What’s considered good enough?

AzHeat

Platinum Member
I know that sounds like a loaded question, but I’ve been looking at electronic drum’s lately, just to be able to work on stuff I can’t otherwise.

I have a nice acoustic set and I have a set the DW Smart Practice pads. The practice pads have been super for figuring out patterns, working on rudiments, speed, etc, but for figuring out what fills sound good, burning them in, or just struggling through playing complex stuff, I’ve found them lacking.

For example, polyrhythms are very tough to nail down and I could be working through one combination for over an hour. The pads only go so far, because I really can’t tell if things sound as they should with just practice pad clicks. Attempting the same on the acoustic kit drives my wife nuts. She tolerates the noise in 3 - 4 minute chunks when I play, but trying to figure out something riddled with mistakes gets under her skin, so I’m looking for something better than what I have in the pads.

I’ve been looking for electronic sets online, reading posts here and have been playing three different Roland kits at church, so not completely new to electronic sets.

I’ve played the Yamaha DTXtreme III side by side with a comparable Roland and the Yamaha killed it for response and playability. The three Rolands I’ve played at Church have all been problematic with misfires, sensitivity and having any consistency. Pretty much the same as the Roland kit I compared side-by-side with the Yamaha. I have not played the DTX9 series.

When I look online, Roland takes up about 90% of the used stock I see. Most of the Yamaha stuff is in the DTX4 and 5 series. The Yamaha is easily a third to half the price of Roland. Since most of my experience with Roland has been poor, I have to ask, are they all that bad? All Rolands I’ve played have had the mesh heads and HH stands, so far from low end. I haven’t played the Yamaha, other than the DTXtreme IIIs. I just remember them never missing a beat and the pads, while rubber, actually felt pretty good.

So, if I was to get an electronic kit for practice to mist closely mimic the acoustic, what would that be?

I’m thinking a DTX5 series with three zone snare, ride and HH with stand. Is there a general recommendation that would tick the right boxes for the scenario above without breaking the bank? Feel and responsiveness are going to be key, if I’m working stuff out and want realistic feedback.

Alternatively, would something like Aquarian’s Super Pads and Zildjian Low Volumes be better?
 
I'm a DTX532 owner.

When I obtained it, I had the following requirements....

Needed a Real BD pedal.
Needed a real HHat stand
Needed AT LEAST one "Not A Hard Rubber Pad"... Mesh, Silicone, etc.
Needed to be inexpensive... Was hoping ~$500

Unfortunately, the kit I was looking for doesn't exist, with the Yamaha DTX 532 listing for ~$1100. It has been a good practice kit these past couple of years. FWIW, I have it listed for sale for $500 as I no longer undertake late-night practice sessions after the kids go to bed. I've seen them go for ~$400 on my local CL.
 
What models were the 3 Roland kits you played at church? If they were cheap and nasty ones that might explain your poor experience with them.
 
I would forget about an e-kit and go with the Super Pads and L80s. The L80s are an excellent low volume alternative to real cymbals, and, although I've used Remo Silent Stroke heads and didn't mind them, I've heard great things about the Super Pads.

Personally, I learn quicker on a set of pads configured to my setup than on an e-kit (or an acoustic kit, for that matter). I find pads to be less forgiving in terms of learning proper mechanics and less distracting than practicing new stuff on a kit (acoustic or otherwise).

Plus, an e-kit is going to take up space, which is fine if you have it, but it's also going to need to be taken care of, maintained, and what-not. And frankly, I've never sat behind an e-kit that I could set up like my kit.

On the other hand, if you can attach e-pads to real hardware, that could work. Then add pick-ups to the L80s (or get Zildjian's other low volume cymbals with built in pick-ups). That way, you can have a kit that performs double duties - silent practice for learning and an e-kit for practicing before transferring your new skills over to your acoustic kit.
 
