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That's the best part of flagships, they spend R&D money on the hard to do tech first, and later when it's cheap and figured out, it trickles down to lower end drums
@@bucknaked31 Versatrigger existed yes, I have one too. But did it have positional sensing on the snare? Pitch bending? Snare throw off? I'm not saying that's all necessary, but DW is bringing more stuff to the table than wireless only
@@65Drums It was going to have positional sensing, but development stopped when DW got involved. It was a big letdown for me, but I assumed that I would be able to buy the DW version soon… had no idea it would take years, though. I was working on a snare throw off, but pitch bending wasn’t on the radar at that point.
Hi Justin, as usual a super high quality & truthful review! The Roland engineers in Japan continue working on those little things you mentioned. And more :-) Hope to see you again soon - it's been a while. Kudos for what you keep on contributing to the e-drum community!!
Brilliant job! You're a natural at this and I'm not surprised DW lent you this for a review. They're right to take you as a serious voice and you remain my No.1 go-to channel for product opinion.
Good honest review Justin. Watching the online reviews it sounds like the hi-hat, crashes & ride don't have enough multi layered samples, I can hear the cymbals machine gunning.
As you stated, this set is only for a small percentage of drummers due to the price, but 100% of e-drummers would love to go wireless (with little to no latency). Great review, as always!
Part of the cost solution was to make this DWe kit available in a less expensive DW shell pack. And, in the future, there is no reason Roland (who owns DW) can't put those 'basket-type' sensors inside the VAD shells.
I'd love to see the wireless version of this with the VAD 506/507 shells and rubber cymbals. Maybe in a couple of years they'll bring it down to a lower price point with "crappy" shells.
Absolutely the best review of this product that I have seen to date! Great work! This review really dissected the pros and cons of this kit and ekits in general.
Thank you for doing such a detailed review considering the limited time you have the drum set. You discovered flaws other reviewer’s had skipped over. Thank you again.
Great review. I never buy the 'worlds first' of any product category, as they inevitably improve so it was great to hear that philosophy from someone else! I also appreciate you going in depth on the pros and cons of metal e-cymbals, something Ive long wanted manufacturers to nail. Questions for follow up / to test before the kit goes back...: 1. Is there any reason the kit needs a full size acoustic shell design? Could the tech work equally well in low profile/pad based configuration? 2. Does the wireless ecosystem make wireless headphones viable now? With everything routed to a computer rather than a module, can you use regular airpods, bluetooth headsets etc for lag free reliable use? Thanks again!
Wow, I'm really sold on some of the features of this kit. Pitch bending, throw-off and the high end shell pack are awesome. I would love to have a trigger that allowed pitch bending on my kit.
High end shell pack is a plus only if you want to buy a stupid expensive acoustic kit just to use it as an electronic kit. Personally, I already have a nice acoustic kit I prefer.
This is the 3rd review video I've seen on this kit and you answered all the questions that the other reviews left me wondering about. Great job Justin! I think I'll be sticking with my VAD-506 with SSD5.
Hey man, I'm a big fan. It goes back to watching your early videos years ago. All thanks to you and your videos I was able to buy my first e-kit. The DWe video from some other channel popped up in my yt feed. As soon as I saw that DWe launch is here, I searched for your channel to understand everything. Thanks once again for being such a help. All the very best.
Excellent video, thank you. You were unbiased, comprehensive, and accurate. You have the best e-drum channel on UA-cam. Thank you for your service to drummers everywhere.
I'd love to pair these drums with my Roland cymbals! DW did an outstanding job with this release. Love the wireless capability and it sounds great. Can't wait to see how they continue to tweak and improve over the years.
I’m veryyyyyyy impressed with this kit. I did this exact thing with my DW Collectors series kit. I converted it and played that kit with both a 2Box module and the Pearl Mimic Pro. I love it. This is good stuff. Those cymbals look awesome and fun to play.
