25 posts
My son is heavily into music now with his guitar but has recently also become interested in playing drums too, which is good but a real kit is far too loud for the house.
So, I want to get him an electronic kit and wondered if anyone here had experience of such things.
At the moment I am looking at the millenium mps-600 kit as it looks to have all the good stuff and is reasonably priced. Anyone used this kit at all or have any comments on it?
This is the kit I am looking at: http://www.thomann.de/gb/millenium_mps600_edrum_profi_set.htm
At last, an easy way to create drum tracks, especially via midi using my superior2 software.
Thanks
Jon
Jon I don't know if you know this or not but I have been a drummer for much longer than I've been a guitarist. I do not have experience with the particular drum set you are asking about. I tend to prefer acoustic drums, HOWEVER I also want an electronic kit for the studio because of ease of use to record and it makes a much smaller foot print in the room.
I personally have a lot of experience with Roland V-drums and like them a lot. Reliable and sound great. That would be my pick but if he hasn't really had the experience there should be nothing wrong with what you are looking at. It's like guitars, you want to buy things you can move if you need to sell them. I know I can move V-drums. I don't know about anything else.
Fenderbender — Feb 03, 2013Jon I don't know if you know this or not but I have been a drummer for much longer than I've been a guitarist. I do not have experience with the particular drum set you are asking about. I tend to prefer acoustic drums, HOWEVER I also want an electronic kit for the studio because of ease of use to record and it makes a much smaller foot print in the room.
I personally have a lot of experience with Roland V-drums and like them a lot. Reliable and sound great. That would be my pick but if he hasn't really had the experience there should be nothing wrong with what you are looking at. It's like guitars, you want to buy things you can move if you need to sell them. I know I can move V-drums. I don't know about anything else.
No I didn't realise you played drums before guitar. I think you are probably right in that most of them will be pretty much of a muchness. My main concern is touch sensitivity to ensure you have the full range from very soft to very loud.
thanks for your input.
Me likey the V-Drums too! :)
Here's my set:
I'd recommend against one of the cheap ones. Usually the only reason they are attractive is price. Roland V-Drums and Yamaha DTX drums are the only ones I really like that have affordable options with one or more mesh heads--in the $900-1300 range. (yeah, they're not cheap). It generally comes down to feel, responsiveness, touch sensitivity, and solidity. A cheaper set will have less responsiveness and weaker touch sensitivity. What this means in practice is that you get an exaggerated sense of dynamics, and light hits are too light, or hard hits are too hard. Or you get inconsistency--similar hits produce different touch sensitive responses. It's all stuff that a drummer can correct for, over time. But it leads to bad patterns... you learn to play to the drums, instead of learning to play to any drum. I also really prefer mesh heads... as many as you can afford, but usually at least the snare. The rubber ones feel pretty much like crap. I'm sorry if this doesn't help much, but the bottom line with electronic drums is the more you pay, the better.
By the way, acoustic drums are entirely different. It's easy to get a cheap kit that plays great, and you're never at the same sort of disadvantage at learning and responsiveness. For example, I've played a Sonor Safari kit a few times... it's on the "cocktail kit" side as far as size... all small drums, a 16 inch kick, smaller toms, and a standard snare. That kit plays and sounds great. And it's cheap, around $340 in the states. Unfortunately there are not similar deals to be had on electronic kits... a $350 kit is going to play like crap and not help a drummers' development.
Yes, touch sensitivity is paramount with this otherwise it's like trying to learn to play guitar on an acoustic where the strings are a quarter of an inch above the fretboard (my first guitar as a kid). Just holds you back. Probably end up spending the best part of £1,000 (pounds sterling) on this I think.
+1 on the mesh heads (my snare is now one).
One thing Charger probably didn't make clear is that you can get a usable V-Drum set to start with, but most have a lot of expandability to add or replace things as you go. In my case (the separate SPD-20 not withstanding), after using the starter kit for a while I added extra toms, cymbals, a second kick pedal and upgraded the crappy rubber snare to a mesh head version (actually just moving the head to become a splash cymbal).
It allows you to spread out the pain of your investment - lol! ;D
I would go all mesh BUT it's not going to kill you to have padded toms and just a mesh snare starting out.
Touch sensitivity is really the key.
They are telling you right also in that the Roland is expandable. Start small and add to it over the years. Replace pads with mesh over time. Definately get a mesh snare though.
Vdrums seem to be very expensive over here....need to spend around £1,800 for a decent setup ($2,850), not sure I want to spend that much yet.
What about Alesis, generally I have always liked Alesis gear, but not sure about their drum kits. Any thoughts on this one
http://www.dv247.com/drums-and-percussion/alesis-dm10-studio-kit-2011-version--85312#
That kit seems to be pretty good for a mid-level kit. With your own drum samples it could be good. I would recommend trying it out first, as I've heard it's pretty loud acoustically--might not be the kind of thing your kid can jam on at night. But definitely much much quieter than acoustic drums, and since it has real heads, it could be a feel winner.
