Drum sets question.

[jabari]

I was thinking of buying a drum set soon, but I have a few questions.

Electric Drums:
-What are the advantages over regular drums?
-What kind of music can I play on these kind of drums?

Regular Drums:
-What are the advantages over electric drums?

[AJB32690]

Originally Posted by jabari

I was thinking of buying a drum set soon, but I have a few questions.

Electric Drums:
-What are the advantages over regular drums?
-What kind of music can I play on these kind of drums?

Regular Drums:
-What are the advantages over electric drums?

I'm not a drummer, but I know enough to answer your question.

Electric drums: Expensive. Feels 'fake.' I think they are used mostly for acoustic music.

Regular: Somewhat cheaper. Real drums. Possibility of splitting a head, which, depending on which drum it was, can cost you. Feels real, because it is. Can be used for any genre.

If I were you, I'd get the regular ones. Its kinda like electric violins, they are cool, but you dont really need them.

[imnotmikal]

I only have a little to add.
It depends o.n the main location you will be playing them. If you plan on using them alot, in different places, like in the case of a church band or something, electric is the way to go.

However, if they will mostly be in your room, or in a studio for recording, real drums are deffinately the way to go.

Originally Posted by AJB32690

I'm not a drummer, but I know enough to answer your question.

Electric drums: Expensive. Feels 'fake.' I think they are used mostly for acoustic music.

Regular: Somewhat cheaper. Real drums. Possibility of splitting a head, which, depending on which drum it was, can cost you. Feels real, because it is. Can be used for any genre.

If I were you, I'd get the regular ones. Its kinda like electric violins, they are cool, but you dont really need them.

Originally Posted by imnotmikal

I only have a little to add.
It depends o.n the main location you will be playing them. If you plan on using them alot, in different places, like in the case of a church band or something, electric is the way to go.

However, if they will mostly be in your room, or in a studio for recording, real drums are deffinately the way to go.

i couldnt disagree more with these two. they are not even close.
And this is going to be a REALLY long post, but it will help you out tramendously. So read it...

Ive been a drummer for around 10 years now.
Ive played acustic drums my entire life, but im in the process right now of selling off all my drum stuff and switching to electric.

Electric drums are by far cheaper than acoustic sets when its all said and done. But theres pro's and cons of both.

Honestly they take up pretty much the same amount of room, when it comes to a basic 5 piece kit, with a crash and ride. the electric wont stick outwards as far, since they dont have any depth to them. But width wise, they are about the same.

As for quality/Sound. you get what you pay for.
You can buy cheapo acustic sets for 250ish... the quality sucks. the sounds suck. the cymbals are HORRIBLE. they are a poor set. you can buy a very cheap and super poor quality and sounding electric set for the same price. They break. they sound awful, they are flimsy.. etc...


Let me quote these two again.

Originally Posted by imnotmikal

It depends o.n the main location you will be playing them. If you plan on using them alot, in different places, like in the case of a church band or something, electric is the way to go.

However, if they will mostly be in your room, or in a studio for recording, real drums are deffinately the way to go.

This couldnt be more wrong. a electric set is okay for playing gigs or in pubic (church etc..), but only if its a pretty high end set. im talking $1500+. i wouldnt bring an alesis DM5 Pro kit ($600) to a gig to play for people thats for sure. Acustic is the way to go there. When it comes to recording, either one is about the same. Now days with all the electronic softward involved, and the "brains" of the v-drums, electric is almsot better for recording.

If your just playing for your self, and in your room, Electric is the best way to go IMO, which is why im switching. I say this because, your neighbors dont have to listen to you. You can play virtually at any time of the night or day. They can tuck away and be stored far easier than a acustic set, and they have perfect sound qualitys for your bed room. Plus they are super user friendly for any noob at drumming.

Originally Posted by AJB32690

Electric drums: Expensive. Feels 'fake.' I think they are used mostly for acoustic music.

wrong, sorta right, WTF?

V-Drum starter kits cost the same as a real drum kit. How ever when it comes to expanding and upgrading. Electric drums can be THOUSANDS CHEAPER!!!

