Are Electric Drum Sets FINALLY BETTER THAN Acoustic Drums?
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- Опубліковано 16 гру 2022
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Are Electric Drum Sets FINALLY BETTER THAN Acoustic Drums?
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Almost every conversation I have with drummers about electric drum sets have a negative slant to them. Why is that? BECAUSE OF THE HIHAT!!!
In this video I teamed up with Sweetwater to talk about the new Roland V-Pad VH-14D Digital Hi-Hat Controller that they have developed that FIXES all of the issues with electronic drum set hihats.
I’m playing a Roland TD-27 KV Electronic Drum Set Gen 1 drum set in this video. The gen 2 of this kit comes with the upgraded hihat. I have never loved playing on electric drums…but this changed that. It was extremely enjoyable to play an electric hihat that responded in real time to my drumming needs.
Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts on electric drum sets!
Roland V-Pad VH-14D Digital Hi-hat Controller: imp.i114863.net/gbZy3A
Roland TD-27 KV Electronic Drum Set Gen 1: imp.i114863.net/oeEQrO
Roland TD-27 KV Electronic Drum Set Gen 2 (comes with VH-14D HiHat): imp.i114863.net/0JL04R
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Drums: Roland V-Drums TD-27KV
Sticks: Vic Firth 5A
Microphones: Lauten
Doesn't matter what I think...what do YOU think? Leave a comment and let me know!
Almost every conversation I have with drummers about electric drum sets have a negative slant to them. Why is that? BECAUSE OF THE HIHAT!!!
In this video I teamed up with Sweetwater to talk about the new Roland V-Pad VH-14D Digital Hi-Hat Controller that they have developed that FIXES all of the issues with electronic drum set hihats.
I’m playing a Roland TD-27 KV Electronic Drum Set Gen 1 drum set in this video. The gen 2 of this kit comes with the upgraded hihat. I have never loved playing on electric drums…but this changed that. It was extremely enjoyable to play an electric hihat that responded in real time to my drumming needs.
Roland V-Pad VH-14D Digital Hi-hat Controller: imp.i114863.net/gbZy3A
Roland TD-27 KV Electronic Drum Set Gen 1: imp.i114863.net/oeEQrO
Roland TD-27 KV Electronic Drum Set Gen 2 (comes with VH-14D HiHat): imp.i114863.net/0JL04R
Did you really not play with the settings? Not setting the kit up through its options is kind of like expecting badly tuned drums to sound and feel good.
Using sensitivity, threshold and the plethora of options you can really change the response.
Those hats with the roland seem no different to my kit which costs about a quarter of that kit - that is unacceptable.
But if you take some time and set it up I think you'll find a lot of improvement.
It's digital dude, if you want the best out of it you need to get with the programme.
Check out some of the ekit advice on here for some explanations of settings and you'll find once everything is set up by you - for you that your experience is better tenthold.
I'd love to see an update of you doing this.
Actually the gen 2 option would be cheaper because it already comes with the digital hi hats so no need to purchase them separately
Hey Stephen the digital hats are actually included in the Gen 2 TD27 so that would be the most affordable option at $3599
I have the Alesisstrikepro SE and feels and sounds like the real deal. The original strike pro had a terrible hi hat, but they fixed it with the SE
I have never heard people griping about hi-hats, not unless some specific product is faulty. That or old and stiffened trigger actuators needing replacement in the pedal. Even old kits like the TD-4 are a dream to play on, having a separate stand is pretty much just a gimmick too... y'know, because it's an e-kit and all that. The one thing that really peeves folks is rides and cymbals which are by far the most error-prone parts of an electronic set, and if you splurge, even that is not going to be an issue. Honestly, people just don't really want to properly set-up and tune their e-kits, which is awful because the presets don't sound anything like what you can achieve with these things. even decade-old hardware allows you to put together one or two great kits, proper samples being the massive bottleneck here.
Again, never met a (Roland) hi-hat that wasn't sufficiently responsive, and if anything, it's almost a much better experience than trying to make loud acoustic pieces work in your favor. I definitely have no idea why people should be reserved about HHs, that's the one thing that works well right out of the gate, imho.
$1200 just seems crazy to me for a rubber hi hat. You can buy a whole set of high end cymbals for that. $1200 for just one piece boggles my mind
By itself yes. When you nest it in with the full kit purchase, it's actually the cheaper route. But I'm with you, just looking at face value for one cymbal, that's a lot
There's prices and then there's Roland prices. But they do build these well.
They're really milking the apartment dweller.
Yeah but run that rubber hi-hat through a VST and it is now an indistinguishable replica of a Simmons from the 80s. Now it's a Roland 808. Now it's a set of 15" Zildjian K-Custom dark hats. Now it's a pair of Sabian 15" AAX. Now they're 14" A Customs. You see where I'm going with this?
Although if you can change the sound … I own As ,Ks, HH ,Crisps , New Beats all bought used 🥲 but well over 1200 and you can’t change song to song so although I love acoustics , I fight with the ability e-has in a cover band. I don’t have another 5000 : ) Probably because I have so many cymbals bahahaha
I have an E-kit. It is really fun to utilize with so many features, but there will always be the strongest sense of utility, feel, and satisfaction that acoustics have the E-kits sometimes don't. Awesome man!
Agree! Although...if I was in an apartment situation, the ekit would be better for sure. This hihat opens them up to truly performing as similar as possible to acoustic kits. It's the best they've ever been for sure. But given the choice, I'm with you.
@@StephenTaylorDrums Oh for sure! EKits are very great for my situation, as I live with a family of 6, so the noise that would be with acoustics are not really existent since I am able to play to my own ears with headphones with EKits. Cheers!
Yeah the thing is, you miss the dynamics in playing with e kits. The Roland's are very good though and get quite close
yep, I would always prefer playing an acoustic kit if I lived in a house.
@@StephenTaylorDrums I would go for Remo silent stroke heads and Zildjian low volume cymbals(which is what I do)
My 2 cents. I have the new hats and the Roland VAD507. They are incredible. It should be considered another tool in the drummers tool box. Been an acoustic drummer for 30 years. I see a lot of resistance towards E drums in general in the drumming community. Aside from price as they are not cheap, I don't understand the resistance. The technology is here, the future is here. They are an incredible tool to use in lower volume venues and have many more advantages over acoustic kits. They are not a replacement for acoustic drums, E kits and acoustic drums are 2 different animals. A skilled drummer is still a drummer and they should be able to play on E drums or Acoustic when needed.
Thanks for the insight and feedback!
I bought the VH14d hats recently and it’s a game changer. I now play my ekit more than my acoustic, which has always caused sound complaints.