Jon, FWIW, I am not a drummer, although I play on on TV. (Yes, lots of rolls on TV these days, which is why I'm too busy to restring all my guitars with the new Cobalt Titanium whatever things that FB recommended. LOL)
We have an Alesis set at church that is either that set or one model higher. Our drummer is a former touring pro. He hated them at first. But it was the usual "there is nothing like playing real drums" thing. Once he got used to them, he likes them so well he is buying a set for his house so he can play when his wife and daughter are home. He has a really nice kit in his basement, but said he could put these in his music room upstairs and play with the wife in the other room watching TV, which is something he can barely do with his acoustic set in the basement. LOL He did say he would probably get V-Drums though so he could build a big kit. But again, he's only a drummer and he's a good one. That's his only instrument. He does like the Alesis ones we have and said he'd be perfectly happy with them now that he's used to them and plays them all the time. But he has the money for whatever he wants so he said he'd probably get a higher end set of V-Drums.
Funny side note: When we did our last big Easter musical drama, he brought in his fill kit. We literally put him UNDER one of our raised side stages (about 6' high) and we had to put sound insulation on the top, back and both sides of him, so his sound was only coming out the front, and he was still a bit loud at times. :)
I have an Alesis DM8 USB kit which doesn't have any mesh heads but is pretty quiet for a rubber pad kit...and I love the sounds - they're the same ones from the DM10 kit, many of which I find more enjoyable/natural out of the box than some of the Roland and most of the Yamaha sounds I've heard - the "dynamic articulation" thing Alesis does makes everything feel more responsive and natural. Definitely worth a try...and for the price you can't really beat it.
That said, I LOVE the Roland stuff, though...if I had had the cash to get mesh-head vDrums, that would have been my choice. The Alesis was a space/price compromise that worked out splendidly.
Good luck!
Tripper
How about this one, Roland V Drum compact
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/53588-roland-td-4k2-v-compact-series-electronic-drum-kit.html/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=base
edit: nice sales trick. Phoned the company "oh sorry that's discontinued, however how about this one at twice the price " me: "goodbye"
Jon — Feb 05, 2013How about this one, Roland V Drum compact
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/product/53588-roland-td-4k2-v-compact-series-electronic-drum-kit.html/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&utm_campaign=base
edit: nice sales trick. Phoned the company "oh sorry that's discontinued, however how about this one at twice the price " me: "goodbye"
Yes I've played on that one quite a bit. With the price being similar to the Alesis, I'd take the Alesis. The entry level Roland is a decent kit but I think the full set of heads on the Alesis adds up to a little more of a win.
Tripper — Feb 05, 2013I have an Alesis DM8 USB kit which doesn't have any mesh heads but is pretty quiet for a rubber pad kit...and I love the sounds - they're the same ones from the DM10 kit, many of which I find more enjoyable/natural out of the box than some of the Roland and most of the Yamaha sounds I've heard - the "dynamic articulation" thing Alesis does makes everything feel more responsive and natural. Definitely worth a try...and for the price you can't really beat it.
That said, I LOVE the Roland stuff, though...if I had had the cash to get mesh-head vDrums, that would have been my choice. The Alesis was a space/price compromise that worked out splendidly.
Good luck!
Tripper
I presume the sound module has a midi out so I can drive superior2 from the kit ?
edit: Just answered my own question by looking at the specs. The deed is done, just placed the order.
Craig, you need to clean those things up a little bit! maybe put some Armor All on them. ;D
Hey Jon, this is cheaper! :D
CLICK HERE!
CraigBert — Feb 06, 2013Hey Jon, this is cheaper! :D
CLICK HERE!
err, no thanks.
CraigBert — Feb 06, 2013Hey Jon, this is cheaper! :D
CLICK HERE!
that dude is great!!!
Drumkit just arrived. Wait for Oliver to get home from school and then we will set it up :)
Jon — Feb 07, 2013Drumkit just arrived. Wait for Oliver to get home from school and then we will set it up :)
Excellent!
Tripper
What damn good fun the alesis kit is. I haven't sat behind a drum kit for quite a few years but after an hour or so I can groove along. This is my sons kit of course, but I can see I will be making use of this too.
Excellent all round kit and the dynamic range is good. Very useable.
Jon — Feb 08, 2013What damn good fun the alesis kit is. I haven't sat behind a drum kit for quite a few years but after an hour or so I can groove along. This is my sons kit of course, but I can see I will be making use of this too.
Excellent all round kit and the dynamic range is good. Very useable.
So which model did you end up getting? I think I missed that...
Tripper
Tripper — Feb 13, 2013[quote author=Jon G link=1359902959/0#21 date=1360340663]What damn good fun the alesis kit is. I haven't sat behind a drum kit for quite a few years but after an hour or so I can groove along. This is my sons kit of course, but I can see I will be making use of this too.
Excellent all round kit and the dynamic range is good. Very useable.
So which model did you end up getting? I think I missed that...
Tripper
This one http://www.dv247.com/drums-and-percussion/alesis-dm10-studio-kit-2011-version--85312#
Thanks, Jon. I hope it serves you well. :)