Yeah, I'd agree with that assessment! I couldn't really match the cymbals at all, tried my best between picking different ones and testing different EQs. They're just very different to the cymbals in the samples, only so far you can take it! And the volume levels were difficult to get right as the Mimic cymbals started sounding too "direct" if I brought them up much more.
I noticed that during a good drum mix the volume of the cymbals was very reduced compared to your acoustic drum recording and the sound is darker (less bright). However, the sounds coming from the pearl seem more realistic to me in the context of a finished product. But yes : the hi hat is more expressive on the acoustic one. This is partly due to the cymbal kit you used. If you had used the more realistic cymbals from the Roland TD 50kv kit instead, the difference would have been much less significant.
Listen how sound a good acoustic drum mix. You'll understand that the cymbals sound is perfect on the mimic (and their volume). ua-cam.com/users/shortsUR6xlS4YTJg?si=XtyeCa5SMirXZQAR ua-cam.com/users/shorts9FvPDtiZ6f4?si=8aqjUjNOWIfeGTD9
Both kits sound great with the track. The only obvious difference is the hihat open/close ratio. Ehats just aren't quite there yet. However when recorded I couldn't tell that the ekit was anything but acoustic.
Your ekit sounds fantastic! Great tweaking there! Nice to hear the side by side comparison. I thought the ekit actually sounded better on the song at the end.
Thanks John! I think the overall punchiness of the Slate samples fit more naturally into a track like that - even with a lot of editing, they still sound a little pre-processed (just very good source audio and a great signal chain will do that) so it gives them a fatness that just works. This was our first attempt at an acoustic drum recording without a more experienced engineer with us so we were just happy it didn't sound like total trash haha!
10 years or even more ago when i was still young skinny and with full head of hair also an acoustic drummer i really wanted to buy Amedia cymbals, they seemed really good priced for what they did offered.
They are great cymbals for the money, absolutely! All handmade too! I was put in touch with them through a bandmate and wasn't 100% sure what they would be like going in to test a bunch, but almost every cymbal I tried was really pleasant to play. Really glad I discovered them!
Well, I consider myself to have pretty good ears and I got it wrong, I was pretty certain it was 2 was the Mimic. So, yeah this video pretty much shows us that there's very little in it these days, at least when it comes to the sound. Excellent video Luke, you da man!!!
Thanks Stephen! Yeah, it's surprising how difficult it is to tell these things apart these days, especially if the playing footage lines up with the audio. Then all you have left to go on is things like the room or tuning issues and stuff like that - all of which can appear different depending on the speakers you hear it on!
Thanks John, glad you enjoyed it! Ahh, you're too kind! And I wouldn't worry, I didn't keep a proper count on the totals but it wasn't all that far off 50/50 from what I can remember!
It's always toms. I already use SSD - I think the SSD Bluebird kits is the most natural-sounding e-drum for album production. But the TOMS - if you're a melodic player like myself, across the board the Toms never have enough detail: I figure it's where developers save system resources.
Great experiment!! The snare for me was a dead giveaway. To my ears there is a presence that an acoustic snare has that no e snare can yet match. Especially in live sound it just doesn’t have that in your face snap and low end you get with acoustics.👍😎
Thanks! Yeah, I honestly was most worried about the snare giving it away - there's a large amount of ring and overtone on that particular snare that you don't find represented as much on many sampled drums. It's pretty wild, but I love playing this snare drum, so satisfying!
I was thinking you were going to go with the kit vs the samples of that kit played thru the module. OMG someone else that realizes how good the A high energy heads are on snares. You do a really nice job on the videos.
Thanks! Unfortunately I don't have access to the acoustic counterparts of the stock sounds, and there's no way to fully load in multi-layered samples of my own kits, so this was the only way for this video. However, I may have something more like that down the line...
I have to fully agreed that peoples perception of what a drum kit should sound like is very different I’ve found my self asking the same questions to my self and sometimes what I’ll do is to play an acoustic kit in a room And it will give a much better prospective
Nice job, Luke. I think the original challenge was really well made with the acoustic kit video used for both the acoustic and Mimic audio. It really allowed for a more "objective" view, especially from those who don't care for the look of e-drums. It was really difficult to tell which was acoustic and which was electronic. I think there are certain nuances that can be done with Acoustic that would give it away, but for most playing for most pop or rock or country drummers, it's really more a matter of playing and adapting to the instrument than it is the instrument itself. Electric Guitarists have done it for the whole life of Rock music and now that e-drums have come far enough to be able to be different rather than better or worse, it's time for all those "haters" to come around to the idea that every tool has its purpose. I love my Mimic - there's no way I could get as good a recording with my old Tama kit here at home as I can (so easily) with my Mimic and pads. Again - nice job.
Thanks! Yeah, it certainly seemed to help pique people's interest! And weirdly it wasn't even something I originally planned when filming the footage, it just sorted of came as an idea that I wasn't expecting too much to come from! And you're right, the style of playing really helped with minimising the differences - if I had been playing something more dynamic or that involved more uses of different areas of the heads or cymbals, it would have been more obvious. Like with the ride testing example - there's a defined cut-off between the bow and edge on the eDrums, versus the blending and washing on the acoustic one. I agree that eDrums are finally coming into their own for various uses and I'm glad you're enjoying the Mimic for what it is!
What an awesome video. Have you considered making that mimic pro kit available for purchase or download? My guess is there would be many people interested! I love my mimic pro, but tweaking the sound settings can be a little daunting. That kit sounds fantastic.