Great video! One small mistake at the end there, when you upgraded the drum kit to the generation 2 TD-27, it actually already includes the better hi hat cymbals, so you can take out the $1,149.99 hi hat controller, and it will actually end up being about $3800 instead of what you said.
Sorry to nitpick lol I actually bought the TD-27 gen 2 a few weeks ago so I noticed what you did
Yea, I didn't catch it while filming and from the way sweetwater worded their email (they wanted to send me the gen 2 and the hihat separately), they didn't realize it either. You are correct on the final cost for the gen 2. Thanks for catching my mistakes my friend!
yeah, and i wanted to comment on the acoustic set having the dw5000 hardware, while the ekit has the gibraltar 5705 hihat stand, a 4-piece Zildjian cymbal set (vs the 3 of the TD-27.. to be fair he only put the 6-piece DW5000 set into the cart, so he'd have one cymbal without a stand), but even that wouldn't bridge the gap.. especially after removing the hihat controller like you mentioned.. (I also just noticed sweetwater also has a dw5000 3-piece set, so that would probably be the best comparison)
Hey man. Thanks for the catch on that. I looked it up and you are right, it has the upgraded setup. Now i have one picked out for tax season when i can get it. Thank you
You also need to factor in that you can play an E-kit anytime at home without annoying the neighbours and you get a multitude of kits in one and it's ideal for recording and plugging directly into the live front-of -house PA with ultimate control.
But nothing beats when your neighborhood loses power and you can just sit in the dark blasting on the drums, should you have an acoustic!
@@tcoving31 Yeah but how often are you going to be in a situation when your neighborhood loses power and you want to play drums?
@@tcoving31 Must be an American...
As someone who frequently blasts loud guitar amps, I'll take the acoustic kit every single time.
@@EzyoMusic Ah, it's you is it? The bloke who lives next door to me reported you to the County Council the other day. Expect their strongly-worded summons very soon. 😂
Agreed... the biggest struggle on e-kits for me is the hi-hats. This is great news! I loved the comparison of the e-kit price to a comparable acoustic kit price. Very helpful. Thanks for this!
Actually, the gen 2 comes with the updated hihat. I didn't realize that. So it's 1200 cheaper on final cost than I say in the video
@@StephenTaylorDrums and also, an ekit is more than one kit. You have hundreds of drums and cymbals that you can switch in and out at the push of a button (or turn of a knob, whatever). To replicate that level of versatility with acoustic drums would be very expensive indeed.
Hi Stephen, I initially had the same problem with my VH-11 D. BUT, I found that if you adjust the twist that's on the clutch on the upper portion of the hi-hit it will impact the sensitivity to allow it to splash or trigger notes differently depending on how hard you press the pedal. I was aggravated too when it wasn't doing what I wanted it to, but this definitely made it feel more like I wanted it to when I wasn't able to get that problem to go away even after tuning it in the module.
Love the price comparison! for my students (at churches) they also have to consider a $1200 mic package and $3000 drum shield if they go with an acoustic kit
You make a fair point about the extra sound amplification costs.
$1200 mic package?!
Last I checked a year ago or more it was $1000 for Audix D series or Shure equivalent, I was assuming inflation
You could give the drummer a set of brushes and skip the shekinah shield
@@jonasaras lol not in a church that plays gospel
I've an e drum set in my appartment and I exchanged immediately the rubber hihat against a silent acoustic hihat, using the same machine. So I did with the ride cymbal. Now I'm very happy with this combination cause of the realistic feeling. You only have to use an open headphone to hear enough from the cymbals.
That is awesome!
Thanks, I love your channel.
That's a good option. You can mic the hi-hat and run it through a small mixer, along with the drum module, and avoid having to use open back headphones.
I got the Digital hats a few months ago and they really are the game changer that we where all hoping for. I'm playing a custom converted Sonor 507 kit, with the TD27 module and other digital components. It basically is a VAD706 without the TD50 module.... But yesterday I reconnected it to my downstairs PC running an old version of Superior Drummer (2.0) and after mapping the kit..... The difference the Digital hats make in that VST was mind blowing. Zero setup, just a slight pedal correction change to the curve and it sounds like butter. Thinking of updating that software now to the newer version... As I can actually justify the cost now! Great video Stephen, glad to see that you got the chance to look at these hats. They have made these tools far more playable in gigging situations, and ultimately more enjoyable!
I had the same issue with the high-hats. After setting the clutch range in setup and the bottom out position, all worked much better than the vanilla settings.
I have an Efnote 3x and the majority of the reason I got it was because of how real it feels. Plus the samples are incredible
I’m completely surprised that you didn’t add in this fact:
The 14 - D sounds a lot better with the T - 50 X because there’s more subtle multi samples when you’re opening and closing the hi hat.
Yea, but for that price you might as well just buy a laptop and SD3
@@christopherpederson1021 Exactly. SD3 will sounds LOADS better than a TD-50, and have even more zones for the hi-hat - and a larger selection of drum sounds. I would take a eDrumIn and Superior Drummer 3 any day over any module to be honest.
I sold my acoustic set when I moved out of my parents' house. I bought an electric kit, and it's honestly not that bad. I prefer the feel and the dynamic control of an acoustic set, but it's been great for living with roommates and performing at small gigs.
What kit did you pick up??
This video was very helpful. I have the Roland TD25KV and the Yamaha DTX DT6K-X both are really solid kits. With the improvements in the accuracy of response timing I could see the TD27KV-2 vying for a spot in my drum set family. While I can get great sounds from Superior Drummer 3 that could rival the new 50X module, the quality of responsiveness in the Roland VH-14D amongst (other overall improvements in pro electronic kits) is now on a whole different level. Thanks Stephen.
Great video. I have an E-kit conversion. Much more fun to play than the small pads. I would rather have an acoustic set but in my situation it’s not possible. This at least allows me to continue playing and doing what I love.
Another consideration that I believe puts some weight on the scale is that If I buy a $5500 acoustic kit that is great and for that money it will likely have a killer sound. The Roland kit however has the ability to sound like a variety of different acoustic kits. With some of the new kits Roland includes in their E-kits and the kits available through software such as Superior Drummer an E-kit can be like having 50+ different drum kits.
It took me many years to take to E-kits myself. I love the nuance of the high-hats and I too was frustrated with the electronic hats. I have an old E-kit (Yamaha DTXtreme IIs) that I recently picked up mainly for nostalgia reasons and the hats are rubbish. I did however enjoy your review and honest evaluation of the new Roland hats. I do intend to purchase a new E-kit in the future that I will use for recording and it looks like Roland has the hats that I will want for that kit.
