Drum Sets

Electronic drums have always been a great way of enjoying heaps of drums playing and practicing without annoying others. But, until recently, the starting prices of these kits have been too high and for those budding musicians who are just learning to play, these electronic kits have proven to be quite a lot of money than just to opt for an entry level acoustic kit. There were even a few cheap and nasty electronic drum kits in the market at double the cost of a decent acoustic kit. Hence, there was quite a big deal of difference if you were looking to enjoy good music in an e-kit.
The Session Pro DD505 Electronic Drum Kit is a generic Chinese made instrument that has also been branded as Fame, Legacy, Black Mamba and even Medeli drums. The DD505 is so famous that some people even dub it as a bit of a breakthrough. This drum kit strikes the right balance between price and real playability. In the following review, we will see in detail about the kit.

Design and Construction:

As always, we would like to begin with the design and construction of the drum kit. The benefits of electric drums are many, but their small size and portability is what has helped make these electronic versions much more popular. The Session Pro DD505 Electronic Digital Drum Set is no exception. The kit has used the very popular compact design that Roland invented for their popular HD1 kit. Its tubular metal frame feels quite sturdy and the pads also feel pretty realistic and robust too.  This durable unit is easy to set up and move, takes limited space. The first thing you will notice on the Session Pro kit is that there are no visible wires connecting the pads to the brain. This is because all the wires run inside the frame, so all you have to do is clip the pads in place to make it work. This makes the kit look cleaner & also stops the cables getting tangled or damaged.

Design flaws:

We have only a couple of gripes in this front; the bass pedal which comes new with the kit is very flimsy and just not up to heavy, repeat use. You can replace this unit with a standard Pearl pedal which fits fine and gives a greater feeling of robustness. The arm upon which the drum module sits is a little odd and could be better designed as the module does not always seem to be completely secure.

The Kit:

The Session Pro DD505 kit includes four Drum Pads with one snare and 3 toms, three Cymbal Pads with 1 hihat and 2 cymbals, one Hi-Hat Control Pedal With Half Open Feature and one Bass Drum Kick Trigger.

Features:

Feature wise, the DD505 Electric Digital Drum Kit is slightly differs from the previous versions, and to be precise, the instrument is now cable of choking the cymbals by holding the leading edge once the cymbal is struck. This new and improved version has many additions, including a louder kick drum sound and a larger bass drum trigger which allows the use of a double bass drum pedal.

Sounds:

The Session Pro DD505 allows you to plug in your iPod or any a la electronic music gadgets and jam along all of your favourite tracks through headphones. The brain features a wide variety of presets, including 215 Voices, 20 Preset Kits, 10 User Kits and 50 Preset Songs. The snare drum can even produce the sound of rim shots when opted for. This cymbal produces three sounds, namely closed, half open and fully open.  The sound module also has a MIDI out feature, which allows the kit to be used to trigger the sounds in any of the other MIDI sound module or PC.

Help yourself:

As we had mentioned earlier, the kit comes with built in tunes that you could improvise to or drum along to. How it works is when you need to hit a drum, a light flashes on the drum brain telling which one. While this can be tricky at first, if you keep trying you will get the hang of it and it helps that you can alter the tempo.

Sound:

Moving on to the brain, which is the sound module of the kit, it is pretty basic. But, being basic does not mean that the sound is average too, as the kit’s sounds are OK. Though the DD505 does not sound exactly like an Acoustic set, it seems to be fairly realistic. In use the pads are really quiet and in the room are much quieter than the expensive MESH heads found on other kits, although not as sensitive. They are too small and you will constantly find yourself hitting the edge of the drum or missing it completely. The drums are made of solid rubber, you don not get the bounce from the stick as much as you would like so it is hard to do drum rolls. Also the kit does not support rim shots which is a nuisance. Though, not all of the kit is bad.

Warranty:

The Session Pro DD505 Electronic Drum Kit comes with two years manufacturer’s warranty for parts and labour.

Conclusion:

The Session Pro DD505 is one of the first electric drum kits that has been tagged under 400 pounds that can actually be recommended to the musicians. Everything that is needed to get started with the kit has been included, except for a pair of headphones, so add that cost to the 400 pounds. The price is still premium when compared to a starter acoustic drum kit, but if you are living with another practicing drummer, we are quite sure that you will be glad that you had spent the little extra money to save your friendship. The kit was never designed to compete with the thousand pound plus Rolands but at a few hundred pounds they are great value. We would recommend this kit to beginners only for it lack the quality that an advanced drummer needs.