Thanks Eric! I have indeed considered making kits available - keep your eyes peeled for future updates, gotta get some things in place first. If you haven't already, you can download my free "snares off" preset from this previous video from a link in the description - ua-cam.com/video/_fcRGIuDBm4/v-deo.html
Thanks! Do you mean with samples from SD3? I don't own it unfortunately, but don't see why it wouldn't work just as well! Usually if using VST samples, it's best to keep them as dry as possible, remove some of that room sound as too much room on a one-shot can increase the machine-gunning!
Hey man, awesome video! Both kits sounds incredible - maybe I'm slightly more impressed with the sound of the Hyperdrive (btw, maple or birch?) kit - those shallow toms really surprised me + you can't go wrong with Turkish cymbals. Anyway, great content & you deserve much more views and subs. Best wishes from Belgrade, Serbia!
Thanks Marko! Yeah, I was surprised we got what we did out of the Tama too! I like the kit and have had my own for years but I think that's the chunkiest sound I've got out of it. Y'know, I'm not 100% on the wood - my own is birch but I forgot they swapped to maple later on - I think this one is pretty old too but will need to check. Yeah, I love my Amedia cymbals! Thanks again for the kind words!
Nice. Mike Luke did something similar a few months ago, comparing grooves played with VSTs (SD3) vs. Acoustic Drums. There were passionate discussions which are "real" and which are not. Turned out ALL where Samples: which actually are just recorded Drums. Especially with SD3 there is nearly no difference. Playing it, of course, but listening to it. Guys really think they can do better than Al Schmitt, Randy Staub, George Massenburg?
His video came up in my suggested earlier, I'm going to check it out very shortly! Not sure how I've missed it, been subbed to his channel for a while. Maybe that's why some people thought I'd used all samples too haha! But you're right, in most circumstances, especially in context with music, you can barely hear the difference! And of course, those drums have been recorded so well that it's no surprise almost everyone uses some sample replacement in their recordings these days. Cheers!
Good job on the video. I would love to see a comparison between a live setting of real drums, Pearl mimic, ATV ad5 drum module. Most drum videos only included the drums but in reality how the drums set in a small band situation would be better. Something including acoustic guitar electric guitar keys and base. Not overly process. This would definitely be more real world. Understand this is very difficult but would be the best way to decide.
Thanks! Not sure if I'd have the resources to pull something like that together any time soon - finding the people with time to do something like this without being compensated is difficult - but I'll keep this sort of idea in mind for the future! I don't own an aD5 any more either so most of my content will be focused on what I own for the time being! Thanks for watching and the input!
Kit 1 sounded a lot cleaner and more processed. The snare also sounded too thick and more like a sample. There were also less variations / dynamics in the first kit. But still very close. Would you consider doing this with the 2box module?
@@TheeDrumWorkshop I told you before I had the Mimic for a while I was referring to that. I returned to A drums scored a nice vintage Tama Artstar. I like both.
Great video, I couldn't tell the difference between either of them. Both sounded great. What hi hat are you using, a Yamaha? I've a vh12 and I'm experimenting with some Zildjians L80s with piezo at the moment.
Thanks! Interesting that you couldn't really tell, and relieved that I must have done a half-decent job of it haha! Yeah, it's a Yamaha PCY-135 which is 3 zone but when you just put it in as a non-ride cymbal it plays as a 2 zone. Then I'm using a Goedrum controller as the hi-hat controller. Getting good results with it on the Mimic! Good luck with the L80s, hope it works out for you! Are you dissatisfied with the VH-12?
Drums are one of the hardest instruments to mix and process properly. As a fellow mixer I'd love to see what things you like to do for drum mixing. :) Nice work on this video!
Thanks man, really appreciated! And for what it's worth, I really enjoy seeing what you manage to get out of the Strike, especially with not having access to one. Pushing it to its full potential!
Just realised I didn't even fully answer what you wrote! I don't do a tonne of drum mixing myself outside of the eDrum stuff, but I will be having a good go at it for a processed version of these clips if people want to hear it. So keep a lookout for that!
I’ve been trying to record with my td27 on my songs for a year now and it’s just not working out. I use superior drummer but my takes don’t sound powerful enough and the hi hats of course are an issue on every song. I have to sit there and quantize the hi hats and after I’m done it still doesn’t sound right. I still love my e drums but I am 100% going back to acoustic when it comes to recording
If anyone wants to see full takes of either kit, fully processed versions, or any other style of comparison from this footage, let me know and I'll see what I can do!
Absolutely! This whole channel is about why I think electronic drums are great and what can be done with them! :) They're definitely great for volume control, though they're not "silent" so you might still need to be wary of anyone with adjoining walls. But much easier to control and deal with than acoustic. Feel free to have a look through my other videos such as "6 Electronic Drum Myths Busted" for more info on misconceptions about eDrums and the "eDrum Mistakes To Avoid" video if you do decide to take the plunge! Good luck, hope you manage to get what you want/need!
The eDrum Workshop Thank you so much, Ya so it’s going to be in our garage, do you know what the best sound proofing would be and that’s not like to expensive?
You're welcome! To be honest, I've never had to soundproof anything for my eDrums so I don't really have any experience or knowledge on what works best. If it's going to be in your garage and you're using headphones/in-ear monitors for the audio (recommended), the volume might work out ok. If you're not directly joined to a room that people are in a lot, you might not bother anybody. I'd probably see whether it can be heard outside of the garage first, then look into things if needed. Sorry I can't be more specific on that one, hope it still helps somehow!