When it comes to feeling fake.. If you buy a low end kit, yes they feel very fake, very flimsy, you get that tapping sound (like rockband) and they feel very fake. If you buy a lot nicer kit, they start using Real drum heads, and realistic cymbals and if you close your eyes, you really cant tell the difference at all. they are very stout and sturdy. and every bit as good if not better as a real kit.

AJB... Acustic drums set are used for acustic music. Its not acustic music if there is electric instruments... that last line is just a total oxymoron... thats the same as calling an electric guitar acustic....

Originally Posted by AJB32690

Regular: Somewhat cheaper. Real drums. Possibility of splitting a head, which, depending on which drum it was, can cost you. Feels real, because it is. Can be used for any genre.

Not cheaper by any means. Only more expensive. You wouldnt know this untill you went to buy your first cymbal. Heads split. and Pads Break. Same issues with both versions of drums.



So lets get into cost. People dont realise how much cymbals and parts cost for acustic sets. and it adds up QUICK!!


My very first drum set cost me 500 bucks. was a standard low end 5 piece set, one cheap ride cymbal, and cheap high hats, cheap heads. I then invested 800 bucks into cymbals threw out the years. Thats a new high hat, 1 ride cymabl, and 2 crash cymbals (with stands) and $100 bucks into new heads to make the drums sound nicer. Making that kit basically a $1400 dollar kit. Then i upgraded kits. i bought a nice pearl for $999. Used my $800 dollars worth of cymbals, bought another one for $250 (with stand). Bought a double bass pedal for $200 that put this kit at over $2300 dollars. For a 5 piece kit, 1 ride cymbal, 3 crash's, and a nice set of high hats, and a double bass pedal.

Now im currently looking at a Alesis DM5 Pro Drum Kit. Its one of the top rated V-Drums for the best buck. Its $600 dollars. It is the equivilant of a standard 5 piece set. with a ride cymbal and a crash cymbal. and guess what the quality of it is by far nicer than my first drum set i ever bought.

So when it comes to cost... hmm whats more expensive. While i would love a roland V-Drum kit, they cost about $1500 bucks. but man are they nice. Nicest kits around. But its absoultly nothing to spend 1500 bucks on a basic 5 piece kit from a nice name brand like DW or Pearl.


Heres the advantages i have personally found that is making me convert from acustic to electric.

New pads cost about 90 bucks a piece. You can make this pad have ANY sound you want. Weather it be the sound of a $50 floor tom, or a $500 dollar cymbal, you can change it at the flick of a button. So say you wanted 10 cymabls. you spend 900 bucks in new pads. but you get the sound qualitys of over $4000 dollars of real cymals. hmm i sure like the sound of saving $3100 dollars.

you want 5 toms? $450 bucks is a **** cheap price when you could easily spend $1000 dollars minimum on 5 acustic toms.

So not only do you litterally save THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS on upgrading. but it doesnt take up a TON of room when you get that crazy. if you had a 10 piece kit, and 10 cymbals on a acustic, thats going to take up your hole bedroom. But you have that same set up on electric, its going to be the same size as it was before. Nice and small. Plus its much easier to pack up and store away.

When it comes to playing. I only play for my self now in my room, just to jam out. But i tend to want to play late at night. Well i cant do that with a acustic set, my neighbors would be calling the cops. with the electric, slap on some head phones, and rock out all night long.


User friendly.. Acustic can be hard to tune, hard for a newbie to make sound decent. and cost a lot of Money to get a very decent sounding kit. That gets frustrating. If it wasnt for my awesome drum teacher all thsoe years ago. my kits would sound like crap.

Electric its as simple as poking a button untill you hear the sound you like. and then its as simple as poking another to change it to something else for the next song. So thats another thing to think about...

Theres many advantages to both kits. In the end, its more what do you want to do. and how much money do you have to invest. how serious are you wanting to get, and things like that.


These are my 2 suggestions, If you remotely think you'll play for someone else someday in public, Buy a acustic set. i would HIGHLY recommend and Peace drum kit. They run about 400-500 bucks for a beginer kit. But come with amazing quality for the price. a $100 dollar set of remo heads go along way too. you'll be more than happy with that for a while. and if you decide drumming isnt your thing your not out that much money. But if you have quite a bit of money, Start out on a Nice beginer Pearl set. They will run you probably 600 bucks i would say for the base line. (not to sure any more) They will last you a long time.

