DRUMMER CAFE

What do you people feel is the best-feeling e-drum kit out there, (past to present)? Not wanting a gear-slamming thread, just individual opinions Not just kits, Octapad/DrumKat devices are also welcome.

My personal favorite is actually the original ddrum kit from around -85 or so.....I think it was called ddrum Rack  Anyway, it had four sounds per drum, bass/treble/pitch and sensitivity controls, and no MIDI. The most usable of the available sounds were no doubt the Simmons-kit that they sampled (think "Chicago 17"), they sounded really nice, actually. Not great for everything, though

What I really liked about this kit however, was the sensitivity of the pads. To this day, I haven't found anything close to it. Not that I've tried every kit on the market. It should be noted, that the triggering systems are different, since the old ddrums were not MIDI devices. But these pads had the best dynamic response I've ever experienced in an electronic kit.

I agree with you, the dynamic range is the real problem with e-drums. While I see that it's unfair to compare the different triggering systems of MIDI-pads and the older ddrum technology, I'm imagining that it should be possible to get a better response out of the 127 dynamic levels that MIDI offers. Again, I've only tried a few of the kits on the market. I must say though, that the convenience of an e-kit and the sounds available ( like the wonderful Toontrack libraries) keeps me interested.

BTW, I have no financial interest in Toontrack. Possibly, I'm a little patriotic

You're right, I haven't done much tweaking with the new kits either. And I imagine these settings are also dependent on the volume level, since our ears are not linear......maybe

The ddrum kit I'm speaking of, BTW, was made before ddrum AT, before ddrum 2, before ddrum +.........I'm not even sure if these things were available outside Sweden

Why?
I started this thread because I was simply amazed at the dynamic playing on an e-kit by Nir-Z:
http://www.drummercafe.com/component/option,com_smf/Itemid,2/topic,23065.0

He's promoting a new product, but I believe he uses e-drums at his own studio a lot and has spent some time 'tweaking the settings' to suit his way of playing.
If you can stand to watch the video all the way though, he plays whisper quiet at various points.

i'm pretty happy with mine:

Apologies for the salesman voice over.....
But 50 seconds in Nir-Z is hardly tickling the Hart e-pads and the samples are still sounding:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/GVUVnSzlAd8" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/GVUVnSzlAd8</a>

Even easier to hear at 1:29

yeah, synthesizing cymbal sounds pushes the limit of today's digital sound generators (the electronics inside the Roland box)...

Chris, I understood your point with the video clip... my opinion on E-drums is based upon previously owning and playing this equipment for years... along with an intimate knowledge of how the electronics work (and how to tweak the user settings)...  I did enjoy playing them and , yes, I was able to adjust the user settings to match my playing style.  However, I was simply pointing out that Edrums do not have as good of dynamic range as Adrums... which can be measured and quantified in dBs (decibels)... that's not an opinion... that is a fact... can Louis (for example) adjust his Yamaha drums and play softly?  Yes, of course.   

I don't like playing them myself I admit.
Rather than dynamics, I find the inability to hear different timbres with different stick strokes a barrier. I'm just so used to the feel of acoustic drums. Hearing the same couple of sounds, no matter where I hit the pad, just seems odd to me.
But e-kits (with this software) are getting more and more responsive and more and more multi-timbral.

Mine is a Roland V-Session with the TD10.  I haven't played too many other kits, even within the Roland family but I absolutely love my V-Session.  We've been slamm'n on this kit for years now and never had a problem.  Everything has worked, the hardware is solid, documentation is decent, tech support at least for the one question I had was superior.  The sensitivity/dynamic range is NOT the same as acoustic but out of the box without extra stuff it's very good. Good enough to do some pretty nice ghosting and to pop simulated rim shots.  If I play very, very softly on the mesh heads, they don't respond whereas an acoustic would produce sound but it's at a level where an audience wouldn't hear it anyway.  There is a more pronounced issue with the cymbals and this is the weakness.  The sound and timbre is not acoustic but again, out of the box are some kit sounds that work really well in different settings and you can tweak everything or download a bunch of awesome stuff from different sites.  I've taken this into live settings with a big band and rock/R&B thing and got lots of complements. In one case the Vdrum was need because it was an outdoor gig and the board had only one input available.  Mic'g the acoustic would have required a separate sub mixer which I didn't have at the time.  My preference is always to play an acoustic kit but the V-drum works - it's just different. 

I've been playing a set of Yamaha DTXTREME ll's for 2 years now. I don't play my acoustic kit anymore. The DTXTREMEll kit sounds and feels great. The new DTXTREME lll kit will be in my local drum shop in a few weeks and I'm picking one up. They've made some huge improvements and the kit is the best I've seen as far as E -kits go.