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A drum set, also called a drum kit, is a set of drums that is used with drumsticks or brushes in popular music, and also in jazz.
It has a number of important components, including a bass drum that is operated by foot, a suspended cymbal, a snare drum and one or a few tom-toms.
There are different types of drum sets available, and currently the most popular drum kits with beginners and people with home studios are the electronic drum kit.
The popularity of the electronic drum kit has grown mainly because it gives the drummer finer control of the volume levels, and they can practice with ear phones eliminating the problem of noise almost completely, meaning that they will not be disturbing neighbors or anyone else that may be affected by the noise.
They also come with inbuilt tools that can help the drummer while they practice.
Some of the advantages which has over the traditional long time drums are:
- Very portable and they can easily be moved around.
- Not so big and so they take or occupy less physical space.
- Very durable and they do not require any tuning at all
- Programmable to produce any sound music you may need.
- Capable of producing several notes within a second.
In order to make your play is comfortable and ensure you do not experience any back pain ensure your drum throne is very flexible and adjustable to any height you might require.
Here are some of the best electronic drum sets that are available today:
Top 10 Best Electronic Drum Sets on the market
Top 10 Best Electronic Drum Set Reviews
1. Alesis Nitro Kit/ Electronic Drum Set With 8” Snare, 8” Toms and 10” Cymbals
This electronic drum set comes with dynamic pads that are very comfortable pads and feel great while playing, and help to give you a great natural response from your drums.
It has very high quality 8” rubber drum pads, and comes with a kick pad tower that includes a bass drum pedal.
Our Rating: (4.6 / 5)
Pros
- This is a very stable and flexible drum
- Comes with high quality drum pads
- It has everything that you need in order to play your drums like a pro
- Its pads are very comfortable
Cons
- It could be slightly expensive to maintain
2. Roland TD-11KV-S V-Compact Series Electronic Drum Set
This is an amazing drum set for those looking for a technologically advanced set of drums that will give them a more natural and realistic experience when playing.
It is designed for drummers of all skill levels and budget. This is by far one of the best sets for practice, teaching, recording, and live performances.
It is a v-compact kit with a mesh-head, a cloth head kick, a triple-trigger cymbal, a V-Hi-Hat as well as a TD-11 sound module.
Our Rating: (4.5 / 5)
Pros
- It is perfect for players of all skill levels, whether a beginner or advanced
- Very affordable and easy to use
- The TD-11 sound module covers a wide variety of music genres
- Can be used by players of all levels to improve their drumming skills
Cons
- Maintenance costs can go through the roof
3. Alesis Command Kit/ Eight-Piece Electronic Drum Set
This is an amazing eight-piece drum kit that comes with an all inclusive Alesis mesh snare and mesh kick, which are perfect for a great drumming experience.
It also features a 10-inch ride cymbal, a 10-inch hit-hat with a pedal as well as a 10-inch crash with choke.
Its premium chrome 4-post rack ensures that everything stays anchored solidly, regardless of how hard you play.
Our Rating: (4.2 / 5)
Pros
- It is very stable and highly flexible
- It has everything you need to enjoy playing
- It has very comfortable and dynamic pads that ensure that you receive the best response when you are playing
Cons
- It may cost you a lot to own this amazing set
4. Complete 5-Piece Black Junior Drum Set with Cymbals Stands Sticks Hardware & Stool
This is a complete 5-piece set that comes with cymbals, stands, sticks and hardware, ensuring that you have everything you need to start playing.
You will not have to buy any accessories because the drums, stands, sticks, cymbals, pedals and everything else come in the package.
Our Rating: (4.4 / 5)
Pros
- It is perfect for beginners
- Everything needed is included in the set
- It is very affordable
Cons
- It may cost a lot to maintain or replace the parts
5. Yamaha DTX522K Electronic DrumKit with Free iOS Apps
This is one of the best drum sets on the market, and it promises to make your practice sessions both enjoyable and fruitful.
To start with, its pads feel great, and would make any player feel like they are playing a real drum kit. This is because its heads are filled with air bubbles which helps to add to the realistic feel.
The bubbles act as cushions when you hit the drum, making it easier for you to play for longer, without worrying about tired or sore wrists and arms.
Our Rating: (4.2 / 5)
Pros
- It comes with free iOS, which allows for easy customization and song importation
- It comes with a host of training programs that will be helpful to drummers, especially beginners
- It is very comfortable
- Its flexible and stable
Cons
- There is no kick pad included with the set
6. Alesis DM10 Studio Kit /Ten-Piece professional Electronic Drum Set
This set has been designed to be ready for use immediately you take it out of the box. It has everything one will need to be able to play like a professional.