This really speaks to how far the multilayer Technology, and sensor technology has come. GREAT, & overall scientifically sound experiment! I’d say that it would be tough to tell the differences in a mix, but with the kits solo’d out, there are some very subtle differences, but not much at all… The Toms on an acoustic kit don’t seem to hit variation shelf when hit at max velocity, where as the e-kit does ever so slightly; still much more realistic than what I’ve heard! I think to improve this, once could lower the sensitivity until it’s difficult to peak out the sample, or simply add about 2 or more sample layer variants at the top end velocities. (This may or may not be noticeable in a mix, but over all easily fixed with follow up velocity tuning in the box.) The other thing that’s noticeable when the kits are solo’d out: The snare wires when hitting drums other than snare. The e-kit has no snare wire sound when hitting other toms; but arguably, when doing most typical acoustic drum processing, this either wouldn’t be heard due to noise floor or gates negating the bleed. Not typically noticeable in a mix with other instruments, but would be a cool touch if they somehow figured a way to include this typical acoustic drum imperfection into sample to make the player “feel” more like they are behind an acoustic kit. The hi-hat on the e-kit is VERY debatable, but honestly, I would have just thought that it was a real hi-hat, just a thinner, smaller, & brighter hi-hat; The only exclusion would be a few subtle hits where the hi-hat sounded a slight bit too consistent; But again, still can arrive at a very viable, and convincing acoustic drum recording with just a few minor tweaks to velocities & or timing in the box. In all honesty, I really don’t blame the Mimic for these slight consistencies between contiguous hits, I really do think the material, and sensors which the e-kit components are made out of can cause this… In other words, it could be a slightly mis-read velocity due to the player not experiencing the same recoil randomness as on an acoustic device… If the surface being hit provides a more consistent recoil, that’s going to improve the players consistency, making their hits more efficient, and consistent, resulting in what can be mis-heard as what one might consider some very mild “machine gunning”, even though it’s nowhere near as bad as what the term “machine gunning” implies. Overall, this is good enough for me to consider using the Pearl Mimic Pro on a professional recording, and especially in a scenario where I’m using it in a trigger scenario, as an additional layer on an acoustic tracking session! Blending capabilities for when I am having to track in a tiny room which is completely dead! 😝
Hi Luke, I'm thinking of making my own 13" e-Snare. I would install 4 triggers on the side and 4 triggers for Rim (similar to ATV, but with 4 instead of 3 triggers). If I connect all 4 triggers in parallel to the Jack-input, will I have Positional-sensing or is some additional electronics (resistor) required?
Hi Dusan. You shouldn't need a resistor for a trigger setup like this (unless the pad is too "hot"), but I can't confirm for sure whether or not the positional sensing will work correctly with that trigger setup on the Mimic's newest software. It's optimised specifically to the ATV aD-S13 and although it can work well with some other pads, DIY pads can sometimes give out quite different signals so it's difficult to say how accurate it would end up.
@@matkosegaric3775 Hallo Matko, napravio sam dobos sa 4 trigera i mogu ti reci da sam prezadovoljan! Mnogo bolje reaguje u poredjenju sa ATV, a i positional-sensing funkcionise besprekorno. Planiram da napravim jos jedan i da ga ponudim na prodaju. Pozdrav!
Hello! Are you happy with the triggerinh of the yamaha hi hat? Is it better or worse than the vh10/vh11? How is it in comparison with a vst? Your answer would be highly appreciated
Hi! Yeah, it triggers pretty well though the is a mild hot spot in one area. It's not bad enough to ruin my dynamics personally, though I have read one or two reports of it being noticeable for some others. I am only using the Yamaha PCY-135 cymbal top with a Goedrum controller though, not the full Yamaha hi-hat setup - Yamaha hi hat pedals/controllers don't work well with Roland and don't give a full range of closed to open, if I remember rightly. The Mimic hi hat engine is very good, but I don't use VSTs regularly enough to say if it's better or not.
I have made the experience that recording e-drums via microphones by having at least 2 speakers and a bit of a natural stereo effect make the drums sound better than if you send the sounds by wires into whatever you have set up as recording studio. Do you agree?
I've never really tried this method. I can't imagine mic'ing up speakers sounding better than the direct audio, though. A lot of speakers can't recreate eDrums very well, so they'd need to be good speakers and you'd lose some frequencies in the transition. If it gets what you want though, I guess whatever works for you! It could be cool to do this and blend it into the original "clean" signal.
Electronic drums are definitely making headway into closely mimicking acoustic drums. Its a slow process and if you could combine all the innovations from the top 5 companies, you would have something that seriously kicks butt. I use both and am still waiting for the holy grail of electronic kits that blow me away enough to fork out the boatload of cash needed to upgrade. Part of that equation is sound systems to run them through and the dynamic range deficit. I still feel like I get buried in the sound mix with electronic. There is something about the initial attack of the sound that is quickly lost while playing with a live band. I have partially solved this by using a triggered acoustic kit and mylar heads with the drums muffled 80%. This leaves the initial attack of the drum sound intact while it is being mixed with whatever electronic sound I`m using from the module. The results are quite good. I`m not getting buried in the mix anymore and yet not overpowering the band and ticking off the sound man. Has anyone else tried this and what results are you getting?
As some one who is not a drummer but has played the drums in the past and has embraced digital modeling with guitar amps (FAS ) I think in a discreet listening session you can hear the difference in the crumbles. In the context of a mix its really hard to hear the difference.