For now I enjoy the E-kit I have because it allows me to practice very early in the morning without disturbing the neighbors and I can do some recording with it. Although it does not allow me to play the hats the way that I am accustomed to, I have my acoustic kit for that and so that gives me the best of both worlds.
Great video Stephen, I enjoy your content.
Thanks for the video! Would also love to hear your thoughts on the VH-13 which is in between the models you talked about but still great to hear your updated review!
Don’t forget to buy mics, mic stands, and something to run those mics through when you’re comparison shopping for acoustic kits! Also, don’t forget to buy many many acoustic kits. And a minivan. And a house. With a garage.😅
Lol, truth! We literally plugged one cable into pro tools and we're ready to record
You can get the Yamaha EAD-10
I have the ead-10 and use it as a personal monitor, but I’m wouldn’t try and record an album with it…
That’s all well and good for setting it up in your basement, but if you want to actually play music with other people, it’s gonna cost you a decent chunk of money for subpar sound. You have to have something loud enough, clear enough, and with the frequency range to emulate the boom of a bass drum and the ping of a cymbal. Suddenly the convenience factor goes out the window when you consider you’ll need to spend the money for, have the room for, and have to transport a PA.
I have an electric kit, including the VH-14D hi hat. It's awesome for practicing, but I would still prefer an acoustic set for live performances
I'm with you there
Not me !!
I play the Roland TD50 live.
In the smaller pubs, clubs and restaurants, (guitars bass and keys are all DI and no amps are used). the overall volume is controlled, with the stage volume being reduced, resulting in the vocal mics being crystal clear. The sound guy can mix in lieu of trying to balance everything to the loudest component. (Usually the acoustic kit) When we play the majority of compliments are the bands overall sound from FOH, and that includes compliments from the sound guys. Live music venues, Arenas, and stadiums would, of course be the exception. But I don’t………..
@@neltom50 yeah I guess if you're in a situation where your stage volume needs to be very soft, an E-kit would be ideal. Although, I don't really like the sound of E-kits as much as acoustic (even the TD-50). Using samples would be best but I don't know of a robust way to do that live.
I honestly don't know how anyone can play on acoustics after using edrums - they just sound terrible.
What you missed in this video is the fact that an e-kit also has settings. Most problems with the hi-hat can be solved simply from the settings. Yes, they are more expensive than a classic kit, but they can offer much more if you know how to use them. Until recently, I wasn't a fan of e-kits at all, but after entering their world a little bit, I realized how wrong I had been looking at them for so many years. Yes, it's expensive, but it's fun and you can use them even in an apartment without disturbing anyone.
yep. can only get you so far in terms of gradations between open and closed on something like a VH11, but you can certainly fix the issue of having to press overly hard to get a closed sound
@@thomythe I don't even have my kit yet.. but i know exactly which menu in superior drummer 3 will do that lol.
@@lowaimnobrain yea, there is a setting for "edrum optimized hi hats" and tbf it feels really good with my millenium mps 850 edrum set.
Wrong! He mentioned the settings and adjustments in this video....
E-kits are expensive? Where do you live?
You also have to remember to consider the microphones and cable to be able to mic up an acoustic kit. And potentially a shield due to stage noise on a stage.
E-Drums are saving you a lot of money when it comes to the full picture of you you need to gig.
BUT I still believe you’ll never beat the sound of an acoustic kit if you can afford the full setup.
Where on earth are you gigging that you need to bring your own mics?
@@SeanofAllTrades Yeah it's not really an issue at gigs but certainly something to consider if using the kit to record in a home setup. Though in that scenario you will want to be adding a few hundred $ to the cost of the ekit for Superior Drummer or some other VST.
The issue with the pressure on the hi hat to close it is related to the settings of the drum: with v-drum you need to change settings! It can be easily fixed.
This is exciting! My other main complaint with e-kits is the rest of the cymbals. I feel like it's impossible to play smooth cymbal swells.
You ain't wrong
I think you meant “e-xciting” 😂
You’re right. When they can nail the cymbal swell issue, I’ll believe they’re making serious progress.
You are right but you can get pretty dam close with the right attack and adjust some velocities in post to get them perfect .
I had a really shitty old e-kit when I first started drumming, I got it on Craigslist for 100 bucks so that can give you an idea of it's quality. The cymbal swells were so bad lol, it was like whacking a crash 30 times in a row at full volume, it had absolutley no dynamics.
I feel like someone should make a hi hat with its own built in hi-hat synthesis module. Some kind of physical modeling of the cymbals.. At 1200 bucks they can put some solid computing power into that unit.. With enough compute power you can make some pretty impressive hi hat sounds.
FPGA processing could certainly do it in terms of sensor processing and ouput.
You guys don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t need an insane amount of “computing power” to produce the sounds of a hi-hat, and you sure as hell don’t need FPGA processing. The issue is with the physical articulation of the rubber hi-hats. They just don’t respond the same way as real, metal hi-hats, and it’s hard to see how they ever will given that they’re made out of a totally different material.
Drummers really are fucking stupid aren't they...
@@therainman7777 oh ok you make them then
@@mymodel6 i know right!
I remember the first e-kits that came out and they were both interesting and abysmal at the same time. For my needs the original Octopad and a 5pc kit with 2 crashes, a ride, and some hats were all I needed.
I gave up drumming in the 90's, I was probably never going to go further than bar cover bands and apartment living, well they aren't really too keen on having loud drums playing all the time.
The last few years I've been looking into drumming again and I'm really impressed with how far e-drums have come. Even the cheaper sets sound amazing compared to what we had back in the day.
The Cymbals are still kinda lacking. Crashes and Rides give you decent preformance but reasonably priced e-cymbals are still 2 zone, center and edge, we need the bell as well. Add the fact that hats were incapable of that half open swish is really what's preventing me from pulling the trigger getting e-drums now.
I'm in my 50's now and probably would only be playing for fun, $1200 for hi-hats alone is a non-starter for me. It's interesting to see for current or young musicians though.
With modern electronic instruments and being able to record and publish without a major label behind you, from your home now days, it's a very interesting time for musicians. If I were in my teens or even 20's again I'd be all over this.
Please bare in mind that the 2nd Generation TD-27KV actually comes with the VH-14D HHs as part of the kit
Thanks for the correction. That wasn't communicated to me when they sent things as they wound up sending the gen 1. I figured it out right before publishing. Put a note in the video but that's all I had time to do. The final price for the gen 2 is 1200 cheaper due to that
Nice comparison, seems like they finally nailed a killer setup from the player's point of view. I'd add that If you're doing any type of recording, you'd have to factor in the cost of mics, stands, cables and an interface, where you could just USB-out from the Roland brain. That said, looks like some solid progress, I'm sticking to my acousic for now, but I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops into the other parts of the kit.