With it you will get 6-natural-feeling RealHead drum pads, an exceptional sounding DM10 high-definition drum module and a very strong StealthRack.
If you are looking for a set that will give you a natural playing experience, this is definitely a set to consider.
Our Rating: (4 / 5)
Pros
- It is ready to use straight out the box
- It is very portable
- It is easy to set up, regardless of the space you are using
Cons
- It does not come with a kick pedal
7. Alesis DM10 X Kit / Ten-Piece Professional Electronic Drum Set
This is a very strong drum set that is ready to be played upon purchase. It’s a 6-piece professional drum set that comes with 10-inch and 12 inch drum pads.
It also features 12, 14 and 16 inch cymbals, one of the best DM10 modules, and the best chrome-placed Crack that you will get in the market today.
Its DM10 module comes with an advanced sequencer and more than 1,000 sounds that feature a multi-sample technology, giving you the tools you need to play like a professional.
Our Rating: (4 / 5)
Pros
- It looks great and its sound is even better
- It is perfect for both a live performance and a quiet practice
- It is of great quality
- It has everything a drummer needs to get started, regardless of their skill level
Cons
- The kick pedal is sold separately
8. Roland TD-25KV V-Tour Drum Kit
This is a mid-level drum set that is perfect in both home and studio environments.
It has a wonderful sound engine that comes from its flagship TD-30, which is one reason why it is one of the best choices for pro players.
It also comes with a streamlined interface that allows you to create your own personalized kits. It has a built-in audio recording function, which can help you capture your performance for evaluation, transfer to a project, or sharing on social media.
Our Rating: (4.3 / 5)
Pros
- It has one of the best sound systems you will find on an electronic drum set
- Easy to set up
- It has USB, MIDI and MP3
- It has training functions too, making it perfect for beginners
Cons
- Hi-hat stand and kick pedal will have to be purchased separately
9. Yamaha DTX532K Electronic Drum Set
This is another great electronic drum kit form Yamaha, which features the DTX-PAD snare, a real hi-hat trigger, and 3-zone cymbal pads, which makes it easy for you to develop real playing techniques.
The hi-hat trigger allows you to position the set to your specifications for easier playing. You can also develop your technique easily with the DTX-PAD snare. Its DTX 502 module comes with 691 high quality sounds, drum training functions for beginners, practice songs and easy MIDI recording.
It features a USB port as well, which allows you to import custom wave files and allows you to use the drum kit as a controller for your VSTi software.
Our Rating: (5 / 5)
Pros
- It produces great quality sound
- Its drum pads is designed to provide you with the best playing experience
- It’s a strong, durable drum set that will serve you for a long time
Cons
- Replacing and maintaining parts may prove to be costly
10. Roland TD-30KV V-Pro Series Electronic Drum Kit
This is an amazing drum set that is designed to deliver the best quality sound while giving players a natural feel and brilliant response.
It comes with more than 1000 drum sounds and a variety of special effects which allow drummers to explore a wide range of musical genres and drum combinations.
It is made using Roland’s Supernatural and behavior modeling technology, which produces realistic drum sounds and highlights even when you are not playing vigorously.
Our Rating: (4.5 / 5)
Pros
- Its professional V-edit mode allows for sound customization
- Its Behavior Modeling allows for expressive and accurate playing
- It has some of the most advanced sensors and supernatural sounds
Cons
- A snare drum stand, hit-hat stand and kick pedal are not included in the package
The Best Electronic Drum Set Brands
Now that you know a little more about electronic drum sets, it is important to note that finding the perfect set can be hard. Fortunately, there are a number of great electronic drum set reviews like this one that you can look at to figure out what the best brand is for you if you get confused by the wide range of drum sets out there.
For instance, Alesis is a great brand and a favorite of many players. This is mainly because most of its products are not only affordable but they are also of very high quality. They all have amazing features as well, which gives drummers full usability as they practice and play.
Roland is another great brand with years of experience that has been developing its instruments in order to give its customers exactly what they need regardless of their skill level. The company has a great reputation, and builds some of the best quality instruments in the market. It has excellent customer service too, which draws a host of experienced players to the brand. If you are loking for maximum enjoyment and satisfaction, this is the band you can count on.
Electronic Drum Set Buying Guide
Buying the best electronic drum set requires a lot more than shopping and placing an order. There are very many things that should you need to consider, especially if you want to take home a drum set that will satisfy all your needs. Some of the considerations to make include:
1. How will you use it?
Is it for practice? Then you need to purchase a set that will not disturb your family and neighbors. Is it for music production and recording? You need powerful, high quality sounds for that. Is it for live performances? Every situation has a different kind of electronic drum kit that would be perfect, therefore, you have to be sure how you are going to use it before you make a purchase so that you can pick the right one for the job.
