Drums advice needed, please :)

MonkieMann

MonkieMann

MonkieMann

Associate
Joined
30 Aug 2004
Posts
831
Location
Sheffield
Hey all,

I'd like to learn how to play the drums, however I currently live with my parents so room and noise is a bit of an issue, therefore i'm thinking about getting an electronic drum kit.

Being completely new to drumming i don't really know what i'm looking for, however I've been looking at the Alesis DM5 Pro Kit which can be found for around £300, which seems reasonable, however I've not been able to find any reviews for it, anyone on here used one? also most forums recommend roland drums, but they are a little out of my price range :(

So basically i'm asking whether the Alesis DM5 Pro Kit would be suitable for someone with no drumming experience to learn how to play the drums?

Thanks in advance!

MonkieMann
 
They're not bad kits afaik. Bits can break on them; my friend bought one and the hi-hat wiring died a bit. Got it replaced eventually though.

I think for around that money you may as well steer clear of yamaha/roland (or get a second hand one) if you can. Some people report wrist problems with rubber pads. I don't seem to get any, but then again mesh pads (a la roland/pintech) are more expensive. Quieter though. See if you can get to a drum shop that semi-specialises in e-kits (is academy of sound still going?) and have a play.
 
thanks for the response, i think the Alesis Pro Kit has mesh pads not rubber ones though, well i presume thats what this means:

"Professional quality hardware with real drum shells"

I'll have a look around for a second hand roland / pintech kit, see how the prices compare.

cheers
 
That DM5 looks better than the one I got a few years ago. Mines an Alesis but has only rubber pads and a "switch" for the kick drum.

Anyhow, mine has served me faily well. It won't get you to expert level, its too limited, but certainly fine for a begginer. Can do rolls on it and it is velocity sensitive (the snare tone changes on some samples too).

It does "break" quite easily. I have found the rubber wears through and the switches in the foot pedals wear out (luckily I can replace these myself). Also some wing nut parts have fallen apart since they use plastic handles :rolleyes:
The kit also breaks drumsticks, I don't know that a real kit does this but I find sticks split and fall apart, I think its because the pads are more solid to strike than skins. As mentioned it can cause wrist pains, I don't get this the palm of my hand gets sore (think this is more me than anything) and sometimes blistering on the fingers.

Most of these problems look less relevant to the kit you showed, mabye they took customer feedback to improve it, it looks much nicer. Heres a demo of my kit I recorded a while back, sorry its just 1 kit sound setup; bass added afterwards:

http://boomp3.com/listen/c2rca18cp_9/beat-bass-collectionupdate
 
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If it must be an electric I'd say a second hand Roland is the way to go too, but I'd go for an "acoustic" kit every time.

I take it you live "in" Sheffield and not in the outlying areas, a drum kit is really not feasible up here. (I live in Crookes) Shame really, mine just sits home collecting dust at the moment :(
 
Thanks for the responses, i think for now i "have" to go with electric, i actually live in a town just outside sheffield, and therefore i just couldn't get an acoustic kit because of the noise they produce :(

i'll look into getting an acoustic "if" i move to a move remote area and "if" i get good enough to warrant getting one :)

as for gettting a second hand roland kit i have been looking around, and even the rubber pad ones still fetch around £450 - £500, would i still be better off getting a roland with rubber pads? or the alesis with non-rubber pads (and saving myself £200)?

cheers again
 
could you get an acoustic with silencer pads on it? I have some "soundoff" (i think) pads - they're rubber but just sit on the skins/cymbals - you still get the tone of the drum through, and pretty "meshy" rubber, so feel quite nice to play too. And pretty much deaden the sound almost completely.

Worth considering.
 
Jono said:
could you get an acoustic with silencer pads on it? I have some "soundoff" (i think) pads - they're rubber but just sit on the skins/cymbals - you still get the tone of the drum through, and pretty "meshy" rubber, so feel quite nice to play too. And pretty much deaden the sound almost completely.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure they are worth considering - I bought silencer pads when I lived in Nice but the rebound is totally unrealistic. I ended up shifting my drums to live in by bass-player's house, as he lived in the countryside and we were there for at least 2 nights a week practising as a band. For someone who has good experience of playing drums or someone who is a good player I don't think this poses a problem, but for a new drummer I think they should be avoided as they encourage wrong/bad technique. I found them to give a lot more rebound than the natural drum, which encourages sloppy play like doing double strokes on everything to speed up.

I think the hard-rubber Roland pads give a more realistic rebound, which is the most important thing for a learner. (to get a feel for the drum and the technique needed to utilise the natural rebound the most) The mesh pads are in the same boat - they have far too much rebound to act naturally.
 
I'm a bit of a noob to drumming, but i was in your shoes with your budget a few months ago.

The DM5 pro kit is not that good at all to be honest. The drum module is fine, but the pads are the same ones you get in this kit http://www.thomann.de/gb/millenium_mps300_edrumset.htm and aren't that great.

