Your Thoughts On Digital Drums!

[Samatza]

I love a good acoustic kit as much as the next guy however in some circumstances for the control of volume digital kits are indispensable. Our drummer used a Roland kit and it sounds great. He switched from the acoustic kit because of volume issues in some of he venues we play.
It does make the IEM setup easier, the sound is always consistent and allows him to add percussion items as required. I didn't like the sound of the early ones, it was to artificial but today they sound pretty good.

 

[Bassique]

The only time I could imagine liking digital kit more than acoustic one, is if the room has poor acoustics and bass drum is all over the place. Other than that, acoustic kit will always have more punch and better dynamics.

 

[hbarcat]

I have a nice Roland kit with some even better Pintech upgrades and I think it's great. I'm not mainly a drummer, but about 15 years ago I decided to start playing on my own.

For the kick, snare, and toms, digital can't be beat. The ability to instantly dial in any drum sound and tweak their tonal character and sensitivity is indispensable to me. And the fact that I don't have to monkey with microphones and still have absolute control over volumes is the icing on the cake.

Also, setup is less than 1/2 the time as acoustic kits and they take up less space. When I practice at home, I just put on my Hi-Fi headphones and the kit sounds gigantic. But only to me. My housemates can watch TV in the next room and not even know I'm playing.

The one admitted drawback is the cymbols. They don't feel the same and they don't sound the same. Cymbols are all about nuance, and the digital hasn't caught up yet.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

What if they are writing for digital drums? Using acoustic drums in that situation would be losing artistic integrity.

Which is why I said for MOST genres. Meaning most genres that would actually consider using acoustic drums in the first place. We are after all talking about REPLACING acoustic drums with electric drums here aren't we? I would never suggest that digital drums are inappropriate for a band that started out with digital drums/samples/loops as part of their identity. But that's not what the OP asked about. This thread is about replacing acoustic drums for (more or less) identical sounding digital drums purely out of convenience and not as part of the band's sound/identity.

 

[40Hz]

The only potentially serious downside to electronic drums plays into something I’ve noticed. And it’s that I’m seeing more and more drummers who don’t seem to be able control their acoustic volume levels these days. A lot of finesse is disappearing as “Captain Bam-Bam” makes his or her appearance more and more frequently.

And yeah, maybe using electronic drums, (which come with a volume knob) addresses the immediate symptoms. But it doesn’t get to the root cause of the problem, which is a basic lack of control.

Guess it’s yet another case of: “You get something, you lose something.”

 

[Deleted member 271037]

Not only might some styles call for electronic drums, it is really common to replace (or blend) drum samples in the studio these days. Bass drum especially is often replaced in post production and you'd never know. The player played on an acoustic set but a pre-recorded sample was used for consistency.

Sure, but styles that call for electronic drums aren't replacing acoustic drums with digital drums. Which is what the OP asked about. I think we can safely assume that the OPs band is not an electronic band.

In the studio visual appearance won't matter so that's also not relevant for the OPs question IMO. Actually I often use EZDrummer in the studio (don't tell anyono, lol) but in the genres I operate I wouldn't be seen dead on a stage with a Roland digital kit.

 

[RustyAxe]

If you're gonna play small rooms where volume control is a necessity, an quality electronic kit is just the ticket.

 

[rd2rk]

The issue was "Will you play with digital drums". Nothing was said about volume or kit size in relation to venue size until you brought it up.

"Will you play with digital drums?" was the SUBJECT of the thread. The ISSUE (IMO) that raises the subject is "Why should it matter?". The answer is VOLUME. Tone is also an issue, but the usual reason for wanting a drummer to use e-drums is volume. TONE and FEEL are the usual objections raised by drummers. Appearance is more subjective. I hate yellow and green basses.

Agree on the bass thing. Unless it's the BL/producer who makes the request.

ABSOLUTELY agree on the brushes thing. The biggest drawback to e-drums, but only really relevant in jazz/lounge type stuff.