1st, Justin, your playing has much improved over the years since I have been watching your videos. This technology will eventually make it affordable for all. Thank You
You serious? Technically he's still really not very good, but he obviously researches e-drums very well. His presentation is top notch, but a shame he can't back it up with his playing. Just my opinion of course ;)
@@mikosoft You are wrong my friend first ever wireless drums with no cable's and removable🔋 the next evolution first we have xlr inputs lately we have 3 usb inputs on electronic drums now this is the next step from Roland that's why he bought dw and the future is brighter then ever.
Excellent review. I command DW for trying this and pushing the envelope, however I don’t see a big market for this kit. The eAcoustic hybrids are a tough sell, they’re really not ideal for either use no matter how you slice it, even with Collector shells. The wireless is impressive and it must be a lot of fun, but yeah, unlikely to set the industry on fire or to be seen live ar a club next to you. Again, great review.
I would just like the internals so I can retro fit my DW Collector. I don't take my ekit out to gig with because of all of the cables I'd have to deal with all the time.
Very detailed review. Thank you for breaking this down. Am considering this set so your thoughts are helpful, especially the truthful comments on the cymbals. Will find somewhere to test it out in person.
One of the major selling points for this kit is that you can easily remove the electronics and have a top of the line DW acoustic kit to play. How practical is that application, and could the electronics be moved to a different kit with similar results?
Amazing review as always! Impresive kit and the fact that they are premium DW shells and one can easily convert into acustic e such a great ideia. I hope this comes to less expensive kits!
This is an excellent direction for e-drums to move in. For someone playing live this brings the best of electronic drums, looks and the easiest setup possible, ever. No cables about it! I am quite excited see how this will evolve in its upcoming iterations. Personally speaking I think this one lays a solid foundation for the evolution. Being a tech yourself, what do you think Justin? P.S I am coming from a place where the biggest tours in the world are mostly reliant on the hybrid approach, more of electronics and triggering pre-made sounds .... a lot less reliant on actual acoustic drums for the mix.
ohhhh man! I am so excited for this wireless stuff to be more affordable over the years. im a left-handed drummer and I can only dream of easily sharing an e-kit with right-handed people
Here’s a quote that, for me, sums up DW Drums absolutely perfectly. It’s from one of my favorite movies, Robots; the character giving the quote, Bigweld, was the founder and CEO of Bigweld Industries, and he said this: “You know, I love to tinker. But all the tinkering in the world isn’t useful unless it starts with a good idea. So, look around for a need, and start coming up with ideas to fill that need. One idea will lead to another, and before you know it, you’ve done it!! See a need, fill a need.”
Congrats on the video! This was a very difficult product to present and you did a great job. Very objective and realistic when highlighting the pros and cons. I think DW made a huge bet on this one. The price range is extremely high and I think many drummers will think twice before making such a big investment on such a new (and undoubtely cool) wireless technology.
Your right about the cost, that said ...😀😀🤘🤘🤘NO CABLES, No more bad ends, no more re splicing , no more routing all cables all over and plugging into wrong inputs lol. Old times. Love the wireless also love it works with mac, The price is not that bad for the convenience . Very nice
It totally makes sense now why Roland bought DW. If they had a whiff of this kit and the tech in this kit, then Roland had to jump on this. It shall be interesting how things progress in the next few years on the ekit front now that this has come out. I am a little surprised that you didn't cover how long it takes to change it from an ekit to an acoustic kit and from an acoustic kit back to an ekit. If you could, do a video on that, and on the availability of user ekits vs preset kits and how many preset kits does it come with? Thanks Justin for another great video review.
Wonderful and insightful review as always Justin! I wholeheartedly agree with a lot of your points, especially with the cymbals and target audience. Look forward to the wireless technology trickling down to other Roland kits and pads. A couple of fun facts: you can purchase the Soundworks VST and expansion libraries through Roland Cloud Manager, the kits were recorded with something like 15 mics, and there will be a few dot revisions of firmware coming as this thing is released/bought. If Pearl ever gets their act back together and matures the ePro Live kits paired with the Mimic Pro module, it would be an interesting commerce battle. I'm not holding my breath though, sadly. Hoping to give these a go at NAMM if the company gets a booth.
Well, this looks like the beginning of the end of wired module edrums. Eventually this is gonna be the new standard. It would be great if you can just install this in an existing shell pack. Also with 30 drums, the sky is the limit!