They are nice sounding cymbals, so it might just be that you prefer the tone! But a couple of factors that might have an effect on it are that 1) even though the sampled cymbals are great, there's still difference in the way electronic cymbals play which can make them sound a bit less authentic and 2) the additional bleed into the other microphones on the acoustic kit can really add a sense of warmth and togetherness that isn't there on the Mimic since not all mics have bleed (just overheads and room). Could be any of those or just that you prefer the Amedia cymbals :) thanks for watching!
Nice playing and really hard to tell the difference. I thought both drums actually sounded very nice! Is this a cover song, drumless track or an original that you are playing to?
Yay! I got it right lol but I did reference it in my studio monitors so I dunno if that's cheating but I didn't want to look like an idiot being a mixing engineer lol (I did suspect it was 1 at first but I had to make sure) This was fun. It was like the "Real Amp vs Amp Sim!" Guitar challenges. One things for certain - STEVENSLATEDRUMS FTW :)
Yeah man, you nailed it! Nah, that's not cheating, that's being thorough haha! When I listened on my phone, it sounded SO different to my monitors that I honestly thought it would be more obvious on a phone, but every little nuance changes depending on so many things. Glad you enjoyed it mate! And YES, I agree!
The question isn’t sound, drum software is sonically far superior to a live unprocessed acoustic kit. Drum software is created in the best studios using the best equipment. However it’s when you actually sit behind even the best e drums be it Drum tec , Roland etc. is when the problem arises. It seems to me that the e drum industry is really only interested in sound and not necessarily the feel, which is just as important.
I revisited this video again, and even after seeing it when it came out, I still thought 2 was the mimic. So I have learned nothing. But it's funny that when you actually see the correct footage next to the audio, something in your heard says "of course, so obvious" when in fact, it's not. We do listen with our eyes! Just recently I had a drummer tell me that edrums live suck and he'd never use one. I think even this video wouldn't convince him, so I am not going to try.
Ahh man, it's crazy, isn't it? I need to do more of this stuff now that I've got a better space to work in. Might even try and do something like this with Roland and see if I can convince people that they're real. That would be a holy grail moment for me, I think 😂 But yeah, our brains definitely put way more stock in what we're seeing than we want to believe.
One thing I noticed is when you play the acoustic kit every single drum resonates with all the other drums. The electronic kit sounds like every drum is gated and isolated from every other drum, detracting for the overall sound. Im not saying the sound is bad at all. Just something missing.
Absolutely! That's something that's very difficult to pull off on electronics (unless it's modelled like on a Roland module). Rolls are very different too - when you roll on an acoustic snare, you hear the next hit's attack while the drum resonates. On electronics, every hit is distinct.
I think the electric drums sound better tighter more studio like.. But the electric cymbals are a bit weaker then the real cymbals. i don't think they will ever sound as good. i think in a few years we will be real close.
Yeah, I can see that! I think the playability of the electronic cymbals gives it away - they sound great as samples but they don't wash the same natural way. I think we'll get much closer soon too! Thanks for watching!
The average listener will not be able to tell the difference if you didn't tell them. The average listener makes up the bulk of listeners. This is a non-issue.
Follow up video with both kits processed (EQ, compression, reverb) now up! - ua-cam.com/video/B57wpMjzdHU/v-deo.html
The acoustic kit sounds more brighter, and the cymbals are louder. Also the hi hat is more expressive
Yeah, I'd agree with that assessment! I couldn't really match the cymbals at all, tried my best between picking different ones and testing different EQs. They're just very different to the cymbals in the samples, only so far you can take it! And the volume levels were difficult to get right as the Mimic cymbals started sounding too "direct" if I brought them up much more.
Definitely agree . I think he could've gotten away with more high shelf eq. Nonetheless great vid and it still sounded good.
I noticed that during a good drum mix the volume of the cymbals was very reduced compared to your acoustic drum recording and the sound is darker (less bright). However, the sounds coming from the pearl seem more realistic to me in the context of a finished product. But yes : the hi hat is more expressive on the acoustic one. This is partly due to the cymbal kit you used. If you had used the more realistic cymbals from the Roland TD 50kv kit instead, the difference would have been much less significant.
Listen how sound a good acoustic drum mix. You'll understand that the cymbals sound is perfect on the mimic (and their volume).
ua-cam.com/users/shortsUR6xlS4YTJg?si=XtyeCa5SMirXZQAR
ua-cam.com/users/shorts9FvPDtiZ6f4?si=8aqjUjNOWIfeGTD9
Another lovely video from you sir. Now, will shamelessly ask for that Pork Pie Snare sounds to try. God bless you and more videos!
Thanks JC! The snare/kit preset might be available down the line, keep your eyes peeled!
The eDrum Workshop and indeed here is one who cannot wait! Absolutely excited for this Porky sound. Wohoo!
It starts playing the edrum at 4:56
"It" ?!? Hey, he seems to be a very nice guy!
Both kits sound great with the track. The only obvious difference is the hihat open/close ratio. Ehats just aren't quite there yet. However when recorded I couldn't tell that the ekit was anything but acoustic.
Your ekit sounds fantastic! Great tweaking there! Nice to hear the side by side comparison. I thought the ekit actually sounded better on the song at the end.
