User Reviews:Drum kits, percussion & e-drums

[Monarch]

Hi everyone, this is a user review thread that focuses on drum kits, percussion & e-drums. Please write a review of any items you currently own within those categories using these guidelines as best as possible....


1. Name of the product and current version:

2. When you bought the product:

3. Why you bought it:

4. How much did it cost:

5. Installation / Setup:

6. What do you like about it?:

7. What don’t you like about it?.

8. Any improvements:

9. Comparison to similar products:

10.Would you buy it again:

11.Licence:
a. Transfers allowed?
b. How many, per (PC or MAC)

12. Format (PC or MAC):

13.Copy Protection:

14. Pros and cons summary:

15. Rating:



Please bear in mind they are just guidelines. You can make your review as long or as short as you wish of course. Thanks for your help!

[Peter L Jones]

1.Name of the product and current version
Alternate Mode TrapKAT 3.1

2.When you bought the product
April 2007

3.Why you bought it
It's the best MIDI percussion controller on the market

4. Cost?
$2291 (which was nearer £1000 then than it is today ) -- including double kick pedals, hi-hat pedal, rack stand, t-shirt! and shipping from the US to the UK

5.Set up and/or installation: Simple/ complicated?
Simple: MIDI in and out; control pedals; hihat and kick triggers; power supply.
Not as simple: rack frame -- but that could just be me...
Downright tricky but fun: writing the editor software

6.What do you like about the product?
Sensitivity, configurability, stability, size.

7.What don’t you like about it?
I'd have liked more interesting pad colour options...

8.Any improvements you would like to suggest for the product?
Um, not really. And 4.0 is being released shortly with even more MIDI stuff you can do!

9.How does it compare to similar products out there?
There's very little directly comparable: it's not a Mandala, it's not like a "standard" e-drum kit, it's (obviously) not like the other Alternate Mode products. It's a controller - so no on-board sounds.

10.Would you buy it again?
Definitely. There's a new light-weight version out soon, too which might cut the transport fee and make it more attractive to those who gig.

11.Pros and cons summary
Pros: unique format for a force-sensing resistor (rather than piezo) based percussion controller; 24 trigger surfaces plus kick trigger input (kick triggers can be stacked to allow double kick) and hihat controller (with interpolated chick and splash triggering); vast range of pad configurations (up to six notes per pad with editing software)
Cons: current version is a little heavy - but still a lot easier to transport than a drum kit.

[Monarch]

Thats great! Thanks for taking the tme to help out with a review Peter!

[Khazul]

Background/Context
I wouldnt describe myself as a percusionist, but can play the kind of basic loops I want over house beats on djembes, congas and bongos. I have a djembe here and was taught to play tablahs in the middle east, but never kept it up. My primary use will be in creating convincing ethnic loops for dance music.

1. Name of the product and current version:
Roland Handsonic HPD-10 Hand Percussion Pad and PDS-10 Stand.


2. When you bought the product:
Nov 2008

3. Why you bought it:
Had enough of playing limited percussion on a keyboard and/or programming it, or micing up my Djembe, so have been looking around for software or hardware options to let me create more convincing loops primarily for dance music production.

4. How much did it cost:
£329 for HPD-10, £79 for PDS-10 stand

5. Installation / Setup:
It took just a few minutes to attach to the stand and sort cables out.

6. What do you like about it?:
I have to admit to being a real fan of alot of Roland gear - consistently well put together and little things like rubberised knobs give a good tactile feel and nearly allways a pleasent well rounded sound.
Playability - it does feel very natural to play. If you allready play skinned hand drum perscussion then you will be right at home, if not, then if you can tap a rhythm with your fingers
Expression - positional sensing on the two larger pads, porgammable cross muting/muffling between to pads works justt like holding you hand on a drum skin.
Sounds are actually very convincing when you play and easy to adjust tuning and muffling.
Kits are fully customiable and lots of good sounds to choose from for making your own mixed kits.
Rubber pad is relatively soft on the hands.
Sensitivity both for striking and pressure is very adjustable.
Nice size - big enough without being too bulky.
MIDI - everything you can play on it can be represented in MIDI and you can define the midi notes on a per kit basis as appropriate for the soudns being used. What is also nice is that the effect control knob can be assigned to any CC for controlling an external effects box.
D-beam does a good job of providing a pitch bend controller (for eg for 'talking' drums)
Nice use of pressure to drive rolls when you want it, so is very useful for playing/programming dance beats into your sequencer as well.
Has a bunch of guide beats built in, so if you just want to jam on the thing against a standard house beat for example then there is no messing about with other gear (Note unlike the HPD-15 there are no musical backing tracks, personally I find that a blessing)
Seem to have alot of useful training functions built in, though I havnt looked into them at all.

7. What don’t you like about it?.
The rubber pad surface is very grippy whereas real drum skins are very smooth so it feels a bit odd to play. However this looks easy to sort out by removing the rim securing the pad and covering the pads with something more natural feeling and reattaching the rim.

8. Any improvements:
I would prefer a more natural feeling drum-skin like playing surface, or at the very least smooth rubber instead of a 'grip enhanced' rubber surface.
I wish the end part containing the display and controls was tilited up a little.
Offer it in black to match my black TD-12 V-Drum kit.

9. Comparison to similar products:
The only other similar product I know of if the Roland HPD-15 which costs nearly twice the price, is alot bigger and provides more controls and backing tracks etc, however the HPD-10 seems just right for what I need.

10.Would you buy it again:
Yes definately.

14. Pros and cons summary:
Very playable and programmable, sounds very convincing in a mix. No real cons for my purposes. I would definately recommend getting the PDS-10 stand as well. I have a Roland V-Drum kit as well and this looks to be based upon the same technology which from experience is a good thing.

15. Rating:
5/5

One after-thought comment: Its much more satifying to play with quality closed back headphones on as then you cant hear your hands striking the pads. Its not that its noisey, it just the sound of your hands may distract a little from hearing what you are actually playing and you may find yourself playing harder than you should in order to hear clearly what you are doing. Ive allways found the same when playing the V-Drum kit as well.

[sureno]

wicked rev K

[Khazul]

Cheers
going to get one then?

After mentioning v-drum in it alot, I thought I should post up a TD12 kit review as well, so watch this space

[sureno]

Originally Posted by Khazul

going to get one then?

yes most definately

[Monarch]

Ace write up K!

I think Computer Music Mag are giving one of those away next month IIRC.