If your going for electric, Buy the Alesis Dm5 Pro Drum kit for $600 bucks.
DO NOT buy ANYTHING less than the alesis. they quality sucks, they are poor kits, and nothing but a waste of money. you would be better off with a $250 dollar acustic set from some cheapo company. I personally would not touch anything under $1000 dollars when it comes to electric, except the DM5 pro kit. it is SUPER nice, and an amazing price for what you get.


oh and for your last question on electric, what kind of music can you play?
how abou what kind cant you play?

you can make your drums sound like alien martians, and play some trippy techno. or get a nice loud rock sound and play some punk/rock and roll. or whatever you want. the sounds are limitless and you can play any song, from an genera at the flick of a switch and have it sound right. you will never be able to do that with acustic.


So thats my 2 cents from 10 years experience. Sorry for the book.

[jabari]

Thanks SPR.

anytime man, if u have any questions just ask. I have a kit for sale id sell ya dirt cheap, but shipping would suck on it lol

[AJB32690]

Wow, I got owned.

Like I said, Im not a drummer.

I'm a brass player/vocalist.

Sorry I'm such a failure at drums.

wasnt trying to "own" you, so dont feel i was putting you down. But i did want him to have the correct info. Kit for Kit, they are about the same. But upgrading for upgrading. Acoustic is crazy expensive.

My old drum teacher had 8 grand wrapped up in ONE set. Of course it was the set he played with though on the road with bands and things like that.

the set he used to teach lessons was a little 4 piece set with 1 cymbal lol. Which he still paid 600 bucks for used! But he said it was a killer deal, and with as nice as that set sounded, it was worth every penny in my book now days. i wish i could remember what brand it was.

[AJB32690]

8 grand? I believe it. I could spend 20 grand on instruments easily. A top-quality euphonium is about 5-8 grand. Top-quality trombones will run me 3-6 grand. And gigs only pay a couple hundred a night... Unless they are major gigs, which you have to be a big name to land. You know what I mean...

But yeah, back on topic: Does a quality electric drum set sound as good as a quality acoustic drum set? Maybe its just that I've only heard cheap electric sets.

I was really sketchy about about the sound of V-Drum kits when i started looking. so i went to guitar center, and my local small town music shop and played several different electric kits. So heres my take on them...

Now of course its going to be somewhat off, because all the sounds are coming out of a speaker thats located in teh same spot on the floor (or where ever u have it). So you hear everything in one spot, verses in 10 different spots playing acoustic. so if you can get past that... Heres what i think on a varitey of kits.

It greatly depends on the quality of the kit. When you play on lower end kits that have rubber pads, flimsy hardware, and are just a cheap all around kit, its a lot like playing rock band. very toyish and fake. the first kit i ever played was some off brand i cant even remember the name of now. It sucked. i felt like i was beating on my rock band. That almost turned me off of v-drums all together. But the guy said, go to guitar center, play some higher end kits and see how you like them. (then of course told me to come back and he would give me a better deal. yeah right.)

So i went to guitar center. Talked to a sales man, and he said he was going to start me off on the lowest end kit, and work me up so i could see the differences. First kit i played there was the alesis DM5 kit. it sucked almost just as bad as the one at my small town shop. It was super flimsy and wobbled. the pads were hard rubber so you could hear the sticks hitting the rubber pads, they were very small, like rock band, it was just stupid. i was like NO WAY. the sound quality was acceptable.. the kit was not.

So next i played the alesis DM5 Pro Kit. It was an amazing difference. Real Drum Heads, Larger Pads, Real Feeling, Great sounds (VERY realistic), Very nice hardware and a sturdy kit. i felt like i was beating on my acoustic set.
At that point i was sold, that the right kit was every bit as good if not better.

and then i played on a few different rolands, those are even more amazing. very nice set ups. but then again. they start out at like 1500 bucks, and can soar all the way up past 6 grand! So you get what you pay for.

I personally am going to be buying the DM5 Pro kit for probably my xmas present (if i sell my last acoustic set here soon) They are $600 bucks. But Its got the $1500 dollar quality for the lower end kit prices. I think its ever bit as good as an acoustic.