A second hand Roland TD3 kit is attainable for £300 - someone on AVforums paid that only a few weeks ago - if you're prepared to wait for one to show up. If not, the best bang for the buck has to be the DD506 (Click here for a review in pdf format). The DD506 is sold under many names. Session Pro DD506, Black Mamba DD506, Millenium MPS-400 to name three. With this you get a dual zone snare (rim and head), dual zone cymbals with choke, hi-hat with half-open feature. You get none of those feature with the DM5 pro pads.

On the down side, the supplied bass drum pedal is useless, but good enough for a few weeks. It was my first bass drum pedal and even I knew it was rubbish. It also sends quite a thud through the floor when the beater strikes the rubber pad, though that's the pad fault.
Once you've got that, you can go about swapping parts to suit your growth as a player, and you budget. A mesh snare and a decent pedal are the essentials in my opinion, and after that you can upgrade the module, add extra cymbals etcetera.

It you're worried about vibrations from the pads affecting your wrists, you can do a lot worse than use Zildjian anti-vibe sticks. It's quite amazing how much vibration they soak up.
 
Hey there, I'm going to be buying an E-Kit in the near future as well, although I'm prepared to spend a little more so am thinking about getting the Roland TD9KX, which has the mesh pads. I did learn to play a good couple of years ago now and have been meaning to get back into playing for ages now. Its hard to know whats best to get! Any advice from the guys with experience is would be welcome!
 
I have an expanded Roland TD-6KX which is the 9's predecessor. I've added an additional CY8 cymbal. I've an Pearl 2002C performing pedal duties (an awesome pedal).

The mesh pads are good, the cymbals are ok (but this has always been an issue with all v-drums). I looked at the 9 module but the 6V will do for me.

You'll note with anything below the TD12 or TD20 that the high hat will feel different (CY5 vs the better two piece high hat on a high hat stand).

PS. Make sure you get a kick drum pad or the fiber will ruin the rubber of the kick drum sensor.
 
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Hey Nick, glad to hear the mesh pads are good. Yea the cymbals did feel a little different when I played the kit in a shop a couple of months ago. The VH-11 (the more realistic hihat) is fully compatible with the TD9 brain so thats always an option to upgrade later. I have to admit I wasn't sure about what pedal to get, what throne etc.
 
Bigpops said:
*snip*
Click to expand...

thanks for the advice, been looking into the kit you suggested and it does look like it has a lot of features the DM5 doesn't have, i presume you went the the DD506?

did you have a go on the DM5 before making your discussion? my local music store has recently got out of business and they had a few electric drum kits, but never actually tired any of them, so i don't really know what to expect, the problem i'm having is the DM5 pads "look" like they'd be better that the DD506 pads, but i guess without trying i can't know for sure.
 
You're correct, I went for the DD506. If I had to do it again, I think I'd have held out for a used TD3 set as the module is so much better (feature wise).

I didn't try the DM5s, I just read about them. The DD506 is so far ahead in terms of what you get for your money, I ruled out the DM5 pro early on. Both the DD506 pads and the Alesis DM5 pro pads are made by the same people - Medeli, so i'd guess they're very similar material wise. I've had no trouble with my pads. They're very sensitive and quite bouncy.

Like with an acoustic kit, you can chop and change your edrums around at will. Roland PD-8 pads (as found on the TD-3 kit) can be bought on ebay for about £30 for example. Other Roland gear isn't quite as cheap in this country, sadly.
 
Thanks for the information guys, i think i'll do as bigpops suggested and try and get a used TD3, however if that's unsuccessful i'll go for the DD506 :)

However saying that I think you'd have to be pretty lucky to pick up a TD3 for £300, as most kits go for about £450 - £500 on ebay, but i'll keep trying :) any advice on how I can get one cheaper?

Thanks
 
MonkieMann said:
However saying that I think you'd have to be pretty lucky to pick up a TD3 for £300, as most kits go for about £450 - £500 on ebay, but i'll keep trying :) any advice on how I can get one cheaper?

Thanks
Click to expand...

Try the vdrums.com forum and local free ads papers and the like.
 
I was also thinking about getting an electronic drum kit. Now i've never really played the drums but i have a background in playing the tablas (indian hand percussion). Do teachers generally do taster lessons where i can see if i have any aptitude for conventional drumming? I know i could just phone a teacher up but i thought asking someone experienced and non-biased what the best kind of 'taster' would be.

:)
 
Well there's a lot of teachers that have their own teaching kit too. A kit is expensive and it used to be that you'd not invest in a kit until you'd at least learnt the rudiments.

Go along to your local music shop and see.

I'm lucky because I have Drumwright and a large Dawsons almost on my doorstep between them they have a good selection for virtually everything - including software.
 
Thanks NickK,
I'll do what you suggest and pop along to a music shop. I get awfully embarrassed when playing instruments that i'm not used playing, especially loud ones, when there are other people about but i'll go and see what they have to say!!

:)
JM
 
hey all, thanks for all your advice, i managed to get an 18 month old roland td3 for £350 from ebay, including a throne, sticks and bass padel, so i'm happy :)

now i'm just wondering what how to play? lol

does anyone know of any good tab sites for drums? or should i just learn to read sheet music?

thanks
 
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