Roland V-Drums

erik · Posted 17 Sep 2000 3:03 pm

I was in Sam Ash yesterday to check out electric and acoustic guitars. I did that, but also did a complete "wander" of the store. As i was looking at method books on the main floor i noticed a kid on a riser playing the new V-Drum set. So, i decided to wait for my turn. I haven't played drums in 20 yrs. I quit because the noise bothered me and i was having trouble developing speed.

So, i slap the headphones on and start flailing. Immediately, i was knocked out. These new mesh/web heads are phenomenal! The heads feel very natural and most impressively IMPROVE your playing speed because of the rebound factor. Very confidence inspiring and great fun.

I was playing the V-Drum Pro Set, which is a 5 piece - snare, 4 toms, + hi-hat, 3 cymbal pads, hit-hat pedal. This particular set also had a web kick head, although you only get the trigger with purchase. The rims are rubber and also act as triggers. I was able to do a rim shot (rim and head) on the snare to get the shell ring sound. This is a double trigger effect. The toms have a rubber rim but are only single triggers (strange). The cymbal pads are your basic rubber with double triggers (pad and rim). I was not impressed with the action of these pads. It's not well matched to the mesh-heads. There are other manufacturers that make realistic cymbal triggers (like visu-lite).

This set comes with their COSM based module/sequencer. The kits are amazing. They sound like they came off a master session recording. I think there is 50 altogether in ROM. There is also a list of preset patterns to jam to. The arrangements are a bit bland but useful.

Things i noticed while playing for an extended period of time:

I wasn't able to get much variation in tone from stick velocity. Maybe the kits were not fully programmed. Being COSM based i found this puzzling. The hi-hat pedal trigger in conjunction with the hi-hat pad is hard to sync up because they are not connected so there is no physical feedback (Common to all electronic sets, i suppose?). I was getting drop-outs on the kick trigger. Perhaps this is because it's a display model and gets beat on by customers. I know i was playing with heel in air and pounding

.

Wrap-up:
I was blown away by these new heads and how it made me play much better. They are virtually silent. I have done some investigating and found that other manufacturers are making similar heads. I would love to own a set of these but they are VERY EXPENSIVE! If i were to get a set, i'd buy pieces and get different cymbal pads. In any case, i have never been more enthusiastic about playing drums again until i tried these. They don't look pretty, and you might not feel they accurately emulate acoustic drums, but i bet many giggers(steelers, guitarists) would be elated to not have to deal with a pounding drum set behind them. If you live in a apartment you will NOT get any complaints, IMO. Erik

P.S. Roland also makes a new full range monitor system for these kits.

[This message was edited by erik on 17 September 2000 at 04:07 PM.]

Martin Abend · From: Berlin, Germany

I tried them once and was also impressed with the sound and the feel of the mesh-heads. The sound even beats the ddrum, IMHO, wich was the best you could get for many years.

Last summer I bought the new Yamaha DTXpress E-drum set, because I felt I needed more practising to make progressions. This set is a pile of junk compared the the Roland, but it serves it's purpose. I even play it on the demos of one of my bands, because with our possibilities we could never mike and record my acoustic Yamaha and sounding so "studio-like".
And, of course, I positively NEVER would show up on stage with an E-Drum set.

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Bobby Lee · From: Cloverdale, California, USA

I play with a drummer a few times a year who uses electric drums. It's really nice to be able to turn the drummer down like you would any other instrument. His cymbals sound really strange, though, and his set (not V-Drums, btw) doesn't have a good enough sound for recording in my opinion.

Erik, perhaps the lack of velocity sensitivity on the V-Drums is deliberate. Most records today have a very compressed drum sound, and most players want to sound like the records. I hope it isn't true, but maybe Roland made the drums less sensitive so that players wouldn't need as much skill to play them as they would "real" drums.

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Gord Cole · From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Erik:
Any idea of cost of the set-up you described?
Not that I'll buy it,just curious. My set has stayed packed up since I started the steel over 3 years ago.
Regards. Gord

erik · Posted 18 Sep 2000 3:29 pm

Martin:
I have seen that Yamaha set in a mail order catalog. It goes for around a $1,000 (USD). Their top of the line kit (around $2,000) seems to have many top-flite features, but still you are stuck with the hard rubber pads.

Bobby Lee:
The V-Drum set was responding to velocity as respects volume, very nicely. I was referring specifically to tone variation. It could be that they are designed to change tone according to position on the head. I didn't try that. All the Roland 16 bit drum machines starting from 1989 have multi-samples which give a more realistic tone. This is an adjustable parameter that is designed to simulate stick position on a cymbal or drum head - also, relative to velocity. These COSM (modeling) drums are supposed to be even more "realistic". I just couldn't discern a variable tone when i experimented on a tom. It must be something that needs to be fiddled with. In any case the kits sound like gold.

Gord:
I was demoing the Roland V-Pro Drum Set. It goes for around $3,500. OUCH! Alesis, i see, has a new mesh-head set which looks nice. It is around $2,000. I'd be curious to compare the feel of the heads to the Roland.

Teresa Forwalder · From: Goodlettsville, TN, USA

A good friend of mine just came out with a brand new product to help you improve your speed and accuracy on the drums. It's called the drumometer. I hear it's getting rave reviews and selling like crazy. If you are interested, go check out www.drumometer.com.

erik · Posted 19 Sep 2000 2:40 pm

Thank you for the link, Teresa. I read the whole site and find the product very interesting. I noticed that it is always attached to the same practice pad, which i think is a Remo? I'm wondering if you can ask your friend if he thinks that pad produces the fastest response, because i am convinced the mesh-head of the V-Drum increased my speed by a third.

Rudiments are everything in drumming. If you can't master those then you aren't ever going to sound very good on a drum kit. I could never get those down. But playing the V-Drum and seeing the Drumometer i could be coaxed into giving it another try. I would start with just a pad and a Drumometer with a good rudiment book. That wouldn't be a very big investment. Having time is the biggest problem.

Terry in H-town · From: Katy, Texas USA

Erik, you are right about those V drums, I just bought a set of Yamaha DTX (cost factor) and the V drums blow them away but for in-home practicing the Yamaha's are doing the trick. I am so impressed with the module that I am going to get triggers for my Ludwig's and take the brain on the road.
My wife said that's the best grand I have spent in a long time. Quiet can be a good thing.

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