2. What is your budget?
Not all sets will include everything you need in order to start playing right away. You might have to buy some of the things you need separately, which means you spending more money. Therefore, you have to examine each product closely to ensure that it fits within your budget, especially if you need to buy accessories to use it.
3. Will it fit your space?
Always consider your space when shopping for an electronic drum set to make sure that the set that you purchase will fit perfectly in your space, allowing you to play with ease. If you have a limited space, do not go for sets with large footprints
4. Sound Quality
Regardless of whether you are playing for an audience or yourself, you need to get the best sound quality that money can buy. It may help if you could test out some of the drum sets yourself if you would like to make sure that you are getting the sound quality that you would like before you make your purchase.
Some factors of Electronic Drum Set You Should Consider
1. USB
The electronic drum set have USB connection which can be connected to the computer, the USB connection can also be used to download songs.
2 . Memory
The electronic drums have a very good and big memory capacity. The big memory space to store many songs recorded or downloaded.
3. Manuals
If you are a beginner and new on electronic drum set do not who will teach you because these drums are accompanied with training materials manuals that you can go through and learn a lot from it.
4. Settings
The electronic drum set has many settings for example the adjustable settings to give you quality and good sound effects
5. Easy to use
The electronic drum set have received a lot of positive feedback from all clients as the most and very many new beginners
6. Buttons
The electronic drum set has a quick record button that you can press easily, this button enables you to record very faster and very quickly.
7. Compatibility
The electronic drum set allows you to use with other devices for example an iPad, it is Very integrated to accommodate other future innovations.
The electronic drum also has a better playing surface, they also have shock absorbers which are attached to each drum pad to enhance the drums stability. The electronic drums set have the best pads.
History of Electric Drum Sets
Electronic drum sets haven’t been around forever. In fact, they are less than 50 years old. You may wonder who came up with the idea of the electronic drum set and how it became popular. The history of electronic drum sets starts with Graeme Edge, the drummer for the group The Moody Blues.
Edge first came up with the idea for an electronic drum set during a discussion with Brian Groves, a professor of electronics. The two built what would be the very first electronic drum set. It featured a control panel that was touch sensitive thanks to a number of magnets inside it. The drum set was very large—it features five snares, ten tom-toms, a number of bass drums, 16 different sequencers, and more. It took more than 500 transistors to make the entire thing work, and Edge’s set didn’t look nearly as elegant or as sophisticated as today’s electronic drum sets. However, it did work, and it got people talking about electronic drum sets.
Of course, there were some technical issues. Edge’s and other early electronic drum sets often broke down, and many complained that they didn’t quite capture the sound of acoustic drums. They also couldn’t capture subtle tones and didn’t have the dynamic range as acoustic drums. While Simmons and Yamaha, two companies known for their quality instruments, soon created electronic drum sets, they really weren’t much more than manual sequencers and were only really good in musical genres where the drummers played the same pattern very quickly with no timbre variation.
It wasn’t until Pollard Syndrum released their version of the electronic drum that a true electronic drum was available. This drum was of recording studio quality, and it was very reliable. Its dynamic audio range actually went beyond the range of human hearing! Today, many drummers prefer to use Pollard Syndrum drums when recording.
Over the years, electronic drum companies have worked hard to address the many issues found in Edge’s and other early drum kits. While the first electronic drums didn’t quite catch that acoustic sound, todays are nearly indistinguishable from acoustic drums. They feature high quality digital sound, including some samples of actual instruments. The entire electronic drum set is crawling with sensors that measure where the drum stick hit and with how much pressure it hit. They’re incredibly complex, yet everything is hidden away inside the drum set so that the drummer can be seen and heard. If you play the drums and don’t mind spending a good amount of money on a nice electronic drum set, you can take your music to a truly new level.
How Do Electronic Drum Sets Work?
Electronic drum sets are interesting tools that work through a system of interconnected wires and relay signals. As far as you know, when the drum is turned on and you hit one of the pads it produces an electronic sound. However, it is actually a lot more complicated than that. For example, when you strike the pad it actually triggers a voltage charge that is deeply embedded in the pad. This voltage then travels through the wiring toward the computer of the electronic drum.
This “brain” of the drum then takes that voltage charge and turns it into a sound wave that is geared to produce the perfect pitch and sound. Each percussion pad is pre-programmed with a certain sound, so that when it is hit and the voltage is triggered it will produce the correct sound that is associated with that specific pad. In fact, each pad can be linked up to a different series of sounds which can be controlled by you and what you program the machine to do.