100%. We plugged one cable into my computer and were ready to record
Even better for live applications, run through a VST and an interface with multiple line outs, send your clean af busses to the world's happiest sound guy
I don't play drums, but super interesting that they actually solved this. Awesome playing BTW :D
Thanks!
The 'sweet water guy turning up to the house to see if you wanted to check-out' had me in stitches!
So glad to see progress made with E-kit hi hats. Like always, they’ll become cheaper… but 1,200 DOLLARS?!1?1 FOR A HI HAT?
When looked at alone, it's a lot. Nested into thw overall purchase, it balances out as the cheaper option though. Which surprised me
@@StephenTaylorDrums Last part of the video looked like fuzzy math to me. Why pay 1200 for the ekit hi-hat when you could use an actual hi-hat on your ekit for cheaper?
I typically mic up a real set of hats and then run SSD & Slate for the rest of the kit. Still way quieter than a real kit and gives amazing results in the mix
Well you are a god damn genius!
I'm having a SIMMONS SD1200 (The Blue one) ! And I love it . Foot close, Splash , Closed Bow , Closed Edge, Mid Open Bow , Mid Open Edge , Open Bow, Open Edge AND Choke! It's all in the Module and if you've got the love to set it up nicely ! I love my SIMMONS SD1200 !!! 🥁
I have had the Roland TD 27KV for about 2 years. I recently fixed the hi-hat by purchasing a set of low volume hats. I added a mic and input both the hats and the kit into my mixing desk, levelled it and I now have a perfect feel. In fact, it was such a success I'm thinking of completely ditching my acoustic set for gigging and just swapping out all the cymbals for real ones (maybe keep the digital ride for different effects etc).
Glad to hear it's improved. Only comment is it took 7 minutes to get the actual testing part to see if the new one really was better than the old :)
Was thinking the same, actually 8 min, 3/4 of the way through the video. Good thing for F forward.
As an intermediate drummer I’m still working heavily on expression and sound. I tried e-kit, I even looked at the Roland and just concluded I could get something much more flexible for way less money with acoustic. I have ‘silent’ heads and cymbals (not ideal but my family also live in the house) but I still feel less compromised this way.
Totally agree with you
@@StephenTaylorDrums Oh blimey! Didn’t expect you to reply! Thank you, it actually means a lot to be validated by you, very reassuring. It’s hard to figure out with all the information out there, it’s bewildering. I’m an older drummer (57!) and finding the most efficient way to make progress requires real confidence that what you are doing makes sense, which of course as a learner is difficult, thank you so much. I watch all your videos and find them really valuable
Yo, you can get triggers and a brain for those heads and trigger whatever sounds you want. Though that's not cheap. No sure if there's a solution like that for the cymbls tho.
@@emergentform1188 there are. You can get pintech cymbal triggers for like 15-20 bucks. He mentioned silent cymbals which you can actually just ziptie them onto. There's a UA-cam channel I think project beats that has done this before
@@jomamastool Whoa that's seriously cool, thanks for sharing ❤
OMG you did such a good job describing the problem with hihats and then you just keep on talking without letting us actually hear the differences @ 10:14.
Been a long time I was not in a music store until just recently. I am a drummer, and I sat down and played a few minutes on an e-kit there, and was really impressed with the articulation and nuanced play of the modern kits. These ones were same price range... 3500-5000 or so, though I didn't take note of the exact models.
Very impressive, and they are really becoming something I would consider playing now, though I would still prefer an acoustic kit of course, for more purposes, I imagine.
I just reluctantly bought an Efnote 3X electronic kit after years of swearing them off and I absolutely love it. The hi-hat on my Efnote kit are similar to the Roland’s you tested. Are they perfect? No, but it’s not that far off. E-Kits have certainly come a long way.
I'll have to check out the efnote
@@StephenTaylorDrums Killer value at $2,600 if you don’t require 9000 different ways to edit the sounds and prefer natural acoustic sounds to electronic
I have the Efnote 7 and I couldn't be happier. Hi-hat is great.
I was thinking the same. I have an EFNote 5X that comes with the same technology for the hi hat. It s also the edrums that sounds the more natural to me.
i personally like electronic drum kits, I love the acoustic drums too, but I do not like making loud noises and distracting anyone so electronic drums are my go to
"i do not like making loud noises" so you're not a drummer?
@@psychwardsandcymbals
Did you even bother to read his comment? He doesn’t want to distract people while playing at home. Doesn’t make you any less of a drummer.
Been playing Roland v drums for 10 years. And I've always loved them.
I've been playing Electronics for nearly 20 years for the volume knob. I've been through several. In my experience each new kits brings amazing new sensitivity, play-ability and sounds. Every time you upgrade you'll be over the moon.... for 3 months. Then you hit the limitations and get all frustrated again. And so, I have stopped and just settled on the TD-30. If it ever dies, I'll look at the upgrade package, but until then there is no way I'm buying myself just 3 months of it feeling like it was worth it before I decide it was a waste of money again. I have to have the volume knob and headset option. And boy oh boy are acoustics loud to my old man ears now. But if I had a way to sound proof a room I'd totally go back to acoustics.
I just now searched TD-30 and nothing comes up......???
My observation of what constitutes a good drum deal is that a normal acoustic drum kit comes with one great sound. An equivalent e-drum set gets you multiple great sounding drum kits and the processing power of many great recording studios to make your set sound better than you have the money for. Of course you need to add the price of drum software but that is cheaper than most cymbals go for.
You can pirate software :)
@@ShoryYTP Or you could be a good person. You basically have two choices on the matter.
@@ShoryYTP yarrrrr
I'd never say better in either direction. It always depends on what you need and for what purpose. I love acoustic drums when: The drummer knows how to tune them, keeps his heads sounding good, play with dynamics. I did 8 years of gigging with our drummer playing TDK 30 Vdrums. They always sounded good, easy to mix, great for keeping stage volume under control and no ear fatigue.
Hey There Stephen - Happy New Year. THX for your many Videos and Instruction. I am a subscriber to your channel. Although my issue is not related to Digital drums, it pertains to an acoustic Snare drum. FTR, I'm 71 YO, resurrected playing drums after 50 Years [1969], retired and play about 1 hour a day as a Hobby/ Pleasure to My Music.
