Electronic Drum Kits?

[Punx]

Due to space and noise constraints I have been looking at a few different Electronic Drum Kits. They all look pretty cool, but I don't have the vaguest idea what they are all about.
My main question is, what makes them work?

Strictly Midi?

Does each pad have 16 Midi channels?

There are always extras involved with something like this. So ultimately what I need to know is:

What are all the components I need to make one of these kits work? Pedals,triggers,modules,etc. Also a few recommendations of kits others are using. Like I said I'm in the dark with these kits so any info at all would be great

[sean shannon]

Roland V-Drums are my favorite. Mesh heads, TD10 brain, faders, effects, individual outs, etc. The brain is the centerpiece. It takes hits (trigger signals) and converts them to MIDI, if you want to record your MIDI performance, or audio, if you want to record that. You can play all night into headphones, and record yourself, and change the sounds later. I also sampled all the drums from the brain so I have them readily available for soundreplacer within PT.
Each pad transmits a trigger signal, not MIDI, and has it's own trigger input on the brain unit. The conversion to audio and MIDI is done in the brain. Make sure you get mesh heads, or you will kill your wrists. I have seen V-Drum sets on ebay for $2500. Good luck!

[Goochman]

I use a Yamaha DTX-2U Drum module with a 10 dual zone pad Yamaha kit. I love it. It sounds great for quick demos and if I don't want to take time to mic real drums, all I do is have my drummer bring his cymbals over and I mic the cymbals and just record the MIDI drums. That way you can make edits easily if you need to. If you want to take it even further, you can use sound replacer on the drums afterwards with real drum samples. it's really easy to do and takes WAY less time.

[Punx]

Thanks for the replies guys, but how does the "brain" connect to the 001 interface? Does it have just one set of Midi/Audio in/outs? Or does it have several outputs? Also I notice that many of the kits say kick pedal not included, but I never see a kick pedal option advertised. Where does that come from? Obviously I've never physically seen one of these kits that why I have so many question haha

[supercell]

I agree completely with Sean.

I love my TD-10. I have a few pads, with a kick trigger and high hat pedal. i think the sounds are awesome. Recording via midi is just mind blowing. You can tweak your drum tracks to your liking. you can create the perfect drum track and make it sound like a real drummer.

love it, you couldn't go wrong. Midi takes a little while getting used to, but once you got it you will wonder what the heck you ever did without it.

Have fun

B.p.

[supercell]

I agree completely with Sean.

I love my TD-10. I have a few pads, with a kick trigger and high hat pedal. i think the sounds are awesome. Recording via midi is just mind blowing. You can tweak your drum tracks to your liking. you can create the perfect drum track and make it sound like a real drummer.

love it, you couldn't go wrong. Midi takes a little while getting used to, but once you got it you will wonder what the heck you ever did without it.

Have fun

B.p.

[picksail]

Although, I like the V-Drum pads, I'm not a fan of the samples. The module is pretty integrated and editable. The pads themselves are great, but I prefer to create or use other sample libraries and trigger them via an Akai S3000Xl. I've used Roland products for years, but just never warmed up to their samples. I have done some recordings with the V-Drums with it's module but, went back and replaced all the samples via SoundReplacer.

Don't get me wrong Sean knows what he's talking about. He is a world class drummer and an amazing engineer. So his advice is golden. I'm just not a big proponent of Roland samples.

[sean shannon]

Thanks, picksail, beers are on me!
Sean [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[cwhite771]

Thanks for the replies guys, but how does the "brain" connect to the 001 interface? Does it have just one set of Midi/Audio in/outs? Or does it have several outputs?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Audio outputs of the sound module run into your 001 inputs. If you choose to capture the MIDI data and not just the audio, you'd run a MIDI out from the module into the 001 MIDI in. The number of I/O options depends on the manufacturer and also how much you pay-- pay more money = more options.

Also I notice that many of the kits say kick pedal not included, but I never see a kick pedal option advertised. Where does that come from?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">In these cases, you usually just use a standard kick drum pedal-- the same as from an acoustic set.

[westgate]

I think the Alesis DM Pro smokes the Roland TD10 and you Add your own samples to it. The Alesis is is 20 bit
and the Roland stuff is 16 bit. There is a huge difference in the crash cymble ring thru.