Session Pro DD505 Electronic Drum Kit/Set – Technical Specification Table

The Music Alley Junior Drum Kit is one of the best selling drum kits for the kids. Is it just suitable for your precious one? Read further to find out.

Design and Features:

The Music Alley Junior Drum Kit is of excellent quality Nevada pro junior drum kit that comprises of one 14 bass drum with pedal, one 8 mounted tom tom, one 8 mounted snare drum, one cymbal, one pair of drum sticks and a hard wearing drum stool. The whole set is available in two vibrant colours of are red and blue. Like other junior drum kits, the Music Alley Junior Drum Kit also weighs a moderate 11kgs.

Age group:

It is ideal for kids of the age of between three to six years.  The Drum Kit certainly has everything that a kid of this age group would need to have a sound understanding of the kit. It is made in such a way that suits the child’s age yet gives the best sound effects.

Verdict:

The Music Alley 3 Piece Junior Drum Kit/Set great value for money and is the correct version of the instrument that your child can handle at his or her age. So if your child wants to be a drummer, then the Music Alley Junior Drum Kit will certainly prove to be their dream gift.

Music Alley Junior Drum Kit – Technical Specification Table

Roland drum kits have been the envy of the electronic drums world for many years now. Every drums player aspires to have a drums kit of their own, but there are two main obstacles on their way: first one is that, most of them are not very affordable and the next one is that, there is no space to put them. Well, Roland has now come up trumps on both counts with the new Roland HD 1 compact electronic drum kit. It is safe to say that HD-1, the latest addition to Roland’s range, truly is the first of its kind. Being dubbed as the V-Drum Lite, this kit has been specifically designed to be simple, compact and stylish while still maintaining the high end performance of the rest of the V-Drums range. Read on to find all the extras about the kit.

Design:

Smart and Compact:
Roland has shown that looks can be deceiving by packing a powerful punch in a space saving drum kit. The complete kit is small, but sounds quite impressive. The compact style of the kit and the abundance of its features make it just the perfect choice for schools, home use and even studios. The innovative design also makes the kit easy to be transported and also offers a much cleaner look, no matter where it is played. From the diminutive little module sited atop the compact silver rack to the pod-like pedal housings, there is clear evidence of some heavy-duty design having been brought to bear on the new kit. And while it might be Lite in nature, the HD-1 is no flimsy toy. In fact its solidity is one of the most remarkable things about it. Though it is not as stable as a full TD-20 rig, the kit is heavy enough to put while playing, and the built quality is just sufficient to assuage any fears that it will only be good enough for some occasional tap around.

The Kit:
The HD-1 kit comes equipped with 10 drum kits, 10 patterns, and a metronome with various tempos, sounds, and volumes. The configuration includes a kick pedal, a snare, a hi-hat pedal, three toms, a crash, and a ride. Everything is controlled from a state-of-the-art control center that has five control buttons, a variation button, button for the metronome, a volume knob, and a tempo knob. The HD-1’s dedicated drum module is located right in the front with large backlit buttons that makes it easy to read and understand.

Installation:

The Roland HD-1 V-Drums Lite Electronic Drum set can be played from day one. As it comes with an easy to understand owner’s manual, a set-up guide, and a DVD manual will make putting everything together a breeze. Since most of HD-1’s components are mounted on one stand, setting up is just so fast and easy. Hence, most of you will not have to follow the long instructions included with the drum kit. Just take the Roland HD-1 out and start playing. Once it is all in place, it provides a decent balance between compactness and playing space.

Instruction DVD:

The instructional DVD included is a very informative and it teaches you how to set up your HD-1 kit and even gives you tips and tricks on how to play the hit. Jonny Rabb, the world famous drum clinician who is also the owner of the world record for the most number of single snare strokes in a minute, introduces the Roland HD-1 from setting up, explanation of how it works and even gives you a quick drum lesson.

Features:

Roland’s V-Drum line, while consisting of hardware products, is very much a range built on the capabilities of seriously hi-tech software. The mesh head pads and sexy tubular racks of gear like the TD-12K and TD-20K are all well and good, but without the processing power of the software within, they would be a pretty but useless assemblage of rubber, nylon and metal.

Just quiet:
The Roland HD-1 is not just for adults, it is a great choice for the kids as well. The proud parents will be able to admire their kids from afar without sharing their new hobby too much. This electronic drums with low noise pads gives you total control of the volume. You are the one to set the maximum noise of the drums and turn them down if it is too loud. You just cannot imagine anything like this in an acoustic kit. Roland’s drum pads are award winning and are extremely comfortable to play. They are acoustically so quite that you will not be disturbing even the person in next room. The snare drum of the HD1 comes with mesh skin, which means it is so realistic to play with authentic bounce and recoil; this again is, far quieter than an acoustic snare drum.