I have a DW Design series nickel over Brass 14 X 6.5 Snare purchased used via Reverb. The previous owner installed a Evan HD Dry batter head and it was Cranked up. It played terrifically and head over heels improvement from the PDP Concept Maple 14 X 5.5 Snare (I installed a HD Dry batter head on that drum too). I replaced the head on the DW with a new HD Dry batter head a few months ago, reinstalled the Reso Head, and wires. I have been unable to get to that Sweet spot in tuning it. The sweet spot is defined as close to a Ludwig Supraphonic sound (the Bonham sounding Snare) as possible. The other day, I placed the DW snare atop of my 16 inch Floor Tom and placed the PDP snare in the snare stand. Then I played a session (a few tunes), not happy with the Pdp. I hit the DW snare for the helluva it. BINGO - It had the Sound I was seeking!. Then as I went to place it in the stand, it was NOT the same. Put it back on top of the Tom and there it was again!!. Can you explain this to me? I'm guessing it has to do with the batter head on the Tom affecting the resonance of the DW snare. A poster on DrumChat said to try tightening the snare holder basket. That didn't help. I'm at a loss. Change the Reso Head to a coated one? THX
60% of success with digital HH is proper calibration (wonder if author have spent some time on it - td-27 has a lot of calibration options), another 20% is proper HH stand (edrum hihats are simply heavier). The last 20% is obviously adapting your technique.
I.e. the issue with closing the hh is almost always caused by wrong calibration.
There have been other channels doing videos on this subject recently as well and something that was mentioned by a reviewer hit the point. Should the drum companies be trying to replicate an acoustic set? Yes, I know as a drummer we want something that isn't so loud that we can play without disturbing the household and neighborhood. E-kits are getting better and less expensive but they will never be an acoustic set but rather another instrument/tool for a musician to use. It is its own thing. The drum companies have done and are doing a good job making e-kits but at the end of the day, it will never be an acoustic set.
I've said that for years. Just re-engineer it and make it a different "thing" altogether
@@StephenTaylorDrums actually that's how it started, Simmons did that and the sounds they came up with are still popular today. Granted the tech at the time couldn't do anything like tech now does with e drums so that boundary really forced them to do what they could with analog circuits but I think that boundary actually helped them achieve those unique electric drum sounds that defined an entire decade of music and are still widely used today.
Also I think what's better than e kit drum brains these days are the plugins like the new ez drummer 3. Triggering that plugin with an ekit and wow, the at home recordings you can get are studio level. To me that's one of the greatest things about ekits now. 🤘
The real advantage of electronics are the ability to do quiet practice, easy on everyone’s ears including yours and training features to improve your chops. They’re not a replacement, just another tool, as you pointed out. FYI, the new Yamaha modules have a training option to monitor your strike accuracy on all the pads, which I use religiously to make sure I’m not pushing ahead my learning curve too fast and accidentally training myself to play any given exercise poorly.
@@ianmclean5541 E-drums make a lot of noise in the average house, ask me how I know? lol. I've owned several over the decades. That being said they're obviously quieter than acoustic drums. I think the other huge advantage is having dozens of drum sets and hundreds of sounds to choice from and edit to make your own.
I spent a lot of time trying to make my e-kits sound acoustic and eventually gave up and went back to acoustic. I don’t like the feel of the cymbals and the tapping sounds that come with them.
I had never owned an e-kit. I bought a Roland TD-27 kit when the Covid crap happened because I was staying home and I knew that if I played my acoustic kit all day my neighbors would shoot me. I set up the kit and booted it up. I was so disappointed with the high-hats that came with the kit that I became angry. I became really good at creating user kits that sounded good but I could never get the hats to perform well. I recently bought the VH-14D hats and I am very pleased. Thank You Roland. Thank You Stephen for this video.
Happy New Year Stephen. This is a great video, as far as you've taken it. I think I could tell by the look on your face that the hi-hat was working beyond your expectations, and that's a good thing. I'm far from being a great drummer and a long way from being a technological genius, so one of the questions I'm left with is about the calibration of the new hi-hat, which appeared to happen automatically. Obviously Sweetwater (with which I've done considerable business), values your opinion and ability to get your views out to the public. Here's my other challenge: I don't have a Roland kit to use this wonderful piece of technology on. What I have is the Alesis Strike Pro kit, which I actually love. Will this new Roland hi-hat work with the Strike models and what's the stress level in getting it calibrated to perform as it did for you with the Roland kit? (I already subscribed, so I feel confident my cymbals are safe.) ;-)
The problem with the price comparison is that you can go cheaper on the acoustic set and it will still feel like a real drum set unlike the electric one. There is no budget alternative if you dont sacrifice a lot of feel
the only real benefits of e-drums for me are being able to play silently via a headset. great for those who live in an apartment + trying out different kit sounds on the fly o/
But you would be buying one acoustic kit with one set of cymbals. Although you can make changes via tuning, heads, mics, etc, to it, but then you would lose the original kit's sound. New cymbal and percussion sounds require additional equipment. Not so with e-drums. You could argue you only need one perfectly tuned kit and a few cymbals, and fair enough, but to make a fairer PRICE comparison, you'd really need to compare to several drum kits and a massive cymbal/percussion set-up.
@@75thBeatle yeah but If you tap a pad,the sound you hear is not YOU playing,but some sample recorded by another drummer. so 500 kits is nice.. not one of them is ME.
@@LucasSeman The simple fact is that if you live in an apartment instead of a house you probably can't afford to buy a $5k anything unless its a car lol.
@@july5492 In places with expensive housing, this is not true.
The Hihat has never bothered me and I've had lots of different edrum kits. They have all worked well.
The sound quality grabbed me with edrums - studio quality sound in stereo - not to mention that transporting them is a breeze. Also having so many kits and sounds is amazing.
I'll NEVER go back to acoustics.
Hi, do you have a favorite brand of drums? (specially por begginers, non too expensive)
@@kevinromero9815 Roland TD - 2 or even the TD 1 but the TD 2 has better sounds.
Apartment is exactly why I have an e- kit. But now I live in a house so I went back to acoustic. What is nice though is I have my e-kit over at my bands practice room in our guitar player's house which is convenient for keeping noise levels down and recording.
Hey! First off, this is the first video I saw from your channel and just want to say great job! Very entertaining and insightful- also great ideas for comparisons.
I am not a drummer, and I am actually watching this video as a preparation to speak to my bands drummer about considering an e-kit 😂
Wouldn't it also be an extra cost having to mic up all the drums and overhead of the acoustic drum kit if ever used for recording? I would believe this would add another beefy amount to the cost of an already expensive kit because one would want the best sound coming from the mics to represent that kit as closely as possible..
