So I get this electronic drum system and...

Hawk · Post by **Hawk** » Sunday Feb 24, 2013

So I get this electronic drum system and it amazes me !

I was looking to get congas and end up with a pretty fabulous electronic drum system. Amazing for recording and very adequate for gigging. Also a great add-on for an acoustic kit.

Looks like this: http://www.rolandus.com/products/details/1059

I've been on Rockpage saying I would NEVER play electronic drums. I'm now a semi-convert. Sometimes go with the Octapad, sometimes with REAL drums.

If I were to design an electronic drum system it would look like this. Eight pads aligned in two rows of four. (It never made sense to me why they would space electronic drums so far apart like acoustic drums. Acoustic drums, because of their size HAVE to be spaced far apart.) Add a kick, a hi-hat control pedal and it's good to go. It has 99 drum kits in it (from Latin to bass to you name it) and over 1,000 available voices. Plus many ways to tweak and tune the sounds.

I've played a few gigs with it using it only as a drum kit with three toms, three crashes, ride, hi hat with control pedal and kick. Sounds like a very well miced drum kit. It will never sound "acoustic" but like I said, sounds like a well tuned, well miced acoustic kit.

People say it sounds GREAT but it looks funny. (I really don't care what it looks like).)

I can also play it as a Latin kit, bongos, congas, cow bell, timbali, etc.. With exceptional sound quality.

It also loops and quantize but that doesn't interest me (yet anyhow).

Set up and tear down is now done within minutes and load in and load out take about 60 seconds. THAT, I love...!

My good friend Rob helped me pick it out. We spent some time on it and now he has one. He's into the loops it can create.

Anyhow, It's a Sunday afternoon, Cathy's not home and I don't have anything to do so I wrote this post...LOL. But really, If you have any questions about it or would like to try it let me know. It's a very cool instrument.

Jasaoke · Post by **Jasaoke** » Sunday Feb 24, 2013

Welcome to the Dark Side!

or should I say the Quiet Side?

Great point about recording. It can take days to properly mic and tune a kit to record ONE song. Now you can dial one up and the work is done. (and will ALWAYS be done, too). If that kits not right, just spin the knob and you've got another kit.

I'm glad you're happy with it, especially since you've been a pretty hardcore acoustic guy.

Lately, I'm looking at things through a "who's really gonna care" lens. And, no, it will never sound 'acoustic', (because it's not) the differences between standing next to a kit (or amp) are lost on the casual music listener. You get a lot of great benefits by sacrificing some subtle nuance, and in the end the group usually sounds better.

Hawk · Post by **Hawk** » Sunday Feb 24, 2013

Jasaoke wrote:Welcome to the Dark Side!

or should I say the Quiet Side?

Great point about recording. It can take days to properly mic and tune a kit to record ONE song. Now you can dial one up and the work is done. (and will ALWAYS be done, too). If that kits not right, just spin the knob and you've got another kit.

I'm glad you're happy with it, especially since you've been a pretty hardcore acoustic guy.

Lately, I'm looking at things through a "who's really gonna care" lens. And, no, it will never sound 'acoustic', (because it's not) the differences between standing next to a kit (or amp) are lost on the casual music listener. You get a lot of great benefits by sacrificing some subtle nuance, and in the end the group usually sounds better.

Thanks Jason, I brought into consideration your points (from a previous thread) while I was considering what to do. I did the right thing...

Hawk · Post by **Hawk** » Sunday Feb 24, 2013

Time for a "drummers-get-together" ?

tonefight · Post by **tonefight** » Sunday Feb 24, 2013

Pretty funny, you fought it hard but finally gave in. Do you feel like you sold your soul ?

Hawk · Post by **Hawk** » Sunday Feb 24, 2013

tonefight wrote:Pretty funny, you fought it hard but finally gave in. Do you feel like you sold your soul ?

LOL... Well...

HurricaneBob · Post by **HurricaneBob** » Monday Feb 25, 2013

Ohh noooo, drum nights will now consist of thumb drives with our favorite samples....

Bill has some great sounds, I got to check this out one night. Rob had some cool loops going too.

moxham123 · Post by **moxham123** » Monday Feb 25, 2013

I guess the next thing will be drummers using a phone drum application so they don't have to set up a drum kit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDYyccWUNPw

f.sciarrillo · Post by **f.sciarrillo** » Monday Feb 25, 2013

You played my brothers V-Drums haven't you, Bill? That set is amazing. We just got a Roland V-Drum set for our church. I love it. They really advanced over the years.

Craven Sound · Post by **Craven Sound** » Monday Feb 25, 2013

Rob's set up is sweet. Why is he selling?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Roland-Octapad- ... 19d93498e5

Hawk · Post by **Hawk** » Monday Feb 25, 2013

f.sciarrillo wrote:You played my brothers V-Drums haven't you, Bill? That set is amazing. We just got a Roland V-Drum set for our church. I love it. They really advanced over the years.

Yes, Randy's kit is amazing.

Hawk · Post by **Hawk** » Monday Feb 25, 2013

Craven Sound wrote:Rob's set up is sweet. Why is he selling?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Roland-Octapad- ... 19d93498e5

I don't know. He didn't say anything about selling it... but that is his on Ebay.

RobTheDrummer · Post by **RobTheDrummer** » Monday Feb 25, 2013

Yea, it's cool, but I wanna get a "kit" rather than a pad.