Hi-hat and Pedals:
The hi-hat of Roland V-drums looks and feels more like a proper hat and as it sounds, the end result is that, you will have a much more realistic and enjoyable playing experience. Roland has got just everything perfect by designing even the pedals to be quiet. With a rubber base, the kick drum and hi-hat pedals do not actually touch the floor. This reduces both noise and vibration and even eliminates slide on wooden floors.

Play along:
You will be able to connect an iPod, or any portable music player for that matter to the HD-1. This allows you to jam along with your favourite songs. You will also be able to control the blend of your drumming with the music, which again, is one of the best and most ways to learn drumming. In addition to this, free play along tracks can also be downloaded from Roland’s V-Drums website.

No editing:
However, there is no editing as far as sounds go, what you are given is what you have got. In the main this is no great shame, because the sounds are very solid. But in some cases it would be useful to reduce reverb levels on the acoustic bass drums, or tune snares up for a tighter tone.

Sounds:
There are very few drums in the market that create realistic and expressive electronic drum sounds; Roland tops the list and its HD-1 Kids, Beginners Drum Kit is no exception. The kit is equipped with a dedicated drum module has a world class line-up of drum sounds for you to explore and enjoy.

Comfort:
Playing the HD-1 is a rather different experience than sitting behind a more normal-sized electronic kit. But it is in no way unpleasant or uncomfortable, quite the contrary: everything falls to hand easily and the fact that everything is slotted in close actually means you have to concentrate on accuracy rather than flailing all over the place. The tactile response of the playing surface is just excellent. Players who are already familiar with the V-Drum stuff so far will appreciate the forgiving nature of the snare pad, and the wrist saving softness of the cushioned rubber toms is welcome too.

Performance:

On the grounds of performance, you will find that the Roland’s HD-1 V-Drums Lite is just close to perfect if you are used to playing acoustic drums. The drum pads of Roland HD1 offers you a comfortable feel for all round playing and the rubber pads are so sensitive, that they respond to rim shots. The snare drum gives some great sound and both the drum heads and cymbals respond just fantastic to the adjustments. We appreciate the remarkable performance of the pedal system. Overall, we just feel that nobody creates more realistic and expressive electronic drum sounds than Roland; there are 10 kits at your disposal at the touch of a button, ranging from rock to pop to electronic.

Warranty:

Roland offers its HD-1 V-Drums Lite kit three years warranty.

Verdict:

Roland HD-1 V-Drums Lite is one of the best Beginners Drums Kit in the market. To begin with, it has been made to cleverly fit into any corner of a room and the next is the price, we can say without any exaggeration that HD1 is Roland’s best priced electronics drums kit yet. Low price does not mean that they have skimped on the quality anywhere. You also get everything that you will need to simulate playing a 5 piece drum kit. If you are looking for a perfect drum kit for a beginning drummer or a portable drum kit for a seasoned pro the Roland HD-1 is the best bet. Roland’s awesome technology combined with their high-end design gives even affordable electronic drum kits power and great sound.

Roland HD-1 Electronic Drum Kit – Technical Specification Table

From time immemorial, music is one of the phenomena that have been influencing man the most. Due to its ability to alter the psychology of a person, music is now deeply rooted into the lives of many and hence music has of late become lucrative rather than just a luxury. Nowadays, as a result of the advent of digital electronics, almost everyone can have a drum kit and start composing music of individual interest. The digital drum kit is a wonderful find and it made music composition a lot easier. The ION IED05 is also one such drum kit that makes it very easy to compose and store music. It gives you a sort of virtual music. This drum kit is available at a very reasonable cost and also is easy to use. Let us discover more about this new Drum Kit, introduced by ION.

Design:

The ION iED05 USB Drum Kit looks like a toy when you look at it for the first time. It certainly is made to look so, only then it would be simpler and easier for the novice users to get acquainted with it. Going a little deeper into the details of the design, there are five pads that are arranged in an order that looks pretty much like the conventional drum kit. It will hence be easy to use it. Each pad can produce different sounds and the acoustics of these pads are designed to produce sounds of different pitch and tone. One can alter the sounds that each pad can produce by changing the settings on your computer using the software.