Keep up the great work !!
You could play paint buckets and sound awesome. 👍👍😀😀
Thank you my friend
Let me tell you I perform mostly for studio work on the Roland VH Cymbals for quite some time now and I never looked back ever since. It's absolutely nuts how beautiful and close they sound to the acoustics. In my opinion you won't find any better electronic cymbals out there and I tried them all. Thanks for all the great content and keep up the good work! -CeeHimself
The VH cymbals that you mention are the $1200 ones shown here? I don't understand why E-kit drummers don't just buy a real, acoustic hi-hat setup to go with their e-drum kit?
Yea that's pretty cool. I have the TD-50 with the digital snare and ride, but the hats were sold separately, which is fine with me because I didn't want them anyway (acoustic hats and cymbals for me all the way). But if I ever needed a completely electronic kit then I'm sure these hats are plenty responsive enough. The e snare and ride I have I greatly prefer over the real thing actually. Especially the ride, which has a more consistent tone and I Iove the way I can tweak the sound of the middle, bell, and edge separately to be whatever I want. Blows a real ride out of the water in so many ways. Also the ride sound I have dialed into it is actually a blend of 2 rides, a clean and a dry/dirty, and I can adjust the color/volume of each separately to achieve the perfect hybrid. And getting a consistent bell accent every single time is so easy, it's very forgiving in that way. And for the edge stroke I dialed in a gong sound lol. I bought the TD-50 for the digital snare, and it certainly lived up to the hype, super realistic, but the digital ride unexpectedly blew my mind. That's why I'm sure the Roland digital hats are insanely life-like as well.
I have the Alexis nitro drum set. And honestly I have no issues with the sounds. Mainly all the songs I play the hi hats are either closed open are in-between. My main issue with all the e-kit is explanation and compatibility. That's my main issue with them. I have to use a completely separate model to explain the kit.
I hope Yamaha manage to replicate the responsiveness. They’ll charge significantly less.
This hihat setup comes with the gen 2 of this ekit. But yes, st face value 1200 is a loy
Great video . I play both acoustic and electric . I have gotten much better at working the E kit hi hat just experimenting with technique and settings , but still not close enough . This looks like a good solution . I just wanted to point out with an ekit you can also buy a 50-120 $ plug in that will give you a 2,000 to 5,000 dollar shell kit and 2,000 to 8,000 worth a of high end cymbals depending on the library . They come as already processed , or raw drums and quite often both .
I took 1 spring off my kv17 hihat and it helped me 100000 percent
Calibration just adjusts open and close, and you still have to adjust it according to your personal preference. You should also adjust the sensitivity, gain, threshold, retrigger cancel, etc on all zones of the hihat. Sounds overwhelming, but a good module gives you all of these settings to tweak in order to dial in the pad to your specific playing style. I'd recommend checking out some edrum related UA-cam channels, like 65 Drums, for better advice on the subject matter.
Man, I have played around with MANY an ekit. Adjusted everything u just went through...and there were STILL outlying issues with the hihat. This release fixed all of those for me (as well as multiple students I've heard from this year)
No matter how nice the acoustic drum kit is, the way it sounds is the way it sounds. Your Edrums are always gonna be more versatile
Acoustics sound terrible - bang, smash, crash - in short - a hideous ear destroying din.
I agree with many on here. Sitting down with the manual for several hours and learning how to tweak every little thing makes a big difference. Can go from ok to great quickly.
In a relatively small house with a young daughter, an acoustic kit is not an option if I want to get any play time. Made an acoustic-to-electric (A2E) kit with roland triggers and cymbals, including VH-10 hi-hat. Never really had any issues with it. Kit doesn't feel exactly like an acoustic, but close enough, and much better than my previous electric kit with rubber pads.
One more important thing to note, comparing acoustic and e-drums. An inexpensive acoustic kit can sound GREAT with the right heads and proper tuning. A cheap e-kit will always sound like a cheap e-kit.
I think you have to go big on price or go home with e-kits. Not realistic for a lot of drummers out there.
Agree. Although the efnote has caught my eye and it's def more affordable than roland.
@@StephenTaylorDrums As I "noted" above, you really need to try an EFNOTE kit with their hi hats. They're fantastic and do not disappoint!
When I bought my house one of the main considerations was that it had to have a finished basement that I could insulate so I could play my acoustic kit in it. I have a TD-6V that is very old and I hate playing that thing, it sucks so much. My acoustic kit is a Yamaha Tour Custom with a collection of Zildjian and Paiste cymbals I've built over the years and to me nothing beats playing a real kit; even the expensive e-kits I've played at the end of the day still feel like hitting mesh and rubber. What I do love about e-kits are the convenience of no maintenance as well as doing fun stuff with MIDI. The main problem here is that ideally as a drumming enthusiast you want both, and if you cheap out on either you're going to have a bad time.
Add the Amp to play live too .. Great video LOl Sweetwater. They are one of the most responsive businesses I’ve ever worked with . Great video 👍
If you just use a drum VST like EZDrummer 3 (less than $200), you can easily avoid the hi-hat issue, and you don't need any expensive hi-hat kits to make it work. EZDrummer3 (and SD3 is even better) has step adjustments and sensitivity adjustments for the hi-hat in software. You can adjust at exactly what reassure point you want the samples for the different open/closed zones to trigger. EZDrummer usually has up to 2-3 different open/closed zones I think - while Superior Drummer has around 4-8, depending on the kit.
A drum VST will ALWAYS give you a more convincing sound than a module.
I've had great experiences using the Yamaha hihat (pedal stand mounted version) with the older 502 series module and the current dtx6 module. I'm not playing anything that complicated with the band/music we play so maybe not pushing the envelope, but it is totally fine for what I do. ymmv
When factoring acoustic drums you need to add the cost of quality mics/stands/clips/etc to the cart if you are going to use them live or recording. That gets expensive fast and adds an entire new layer of complexity to getting decent consistent sound for amateurs or small venue gigging players. Also add the shields, dampening, and all that other stuff. Might want to look into a van or trailer to haul the acoustics around, and add some cases...
It is also worth noting that when you buy a digital kit, you have essentially every percussion sound available to assign to a pad (or extra pads that are inexpensive or even DIY triggers). I have a good selection of cowbells at any moment - who doesn't need more cowbell????
I got lucky when I bought a used Yamaha kit for $500 8 years ago and never had this problem with their hi hat. Edge, bow and bell sounds as well as open, closed, 1/4 open and half open positions. The sensitivity was consistent and accurate.
Worked perfectly on my pearl hi hat stand. Made me a better player, translated to my acoustic kit wonderfully.