I just recently played this at a local store and I could not tell a difference in latency between this and my kit at home. This is definitely going on my wishlist and if they ever sell the trigger system or the module separately, I'm going to get it piecemeal. It is so much more convenient than my current kit and would be my forever kit.
I’m assuming the snare throw off is applied to an FSR sensor and the pressure of the magnet turns snare sounds on/off OR simply a switch that the magnets engage? I’d also say that the “wireless feature” was added to the v1.0 to draw more attention out of the gate. Hardware-wise it’s probably okay. Firmware updates abound.
I love your reviews dude! Really looking forward to trying the cymbals! It's so COOL that they have 360-degree sensitivity and can free spin with no cables. Someone finally came up with a wireless system...the cable management on my drum kit is a nightmare haha
Hey Justin, thanks for the review! Would this be a better way to trigger SD3 compared to USB midi from TD50x? If so, would you get same results if connected via TD50x to wireless hub? Like most ppl not sold on the cymbals. Would you say the ride is significant;y louder than Roland's digital ride? Thanks again!
Love those drums- but can't afford them at this time. Would be nice if they would also offer the wireless trigger system to fit on anyone's acoustical drum kit (separately) at a more affordable price for us average guys. Amazing technology. The computer program looks awesome, Ahhhh to dream,
Good review Justin. The metal cymbals are probably a dealbreaker for many. I am however yet to be convinced that people would prefer having a "hybrid" kit like this one where they need to assemble/disassemble the kit (sort of) when they need to go acoustic and vice versa, over having a dedicated acoustic kit which is "just there", possibly along with a serious e-kit that has a solid reputation. Most drummers I know (including myself) have at least 3-4 acoustic kits. It's like buying 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner. If people buy this kit I would presume it's primarily for it being an e-kit (and, of course, the groundbreaking wireless novelty being the USP). The other dealbreaker is the ability to connect this kit to other drum software VSTi:s. Here, the Soundworks software is basically the module sounds, so I would really hope there is a way to continue routing the outputs from the Soundworks software to Superior Drummer or other libraries (BFD, AD, SSD, NI, OWD, GGD ...). I tried to find some info on this but haven't. Will see Sweetwater Nick's walkthrough as well. Huge miss if that has been overlooked, even if I'm sure Soundworks is capable. I am more than happy to let the early adopters take this bullet.
The DW trigger interface is agnostic. You don't need to use the SoundWorks software. It produces MIDI signals and that means you can connect it to any drum module and any drum software.
Would love to hear your opinion on the durability of the materials and latency/lags or even sounds drops a bit more. Might be difficult to judge in such a short time window but from your experience maybe. The price is super steep so any acoustic die-hard early adopter would like to understand if warranty claims are a high risk here and/or whether the tech will be a little less unique in maybe half a year from now? Meaning, do you think that many of the other brand will now soon follow? My guess would he that dw has something that sets them far ahead of the competition which is qualitatively better for years to come, that would make the expense more future proof. Happy to hear your thoughts. Lastly, what about the differences in finishes and price for these variations? Where do they stem from?
Love to get more look into the software module and the sounds it comes with. But I'm impressed with what they did here with the wireless. I could see others getting some competition out there in a few years, and that would be nice.
How does the triggering stack up against the Roland TD50 digital snare, hihat, and ride? I would surely hope it's using the same or better triggering technology.
you do the best videos online about e drums I've seen Justin. I just watched a video about e drums that was suppose to be a sort of introductory roundtable discussion about e drums and the differences between e drums and acoustic by Drumeo, and it was total f'ing garbage. Nothing about hot spots, nothing about what happens when or if you break a head or cymbal, nothing to really speak of in regards to understanding a module if you've never used e drums etc. What I did get from those fools was close to an HOUR of jokes, an inability (on the rare occasion they did get into specifics) to stay on a specific topic or concept, nothing about potential durability issues, and instead a whole lot of their opinions on what each of them personally liked or didn't like about e drums. In other words, a TOTAL waste of time. I wanted to thank you personally for taking so much time in your videos, being thorough, and realizing that just because you know a whole lot about e drums, a lot of us still don't. I'm in my early 50's and I played very seriously for over 25 years, stopped for roughly 10 years, then came back to drumming. My body isn't the same (multiple surgeries etc), and because of that I'm considering an e kit. Your videos have been truly invaluable Justin. Keep up the good work. I wish you all the success in the world.