Go searching for a used Roland TD-10 V-drum kit. I had this one when it was top of the line and it worked for the most part as the best practice pad kit I've ever owned. Used it did cost me around $1500 back then (they were $5500 new), but I wouldn't play anything less than that if I absolutely had to have an electronic kit. Now my neighbors just enjoy acoustic drums all the time.
 
Here's a non-electronic option:



For mesh heads, Drum Tec Real Feels are supposed to be the best, but they're also the loudest. You can improve the feel of an all mesh kit with those.

There's a lot of stuff you can adjust to your own liking.


If I couldn't use my acoustic kit regularly and wanted to go electronic, I'd actually pick up a cheap kit and do a conversion.


There are quite a few options depending on what works best for you.
 
I'm a DTX532 owner.

When I obtained it, I had the following requirements....

Needed a Real BD pedal.
Needed a real HHat stand
Needed AT LEAST one "Not A Hard Rubber Pad"... Mesh, Silicone, etc.
Needed to be inexpensive... Was hoping ~$500

Unfortunately, the kit I was looking for doesn't exist, with the Yamaha DTX 532 listing for ~$1100. It has been a good practice kit these past couple of years. FWIW, I have it listed for sale for $500 as I no longer undertake late-night practice sessions after the kids go to bed. I've seen them go for ~$400 on my local CL.
I've seen those and thought they checked all the minimum requirements nicely. Good to know you have one for sale. :)

What models were the 3 Roland kits you played at church? If they were cheap and nasty ones that might explain your poor experience with them.
Two TD-12s and a TD-30. Same issues with all three. I've adjusted them every which way and the hats open if you think about it an hour ahead, kick has only one volume - loud, and snare and toms skip a trigger every so many, so you sound like you just started playing last week!

I can't see how they are that bad, given their price and popularity, but I certainly haven't been able to get them right, and neither has any other drummer in the pool. Reseting them to factory has also rendered no better results!

I would forget about an e-kit and go with the Super Pads and L80s. The L80s are an excellent low volume alternative to real cymbals, and, although I've used Remo Silent Stroke heads and didn't mind them, I've heard great things about the Super Pads.
They would definitely take up way less space than any other option. I can fit a small e-kit, where my existing pads are, but more than that is going to be an issue, so I've considered them as an option as well.

Here's a non-electronic option:

For mesh heads, Drum Tec Real Feels are supposed to be the best, but they're also the loudest. You can improve the feel of an all mesh kit with those.

There's a lot of stuff you can adjust to your own liking.

If I couldn't use my acoustic kit regularly and wanted to go electronic, I'd actually pick up a cheap kit and do a conversion.

There are quite a few options depending on what works best for you.
I was looking at converting a kit after seeing those videos a while back, but they just take up too much space.
 
Space is not an issue for me, but since I also have access to my own acoustic kit and other kits at work regularly, my pad kit works just fine.

It's very simple. L80 hats and ride, Super-Pad on a Real Feel BD stand and then I have many snare pad options, though I use a Brush-Up pad and Xymox the most. I have a Full set of Super Pads. 12, 2x12, 2x14, 14, 16, 22 as well as an 18 BD pad specifically for a stand alone. I never did any more than a 10 or 12 rack and 14 floor Super-Pad, mounted on some old Roland stands in addition, but I havent had "tom" pads on there for a while.

Various school have different things, so I've played regular mesh heads(which I hate) and lots of different low or mid level digital kits. Use the crazy sounds sometimes just for kicks. It can work fine, it just depends what your needs are.

At home, I personally just wanted to be able to expand my pad practice and have stuff that felt right. Working my ride and hi-hat technique as well as just having pads that didn't hurt my technique were the main points in my case. I have a small setup ATM. Just a 4-piece. I added a second crash, an aux snare and put my left BD pedal back on not too long ago, so not too hard to replicate.

My little practice kit does fine for some technique and independence work, but yes, if I had no access to other stuff, I'd do something different.


