Playing Electronic Drums

[Rafael Dolinski]

[Julián Fernández]

These sound good, and the guy has a nice feel also...

[sejuba]

These are the reasons I haven't picked up an electronic kit before. 2 mins in a music store is already too much for me. lol

With the Zildjian Gen16 stuff coming though, I hope someone can do something similar for the drums.

this is retarded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9G4_GZ_zk4

[deseipel]

as a practice kit = fine.

A performance kit = fail, big time.

I find the gen16 stuff just overkill.

[DeeP_FRieD]

I have a td-3...

I've played all the td's, yammies, simmons, seshed some of the weird shit at NAMM...

AND none of it really carries out live.

Most of those examples all have backing tracks mixed in very nice with it.... I've done recordings on normal kits where some dude in the other room coughs really loud off a bong rip... by itself you can hear it, in a wash of guitar and bass it wasn't noticeable. I still retook the track.

Those Gen16's don't play good at all. They're all thin and have no resistance. I'd rather play on a yahmaha cymbal pad.

I also have no interest in seeing drummers play these. I come cold for 5 days with a hangover and a cold and sound like speedy gonzales on those mesh pads. You don't have to articulate anything on an electric kit and if you try it ends up sounding worse because it throws off the velocities when you hit a pad with the neck of the stick rather than the bead or whatever.

I also agree that the Drum and Bass/electro sounds on those kits are cool at first, but when you try to throw down a serious break beat, it ends up sound wack because the samples are being repeated at too quick a rate. Drum n' Bass is just sliced up beats of real people playing not triggered samples, that's why a dude on a real kit ran through a high pass filter or phaser or whatever sounds so much better.

I use my electronic kit to not wake up my kid and not piss of my girlfriend. It's main advantage is that I can patch in a guitarist and bass into a headphone mix and do a trio rehearsal at my house late, otherwise I'd rather hit the skins and tins.

[Odd-Arne Oseberg]

I just want something with a real hi-hat and a snare I can actually practice rimshots with.

[Old Pit Guy]

Tossing E-kits under the bus is silly. My humble example: There was a little room off the video lab at MIT (old school) with three or four little cheap-o first generation E-kits and a video monitor w/each. I don't know WTF these kits were. The pads were made with steel rims (and T-rods) and black heads. The feel was horrendous by today's standards, and the sound was a horror show. Oh, and the orange plastic cymbals with rubber pads ... ugh. But the BD and hi-hat worked well enough to get the job done.

Regardless of their inherent negatives, they were invaluable to me; I spent countless early morning hours in that room working up everything from the endless Syncopation book exercises to the Latin curriculum and Ralph's Even In the Odds with the benefit of the class video mixed perfectly in my phones. I only wish I had a TD-anything back then.

The point being, going from these to a real kit was - for me - an easy transition. And I got up to speed with material I had no clue how to play and without personal embarrassment getting there. By the time I even began to leave these behind and spend more time in labs on the kits I was comfortable. That made them worth their weight in gold. If I had the money for a decent E-kit right now I'd jump on one.

[Tombo 7/4]

Recently dads came to me asking which ekit they should buy for their 8-10 year old kids who want to play drums.
Their main reason for an ekit was to not be disturbed buy the "noise" when the kid plays.
Also you can get a cheapo ekit for less $$ than an entry level acoustic kit.

I told my feeling is I don't think a kid will develop a passion for the drums starting on a ekit.
The feel of hitting a real drum, creating the sounds and the blend of accoustic waves coming back to you has a lot to do IMO with the development of one's love for the instrument in the beginning.

What do you think?

[YamahaPlayer]

Recently dads came to me asking which ekit they should buy for their 8-10 year old kids who want to play drums.
Their main reason for an ekit was to not be disturbed buy the "noise" when the kid plays.
Also you can get a cheapo ekit for less $$ than an entry level acoustic kit.

I told my feeling is I don't think a kid will develop a passion for the drums starting on a ekit.
The feel of hitting a real drum, creating the sounds and the blend of accoustic waves coming back to you has a lot to do IMO with the development of one's love for the instrument in the beginning.

What do you think?

That is a position I find myself in with students as well (both adult and parents of kids).

Here's how I break it down;

If you are living in an apartment or duplex, whatever where sound is an issue - then it's a given. Go with an eKit.

If sound is NOT an issue - go with a real kit.

If parents have an issue with their kid practicing and having to listen to it - then it won't matter what the kid plays, drums, horn, guitar, etc... that's is not a supportive parent.


And I HIGHLY AGREE - the Tactile feel of playing drums is a HUGE part of playing the instrument.

[DSOP]

Also you can get a cheapo ekit for less $$ than an entry level acoustic kit.

I disagree with that. I see pretty decent starter drum sets for under $500, including cheap cymbals. You can get even better drums used. Electronic kits start at over $500.