E-Drums are here to stay
In 1987, I traded in a 13 piece Tama acoustic drum kit for a Roland DDR-30 electronic drum kit with an Octapad. I was intrigued by electronic drums much more so than acoustics. However, e-drums were nothing like they are today. The DDR-30 still had the "bew, bew, bew" sound made famous my the Miami Vice theme. At the time, I played in Top 40 cover bands playing everything from Styx to Whitesname to Thompson Twins. The electronic drums of the time really didn't fit all those genres.
I honestly can't say what drew me to electronic drums. It certainly wasn't the feel. The pads for Roland's original drum kit were basically a piece of plywood with a thin rubber sheet over it. They were like playing a counter top. Maybe it was the sound. Most of the drums in 80's music were heavily processed, no matter what genre. Maybe it was just because I liked to be different.
Over the years, I've kept up with advancements. During the 90's I used Roland's TD-7. This was a vast improvement over previous drum modules, both in sound and functionality. My drums were Yamaha's PTT-1 pads. They looked like big black tennis rackets and were only marginally more "giving" than the plywood and rubber pads. The 90's also saw big improvements in electronic cymbals, of which I used Visulites (before they were purchased by Pintech).
Everything changed with V-Drums. Roland's mesh drum heads really created a new paradigm in electronic drums. They were the first kit that was truly comfortable to play for long periods. They were also much bigger in diameter than other pads of the time. Around the same time, Yamaha released their awesome looking DTX kits, which used real wood shells and acoustic drum heads. Roland, however, had the better marketing. They were the Microsoft of electronic drums. Not as good as their competitors, but much easier to use and get up and running quickly. I purchased a Roland TD-8 kit for the outrageous price of $2700, but it was a great kit that lasted me many years. When I sold it in 2004, I got around $2k for it. Roland definitely holds their value.
When the TD-20 came out, the price was so ridiculous for the whole kit that I decided to just get the module and build my own kit. Electronic drum technology has not changed much since their inception. In Roland's case, the pads are just a piezo for the head and one for the rim. Fairly easy to set up. For my kit, I just got some cheap toms off Ebay, cut them in half depth-wise and made my own drums. I covered them in a very loud "Saturn Yellow" satin flame wrap. That kit, more than any I've ever had, got a lot of attention. In fact, people will still come up to me today and ask me about it. My biggest drumming regret is selling that kit. It played so well and felt wonderful.
In 2010, I decided to change up my drums for the Yamaha DTX kit. Yamaha's kits are obviously electronic, where as many laypeople do not always realize the new Roland kits are e-drums. The thing that really pulled me toward Yamaha was that all of their inputs (drums and cymbals) were 3 zone. Also, the module has built-in sampling. I use a lot of effects and samples when I'm playing live (mostly just to amuse myself) so I didn't want to haul around a Roland SPD-S just for sampling. When Yamaha came out with their currently line of silicone pads (the XP series), I tested them out a Mozingo's Music (local music store) and was blown away with how good they felt. Mesh heads are great, but they are "bouncy", even when the tightness is cranked. The Yamaha pads have a very realistic feel, at least to someone who doesn't play acoustics regularly.
So, for 30 years I have played electronic drums, exclusively. I have heard every insult, snide comment, etc., about getting "real drums" from both musicians and non-musicians. Perhaps the most important lesson I've learned is that people "hear what they see". If they see a cool, acoustic looking drum kit on stage they are going to hear cool, acoustic drums. I once has a singer get very upset because I traded out my acoustic looking Roland kit for my electronic looking pads. He pouted and told me the new kit sounded like "tinker toys". What he didn't realize was that was using the same module (DTXtreme), only he pads had changed. They sounded exactly as they always had, but his eyes told him they didn't sound as good.
That was 7 years ago. The quality of sounds has vastly improved. These days I use VST software to create my sounds. I've been using Toontrack's EZDrummer 2, but lately I've become enamored with XLN's Addictive Drums 2 because it is so easy to build custom kits. However, Pearl recently announced the Mimic Pro kit, which looks just like an acoustic kit and the module has Steven Slate Drums 5 built in. I hope to write a little about these kits and others as I go along. Electronic drums have taken way too long to become mainstream, but they are finally considered a viable alternative to acoustic drums, especially for studios and working cover-band drummers. E-drums are finally here to stay.
