Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

I've tried both, eventually selling my electronic/digital/beam-me-up-Scotty/hi-tech drums to my church. Turns out I'm an old-school man when it comes to drum kits. How about you?

Nope

Roland TD 20's never goining back to old school.

I'm no drummer and really enjoy standing beside a heavy set of old schools.
But I will tell you this much . . . sonic control is the main issue face both live and in our studio. A high quality set of electronics would so simplify the recording process if I was a well heeled big wheel I'd buy a set for our drummer and hold a gun on him to make him play them exclusively.

The electronic kit I did have was pretty much an entry-level model. If I could've afforded higher-end equipment, I'm sure I'd have liked them better.

Edrums will never beat acoustics, and acoustics will never do what edrums can do. I have both, and enjoy both for what they are best at. Electronics will never capture the essence of an acoustic cymbal. But acoustic drums cannot change sounds at the turn of a knob.

I have total angst against machine gunning, and my TD20X is no exception. I never realized it until I recorded with it. Drives me insane. That is the nature of the beast at present. The faster you play, the worse it gets.

Also edrums can have polyphony problems. As long as you stay within certain parameters of what you strike everything stays okay and clean. But if I do on edrums what I do on acoustics, the polyphony cannot keep up and I lose notes, or everything gets distorted. Just not enough memory in the module. Some say go for software and a good laptop for dealing with that. Money, money, money - money!

Drumsinhisheart wrote:Edrums will never beat acoustics, and acoustics will never do what edrums can do. I have both, and enjoy both for what they are best at. Electronics will never capture the essence of an acoustic cymbal. But acoustic drums cannot change sounds at the turn of a knob.

I have total angst against machine gunning, and my TD20X is no exception. I never realized it until I recorded with it. Drives me insane. That is the nature of the beast at present. The faster you play, the worse it gets.

Also edrums can have polyphony problems. As long as you stay within certain parameters of what you strike everything stays okay and clean. But if I do on edrums what I do on acoustics, the polyphony cannot keep up and I lose notes, or everything gets distorted. Just not enough memory in the module. Some say go for software and a good laptop for dealing with that. Money, money, money - money!

That is good input and insight.
Food for thought, and I'm always hungry.

I've got a Roland TD 30 and I don't have machine gunning with that, but before that I had a TD 9 and that really did machine gun. But I also use addictive drums samples and there's no machine-gunning with that. By the way I think the TD 30 does trigger the samples a little more accurately. I got a nice set of Sonar which tunes up real nice but the problem was always getting the sound out to the people and there was always microphone bleeding which of course electronics just doesn't have.

I want to say this about the TD 30, that it seems to be more dynamic than the samples and the sounds really are very good, not as good as samples but they're more dynamic. I usually use only three maybe four different drum kits but I like having the option of different sounds and percussion. It really did take me quite a while to get comfortable with the transition and the different sensitivity of the drums and cymbals, but the TD 30 often does make me feel like I'm playing an acoustic kit.

Anyway, to each his own both have their own strengths and weaknesses. I think one thing that hurts electronic kits is getting the dispersion, dynamics and frequency response on stage. But it seems more more bands are going in ears and so that's less of a problem. Anyway that's my two cents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n8ndXWytyw