Recording Electronic Drums/Zildjian Gen 16

[drum6282]

I'm starting to research the electronic drum world since most of my recordings in studios with acoustic drums on a local level tend to sound like crap. I'm thinking about starting a home studio for locals to send me their tracks and I'll record at home. In order to do that, I'd have to use an electronic kit as I don't have a room I can set up for recording acoustic drums - I live in the suburbs where my neighbors are 6 ft from me too. So, I started researching the Yamaha and Roland edrums and the Gen 16 cymbals from Zildjian.

Anyone prefer the one or the other with Yamaha DTX vs Rolands?

I don't know much about the electronic/midi/recording side of things. Can anyone suggest a book that may focus on this area?

Do you need the electronic kit's brain if you're using BFD2 triggering? I won't be playing these in a live setting, which is why I ask. I may be confused as the function of the brain, but from what I know, it provides the ekit's sound...I'd rather use the BFD sounds and bypass the brain - so do I need it? I assume not?

I've also read that Logic works best with midi - anyone want to comment on Pro Tools vs Logic vs Cubase?

I opposed the electronic stuff for so long, but the sounds have become amazingly real and with it being so difficult to capture a good drum sound, this seems the way to go...plus, it seems most engineers/producers are replacing drum sounds with stuff like this anyway...the feel of heads on edrums still aren't quite there, but they're close.
That's the reason I want to use the Gen 16 cymbals - more for the feel - but I would assume I could use the Gen 16 (which is BFD2 anyway) sounds on pads as well without a "brain" too.

Thanks for any direction -

I will still play acoustic drums in live situations.

[Matthijs Ament]

I work with Roland TD-20 to study and rehearse but I would rather not use it to play live or record music. Most guys working with E-drums use Toontrack for sounds and Roland for brains. Yamaha is good but my guess is that Roland is still world champion in this field.

[sejuba]

I'm starting to research the electronic drum world since most of my recordings in studios with acoustic drums on a local level tend to sound like crap. I'm thinking about starting a home studio for locals to send me their tracks and I'll record at home. In order to do that, I'd have to use an electronic kit as I don't have a room I can set up for recording acoustic drums - I live in the suburbs where my neighbors are 6 ft from me too. So, I started researching the Yamaha and Roland edrums and the Gen 16 cymbals from Zildjian.

Anyone prefer the one or the other with Yamaha DTX vs Rolands?

I don't know much about the electronic/midi/recording side of things. Can anyone suggest a book that may focus on this area?

Do you need the electronic kit's brain if you're using BFD2 triggering? I won't be playing these in a live setting, which is why I ask. I may be confused as the function of the brain, but from what I know, it provides the ekit's sound...I'd rather use the BFD sounds and bypass the brain - so do I need it? I assume not?

I've also read that Logic works best with midi - anyone want to comment on Pro Tools vs Logic vs Cubase?

I opposed the electronic stuff for so long, but the sounds have become amazingly real and with it being so difficult to capture a good drum sound, this seems the way to go...plus, it seems most engineers/producers are replacing drum sounds with stuff like this anyway...the feel of heads on edrums still aren't quite there, but they're close.
That's the reason I want to use the Gen 16 cymbals - more for the feel - but I would assume I could use the Gen 16 (which is BFD2 anyway) sounds on pads as well without a "brain" too.

Thanks for any direction -

I will still play acoustic drums in live situations.

I have a friend who can record very convincing drum parts with his TD9, he uses BFD 2, which I don't like that much. I'm a huge fan of this small company in australia (I believe) called
ANALOGUE DRUMS, their samples are amazing and quite cheap. http://www.analoguedrums.com/

If you can spend a little extra money, I'd get a good condenser mic and use it to record live hats as opposed to e-hats. it'll sound much more natural, although it seems somewhat of a hassle
for someone who's trying to avoid problems with neighbours.

[DSOP]

If you're recording the type of music where samples would be perceived as acceptable, why don't you just program the drum parts and be done with it?

[drum6282]

If you're recording the type of music where samples would be perceived as acceptable, why don't you just program the drum parts and be done with it?

That would work, most situations would probably require a live drum feel instead of loops - my target is singer/songwriter - rock/pop/country - another income stream basically - I don't want it to sound quantized for most things - I've read there are ways to manipulate loops to make them sound more like a real player - but, the goal is for me to lay down the track as if it were a live drum set -

Thanks everyone for the input.

[Manu]

You definitely need a module to process the midi signals, even if you're using samples. I recomend any mid/high end rolands and superior samples.