PanzerFaust · Post by **PanzerFaust** » Monday Feb 25, 2013

They sounded pretty good to me at the Bavarian Benefit Hawk.....

Hawk · Post by **Hawk** » Monday Feb 25, 2013

PanzerFaust wrote:They sounded pretty good to me at the Bavarian Benefit Hawk.....

Thanks man...

Hawk · Post by **Hawk** » Monday Feb 25, 2013

RobTheDrummer wrote:Yea, it's cool, but I wanna get a "kit" rather than a pad.

I know you talked about that when we were looking...

Set-up, tear-down, load-in and load-out played a part in my decision to choose the Octapad over a kit.

hannible · Post by **hannible** » Friday Mar 08, 2013

The Hawk brought Mrs. Hawk to "The House" last nite for a recording session....She made the "best Ever" chocolate peanut butter cake...really tasty with Beckys "Pigs in the blanket"..We didnt do any recording tho...we did play a bunch of original tunes that had "The House" a rockin...we`ve moved into another world of recording, along with our "live" gigs...and Hawks kit makes it easy....yea, it looks like it was built for "Priscilla", but it sounds like Johnny Mcknight.

...Thanks Hawk for talkin us into it...3 hours of orgasms last nite was about all any good band could hope for!!!

tornandfrayed · Post by **tornandfrayed** » Saturday Mar 09, 2013

3 hours of orgasms last nite was about all any good band could hope for!!

Priceless!

onegunguitar · Post by **onegunguitar** » Saturday Mar 09, 2013

The question I would have with these electronic drum pads/kits is in a live setting with a loud band(i.e. NailDriver) the stage feel and volume wouldn't be there,correct? Sure,you can put them in the monitors but most of the systems around this area don't have the best monitors to begin with. I couldn't imagine having no drums pounding through me while playing live with the material we do.......that's half the feel onstage,pounding drums.

Hawk · Post by **Hawk** » Saturday Mar 09, 2013

onegunguitar wrote:The question I would have with these electronic drum pads/kits is in a live setting with a loud band(i.e. NailDriver) the stage feel and volume wouldn't be there,correct? Sure,you can put them in the monitors but most of the systems around this area don't have the best monitors to begin with. I couldn't imagine having no drums pounding through me while playing live with the material we do.......that's half the feel onstage,pounding drums.

You're right. It really depends on the genre. The system I have (a Roland Octapad) sounds like a very well mic-ed acoustic drum kit. Even the cymbals (crashes, hi-hat, ride etc.) sound real. We like a low stage volume and that makes it nearly perfect for us. No one complains the drums and cymbals are too loud and they can't hear themselves.

If you want a high stage volume an acoustic kit probably serves that purpose better, unless like you implied, you have a kick ass monitor system.

f.sciarrillo · Post by **f.sciarrillo** » Saturday Mar 09, 2013

I'm not too sure about the pads like what Bill got. But with the sets, you can adjust the volume of them in a live setting. We have had ours at the church so loud that it drowned the rest of the team out.. My brother also played his out live a couple of times and they sounded great. From what I see (With the newer sets) is that they are no different than an acoustic as far as fell; and the main benefit is that you have more volume control with them.

I guess it is all based on preference. But in any case, the newer V-Pro's are great. My dad's band he plays with at times also has an electronic also, they use a yahama (I can't remember what model it is), but it sounds awesome live. Perfect volume, and perfect tone.

From what I seen, the full kits are great live..

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Saturday Mar 09, 2013

Hawk wrote:
unless like you implied, you have a kick ass monitor system.

Well, that rules out 98% of in-house systems.

Musician calling sound engineer before gig

M: So what do you have going on for front of house?

E: We have four EAW boxes for subs and are using a Meyer line-array for tops all being pushed by about 30,000 watts of Crown Macro-techs.

M: Sweet!!! And what do you have for monitor support?

E: ...we have two RadioShack wedges from the late 80s, but one has had a blown horn for the past three years. We also have a wedge that was originally meant for a car stereo system that we threw two 12s out of an old Marshall guitar cab in and spray painted it black.

Craven Sound · Post by **Craven Sound** » Saturday Mar 09, 2013

bassist_25 wrote:
Hawk wrote:
unless like you implied, you have a kick ass monitor system.
Well, that rules out 98% of in-house systems.

Musician calling sound engineer before gig

M: So what do you have going on for front of house?

E: We have four EAW boxes for subs and are using a Meyer line-array for tops all being pushed by about 30,000 watts of Crown Macro-techs.

M: Sweet!!! And what do you have for monitor support?

E: ...we have two RadioShack wedges from the late 80s, but one has had a blown horn for the past three years. We also have a wedge that was originally meant for a car stereo system that we threw two 12s out of an old Marshall guitar cab in and spray painted it black.

You forgot:

E: The monitor grills have been so badly destroyed, we replaced them with shelves out of some ovens that were being tossed.

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Sunday Mar 10, 2013

Haha, I forgot about the oven grills. Yeah, played through monitors with those happening too.

Jasaoke · Post by **Jasaoke** » Sunday Mar 10, 2013

I think the logical next step after edrums is in-ear monitors. If you took all your instruments direct and had in-ears, you could cut soundcheck down to about 4 minutes. Your monitor mixes would never change, you'd never have to mic anything, feedback would be impossible, and front of house would only have to mix 5 or 6 elements...