 

[chuckNC]

About 15 years ago I was playing in a gospel group. Full band and 4 or 5 singers. We played almost exclusively in small-to-medium sized churches. Acoustic drums were not an option for volume reasons. The BL bought a Yamaha DT Express kit and that let us have a drummer. Neither of our drummers liked playing the thing but it was either that or no go. Our second drummer just couldn't hang with the cymbal sounds and decided to bring a couple of acoustic cymbals to a gig to see how they would mix in.

Our opening song had an instrumental build-up that crescendo'd into a 1-measure break. The drummer filled the break with a cymbal crash on 3 and the whole band came in on 1. So....off we go. On the 3, the crash was so brazenly loud that the whole room froze. None of the band came in on the 1. We couldn't. We were all doubled over with laughter. The drummer was sitting on his throne looking like "woah!!!"

No more appearances by the acoustic cymbals after that.

 

[hbarcat]

There is an automotive enthusiast forum that I check out from time to time and one of the members happens to be a professional musician and producer who was somewhat well known during the 80's with a couple of top ten singles. He actually lives near me and we often correspond about musical topics.

For the past several decades he's mostly been playing drums, both live and in the studio, working with various national and international projects. The point is, he's an "A" level, professional drummer, is picky about his sound, and can afford any drum set(s) he wants.

His preference is for acoustic drums, for the reasons already given. but when he plays live he often chooses to play his Roland e-drums because of the convenience, the volume control, and the ability to customize his kit by pushing a few buttons. But also because the audience usually doesn't really care what you're playing as long as it sounds good.

Anecdote: Last Christmas I got my granddaughter one of those tabletop e-drum drum kits (Yamaha) so she could learn on a child size kit in an apartment. The drummer I referred to confesses that he brings with him when he's on the road, that exact same portable kit just to noodle on in the tour bus or the dressing room. He also said that one time his drum kit didn't arrive at the show and he actually used the little tabletop drum kit for the real performance and nobody in the audience seemed to notice.

 

[vvvmmm]

So I wanna pick up a $300-ish elec kit to have at the practice space (ahem, my living room) - any reco's?

 

[mobeme23]

So I wanna pick up a $300-ish elec kit to have at the practice space (ahem, my living room) - any reco's?

i have a Roland TD-4, and it is perfect for what you are looking for.
i bought mine new for $1K back in the day, but i bet you can find one closer to $300 these days.

like this one: Roland TD-4 | Shaun's Gear Bazaar

look for one that has the mesh heads, at least for the snare.
to me, Roland is the benchmark, but i'm sure you can find comparable quality from other brands.
Happy hunting!

 

[LenMinNJ]

I recently played in a trio with the drummer on an electronic drum kit.

The dynamics really stunk. The electronics limit the peaks and the result is - for me - a lifeless performance.

And with all the sound coming from the PA, I couldn't track the drummer's moves. With the drummer in one direction and the sound coming from another, the visuals didn't match the sound.

I imagine for a cocktail hour or smooth jazz it might work. But not for rock or blues.

 

[jdc866]

As a drummer myself, I initially loved the electronic kit. It was new and offered some inspiration with all the unique sounds, etc.

After playing them for a while, I grew out of it. They’re the great equalizer...crappy drummers sound a little better and good drummers sound average. Dynamics on a digital kit can be done, but there’s only a tiny bit of wiggle room. Triggers aren’t always up to the task.

I wouldn’t decline to play with a drummer using a digital kit, but it’s certainly not my preference. Can’t replace the energy an acoustic kit brings.

 

[MustangWally]

This is all any good drummer needs:

 

[Pete Greenfield]

I have an old Yamaha dtxtreme 2s set up in my studio. The stereo outs go straight into my Tascam DP24SD multitrack and the rest of the band Di / use headphones. It's a brilliant way to rehearse and review songs, with everything audible and in balance.

I wouldn't use it live, but the new Roland high end and even midrange kits have fantastic sounds, especially if you edit go the factory presets and go through a decent PA. I wouldn't mind playing bass with one of those. TBH, I'm way more bothered about the drummer's time and feel...