Thanks John! I think the overall punchiness of the Slate samples fit more naturally into a track like that - even with a lot of editing, they still sound a little pre-processed (just very good source audio and a great signal chain will do that) so it gives them a fatness that just works. This was our first attempt at an acoustic drum recording without a more experienced engineer with us so we were just happy it didn't sound like total trash haha!
nice work Luke, the force is strong !!
Thank you, as ever! Glad you enjoyed it!
10 years or even more ago when i was still young skinny and with full head of hair also an acoustic drummer i really wanted to buy Amedia cymbals, they seemed really good priced for what they did offered.
They are great cymbals for the money, absolutely! All handmade too! I was put in touch with them through a bandmate and wasn't 100% sure what they would be like going in to test a bunch, but almost every cymbal I tried was really pleasant to play. Really glad I discovered them!
Well, I consider myself to have pretty good ears and I got it wrong, I was pretty certain it was 2 was the Mimic. So, yeah this video pretty much shows us that there's very little in it these days, at least when it comes to the sound. Excellent video Luke, you da man!!!
Thanks Stephen! Yeah, it's surprising how difficult it is to tell these things apart these days, especially if the playing footage lines up with the audio. Then all you have left to go on is things like the room or tuning issues and stuff like that - all of which can appear different depending on the speakers you hear it on!
This is a great video Luke. Really interesting and beautifully made (great playing too.) I guessed wrong!
Thanks John, glad you enjoyed it! Ahh, you're too kind! And I wouldn't worry, I didn't keep a proper count on the totals but it wasn't all that far off 50/50 from what I can remember!
Both kits sound great. Very interesting video, thanks for your effort putting this together
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for watching!
It's always toms. I already use SSD - I think the SSD Bluebird kits is the most natural-sounding e-drum for album production.
But the TOMS - if you're a melodic player like myself, across the board the Toms never have enough detail: I figure it's where developers save system resources.
Try BFD drums 2.
Great experiment!! The snare for me was a dead giveaway. To my ears there is a presence that an acoustic snare has that no e snare can yet match. Especially in live sound it just doesn’t have that in your face snap and low end you get with acoustics.👍😎
Thanks! Yeah, I honestly was most worried about the snare giving it away - there's a large amount of ring and overtone on that particular snare that you don't find represented as much on many sampled drums. It's pretty wild, but I love playing this snare drum, so satisfying!
The eDrum Workshop For sure, it sounds great👍😎
Absolutely brilliant, Luke...well done!!
Thank you!
I recently purchased every sample/custom pack you offer on your website and look forward to working with them. Thank you for all you do!
Thank you so much, hope you enjoy them!
I can hear the differences for sure, but I sure as heck wouldn't know which is which if I had my eyes closed. Nice demo. That Mimic sweet.
The Mimic really is a beast of a module!
Nice video and jam at the end!
Thanks John!
I was thinking you were going to go with the kit vs the samples of that kit played thru the module. OMG someone else that realizes how good the A high energy heads are on snares. You do a really nice job on the videos.
Thanks! Unfortunately I don't have access to the acoustic counterparts of the stock sounds, and there's no way to fully load in multi-layered samples of my own kits, so this was the only way for this video. However, I may have something more like that down the line...
That TAMA kit sounds killer tbh
I have to fully agreed that peoples perception of what a drum kit should sound like is very different I’ve found my self asking the same questions to my self and sometimes what I’ll do is to play an acoustic kit in a room
And it will give a much better prospective
10:10 See that smile? It doesn't matter what kind of kit you're playing on, that's what drumming is all about!
Wow Luke! That Ekit sounds so good!
Thanks Bob!
Nice job, Luke. I think the original challenge was really well made with the acoustic kit video used for both the acoustic and Mimic audio. It really allowed for a more "objective" view, especially from those who don't care for the look of e-drums. It was really difficult to tell which was acoustic and which was electronic. I think there are certain nuances that can be done with Acoustic that would give it away, but for most playing for most pop or rock or country drummers, it's really more a matter of playing and adapting to the instrument than it is the instrument itself. Electric Guitarists have done it for the whole life of Rock music and now that e-drums have come far enough to be able to be different rather than better or worse, it's time for all those "haters" to come around to the idea that every tool has its purpose. I love my Mimic - there's no way I could get as good a recording with my old Tama kit here at home as I can (so easily) with my Mimic and pads. Again - nice job.
Thanks! Yeah, it certainly seemed to help pique people's interest! And weirdly it wasn't even something I originally planned when filming the footage, it just sorted of came as an idea that I wasn't expecting too much to come from! And you're right, the style of playing really helped with minimising the differences - if I had been playing something more dynamic or that involved more uses of different areas of the heads or cymbals, it would have been more obvious. Like with the ride testing example - there's a defined cut-off between the bow and edge on the eDrums, versus the blending and washing on the acoustic one. I agree that eDrums are finally coming into their own for various uses and I'm glad you're enjoying the Mimic for what it is!
What an awesome video. Have you considered making that mimic pro kit available for purchase or download? My guess is there would be many people interested! I love my mimic pro, but tweaking the sound settings can be a little daunting. That kit sounds fantastic.
Thanks Eric! I have indeed considered making kits available - keep your eyes peeled for future updates, gotta get some things in place first. If you haven't already, you can download my free "snares off" preset from this previous video from a link in the description - ua-cam.com/video/_fcRGIuDBm4/v-deo.html
Awesome work!
Thanks mate!
Great job with the sounds and video! Have you tried something similar with Toontrack SD3?
