Drummers opinions wanted

[Andy Balham]

For practical reasons I'm looking at Yamaha DTS vs Roland V Drums. Does anyone have any opinion as to the better purchase?

Is it worth going for the cheapest or is the real benefit in forking out a little bit more?

All advice is very welcome.

Andy

[j$]

How do you know a drummer is at the door?

[the Jazz]

Wait, wait, I know this one...

The knocking speeds up?

[Leaf]

Pizza!!



(that's how you know there's a drummer at your door... they're delivering the pizza...ok , really that's a trombonist joke)


Well. I am pleased to announce that I've never played the yamahas, but I've played, recorded, taught and gigged on the TD-7, the TD-6 and the TD-20.

On the current gert entry, (leaf blower) I'm playing an accoustic hihat, with the TD-7 for toms and snare, and an accoustic kit, mostly cause my kick trigger packed it in!

Here's the thing:
The mesh head pads are the best. If yamaha makes them, great, but rubber pads suck shit. electronic cymbals also suck shit. Big time. Are you getting these for you to play, or for other musicians to play in your studio?

Cause from a sound perspective, really you COULD think of the whole thing as a midi controller. If I was smart, I'd actually know how to use midi, but I'm dumb like stick, so I jsut record the tracks. Still, for PLAYABILITY, any of the roland mesh head drums work great. Honestly, they feel 95% like real drums, except you cant' do pitch bends, and rim clicks don't work in a conventional way. They say they do, but's not my experience. The brush settings also require a different technique than "normal". You can play into your recording system, and choose other sounds...so a cheaper one would be just fine. If you got an accoustic hat, it would certainly help a regular drummer feel more comfy.

Rubber pad kits certainly work, but they aren't much fun. They got no "give".

I will say that for quick recording and getting a good sound while still having the pleasure of at least playing something that it ain't that bad.

I hope this helps in some direct, or at least obtuse way. Rock on balham!

[Caravan Ray]

Drummers opinions wanted

Now that's a question you don't hear very often.

[Andy Balham]

Cheers for your reply Leaf. My intention is to mainly (learn to) play them myself. Of course, anyone else who pops round is more than welcome to have a bash themselves.

I have a set of Yamaha DD55 rubber pads at the moment and they at the very least help me work on patterns, fills and timing. The few times I've got behind a real kit I really appreciated the difference. It looks like only the real top end Yamaha kits have mesh heads, so I find myself looking at the Rolands.

All that said, my new job is yet to pay me and my credit card is still straining from my trip to New York. Maybe Father Christmas (or a suitably secular figure prone to generosity) will find it in his heart to pop one down my chimney.

I will have them though. Oh yes, they will be mine etc

Andy

P.S. In drum shops do they have a sign saying 'No Moby Dick'?

[Dan-O from Five-O]

I've played around on the Pintech's before. Something similar to the set shown, and it looks like they have a lot nicer stuff than that, but you said you were on a budget. They have the woven heads like the Rolands, but for a lot less dough. The guy who owned the set I played had some issues with the triggers coming loose. He ended up buying a Roland for the snare off E-Bay, problem solved since it got the most work. Like Leaf said, the real drummer who played them insisted on using a real high hat. The key thing seemed to be the controller (brain) portion of the unit. If you skimp there you'll end up with cheap sounding electronic drums vs. decent sounding electronic drums.

[blue]

you should probably never even bother buying a brain for the sounds. you'll always get better sounds recording your drumlines as midi info and then using on-disk samples. and the brain's sounds always sound like ass after a year, etc.

[Rabid Garfunkel]

Pintech (cymbals, anyway) are a crapshoot, qualitywise. Call it a 50% chance of failure. Not so well made. Can be repaired (sorta) by taking apart the trigger sensor box thingy and wedging in a wooden shim to hold the piezo element more firmly to the cymbal's surface, when you reassemble it.

Another option for a set: Hart Dynamics. Albatross could give you more info than I could on it.

[Sober]

As a wannabe drummer, and as a salesman, I highly recommend the Roland. I'm a Yamaha man all the way, but Roland just does the electronic drum thing better.

More important question:

How much are you looking to spend?

For under $1000, most of what you'll find is on the lame side. For closer to $1500 and above, you can get some truly awesome stuff.

If you really wanted to stay under 1000, I'll take back my Yamaha remark and say go with the dxpIII ($850). You can put a double kick on it, it's got plenty of patterns to practice with, and it's a full 5-peice, unlike the similarly priced V-club, which is a 4-peice.

Plus, one thing I will say for the Yamaha kits is that their hardware is way better, at least on the lower end ones.

The TD20 will be my present to myself this Christmas.

[Andy Balham]

Thanks for all the ongoing advice folks. As a resident of Blair's rip-off Britain I'm looking at roughly the sterling equivalent for all this stuff. That said, it sounds like the very least I want is a Roland it wish a mesh head snare.

If my new company ever pay up then I might just go for the TD8 with mesh head toms after all my Christmas (Holiday Season for secular folk - BTW it's basically a pagan affair anyway) purchases have gone through.

I can't wait for Blue to point out that my drums are out of tune too

Andy

[Sober]

The TD8 kit is a great buy. My warehouse guy used one of those sets (with real cymbals swapped for the fake ones) on his album, and they sound fricking great.

[Andy Balham]

The TD8 kit is a great buy. My warehouse guy used one of those sets (with real cymbals swapped for the fake ones) on his album, and they sound fricking great.

They do indeed and I have a set courtesy of Mastercard! Now to keep time

[Kamakura]

I have a set of Yamaha DD55 rubber pads at the moment.

Damn me another closet drummer.
I'm assuming that you can't have a real kit, cause if you can and buy anything else you're nuts.
I have a DD55 too, and it's fun. I've recorded with it and, except for the midi rip off and having to make like a pigmy, it's OK. But there is NOTHING like playing a real kit with cymbals, even a cheapy... I guess a Roland would do if you're reeeally sick 'n' hurting.

[Andy Balham]

I have a set of Yamaha DD55 rubber pads at the moment.

Damn me another closet drummer.

Indeed so. Did you not see me enviously eyeing the kit when we rehearsed?

I'm assuming that you can't have a real kit, cause if you can and buy anything else you're nuts.

Indeed I can't and indeed I would. I may still be nuts though.

I guess a Roland would do if you're reeeally sick 'n' hurting.

Well that's what I have now and it's pretty damn good. The mesh heads and the proper bass drum pedal help a lot and even the rather odd rubber cymbals are satisfying to hit.

With a few more cables I think it is now possible to record a four piece band playing live in my flat. If only we could coax a drummer from the south coast...

[blue]

why did this get moved to monkies biz

[Andy Balham]

why did this get moved to monkies biz

My mistake for originally posting it in here whilst somewhat tipsy