 

[jdc866]

So I wanna pick up a $300-ish elec kit to have at the practice space (ahem, my living room) - any reco's?

I’d have to recommend against wasting 300-ish dollars. Certainly don’t buy anything with solid plastic disc heads or cymbals.

Haven’t played them but the Alesis Surge would probably be bottom barrel. Mesh heads, new for $500 at Sweetwater.

 

[chienmort]

As we used to say in golf: "It's not the arrow, it's the archer." Just like a great bass won't make a crappy bass player sound good, the drum kit is not the main part of a good sounding beat.

I can see where drummers would not like playing on them - the ones I've fiddled on have a weird feel to them - kind of spongy. I know two very good drummers who can and will play either very well - but I know they both prefer the feel of an acoustic kit.

From a sound perspective, I don't know why we use anything besides electric in this day and age. It is so much easier to maintain volume control with electronic drums. Again, a great drummer can play an acoustic kit with reasonable volume, but a lot of good drummers just can't (or won't). My last gig was my first with an acoustic kit and we had volume issues all night. He is a much better drummer than my previous band's guy, but we used electric in the previous band and had no volume issues - ever.

I agree. Our drummer has both electric ( Roland) and acoustic kits. Like many other drummers I have played with he cannot control the volume when in an acoustic kit, I suspect because all his practice is done on the Roland.

I played with a drummer recently, probably 70 years old or more. He could rock out on the classic rock songs and had really subtle touch and feel on ballads.

 

[LBS-bass]

My last drummer played a nice Roland V-Kit. He had no problem calling up very realistic acoustic settings. And he could go all electronic synthy on us when needed. Other perks are no futzing with mic'ing and EQ'ing a kit, that can all be done in advance.

The main issue I have with electronic kits, if you are still using floor monitors, is they won't sound like a nice full acoustic kit on stage in a typical floor wedge. You can get them plenty full in FOH, but unless you are all using in-ears, you won't feel it the same as a nice acoustic kit UNLESS you set a separate sub and main on stage for the drummer's stage volume. Which is like running a separate P.A., which is a P.I.T.A.

But that's what we did. I couldn't talk the band into funding in-ears.

Agree with all of this, however I don't personally need FOH quality sound onstage in order to know what we're playing is good. This may be because I've dealt with a lot of very poor stage mixes in my day so I've learned not to expect much, as expecting a lot from the stage mix ends up being distracting during a performance when things aren't perfect.

That being said, the one and only time I've had real issues with E-drums was the most recent show we played. The soundman wanted a balanced XLR line out from the V-Drum brain and we only have 1/4" out, so he plugged them into a different channel than he was planning.

I don't know exactly why (but I have theories). What came out of the monitors was massive, boomy, reverb-drenched kick, and hardly anything else he was doing could be heard above the heavy verb. The sound guy kept coming up to the drummer asking him to "turn the reverb" off to which we continued to reply "there's no reverb on; we have never heard this before." Which was true. He's never used effects from that brain, not even sure if he even has them. And when we brought the kit back to my studio, everything sounded fine.

So I believe there were effects routed into that channel on the digital board that the sound man didn't know about and he failed to figure it out because his first instinct was to blame the drummer. Isn't it always?

Anyway, we managed to put on a good show and video showed that the house mix sounded fine, so it was definitely the monitor mix that was affected, and whatever was bleeding out into the house from the monitor mix didn't get back to where most of the audience was. We played the best we could, even though I couldn't hear his attacks well enough to be certain we were locking in. We did OK anyway.

Other than this, I have had no real issues with E-drums playing with this drummer for about three years. In general they are easier to play with because we're not fighting to stay above the drums in a stage or rehearsal mix. That's not a problem in every genre with him on a regular kit, but it's a problem when the music is high energy and the drummer wants to hit hard.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

I think we should stick with hollow logs played with Mastodon femurs. You can't can't get that feel with electronics.