Good digital kits can sound great. Budget kits, not so much. If everyone is using IEM, there's a compelling argument for using digital drums.
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Your Thoughts On Digital Drums!
- Thread starter CoffeeLove
- Start date
Lots of personal opinion in that post. In my opinion, the latest drum technology sounds great, even the cymbals.Most properly tuned budget kits will sound and feel much better than the top tier electronic kits. The cymbals aren't even close, unless you only play closed hat. Even playing an acoustic set shielded with rods is far superior to e-drums.
On the drum forum they are all championing bassists needing to only go direct with an 8" wedge to save everyone's hearing in the typical concrete, rectangular gig-space. Or simply play the bass lines on a midi controller ran direct into the board.
I really don't get the drummer hate this forum displays. Stay in your lane...
And as it turns out, I’ve transitioned as a bass player to IEMs, signal direct to the mixer just like the drummers say we should. It was a little strange at first, but now I love it.
So “it feels funny and isn’t how I’ve done it in the past” might not be the strongest case against e-drums.
That's funny, my drummer hates chinas too.
I like em myself.
Most properly tuned budget kits will sound and feel much better than the top tier electronic kits. The cymbals aren't even close, unless you only play closed hat. Even playing an acoustic set shielded with rods is far superior to e-drums.
On the drum forum they are all championing bassists needing to only go direct with an 8" wedge to save everyone's hearing in the typical concrete, rectangular gig-space. Or simply play the bass lines on a midi controller ran direct into the board.
I really don't get the drummer hate this forum displays. Stay in your lane...
A properly tuned budget kit will sound better than a badly tuned high-end kit. A bad playback system will kill the best set up kit. Assuming mesh heads on both, the biggest difference in "feel" (in my admittedly limited experience) comes from the hardware - kick and high-hat pedals in particular - and the quality of the triggers. I read somewhere that most of the budget kits are made in the same factory and simply re-branded as necessary. My Alesis mesh kit has much better triggering than the rubber pad kit that I tried, but the Roland is in another class entirely. When I win the lottery......
We don't really hate drummers. "Fire the drummer" is like an "inside" joke. However, like most stereotypes, there's a reason it got that way. Similar to the stereotypical too loud lead guitarist who walks all over everyone else's parts, or the too loud bassist whose tone is pure mud.
A previous poster said that he played "extreme metal". I'm sure his audience isn't worried about their hearing, and the venues he plays likely know what they're getting. I went to see Ted Nugent at The Cow Palace in SF, my ears rang for 2 days! To see Ted with e-drums would be absurd!
Those situations aside. Do you play small clubs? Classy Lounges? Dinner clubs? Suburban house parties?
Does your drummer know the difference between a stadium set and a lounge set? Does he have and know how to play both? Does he play with dynamics, at a level appropriate to the venue and music?
If the answer to all those questions is a resounding YES then he's a PRO, and very uncommon in the $100 a man market. I don't need to worry about him, he's got it covered. If he ever NEEDS e-drums he'll get them and they'll sound GREAT!
Give a $10,000 set of e-drums to a guy who hates the whole idea and plays them under protest, the drums will sound like crap because he won't take the time to dial them in. Put that same set through a $500 PA manned by a dufus who spends most of the show in the parking lot getting high, the drums will sound like crap even if they ARE dialed in.
That said. The first time I played with e-drums I was blown away how good they sounded. The guy was a PRO, on a high end kit that he'd OBVIOUSLY dialed in. It was a suburban house party with a small but high-end PA manned by a PRO. I was sitting in for a set, and when I arrived I didn't see the drums till I made it to the band area, about 15 minutes into their first set. I wouldn't have guessed e-drums in a million years. Here's the kicker - THAT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO! Modern sets, and monitor systems/PAs, are SO much better.
YES I would play with e-drums, anytime, EXCEPT if I'm sitting in with Ted (I don't play extreme metal)!
I think this pretty much sums up my experience too. Kind of like guitar modeling amps/multi-effects units. I've heard even inexpensive ones sound incredible but I have also heard even high end ones sound terrible. Same with tube amps. It's the player and the situation that make the difference.
EXACTLY! Somewhere there's a vid of Joe Satriani playing "Satch Boogie" on a Squier Strat through a Gorilla practice amp. Sounds GREAT!
Correct. Such as toxic personalities, poor musicianship, no dynamics, kits unsuited to the venues played (Neil Peart-esque vs. a lounge kit), continual scheduling issues, chronic lateness, unwillingness to tune a kit/use lighter sticks or rods/adjust their e-kit patches beyond the first entry of the drum brain’s menu. Etcetera.
Like, all that artistic integrity stuff, bro. Cuz u don’t know me at all! Would I ask u to play with...with a BOTTLE CAP instead of a pick, brah?!? And...and this freakin e-kit has 1ms LATENCY! DON’T U CARE ABOUT QUALITY???
Yes, I’ve worked with drummers and guitarists with issues. Nevertheless, I still play with others, most of whom are good musicians and wonderful people. Hope springs eternal.
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If the drum brain allows deep editing of the drum sounds, IME, even budget pads and heads can sound great. The owner needs to be willing to read the manual thoroughly and spend a LOT of time auditioning sounds in both individual practice and band settings.
Many - not all - e-kit concerns turn out to be “cockpit problems”. The drummer using an e-kit most successfully is usually, IME, both enthusiastic about the purchase and a tweaker at heart. Usually owns a full-range PA system, too.
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We’re all IEM with digital drums. The latest Rolands sound amazing! Like keytars and headless basses, I don’t like the look. So I installed silent heads and triggers inside an acoustic kit for the best of both worlds. Still have to use black rubber cymbals, though.
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Not necessarily true. Many are synthesized, even some that replicate acoustic sounds.
Yeah, I do like the kick drum on electronic kits, but that's about it.
YES ... perfect way to manage the volume ...!!
most kits can be programmed to sound like acoustics ...! which is most often better than the mic'd acoustic sets i've had to deal with ..!! unless you have comps and noise gates on every drum mic ..!!
i'm using a drum machine and a few pads in my newer duo ... !
most kits can be programmed to sound like acoustics ...! which is most often better than the mic'd acoustic sets i've had to deal with ..!! unless you have comps and noise gates on every drum mic ..!!
i'm using a drum machine and a few pads in my newer duo ... !
They really do continue to get better and better as the technology improves. To make one sound good in a live setting you need not only good gear but also a drummer who knows how to manipulate the set (proper velocity sensitivity setting, a good mix from the brain, an understanding of how to hit the drums so they don't sound like repetitive samples and come off as fake)
Almost the perfect drummer! Always shows up, never complains, always in time, never hits on your lady...
Having played and photographed weddings in the ‘80s, if I never hear a Yamaha DX-7 chorus piano patch playing “Just The Way You Are” again, it’ll be too soon.I’m OK with digital drum, not with digital piano
