MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
In my youth, music was pretty much my life. Drumming in bands, playing in orchestras, gigging in musicals. If it had a beat and needed percussion, I was there. And at the risk of blowing my own trumpet (or banging my own drum!), I was pretty good.
Almost all of my friends followed music as a career. They typically had parents who were also professional musicians. My parents weren’t and I just lacked the encouragement or conviction that I could actually make a living out of my passion. So I followed a commercial career path and whilst I have done well and have no complaints, post university the opportunity to play music pretty much evaporated. Playing in pubs whilst watching my friends tour the world with famous bands lacked appeal and my cycling gradually took over as my leisure activity of choice before family placed even more challenges in my way (again, no complaints there either!).
Back in the day I had a full Yamaha Recording Custom kit with all of the trimmings. At the time it was the best kit I could have wished for but I sold it years ago as space, other needs (bikes mainly) and life meant that I just wasn’t using it. No regrets but as my midlife crisis approaches, I feel the need to pick up the sticks again. I have always remained supple and have regularly used a practice pad. Whenever an opportunity has arisen (usually friends and family with a kit) I have played, so I haven’t totally lost my chops, but I have lost my kit.
Long intro over, I am looking to buy a kit. Space is a premium, noise is best avoided and I doubt if this will lead to gigging again. I am just after something for the corner of my office. I have therefore decided on an electronic kit. Back in the day I would have scoffed at one for good reason as the technology was in its infancy and an acoustic kit was everything I needed. However, given my space and noise constraints and having played a friend’s mesh headed electronic set up a few days ago, the feel was great and the nuances of the pads were suitably compelling.
I don’t want to spend a fortune on something that will ultimately be a play thing, but I don’t want something so basic that I don’t enjoy playing it (so no ‘drum shaped objects’!). I have seen a Roland td-07kvx that I quite like. The drums feel good, the module has everything I probably need, it has a traditional hi hat stand whereas some of the cheaper sets have a disconnected pedal which was the only part of the kit that felt markedly different from an acoustic set up.
But I would be really interested to hear from the STW drummers who haven’t been out of drumming for as long as me. What are your thoughts and recommendations? Whilst my bike tastes and boutique and based around building a frame up with every component carefully selected, I am basically looking for the equivalent of an off the shelf bike with Deore/SLX. I have done the usual internet and YouTube searches and the Rolands seem to get decent reviews, but as with bike reviews I am mindful of biases and impartiality.
Over to you with grateful thanks…………
Can only comment via my son, who has tried a range of electronic kits and been very impressed with the Roland mesh head kits in general. We were hoping to get him one for Christmas to replace the old alesis/yamaha hybrid kit he has, with a non working hi-hat pedal, but redundancy and cost of living scuppered that plan!
Roland are the best in the business for electronic drum kits. They just work, and hold their value quite well. I have a Roland td-11 kit with full mesh heads and upgrades the hi-hat to a proper Tama one with Roland electronic hi-hat.
With all the will in the world, it is still a long way from replacing an acoustic kit for full feel and authenticity. However, without it I simply would never have started playing a few years ago.
They are far from silent, and I find the kick drum pad tends to move around so I put a weight behind it. I have also set mine up I some garage floor type matting with carpet on top of that, to give some extra damping and noise reduction.
I would look at the 2nd hand market to keep costs down, there's a vdrums forum with loads of info on these kinds of things if you need further super deep knowledge. But ultimately Roland are the best you can get, Yamaha next and then alesis give you a lot of bang for buck but have a reliability reputation I believe.
Headphones are very important too, I now use some audio technica at50 and they completely changed the way the drums sounded.
Thanks for the advice. Seems like Roland is a safe bet.
The choice seems to be 01 (£400 ish), 07 (£800ish), 17 (£1,100 ish) or 27 (£1,400 ish).
I think I will outgrow the 01, and I don’t need lots of electronic whistles and bells. Any clear reasons to go much beyond the 07? I am a big chap and want to set the kit up spaced out like an acoustic set. The 07 rack seems a little cramped.
I was about to launch into a long post but…
Wot @keefezza said basically.
I started with a TD-1D 18 months ago. I now have a TD-17 module with upgraded pads. All bought on eBay. The 2nd market is very much alive and by slowly upgrading and selling your old pads you can keep the costs down.
I played the VAD 706 a few months ago in the Roland shop in London. That blew my mind. Just incredible.
I’ve just (yesterday) finished building a raised sound isolating platform for my kit made from MDF sheets, 48 tennis balls and carpet. Electronic kits are NOT silent and if you drum upstairs and want to stay married it’s worth some thought.
Oh and couldn’t agree more about headphones.
Im not sure about the 07 but the 17 allows you to import kits with room for 100. I found the downloaded kits I bought for around £30 for 30 kits online were far superior in sound quality to the built in kits. Very noticeable through headphones too. I’ve replaced all but 2 of the built in kits now ( I’ve kept the Roland 808 and 909 kits).
The td-01 is beginners level.
I don't know much about the latest kits so I'd recommend going to look at some if that's possible. Where are you based?
There are differences in what they call zones for each pad/cymbal too. 3 zone cymbals usually allow you to choke them if that's your thing.
If you're willing to spend £1k on a kit I'd seriously consider seeing what that will get you one eBay etc.
EBay doesn’t seem to be throwing up many bargains vs the Jan Sales but I am in no rush so will keep an eye out.
The 17 seems to have most of the nuances in terms of playing zones and does seem worth the extra but where do you stop?! I started out thinking that the 01 would be fine!!
I am near Anderton’s in Guildford so will try them for a demo.
Was in a similar position myself, a year or so ago. Went for a used TD17, really pretty happy! Recent update was easy to download and install, refreshed everything and got me playing again (again!)