If you have a relatively newer electronic drum set then you probably have different modules that include cymbals, toms, a snare, and even a kick. There are even those electronic drum set that offer something called a hi-hat. The hi-hat comes with a specific foot pedal that is used to produce certain sounds and is controlled by the same kind of relay as the pads. The sounds that it can produce will vary from model to model, so be sure to check this out before you purchase any certain type.
The good news is that with an electronic drum set you have the ability to assign a variety of different sounds to certain pads, which means that you can achieve a wide range of sounds from just one drum kit. The wide range of electronic sounds and different options are what has made electronic drum kits an emerging new musical tool.
Do Electronic Drum Sets Disturb Neighbors?
If you are thinking about getting an electronic drum set, you will want to take a few things into consideration. For example, these drum sets can be rather loud, so if you live in an apartment building you will want to make sure that you are not causing noise problems for your neighbors. While most apartment buildings are constructed with thin walls that can cause problems with noise, there are some where the noise from your electronic drums might not disturb those who are living around you.
The key to knowing whether or not the drumming would cause problems in your particular apartment building is measure the noise level tolerance between the different units. For example, if you can hear your neighbors talking at night, or you can hear their television set, then an electronic drum set is definitely going to cause a noise disturbance problem. However, if you do not hear your neighbors very often (or at all), then you might be able to use your electronic drums without causing a lot of problems.
Another way that you can make sure that the drumming does not cause a problem with your neighbors is to try and use it during hours when it is not likely to cause a lot of problems. If you make sure that you do not use your electronic drum set before ten o’clock in the morning or after nine o’clock at night, then your neighbors are not likely to give you a problem about your drums.
Another thing that you can do to try and prevent disturbances in an apartment building is to soundproof the room that you are going to be doing most of the playing in. One inexpensive way to do this is to buy some egg crate mattress pads to go up against the wall. Then, pick the wall that is dividing your apartment from your neighbor and nail the mattress pads to the wall, flat side down. Just make sure that you remember to cut out holes for electrical sockets and light switches.
There are more complicated ways to soundproof a room to make sure that your neighbors do not hear anything, but they are often more intrusive and can be far too complicated for an apartment building. You cannot do anything more than temporary and reversible changes to a building that you do not own, so this is the best solution to your problem.
So, even if your electronic drum set might disturb your neighbors, there are ways to avoid any conflicts or problems. Just make sure that you follow these simple guidelines and you will be able to enjoy your drums to the fullest.
How to Play Your Electronic Drum Set
If you’ve just purchased your first electronic drum set, congratulations! You probably took a good amount of time deciding which drum set to get, especially since they can be very expensive. So you’ve purchased the electronic drum set, brought it home, and you’ve unpacked everything and got it all set up. Now it’s time to start making music. But wait…you suddenly realize you don’t know how to play your electronic drum set.
Well, the good news is that it’s not that different from a standard, acoustic drum set, at least as far as basics go. You’ll still have two drumsticks, and you’ll still be hitting the various inputs to create sound. However, electric drum sets are quite different from acoustic drum sets in some very important ways.
To play your electronic drum set, take a drumstick and hit one of the pads. This activates the sensors inside the pad. These sensors will measure where exactly on the pad your drumstick hit, and they will also measure the force with which your drumstick hit the pad. This sends a signal from the sensor to the soundboard. The soundboard then translates this information into a sound, including making the sound louder or softer depending on how hard you hit the pad.
The soundboard has a number of different inputs on it. There’s one for the bass drum, one for cymbals, one for snare, etc. This lets it know what sound to make. That’s probably the biggest different between playing an acoustic drum set and playing an electric drum set: on an acoustic drum set, the noise is produced by the drum itself when you hit it. With an electronic drum set, the noise is actually produced by the soundboard and the input. This means you have to be certain the correct sections of the drum kit are connected to the correct inputs. If you connect your snare drum to the cymbal input, you’re going to hear cymbals whenever you hit the snare.
Setting up your software is another difference between traditional and electronic drum sets. Learning all the various computer programs and how they work is necessary in learning how to play your electronic drum set, so be ready to dive into the software manuals and play around with the programs until you know exactly how to set up your electronic drums to get the sounds you want.
Conclusion
Electronic drum sets provide flexibility that is hard to find in acoustic drum sets, which is why they are preferred by so many amateur and semi-professional players.
Buying an electronic drum kit today is easy if you know exactly what you would like and where you can find it. This review should help you find exactly what you are looking for with the least hassle.
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