beginner with electric set?

[e p]

Whats up Im a bassist but I would love to star drumming. Due to sound issues I wont be able to get an acoustic set, so basically Ive narrowed it down to this: http://www.music123.com/Alesis-DM5-Electronic-Drum-Kit-i390851.music ...as it has plenty for a beginner and comes with a module.

Anyone have any experience with this electronic set? I havent gotten it yet so any links to any other sets that you might think are better (and in the same $$$ range), or any things I should know before purchasing it would be appreciated.

Oh, and how different is starting on an electric set as opposed to an acoustic set? I would assume it isnt very different but I dont know..

[Corkofski]

acoustic vs electric is a HUGE difference.

playing live / with a band is harder with an electric
the feel is different, and this can lead to bad technique

go to a store, play an acoustic kit, and then an electric.

[e p]

I really want to start drums and I have no other choice.

I understand the feel would be different but it can't be that different. And I forgot to mention this is for practice only.

[dairyairman]

i don't see a problem, especially if you have no choice. i use an electronic kit for practice because of noise issues. it does sound, feel, and react differently from an acoustic kit, but as long as i play my acoustic kit regularly i'm fine.

[Zildjian]

ti don't see a problem, especially if you have no choice. i use an electronic kit for practice because of noise issues. it does sound, feel, and react differently from an acoustic kit, but as long as i play my acoustic kit regularly i'm fine.

123.

[goalieman92]

I Have the set and am selling it to my chiropractor believe it or not and all I have to say is it gets the job done. None of the "features" really astounded me, but like I said, it gets the job done and is prolly the best e-kit for the money.

[e p]

^^how natural does it feel compared to an acoustic set?

and what are some of the "features?"

[goalieman92]

It is fairly Close to the real feel. The Mesh makes fairly close to the real feel.

The cymbals arn't very good but it suffices

[e p]

thanks

[MisurCanavi]

Buy a practice pad along with your electric set. Or even buy a cheap snare drum (20-40) and you can get the feel of an acoustic set by playing on a snare drum with stick control and such.

But yeah, electric sets can be very nice do to noise constraints and they always sound perfect :-).

[Jred250]

It is fairly Close to the real feel. The Mesh makes fairly close to the real feel.

The cymbals arn't very good but it suffices

Yea, the mesh is pretty close, I actually prefer it to be honest. The cymbals do feel very different as they do not really move when you hit them. Also perfect technique on a normal cymbal, is bad technique on an E-Kit, and same vice versa.
The main reason being you hit a normal cymbal with a glancing blow. With an E-Kit, its more of a hit the cymbal literally, as the rubber makes it hard for the stick to slide on.

[dairyairman]

electronic cymbals differ from real cymbals a tremendous amount i've found. for a long time i played only an electronic kit. when i finally bought an acoustic kit i was pretty astonished at how expressive real cymbals are and how different they are from electronic cymbals. the electronic cymbals make only one sound when you hit them. i know that some have different "zones", and i know it's possible to assign different sounds to them, but they still are very limited. a real cymbal makes completely different sounds depending on where you hit it, how hard you hit it, what type of stick you use, what type of stroke you use, etc. etc. etc.

as far as the "feel" of an electronic kit goes, the rubber pads have a very similar feel to a hard rubber practice pad. mesh heads feel a lot more like real drumheads. when i moved to my acoustic kit, i had some trouble with the real heads because they don't bounce as much as the rubber pads, especially the large tom heads.

[crazyjake19]

I wouldn't recommend switching between electric and acoustic, I would say stick to one or the other. I switched over to electric because of sound issues and to be able to record easier.

e_p, if you don't mind saving up some money, I would suggest the Yamaha DTX series, which goes from $750-1500.

[DethChamber999]

Just get an acoustic and the buy a set of drum and cymbal mutes. Problem Solved, kind of. No?

[e p]

how much is sound is muted?

[DrummingBen]

I have mutes. With the snares off almost all the sound is muted. The biggest problem I've found is with the bass, which im told is structure born sound, and as such is hard to mute.

[Ollie The Drumming Legend]

I really want to start drums and I have no other choice.

I understand the feel would be different but it can't be that different. And I forgot to mention this is for practice only.

I reckon it's easier in some ways to practise a good technique on electronic kits as in a way it's more like a practise pad (so maybe a psychological difference). Electronic kits generally have a different feel, but then again so do difference tunings of different heads on an acoustic kit. For practise, I reckon it's fine.

Dynamics etc are better on a real kit, plus its more responsive etc

I would say: real kit is better, but if volume (or possibly space) is an issue then go electronic. Mute pads to go on acoustic drums mean they are very unlike actual drums to play, even less so than an electronic kit in my opinion, and you can't mute the cymbals really, and there's not much point in having an acoustic kit that you can't ever play properly unless you're gigging. I personally would just annoy the hell out of the neighbours with the noise, but maybe if they're gonna complain to the council or police it might not be a good idea...

[Trev]

The Alesis DM5 module isn't too bad, it's fairly old, but there's a pretty decent selection of sounds, nothing too fancy or realistic though.

I got a DTXPress for Christmas, and played it exclusively throughout January. I went back onto my acoustic yesterday, and the difference is huge, although I've just about adjusted back to my acoustics. I'm pretty sure my stick control has improved as a result though.

[Zebba]

I think the hardest thing to do would be play the cymbals... if they dont move it would feel so weird!

[Zildjian]

the cymbals on my ekit move...

[Talos]

^You have a Roland, on most electric kits they are just the same as the drums but often differ in shape and that.