May I ask you which model that yamaha kit was it?
@@LucioJiu DTX 502. the pad is a RHH135. Its an obsolete model now, and was budget then, but the three zone - 4 position hi hat worked well enough for me.
The rubber pads leave much to be desired for feel and realism, but for practice it was good enough that it didn't frustrate me.
I didn't hear any discussion of response to choking crash cymbals. I have a middle of the road kit that I purchased more for the toms because they can be used for special effects during recording but the second thing besides the hi-hat response to me was the unnatural and somewhat delayed response as to how fast the crashes mute when they are choked. Even when you choke an acoustic brass cymbal there is always that bit of a "ting" that is there on the muted cymbal vs the electronic cymbal that appears to just stop to a dead mute as if the sound was simply switched from on to off.
I actually use the Alesis Nitro kit. I took the high-hat and the cycmbals from an old set of Pearls and replaced the electronic cymbals and high-hat with them. kinda made a hybyrd kit. I know the Nitro is not a very expensive kit, but when it is ran through a 12 channel Mackie board and Peavy mains, this really sounds awesome. Pretty sure i can get the same sound as those 5k sets.. just a thought for those like me that cant afford to spend 5k or more on a kit.
I used to practice with a TD-5 e-kit for 20 years and bought the TD-27kv (1st version) last year. That kit is simply incredible even with the "old" Hi-hat which doesn't respond exactly like a real one. Obviously, that new version worth the price finally, I'm not sure that I will pay another 800eur (those are less expensive in Europe obviously) but thank you for your thoughts ;)
I bought a td 50 kit a few years ago and have done the X upgrade.
The hat was always the weak point. I've been playing pretty consistently since 1974 and was always proud of my hat/bass work. I didn't get a feel for that electric hat goodness until I sent around $700 to Roland in Japan and got the 14D. Finally a digital hat to match the snare and ride! This machine is impressive. Still not my old school quick beat zild but a serious leap from the 11 I was playing. I'm actually getting back some chops I thought left with my analog kit.
I switched from a massive kit to a Roland V-drum TD20 waaaaaay back in 2008. The main reasons?
1. Quiet. I moved from a rural area to an urban area. I can't be loud.
2. Recording. This was before triggers were as widespread, and recording was a breeze compared to an acoustic kit.
3. Instrumentation. TONS of options instrumentally.
4. Plugins & ambience. You have all the plugins normally for post right there in your kit AND control over the room.
5. Size. My acoustic kit was enormous.
It's been 15 years and I'm STILL playing on the same kit. The module upgrade made a huge difference early on, and I've thought about upgrading the brain. BUT Roland is still using the same exact model V-drums in their top of the line kits to this day. That speaks to their longevity and quality. The only downside is cost. A good ekit will cost you, but it's an investment. The high end Roland kits are built to last, and I'm proof that they do.
It’s cool that the E-kit market is finally starting to make kits that look like real drum kits. And this high hat definitely looks pretty awesome! If I get a E-kit in the future, I’ll definitely give this some thought. But personally (and I know most probably are in a similar boat) I kinda look at E-kits like really expensive toys. Like there cool for what they are I guess, but nothing will replace an acoustic kit. Feel, looks, and in most cases real room sound is almost always better with a real drum kit. I’ve thought about getting a E-kit for home practice (I live in a city) and maybe a little home recording stuff. But if I’m playing live, it’s always gonna be acoustic. And honestly I feel better sitting behind a acoustic kit as well. I know how you look really isn’t important. But at the same time, when you’re feeling how everything looks it seems like I play better….🤷🏼♂️ Just my two cents on the matter. Although I don’t really have any experience with E-kits, I don’t know if the issues I have with them would be solved with playing them. I guess I don’t really mind being stuck in my ways… lol
check out the roland td-11 or td-11kv, its solid for practicing and you could probably snag it for 800-1000
I recently saw a band play in a restaurant/pub that was not only using an ekit (one of the new Roland VAD kits) but were also completely ampless on stage. The guitarists and bassist were using various modelers, the only acoustic sound coming from the stage was the vocals. Everything was mixed through the PA, and I have to say, I have never heard a better sounding live band in a small room. If they had been using acoustic drums and amps on stage in that room, it would have just been a big mess of crap audio quality.
Just bought a TD27kvx 2 and I love it!
Does it come with this hihat?
I have these new hihats. That’s the only part of the kit that I’m finding a few issues with. Like when you shoop. It doesn’t seem to work how my brain says it should.. sometimes. But sit down behind any of those kits and close your eyes. With quality headphones. Sounds and feels amazing. Plus, it’s not too loud.
I have a Yamaha Stage Custom I converted and using A TD-50 with the 14-D along with the rest of the "digital" hardware I love it!!
Nice!
Love the videos man!
Thank you!
I made my own using weight sensors and resistance .... works well . Way better feel . Great video !
Interesting!
Please do a video on it!
@@JesusLordOfLords455 there are several tutorials on UA-cam plus many forum posts . I'll try and get something together though . I play using 3 different drum modules with a 100 dollar acoustic kit ( craigslist ) that I converted to electronic . Also a mix of real ( triggered ) and electronic cymbals. I run everything through ez drummer or superior drummer 3 .
🍻 cheers
My reason for leaning towards an electric kit for the studio is the room treatment, microphones
And volume that comes with an acoustic kit. I can have 2 am studio sessions and not have an issue. My dilemma is using brass with the electric kit or just stick with the electric cymbals.
Dont forget that if you are a pro drummer, charging for playing, you will need to bring your spare e drum kit in case one breaks so factor in the cost of owning and transporting two kits.
I have a Roland VAD706 and VAD506 kit and once I could find a second (Covid effort) 14” Roland Digital hi-hat, I was set! I carry the TD50X brain (and SPD-SX Pro and 505 looper) with me and sound great wherever I go! Have Drums. Will Travel.
Electric drums have potential. One you shown at price of 3000 is viable option for performing. Years ago i saw a set on wedding. Electric drum kit that isn't expensive is actualy good option for use with daw if you make music in small home studio.
Nice new technology for "eHi-hats" ! I love e-kits but hey, that guts vibrating in a crazy solo on acoustic drums will never be simulated well enough :D
I've been hearing about this hi-hat being in the works for years! Unfortunately my current electronic Roland hi-hat stopped working correctly about a month after its warranty ran out, but at least I upgrade to a way better model now, expensive as it may be.
The sound source is also hugely important. Even the most expensive e-kit brain doesn´t compare to plugging an e-kit into Superior, etc. It´s a whole different experience.