Thanks! Do you mean with samples from SD3? I don't own it unfortunately, but don't see why it wouldn't work just as well! Usually if using VST samples, it's best to keep them as dry as possible, remove some of that room sound as too much room on a one-shot can increase the machine-gunning!
Awesome vid man. That hyperdrive sounds great. Love those cymbals too!
Cheers!
Hey man, awesome video! Both kits sounds incredible - maybe I'm slightly more impressed with the sound of the Hyperdrive (btw, maple or birch?) kit - those shallow toms really surprised me + you can't go wrong with Turkish cymbals. Anyway, great content & you deserve much more views and subs. Best wishes from Belgrade, Serbia!
Thanks Marko! Yeah, I was surprised we got what we did out of the Tama too! I like the kit and have had my own for years but I think that's the chunkiest sound I've got out of it. Y'know, I'm not 100% on the wood - my own is birch but I forgot they swapped to maple later on - I think this one is pretty old too but will need to check. Yeah, I love my Amedia cymbals! Thanks again for the kind words!
So awesome, mindblowing!
Far too kind! Glad you enjoyed it!
Absolutely great !!
Nice. Mike Luke did something similar a few months ago, comparing grooves played with VSTs (SD3) vs. Acoustic Drums. There were passionate discussions which are "real" and which are not. Turned out ALL where Samples: which actually are just recorded Drums. Especially with SD3 there is nearly no difference. Playing it, of course, but listening to it. Guys really think they can do better than Al Schmitt, Randy Staub, George Massenburg?
His video came up in my suggested earlier, I'm going to check it out very shortly! Not sure how I've missed it, been subbed to his channel for a while. Maybe that's why some people thought I'd used all samples too haha! But you're right, in most circumstances, especially in context with music, you can barely hear the difference! And of course, those drums have been recorded so well that it's no surprise almost everyone uses some sample replacement in their recordings these days. Cheers!
Good job on the video. I would love to see a comparison between a live setting of real drums, Pearl mimic, ATV ad5 drum module. Most drum videos only included the drums but in reality how the drums set in a small band situation would be better. Something including acoustic guitar electric guitar keys and base. Not overly process. This would definitely be more real world. Understand this is very difficult but would be the best way to decide.
Thanks! Not sure if I'd have the resources to pull something like that together any time soon - finding the people with time to do something like this without being compensated is difficult - but I'll keep this sort of idea in mind for the future! I don't own an aD5 any more either so most of my content will be focused on what I own for the time being! Thanks for watching and the input!
Kit 1 sounded a lot cleaner and more processed. The snare also sounded too thick and more like a sample. There were also less variations / dynamics in the first kit. But still very close. Would you consider doing this with the 2box module?
are the pillows inside bass drum name brand or any pillow will do?
Custom order from Peru, only way it sounds good!
Very cool the Mimic was nice
Thanks Bob! Not as much a fan of the acoustic sounds? (Not that I mind either way, it's all very personal!)
@@TheeDrumWorkshop I told you before I had the Mimic for a while I was referring to that. I returned to A drums scored a nice vintage Tama Artstar. I like both.
@@bobvanster I think I read you had issue with your ears was the main reason for edrum is issue.
@@Chrisloft Correct not playing for time being
Ahh, of course, apologies! I thought you meant in reference to the specific sounds here, just read it wrong haha! Thanks for watching!
Great video, I couldn't tell the difference between either of them. Both sounded great. What hi hat are you using, a Yamaha? I've a vh12 and I'm experimenting with some Zildjians L80s with piezo at the moment.
Thanks! Interesting that you couldn't really tell, and relieved that I must have done a half-decent job of it haha! Yeah, it's a Yamaha PCY-135 which is 3 zone but when you just put it in as a non-ride cymbal it plays as a 2 zone. Then I'm using a Goedrum controller as the hi-hat controller. Getting good results with it on the Mimic! Good luck with the L80s, hope it works out for you! Are you dissatisfied with the VH-12?
Good job!
Drums are one of the hardest instruments to mix and process properly. As a fellow mixer I'd love to see what things you like to do for drum mixing. :) Nice work on this video!
Thanks man, really appreciated! And for what it's worth, I really enjoy seeing what you manage to get out of the Strike, especially with not having access to one. Pushing it to its full potential!
Just realised I didn't even fully answer what you wrote! I don't do a tonne of drum mixing myself outside of the eDrum stuff, but I will be having a good go at it for a processed version of these clips if people want to hear it. So keep a lookout for that!
I’ve been trying to record with my td27 on my songs for a year now and it’s just not working out. I use superior drummer but my takes don’t sound powerful enough and the hi hats of course are an issue on every song. I have to sit there and quantize the hi hats and after I’m done it still doesn’t sound right. I still love my e drums but I am 100% going back to acoustic when it comes to recording
If anyone wants to see full takes of either kit, fully processed versions, or any other style of comparison from this footage, let me know and I'll see what I can do!
I wanna see you do a cover of power rangers theme song
Would you say it’s worth buying the electric drums, because my parents say I can’t get acoustic drums because we live in a complex
Absolutely! This whole channel is about why I think electronic drums are great and what can be done with them! :) They're definitely great for volume control, though they're not "silent" so you might still need to be wary of anyone with adjoining walls. But much easier to control and deal with than acoustic. Feel free to have a look through my other videos such as "6 Electronic Drum Myths Busted" for more info on misconceptions about eDrums and the "eDrum Mistakes To Avoid" video if you do decide to take the plunge! Good luck, hope you manage to get what you want/need!