Fixing and Installing:

Using the guidelines given in the user’s manual, one needs to fix the individual components like pads, rods, wires and plugs. One must also be very careful while connecting the plugs to the ports and do it as it is given in the manual. The rods are of sufficient length so that it can be adjusted according to your height. After doing all this, you need to connect the whole drum kit to your computer. This can be done by simply plugging in the USB cable into the port of the computer. Now, the fixing part of the kit is over.
You will find a CD provided along with the kit and using this, the software must be installed onto your computer. This will be a very simple process, just like the installation of any other software. After installing this software, which is known as the Virtual Drum X, just open the software and you will find the virtual diagram of the drum kit on the computer. There are also options for you to change the settings so that the tone of the music can be changed and then you can customise the settings, save the composed tunes, and a lot more options are in readiness for you. You can save the files in the popular MIDI format.

Composing Music:

Composing music on the ION IED05 Electronic Drum Kit is a very easy process. Using the drum sticks provided along with the kit, just strike the plastic pads just like you strike on the real drum kit. The force with which the pad is struck decides the intensity of the sound. You can see that each time you strike the pad the beat is noted by the software on the computer and after you complete the beating process, you can save the composition as an MIDI file. Then, you can alter the already saved tunes according to your taste and the composition can be changed partly or wholly to produce a good musical effect. These files can be transferred by using a USB flash disk drive and they can be copied on to another computer or even a mobile phone that supports MIDI files.

PC Requirements:

The ION iED05 MIDI Drum Kit has the following minimum system requirements in order to be compatible with your PC: IBM compatible PC, Pentium III 800MHz or higher with 256 MB of memory recommended, Microsoft Windows Server 2003, 2000, 98SE, or ME, XP, Vista, CD-ROM: 8X speed or faster, Keyboard & Mouse, USB port, VGA compatible display (or higher), DirectX® video/graphics & sound-card drivers, 150MB of free hard-disk space for software installation, Sound Card, Speakers or Earphones.

Performance:

The ION IED05 is one of the better virtual drum kits available in the market. You can expect an excellent performance from this drum kit. Even though it is not as good as the real thing, this drum kit can be a great blessing for those people who wish to start learning music lessons and also for those who want to start composing music on a small scale. There are some concerns regarding the compatibility of the kit with some of the operating systems. Well, this is not true for all, but if your system cannot identify the kit or the software, you need to install some drivers, which may solve the issue. Some computers may also need a converter that converts file into MIDI format so that it will be compatible with most of the devices. It also does not require power cables. It receives power through the USB cable, from the computer. But, above all, the performance is good.

Warranty:

ION offers a parts and labour warranty service for a period of one year from the original date of purchase, pertaining to certain limitations and conditions.

Verdict:

The ION IED05 Digital Drum Set looks like it is a professional kit for starters, so you can easily access it even if you are a at a beginner’s level. Not only can it be used as a professional drum kit, but it also can be used to train the beginners before they actually get used to the real drum kit. Some really important drums lessons can also be learnt since the sounds produced once can be saved on the computer. This allows you to review the lessons time and again. It can be gifted to children so that it can be a great learning tool for them as they create interest in music. For such a low price, you can learn a lot of music lessons from the ION IED05.

Check Best Selling Drum Sets, Drum Kit Reviews, Latest Alesis Drum Kits in this website.

Ion iED05 Midi Drum Set – Technical Specification Table

Bontempi is an Italian musical instrument manufacturer who are best known for manufacturing low priced, plastic cased chord organs and small keyboard instruments. These instruments were popular in the 1970s and early 80s and then, Bontempi moved on to manufacturing small and home electronic keyboards. The company now continues to manufacture low priced musical instruments aimed at the educational and toy marketing, including keyboards, guitars, drum kits and various items of tuned percussion. With a history of over50 years, Bontempi will not disappoint you.

Design:

The Bontempi JE5690 “Rock Drummer” Electronic Drum Set comes in a very cool stylish design. This is comparatively a very small set with its dimensions of (H x W x D) 40 x 18.7 x 41.5 and weighs just 6Kgs. This is a four piece drum kit.

Features:

The Bontempi JE5690 Drum Set is an excellent sounding kit with clip on the music box to play along to. It has heaps of pre-programmed tunes and as this list includes “Happy Birthday”, it will be an excellent birthday gift.

Storage can never be an issue with such small dimensions of the kit. The kit also includes a stool. The entire kit is extremely easy to assemble. The instruction manual is very informative and has full instructions on assembly and usage of the kit. The toy is very durable and if at all we have any issues, it is with the stool as it is a bit light and easy to topple over.

The drums set requires three AA batteries required which is included in the package.

Conclusion:

The Bontempi JE5690 Rock Drummer Electronic Drum Set is an excellent toy for the kids. The background tunes are ideal and kids can soon get in rhythm. The extra few pounds that you pay for the kit is well worth it. We recommend it for kids above the age of three.

Bontempi JE5690 Electronic Kids Drum Kit – Technical Specification Table