How ever the DM5 standard kit (which i think was $500), or anything else of the same quality (tipically $550 and down) is junk. Id rather be playing on a Cheapo $250 acoustic set. It would serve a better purpose and hold up better.


So it really just depends on the quality.

[imnotmikal]

Originally Posted by SPR

This couldnt be more wrong. a electric set is okay for playing gigs or in pubic (church etc..), but only if its a pretty high end set. im talking $1500+. i wouldnt bring an alesis DM5 Pro kit ($600) to a gig to play for people thats for sure. Acustic is the way to go there. When it comes to recording, either one is about the same. Now days with all the electronic softward involved, and the "brains" of the v-drums, electric is almsot better for recording.

If your just playing for your self, and in your room, Electric is the best way to go IMO, which is why im switching. I say this because, your neighbors dont have to listen to you. You can play virtually at any time of the night or day. They can tuck away and be stored far easier than a acustic set, and they have perfect sound qualitys for your bed room. Plus they are super user friendly for any noob at drumming.

That's pretty much what I said, but more words...
How can you call me wrong, then say it over?
I meant when playing in public, and specifically said as a church band or just something for your to mess with by yourself, electric is fine, because they don't really have to sound "good."

But, on the contrary, if you plan to be in a "real" band, then you should get real drums.

[jameslew]

i'm 15 now and have really only been drumming for 6 years but first picked up a pair of drumsticks when i was 5. my first set was a pearl i got used for 500. I haven't really upgraded much due to the lack of money, but ive gotten a new $400 snare, added new crash and a ride(not very expensive but better), changed heads, and i got a blast block(kinda like a cowbell and woodblock mixed)

Jabari: if you're thinking about playing drums you should probably think about buying a cheap used acoustic set. if you go out and spend 1000 plus and decide you dont like it then you are screwed. you should start off on craigslist or someting and spend no more than 500-800. some good brands are pearl, ludwig, mapex, yamaha, and tama's ok for starters. make sure you have a good ride, crash, and high hat or you might get bored quicker. I don't have much experience with electric drums, but here's what i think on ups and downs of acoustic vs. electric:
acoustic: easier to fine tune to your liking: with elecric drumsets, they come with a computer thing that has sounds pre-programmed. you can also tune drumsets and add however many cymbals you want, ect. with acoustic drums, it also sounds more real to me, especially with cymbals. Electric drumsets are just not the same. They may be bigger and bulkier, but in the end the overall sound in my opinion is better.
electric: these are very fun for practice and are also portable. when I first tried and elecric drumset at guitar center(not sure exact model, but in 2,000-3,000 range) i had a blast. you can chose cool diferrent sounds. also, the heads on these were really fun to play on. they felt almost like you were playing on a marching drum. the bounce on them were unbelievable. Another upside(i think) is you can record beats and play them back. The downside in my opinion is that electric drumsets sound almost fake to me(even though its my opinion). I guess its kind of like the difference in elecric and acoustic guitars in away, but not in the other, because the electric drums sound almost fake. elecric sets are really just for practice and luxery.

SPR: you said that acoustic is cheaper than electric. I disagree with this for beginners, because with electric sets there is no point in getting a cheap one, but for acoustic sets you can get one that sounds ok with the vital cymbals for less the $800.

Originally Posted by jameslew

SPR: you said that acoustic is cheaper than electric. I disagree with this for beginners, because with electric sets there is no point in getting a cheap one, but for acoustic sets you can get one that sounds ok with the vital cymbals for less the $800.

no thats not what i said at all.
i said:
acoustic is thousands more. electric is cheaper.

when it comes to starter kit vs starter kit, they are the same price. But the quality of an acoustic at that level is by far better Unless its the Alesis DM5 Pro Kit. Thats the ONE exception.

Its the only kit priced at $600 bucks thats higher quality than most acoustic starter kits in teh same price range.

Other wise i wouldnt touch a V-Drum under $1500 bucks.

Thats what i said.


also a point on tuning. i wouldnt call acoustic easier. It can take a good hour to "fine" tune every drum on your kit to your likings. It takes about 3 minutes on an electric. they come with over 500 preset sounds. So if you divide that between each pieces. thats 60+ different tones for each pad.