The eDrum Workshop Thank you so much,
Ya so it’s going to be in our garage, do you know what the best sound proofing would be and that’s not like to expensive?
You're welcome! To be honest, I've never had to soundproof anything for my eDrums so I don't really have any experience or knowledge on what works best. If it's going to be in your garage and you're using headphones/in-ear monitors for the audio (recommended), the volume might work out ok. If you're not directly joined to a room that people are in a lot, you might not bother anybody. I'd probably see whether it can be heard outside of the garage first, then look into things if needed. Sorry I can't be more specific on that one, hope it still helps somehow!
The eDrum Workshop Thank you soo much
This really speaks to how far the multilayer Technology, and sensor technology has come. GREAT, & overall scientifically sound experiment!
I’d say that it would be tough to tell the differences in a mix, but with the kits solo’d out, there are some very subtle differences, but not much at all… The Toms on an acoustic kit don’t seem to hit variation shelf when hit at max velocity, where as the e-kit does ever so slightly; still much more realistic than what I’ve heard! I think to improve this, once could lower the sensitivity until it’s difficult to peak out the sample, or simply add about 2 or more sample layer variants at the top end velocities. (This may or may not be noticeable in a mix, but over all easily fixed with follow up velocity tuning in the box.)
The other thing that’s noticeable when the kits are solo’d out:
The snare wires when hitting drums other than snare. The e-kit has no snare wire sound when hitting other toms; but arguably, when doing most typical acoustic drum processing, this either wouldn’t be heard due to noise floor or gates negating the bleed. Not typically noticeable in a mix with other instruments, but would be a cool touch if they somehow figured a way to include this typical acoustic drum imperfection into sample to make the player “feel” more like they are behind an acoustic kit.
The hi-hat on the e-kit is VERY debatable, but honestly, I would have just thought that it was a real hi-hat, just a thinner, smaller, & brighter hi-hat; The only exclusion would be a few subtle hits where the hi-hat sounded a slight bit too consistent; But again, still can arrive at a very viable, and convincing acoustic drum recording with just a few minor tweaks to velocities & or timing in the box.
In all honesty, I really don’t blame the Mimic for these slight consistencies between contiguous hits, I really do think the material, and sensors which the e-kit components are made out of can cause this… In other words, it could be a slightly mis-read velocity due to the player not experiencing the same recoil randomness as on an acoustic device… If the surface being hit provides a more consistent recoil, that’s going to improve the players consistency, making their hits more efficient, and consistent, resulting in what can be mis-heard as what one might consider some very mild “machine gunning”, even though it’s nowhere near as bad as what the term “machine gunning” implies.
Overall, this is good enough for me to consider using the Pearl Mimic Pro on a professional recording, and especially in a scenario where I’m using it in a trigger scenario, as an additional layer on an acoustic tracking session! Blending capabilities for when I am having to track in a tiny room which is completely dead! 😝
Hi Luke, I'm thinking of making my own 13" e-Snare. I would install 4 triggers on the side and 4 triggers for Rim (similar to ATV, but with 4 instead of 3 triggers). If I connect all 4 triggers in parallel to the Jack-input, will I have Positional-sensing or is some additional electronics (resistor) required?
Hi Dusan. You shouldn't need a resistor for a trigger setup like this (unless the pad is too "hot"), but I can't confirm for sure whether or not the positional sensing will work correctly with that trigger setup on the Mimic's newest software. It's optimised specifically to the ATV aD-S13 and although it can work well with some other pads, DIY pads can sometimes give out quite different signals so it's difficult to say how accurate it would end up.
Dusane , jesli li napravio dobos sa 4 trigera ?
@@matkosegaric3775 Hallo Matko, napravio sam dobos sa 4 trigera i mogu ti reci da sam prezadovoljan! Mnogo bolje reaguje u poredjenju sa ATV, a i positional-sensing funkcionise besprekorno. Planiram da napravim jos jedan i da ga ponudim na prodaju. Pozdrav!
Liked the Pearl Mimic over the Acoustic kit.
Fair enough!
@@TheeDrumWorkshop Oops.. sorry Luke, didn’t realize that the video is over a year old.
Nothing to apologize for, it's great that people are still interested!
Hello! Are you happy with the triggerinh of the yamaha hi hat? Is it better or worse than the vh10/vh11? How is it in comparison with a vst? Your answer would be highly appreciated
Hi! Yeah, it triggers pretty well though the is a mild hot spot in one area. It's not bad enough to ruin my dynamics personally, though I have read one or two reports of it being noticeable for some others. I am only using the Yamaha PCY-135 cymbal top with a Goedrum controller though, not the full Yamaha hi-hat setup - Yamaha hi hat pedals/controllers don't work well with Roland and don't give a full range of closed to open, if I remember rightly.
The Mimic hi hat engine is very good, but I don't use VSTs regularly enough to say if it's better or not.
Thanks! Is there really a big difference in triggering/performance between roland and yamaha edrums?
I have made the experience that recording e-drums via microphones by having at least 2 speakers and a bit of a natural stereo effect make the drums sound better than if you send the sounds by wires into whatever you have set up as recording studio. Do you agree?
I've never really tried this method. I can't imagine mic'ing up speakers sounding better than the direct audio, though. A lot of speakers can't recreate eDrums very well, so they'd need to be good speakers and you'd lose some frequencies in the transition. If it gets what you want though, I guess whatever works for you! It could be cool to do this and blend it into the original "clean" signal.
