Alchemy Traps E400 Electronic Portable Drums
What I know about drumming I've learned from a few weeks of Rock Band, so I leave it to actual drummers to test Alchemy Traps Drums' claim that their "Traps E400" set of electronic drums really are the "first portable electronic kit to feel like a regular drum kit." The nearly full-sized heads are certainly closer to real than the small plastic pads I recall from music videos in the '80s, but since the feel is only half the battle—they've got to sound good, too—I have no idea if these are a decent replacement for a real kit or just a £450 gimmick.
Any clue, drummers?
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They look pretty good, and the money is about right. The Roland V-Drums are the gold standard for these things, but they cost 3x as much.
This kit is definitely not the first of it's kind, and though I can't vouch for the quality having never played this particular brand, it seems to be a decent setup for the money. I've owned rubber pad kits and these perform (generally) just as well as mesh kits, but the entire set feels like it's made out of practice pads.
as a general rule of thumb, rubber pad kits are less expensive than mesh, but make more noise. if you're looking for a budget mesh head drumset, these might be a good option, but the concept has been around for awhile.
if anyone is looking at purchasing an electronic kit both roland and yamaha make decent entry-level rigs, if you want something a little more expensive then check out hart dynamics.
or one could always buy one of these:
http://www.zendrum.com/
The main problem I have with these sets is the dynamics. Regular drums require more nuanced playing, and are probably better to learn on. Its nice not waking up the neighbors though. At this price point, I really like the Alesis DM5. Smaller heads, but they play well and the drum brain sounds good.
http://alesis.com/product.php?id=111
The above commenters all give good advice. I took a different approach. I picked up a Roland HPD-15 HandSonic, stand, and bass drum/hihat pedals. It's sort of a laptop for drummers.
This is played with fingers only - no stick pounding. It also takes up far less space. Though the focus is on hand percussion, there are drum sets, collections of noisy things, techno/electro kits, and far-out sound effects. Plug the MIDI into your laptop and play your virtual gear too.
The Handsonic is more expressive than a drum set emulator thanks to its knobs, two ribbon controllers that you can tap and rub, plus the D-Beam that you trigger by waving your hand over it, theremin style. The ability to do head bends and palm mutes directly on the pads takes it way over the top.
Search 'Handsonic' on Youtube for many creative examples.
Details at http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.aspx?ObjectId=199
Maybe haptically they feel like the real thing, but 450 pounds is quite a low price for a pretty much complete kit, so either they aren't as good as the real thing at all, or they're an extremely attractive bargain. I'm guessing it's the former, but I'm not a drummer, so what do I know. (Very little, that's what.)
Maybe haptically they feel like the real thing, but 450 pounds is quite a low price for a pretty much complete kit, so either they aren't as good as the real thing at all, or they're an extremely attractive bargain. I'm guessing it's the former, but I'm not a drummer, so what do I know. (Very little, that's what.)
Thanks for the Handsonic tip, Totalforge, very interesting and much appreciated!
Portable acoustic kits aren't a new thing - I remember seeing them 20 years ago, and it's pretty impressive how much you can strip down a kit yet still get a live sound out of it. The one I saw was basically skins with something to clip them onto a riser and I thought it was electronic but the drummer assured me that it wasn't. It needed clever miking in a live situation but it worked. If I had the cash I'd have one of those kits though. I have a cheap ION kit that I use to play in parts to Logic but it's horribly unresponsive and gets painful to play after a while because of the hard pads and it would be nice to have something responsive.