This wouldn't be enough for most people, but I have enough Super-Pads to replicate the full 6-piece +12" aux snare if I want to. Had I gotten the OnHeads instead I'd have had an electronic option, as well. When I looked at the Farmer kit the idea was for that to do some double duty in that regard. Small travel kit and small practice kit in one small package.

Practice kit.JPG

Put on a shell or mounted loosely enough the Super-Pads do give a deep rain drop sound with pitch relating to the size. 12" sounds a 4th below the 10" etc.

This ended up being enough for me most of the time, though. I have used a snare and Super-Pad combo sometimes. Getting a better sound for the BD wouldn't require much, but this is just a better pad kit for me. Having any sort of small headphone on will remove the annoying attack of the cymbals.

If I was to consider an electronic all-in-one kit for serious money I'd probably wait and see how the Pearl e/MERGE turned out.
 
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You have a closer picture of the real feel BD stand as you have it? Ride and hat technique is one of the things I’ve struggled with, since I have no hats and the ride just goes thump. I’ve gotten way better with rudiments and patterns and I use the pads to break things up and make sure I can move around without falling apart, but then I get on the acoustic set and find out the deader feel messes with everything. Sometimes things sound spot on on the pads, but a complete mess with the differing textures and the much wider reach of real drums. It mostly ends up rim city. I thought about individual cymbal stands to move things out more, but that doesn’t do anything for the feel. That’s what started this whole I need better, so I can focus on cleaning things up. A more realistic feel will help me be faster too. I can fly on my practice pads, but then get on real drums and can only go half speed.

Because things sound so bad and annoy the wife far more than playing to songs, I’m not bridging the gap and need to.

I like the setup in the pic. I could possibly do that wit a few cheap snare stands and Quiet cymbals.
 
Basically, I just made four discs out of wood that fit the tom pads. I had two Roland stands that work for the Handsonics that I just screwed those wooden disk onto. I though about making it pretty with some real hoops, but since I don use them much I haven't done that yet. Had to offset them a bit to get them close enough because of the BD pad and driveshaft.

The BD pad was the same. I drilled 4 holes in the RealfFeel stand and screwed a piece of wood onto it. Made it the right thickness, so the beater distance is the same as on my real bass drum.

Obviously, you can just screw it down and also cut it down, the Super-Pad, I just thought this was fun.

IMG-0827.JPGIMG-0830.JPG
 
There is also this: https://rtom.com/black-hole-practice-system/

I have no experience with them, but they look like a good option.

Stephen Clark in the first video actually puts a Black Hole on top of a Super-Pad.

The Black Holes came out a little later, but many people like them better.

The feel of the Super Pads isn't bad, though not tunable, but since they're very dark sounding, I imagine most people will probably have a tendency to lay into them a litlte bit too hard.

I use it a little bit, but there's a reason it's not my primary pad. The Xymox is my favourite, but the Super-Pad, reflexx and Moongel pads on the floor are there because they're in use. I have a bunch of rubber pads that didn't make the cut for regular use. The Brush-Up pad is obviously for brushes. You can play it with sticks, but it's crazy loud.

For a package I've always wondered about these. Right from the beginning when I started playing actually, but there's no way to test them and there's not much information either. http://epadco.com/
 
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Mesh pads are MUCH nicer on the wrists and noise. The rubber pads still make noise, but less than a kit.

This is exactly where I use my Roland TD11. When I am playing an independence pattern for an hour to not make the wife annoyed. lol. Plus putting on headphones, a good VST, and some music is REALLY fun on the ekit..

Just don't get in the habbit of ekit all the time or your dynamics start to get lost. same with accuracy. hitting a snare an inch over makes a big difference, on an ekit not so much.

With a VST/Computer/and MIDI you can make the cheapest used kit sound like a pro perfectly tuned drumset. so sound wise they are all potentially good enough. for the lazy person not wanting to power up or have a computer running with their ekit sound matters more.
 
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