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tomcat_ha
Minister of Boiling Water

Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:05 am
Posts: 5570
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 8:39 pm 
 

Hello,
I've been getting into drumming lately and want to get my own drumkit. However I want to get an electronic kit because because of my apartment. The advantage ofcourse is that electronic kits can be connected to my presonus interface which has midi in and out.
However i dont have a real clue as to what drum kit i should get.
I only have a brief list of what i want.
I want to play metal so pretty much need to be able to play double bass.
I want it to be able to connect to my presonus interface so that i can replace the drum samples with my own etc.
My budget is around 1000 euros. I could go over this but not by much as i am not rich and have other plans for my hard saved money.

Thanks in advance.

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Awblaster
Metalhead

Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2010 6:07 pm
Posts: 617
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Wed Mar 06, 2013 9:41 pm 
 

You can't really go wrong with Roland kits. Try and find a shop near you where you can try them out, find one that feels alright, check that it's got MIDI out, and there you go. You'll need a double pedal as well.
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newp
Veteran

Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:07 pm
Posts: 2697
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 1:21 am 
 

Any decent electronic kit will have MIDI, it's standard. The tricky thing about a budget is that the best feeling kits get quite expensive. For something with basic pads and basic rubber cymbals you shouldn't need to spend much more than 500 or so- I've got a Yamaha DTexplorer which was about 700 canadian I think. It works for me and was great when I needed something for practice, but any drummer who is used to playing an acoustic kit would probably hate the feel and if I had more money at the time I would have probably bought something different.

Mesh heads make a huge difference to the feel and dynamics of an electronic kit. For 1000 euros I think you'll be able to get a kit with at least a mesh head for the snare. Roland and Yamaha are probably what you'll want to look at- the roland entry levels are higher quality than Yamaha's but a bit pricier. Alesis is also an option, but when I was shopping their entry level was shite and their decent ones started outside my budget so I didn't look into them much.

As far as double kicks go, you'll need to buy a double kick pedal. They don't come standard with any electronic kits as far as I know, but any decent one has a 'bass drum' large enough to accommodate two beaters.

Oh one last thing- assuming you are going in to stores to shop, try the kits! Try them all, if they don't have something setup that you might want to purchase then ask if they have a rental. Pretty basic advice I know, but I did find the feel of different kits quite varied so don't plunk down your cash till you've had a chance to hit the pads and see what you think.

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Goran
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2003 8:32 pm
Posts: 147
Location: Belgium
PostPosted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 7:04 am 
 

Get an Alesis DM10X (or a DM10 or lower depending on your budget) and order separate meshheads of your choice.

The kit is the best bang for the buck (4 toms, and 4 overheads: HH, ride, 2x crash) - but the standard heads are very loud.
With a mesh head conversion it's very natural and silent enough.
The cool thing is that the module has an additional input left, so you can add a 5th overhead or make a second cymbal chokeable/3-zone.

On dmdrummer.com there are some tutorials (with pictures) on how to do the conversion. It's very easy and done in about one hour.
(Apart from mesh heads you'll need one sheet of 5mm speaker foam.)

I did it, should you ever have questions about it. :)
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tomcat_ha
Minister of Boiling Water

Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:05 am
Posts: 5570
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Thu Mar 07, 2013 11:15 am 
 

what exactly is a meshhead?
Also what ive also considered was building my own custom drum kit from several different parts but i doubt this would be cheaper.
How easy is it to replace components with a better part?

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Goran
Metal newbie

Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2003 8:32 pm
Posts: 147
Location: Belgium
PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 6:54 am 
 

I'm lacking the English vocabulary for this, but a mesh head consists of woven fabric.
It's usually praised for reducing noise and having a more realistic feel and response.

If you want to build your own, I'd suggest starting with an acoustic kit and replacing the skins with pads/triggers.
Probably advisable only if you can solder etc.
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tomcat_ha
Minister of Boiling Water

Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:05 am
Posts: 5570
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:18 am 
 

but arent most kits fairly modular?

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newp
Veteran

Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:07 pm
Posts: 2697
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 11:19 am 
 

Yes, they are. Pads connect to the brain via a standard ¼ inch cable.

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tomcat_ha
Minister of Boiling Water

Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:05 am
Posts: 5570
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Fri Mar 08, 2013 10:21 pm 
 

so then i could just buy say a roland kit for 1000 bucks and then through the years replace parts with better elements?
I assume the limiting factor in these cases are the central drum computer?

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tomcat_ha
Minister of Boiling Water

Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:05 am
Posts: 5570
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:11 am 
 

So ive been looking around a bit and so far the following drumkits have peaked my attention:

The TD11kv. It seems have have a few meshheads you people have been recommending.
http://www.roland.com/products/en/TD-11KV/

yamaha dtx550k
http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical- ... mode=model

yamaha dtx530k
http://usa.yamaha.com/products/musical- ... mode=model

any thoughts?
Im planning to try out these kits but these are seemingly the best ones in my price range.

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newp
Veteran

Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:07 pm
Posts: 2697
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 7:41 pm 
 

tomcat_ha wrote:
so then i could just buy say a roland kit for 1000 bucks and then through the years replace parts with better elements?
I assume the limiting factor in these cases are the central drum computer?

Yeah it's basically how many inputs the brain has, although I think most of them are for a typical 8 piece kit. It should be pretty easy upgrading with parts from the same manufacturer, but it might be a bit tougher with other manufacturers. The connection between pad and the brain will work fine between lots of different stuff but physically attaching say, a Roland pad to a Yamaha frame might be tricky.

That roland kit looks pretty sweet. The Yamahas look good too- whether you want to pay the extra to get the Roland with mesh heads on the toms will probably depend on how they feel to you when you play them. I'm fine with the cheaper pads but that's mainly cause I don't play drums much these days.

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MushroomStamp
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 11:07 pm
Posts: 395
Location: Helsinki, Finland
PostPosted: Sat Mar 23, 2013 9:19 am 
 

I have that Roland kit except for the mesh heads - my snare has a mesh head and the toms are rubber. I have no complaints. I also got no double kick thus far. The hi-hat pedal works as the other kick until I buy a double pedal system. It means my 'double kick' kit presets won't be able to control closed/open hi-hat routines, but who the hell cares when you're blasting Running Wild? I can switch to a single-kick rock kit if I'm playing Rush.

Since buying the kit I've tested the MIDI-out connection for recording and it looks promising. With a 40-euro USB plugin, the kit can be connected to your computer with no need for a MIDI soundcard. Configuring Addictive Drums to work with it wasn't too much hassle.

For daily practice, the built-in Roland sounds are so good that I haven't bothered trying to mess with a Roland->Computer->Headphones live setup. You can set the tuning for each sample, use EQ effects and add different room reverb styles, so there's quite a lot of wiggle room even if your basic samples are limited in number when compared to an external sample library. I especially enjoy downtuning everything, it makes the drums sound less plastic somehow...
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MushroomStamp
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Feb 25, 2006 11:07 pm
Posts: 395
Location: Helsinki, Finland
PostPosted: Sat Mar 23, 2013 9:27 am 
 

Oh, and for the love of God, buy a decent drum stool. I skimped on mine and it currently serves as a wobbly bedside table. My office chair is a more stable choice for drumming than this POS...
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tomcat_ha
Minister of Boiling Water

Joined: Fri Oct 27, 2006 8:05 am
Posts: 5570
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 7:44 pm 
 

looks like an uncle of mine has an old td6 which is supposed to be in good condition which he is willing to sell for 150.
I assume i can just update this part per part when i want to.
Going to try smacking the skins of this set in a couple weeks

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