If you have a studio setup, having an e-kit gives you access (along with the libraries of course) to hundreds of kits. With a little post tracking MIDI editing, to make up for some flaws in the hi-hat and snare, you can convince 99.9% of the record-buying public it´s a real kit in the mix. You also have to consider the acoustics of your tracking room, how many and which mics you have... plus setting all of that up every time. In a premiere library you are getting the sound of the best kits, in the best rooms, recorded through the best gear. All of that is without even taking into account that you can also use the kit to trigger, timbale, conga, timpani and bell sounds etc.
For a small to mid-size studio, producing a wide variety of music, an e-kit with some decent libraries and some MIDI editing skills is hugely more economical and versatile than the acoustic alternatives.
Is the playing experience and the level of subtlety the same as on an acoustic kit? No... but how many Joe Public would recognise or even care about any of that. If the audience likes the production, they don´t care how you got there, how authentic the journey was or how you felt about it. All they care about is the final product.
For €10,000 euros of e-kit and libraries you would have the equivalent of a hundreds of thousands euros in real acoustics and hardware (that you wouldn´t even have the space to store)... and in the end, the vast majority of the people listening to what you were recording wouldn´t even be able to tell the difference.
Fuck the audience, how does it feel for you? If the hi-hat is messing up it’s a huge problem. Roland really seems to be on to something finally with this release.
I've built up a hybrid Roland kit over the years with 2 PD105s, 2 PD120s, a KD400 and just a TD10X module with a separately purchased kit set. Cymbals are Zildjian Gen 16s. Everything runs through a mixer so I can fine tune.
Nice setup!
The digital ride cymbal and hi hat really are game changers. The ability to softly choke with aftertouch instead of having to pinch the “choke zone” is INCREDIBLE. They’re extremely expensive but absolutely worth the $$ for a pro or studio player.
LOL are you saying electronic drum cymbals are good or trash? Not a drummer but want to be LOL
@@JEFFQUICKLE9depends on your price range but accoustic is better in general
Let's be completely honest, there will absolutely NEVER be shutting as good as a full, acoustic setup.
E-Drums have come a long way from the 80's and are consistently getting better, however no matter how good they get, you will never be able to replace the authenticity, the feel and the authenticity of an acoustic set.
Never had the noise allowance for an acoustic kit, desperately wanted a kit to teach myself, went into my local music shop with 1600 cash and showed them the money and asked to buy the demo td-25kv! They said yes!!!
8 years later I still love the kit and playing along to my favorite songs and exploriting the vast creativity of drumming.
The hi hat is my one complaint! Sometimes I just want the hi hat closed, but still moving around, like a halfway open sound. Its impossible, either fully shut or open. Oh well… just going to do as much as I can on it until Im able to get an acoustic kit. I remind myself its not the instruments limitation, its the artists, I must make the most with what I have and be creative with the sounds at my disposal. To anyone reading this, have fun playing no matter what kit you got
I just want to know where the corporate folks said, "Ya, let's put electronic drum heads on acoustic drum shells but instead of using full-size shells, we only make them half the length. That will look real cool and serve absolutely no purpose other than to make sure no one's fooled that they're acoustic drums" Lol😅
This is interesting and good to know. I have a Roland TD-30KV and I've had it for about 10 years.
It's outstanding in the studio, and at small venue gigs where the client doesn't want it to be too loud, but you still need to play with intensity. I usually have my kit set up and ready to play/record before the guitarist or anyone else. A direct out to the soundboard. No mics or tuning or anything like that.
All the above advantages, what I've always hated about the kit - - and at the time I paid $7000 for it - was indeed the high hat.
I'm an expert with the kit. I can do things with it that most people don't even know it can do, but there's only so much you can do with THAT particular high hat.
So I'm going to try this one. I can always return it if I don't like it .
Thanks for the video 💯
Stephen, I have been an exclusive E-Kit user since the late 90's and strictly Roland since early 2K. Gigging live on 506's w TD50 and TD27KV depending on space and type of gig. I have yet to switch to the 14D I will at some point but the settings in these modules work very well. Most cases it's the user and lack working knowledge of the the unit to make the adjustments they need for themselves. Sweetwater is a great company but I would order the hats from Japan and they are selling on avg around $700. 50 years plus playing have not gigged on an acoustic set live since 96/97...E-Kit are here to stay, as you know they are used everywhere, TV studios and shows , major concerts usually masked by other drum manufactures so the audience doesn't notice. Neil Peart was a big advocate of E-drums as well as many others... You video is great and so are you! You are an asset to the drumming community.
I've had the VH13 and a aD-H14 and had a lot of issues with both so opted to throw Roland's then new CY-14C-T on a VH10 HHC and that was way better. I didn't get the VH14 immediately and when I did it didn't blow me away (I was really hoping for a next gen HHC with more articulation) but it does performs better than the past HHs I had. It's not cheap and it will never be like the real thing but there is a premium for being able to play the drums with out waking up the whole neighborhood. And being able to trigger SD3 with its insane library of raw drum samples is bind blowing. I build my own 7pc TAMA A2E kit with a TD50 and TD27 (to expand it) and run SD3 and it's bliss. Maybe not as good as the real thing but I spared no money to make it the most immersive ekit to play acoustic samples on as Roland's sounds are total crap! lol
E-drums with Superior Drummer 3 via MIDI is the closest to acoustic drums, imo. SD3 is insane!
Needing a ton of force to close the hi hats is definitely a calibration issue. I have a "pretty cheap" Alesis DM10 kit and the pedal control is very light. But. You need to calibrate it every single time you restart the brain. It's not much work though. Let go of pedal - > press button - > press on pedal - > push button. Done. Low effort but essential. Aside from that I use Addictive Drums as software which gives more steps in intensity in closed and open but yeah... It definitely has it's limits 😅
I've had a set of V-Drums for at least 10 years and I have never had a single problem with the trap cymbals and I'm just using a regular rubber drum pad as the traps! And, I've always been able to choke them, if I wanted to. So far, my only issues with them have been that, the last time or two that I played them, the right bass drum sometimes triggers multiple times on a single hit. I've got both bass drums chained and, a far as I know I don't get that issue with the left bass drum so, it's probably just a problem with the right bass pad. And, for some reason, when the power was down, the brain (TD-10) lost its memory! I had two original sets configured into the brain and I lost both of them after this power loss. It went back to factory settings. Oh! And, the clamp that holds one of the floor toms doesn't hold the drum completely still so, when I tried to tighten the clamp as much as possible it cracked the clamp. Why that one drum won't stay tight on the rack, I don't know. I'm not hitting it any harder than any of the other drums.