Electronic drums are definitely making headway into closely mimicking acoustic drums. Its a slow process and if you could combine all the innovations from the top 5 companies, you would have something that seriously kicks butt. I use both and am still waiting for the holy grail of electronic kits that blow me away enough to fork out the boatload of cash needed to upgrade. Part of that equation is sound systems to run them through and the dynamic range deficit. I still feel like I get buried in the sound mix with electronic. There is something about the initial attack of the sound that is quickly lost while playing with a live band. I have partially solved this by using a triggered acoustic kit and mylar heads with the drums muffled 80%. This leaves the initial attack of the drum sound intact while it is being mixed with whatever electronic sound I`m using from the module. The results are quite good. I`m not getting buried in the mix anymore and yet not overpowering the band and ticking off the sound man. Has anyone else tried this and what results are you getting?
As some one who is not a drummer but has played the drums in the past and has embraced digital modeling with guitar amps (FAS ) I think in a discreet listening session you can hear the difference in the crumbles. In the context of a mix its really hard to hear the difference.
You should re-do this experiment now that you can make your own samples to match your drums.
Aah, and here I thought that you sampled the acoustic kit voice by voice and then played it through the mimic.
I like the electronic drums more but the acoustic cymbals sound better to me how is this possible
They are nice sounding cymbals, so it might just be that you prefer the tone! But a couple of factors that might have an effect on it are that 1) even though the sampled cymbals are great, there's still difference in the way electronic cymbals play which can make them sound a bit less authentic and 2) the additional bleed into the other microphones on the acoustic kit can really add a sense of warmth and togetherness that isn't there on the Mimic since not all mics have bleed (just overheads and room). Could be any of those or just that you prefer the Amedia cymbals :) thanks for watching!
Nice playing and really hard to tell the difference. I thought both drums actually sounded very nice! Is this a cover song, drumless track or an original that you are playing to?
I actually got it correct, I knew!, 👍🏾
i got it right but only because i have a mimic and know what the kits sound like lol
Yay! I got it right lol but I did reference it in my studio monitors so I dunno if that's cheating but I didn't want to look like an idiot being a mixing engineer lol (I did suspect it was 1 at first but I had to make sure)
This was fun. It was like the "Real Amp vs Amp Sim!" Guitar challenges.
One things for certain - STEVENSLATEDRUMS FTW :)
Yeah man, you nailed it! Nah, that's not cheating, that's being thorough haha! When I listened on my phone, it sounded SO different to my monitors that I honestly thought it would be more obvious on a phone, but every little nuance changes depending on so many things.
Glad you enjoyed it mate! And YES, I agree!
That must have taken hours to made.
2 days in the studio and hours of continuing to edit the Mimic sounds afterwards to get them just right haha!
@@TheeDrumWorkshop i must say wowzers, I totally dont have patience to do that.
Not sure how I do, tbh haha
The question isn’t sound, drum software is sonically far superior to a live unprocessed acoustic kit.
Drum software is created in the best studios using the best equipment.
However it’s when you actually sit behind even the best e drums be it Drum tec , Roland etc. is when the problem arises.
It seems to me that the e drum industry is really only interested in sound and not necessarily the feel, which is just as important.
I revisited this video again, and even after seeing it when it came out, I still thought 2 was the mimic. So I have learned nothing. But it's funny that when you actually see the correct footage next to the audio, something in your heard says "of course, so obvious" when in fact, it's not. We do listen with our eyes!
Just recently I had a drummer tell me that edrums live suck and he'd never use one. I think even this video wouldn't convince him, so I am not going to try.
Ahh man, it's crazy, isn't it? I need to do more of this stuff now that I've got a better space to work in. Might even try and do something like this with Roland and see if I can convince people that they're real. That would be a holy grail moment for me, I think 😂 But yeah, our brains definitely put way more stock in what we're seeing than we want to believe.
brilliant,,,,,,,,,now i cant recall which i stated was mimic versus acoustic.....dammit.......
Ahh, you nailed it mate! Called out the PMP as number 1!
@@TheeDrumWorkshop im a PiMP......
Needs to be the official fan name!
@@TheeDrumWorkshop good call.....PiMP's
One thing I noticed is when you play the acoustic kit every single drum resonates with all the other drums. The electronic kit sounds like every drum is gated and isolated from every other drum, detracting for the overall sound. Im not saying the sound is bad at all. Just something missing.
Absolutely! That's something that's very difficult to pull off on electronics (unless it's modelled like on a Roland module). Rolls are very different too - when you roll on an acoustic snare, you hear the next hit's attack while the drum resonates. On electronics, every hit is distinct.
You never can match because in slate are you using room, and the room is big and acoustic
But U own all of pearls drums in a box ?
Cymbals are the difference still ... that's why I play electronic kit with real cymbals
Best of both worlds!
I think the electric drums sound better tighter more studio like.. But the electric cymbals are a bit weaker then the real cymbals. i don't think they will ever sound as good. i think in a few years we will be real close.
Yeah, I can see that! I think the playability of the electronic cymbals gives it away - they sound great as samples but they don't wash the same natural way. I think we'll get much closer soon too! Thanks for watching!
Translation please
damn i was wrong
OR WAS I?!
Ha!
The average listener will not be able to tell the difference if you didn't tell them. The average listener makes up the bulk of listeners.
This is a non-issue.
The mimic sounds overly mixed and overly clean and doesn’t cut the mix like a real set does
The articulation of real drums cannot be achieved not even with a Roland TD90XYZ ;)
What are real drums?
Too much talking