I have played with electronic music on and off through the years.  So when the desire to learn drums came about, electronic drums was the only option which appealed to me, both because it was in line with my long term interests, and due to the storage/transport and the quietness benefits.  But I did not really know much about electronic drums.  Over the months I’ve been involved with them, I’ve picked up a fair amount of information, which may be of value to others interested in electronic drums.

This is a ‘living’ document; at the start based on information I have discovered, experimentation I have done, and, at the end of the day, my opinions.  Future versions can include your input too; if you have any information to add or corrections to make or information or features you would like to see, please let me know.  Later versions of this document will be at your request.

V2.0 Updates in green                   cascada_cats (John)                   Version 2.0 - 5/20/2010

When you hear the term ‘drums’, you likely think of a set of various size and shaped ‘boxes’ and discs which you whack with sticks to make various sounds.  And this is exactly right.  This is the ‘been around for centuries’, classic type of drum.  Formally, these are called ACOUSTIC drums.  Just like with guitars, now there are ELECTRIC drums as well.  These may also be known as ‘Electronic’ or ‘Digital’ drums or even 'e-drums'.  Rather than whack on things to make the sounds, you whack on things to activate sensors, which are connected to some form of computer, which generates an electronic wave form.  You can’t hear anything, unless you ‘convert’ the wave form to sound, via an amplifier and speaker.

Why bother, you say?  Electric drums have some advantages.  They tend to be smaller and more durable than acoustic drums, which makes storing and/or transporting them easier.  They make little or no noise themselves, which makes them easy to play ‘noiselessly’ (via headphones).  Conversely, if you are recording, or playing them in an environment which is ‘too big’ for them to be heard directly, you can easily pipe them into the sound system without messing with a bunch of microphones.  Since a 'computer' is involved, there is the potential for additional functions such as metronomes, sequencers and training/practice aids.  Finally, an acoustic drum’s sound is largely defined by its size, shape and material, which are not easily changeable; if you want a new sound, generally you need to get a new drum.  Not only can an electronic drum produce any sound you can conceive of (including sounds which could not be created by any acoustic element), but you can modify or change the sound completely with a press of a button (or at least several button presses).

So then why bother with acoustic drums at all?  Well, the sound. More accurately, the expression, since electronic drums have limitations.  A top drum machine can be made to emulate a particular drum strike ‘exactly’ (or at least very closely), but an acoustic drum is not limited to one strike.  You have a much wider dynamic range from an acoustic drum, from such a light hit that it essentially cannot be heard, to such a heavy hit that you puncture or break the drum.  And generally you get a different sound from an acoustic drum depending on where you hit it, with what part of the drum stick, with which method of attack, and so on.  Not to mention the type of drum stick or mallet or brush or whatever.  Most electronic drum sensors don’t care where you hit it or how you hit it or what you hit it with.  No hit equals ‘no’ sound and any hit equals the programmed sound.

Of course, many electronic sensors are ‘velocity sensitive’, so you get some degree of dynamic control.  Due to the nature of the beast, a strike lighter than the designed minimum is ignored, and a strike harder than the designed maximum does not produce any more sound than the maximum.  And between these limits is a defined 'interval'.  Thus you do not have a 'continuous' range of loudness, but rather a number of discrete levels.  Some sensors have a fairly narrow defined dynamic range (worst case would be ‘soft’ and ‘hard’) and others have a reasonably wide range.  Most electronic sensors cannot tell the difference between stick and brush, or differentiate slight differences in where the sensor is struck (Roland claims they can do both of these with their top end equipment).

Finally, the sound produced by an electronic drum has great dependence on the amplifier and speaker required to get actual sound out.  Take the best electronic drum setup in the world and run it through a small practice guitar amp, and it will sound horrible.  You will need a big, heavy, expensive, sound system due to the wide frequency range produced by a drum set.  Of course, it is possible to get flat response, wide frequency range headphones for under $100, which is adequate (and sometimes necessary) for practice.

So, electric drums do not replace acoustic drums, any more than electric guitars have replaced acoustic guitars.  E-drums have their place and purpose, and can also be ‘mixed’ with acoustic drums to provide the best of both worlds.  That is, you can have acoustic drums as a base, with some electronic elements to provide the additional sound possibilities.  Or you could have an electronic set as a base, with some acoustic elements to really nail the exact sound and expression you are going for.  Or you could put sensors on your acoustic drums to add to their sounds, or even have a drum set which could be ‘converted’ to be electric or acoustic as desired.

Pearl’s ‘e-Pro Live’ is such a convertible set (the ‘e-prolive.com’ web site does not work well with Internet Explorer, or at least not with the level I have, but can be viewed with Firefox).  Another 'conversion' option, from Traps, is a set of pads which mount on your acoustic drums, and a set of replacement cymbal pads to inexpensively and quickly convert an acoustic set to electronic.

DDrum has their ‘Hybrid’ set which is an acoustic set with built in sensors.  They don’t list a module included with or available for it.  They also have a selection of sensors you can mount on your existing drums.  Primarily this company seems to concentrate on the drum and sensor aspects and leave the electronics to others.  High end DDrum sensors seem to use an XLR (microphone) cable rather than the more common 1/4" TRS (headphone) cable.