Absolutely awesome technology! But with prices starting at $9,000 as well as being just another foreign company now… I’m just going for a nice custom kit with shells from Keller or Nordic. Probably Nordic over Keller at this point because their facility is only a few hours from my house so I can easily go pick them up and not have to pay shipping or worry about any damage during shipping…
You might not need a super expensive audio interface to get individual outs for this. There are a few low priced digital mixers out there which could do the job including those made by Behringer and Soundcraft. There are also audio interfaces which may not have ten outputs but do have mixer software to do stems of drums (like all the toms on one output, all the cymbals on another). Several of the MOTU interfaces can do that.
You are correct… I use SD3 into a Behringer X32. I originally used the USB built into the x32, but to get the latency down to an acceptable level, I had to use an RME Raydat and lightpipe into the x32 lightpipe card. Now it’s ridiculously low, but it cost a little over a grand to do it. The upside is that I have by far the lowest latency setup available…
@@65Drums Probably but as an audio engineer if it was me I would see a $1400 Apollo interface as major overkill. MOTU even has one which has just outputs that would be perfect for that.
@@bucknaked31 The ones I'm thinking of are the small rack mount mixers like the XR Behringer or the Soundcarft UI stuff which are well under $1000 and that's if you get them new.
@@coder4libertyThat’s all well and good, but the latency is terrible on those. When I said $1000, I wasn’t including the cost of the x32 because we already used that board as our main PA.
FINALLY some real innovation in eDrums land. I applaud DW for doing something new and exciting. Roland has been sitting on their asses for decades, only doing the bare minimum. They even sound like early 2000s tech. Price is a problem though. Hope they can revise that.
I use versatrigger. Which I believe you reviewed some years ago. I use the U-boxes where you plug your own 3rd party triggers into the boxes and it’s all still wireless. Not a fan of the boxes that have the trigger already built in them like what you reviewed. Those can be a bit weird. But at any rate, I play it everyday and it’s amazing. He doesn’t make them anymore. Just spoke with the guy about a week ago. I wonder if he sold the idea to DW and they took it over and did their own thing with it and this is the creation? 🤷🏻♂️
yeah I still have one of those early versions of Versatrigger, when you couldn't replace the battery. Cool concept. I think he worked with DW in some capacity for this, but DW is very tight lipped on that stuff.
@@65Drums Actually, the Sweetwater interview of the DW developer head specifically names Paul Piscoi, the inventor and founder of VersaTriggers, who they brought on board at Roland to continue its development. it's not tight lipped at all.
I got a chance to play this at a Guitar Center display model. The good, this technology is revolutionary. I was amazed that with being wireless, there is no latency here. Not sure how they do that, but it was pleasing. Best kick drum feel I've seen on an e-Kit. The cymbals feel great to play, and the overall feel of the kit was spectacular. Having real size drums, you feel right at home. For the bad, the cymbal triggering is just OK, not great. I was extremely disappointed in the hi-hat triggering. Roland sill rules here as far as realistic sound sampling/modeling. I don't know if it was a setup issue, but there was no automatic side stick triggering. It's cool they have the snare throwoff, but it's just not quite there. Bottom line I don't feel the price is justified by the performance. I would not trust this rig in a live setup and it would be super frustrating in a recording setup. I can appreciate the push for technology here, and may be software and firmware revisions can improve this. Because of the relationship with Roland, I feel this could one day be the future, but on the other hand Roland is also going to compete individually on their own. DW is run as a subsidiary, so it's not like they are fully sharing everything. I feel this product has a very niche market.
Fantastic review, thank you! I'd love to go wireless so my music corner does not feel as shackled to the laptop, coupled with a good control surface this could really be fantastic for a home studio. Price is kinda nuts when I have a TD-50 already and I think the cymbals would be too loud for my apartment but it's reaaaalllly tempting.
It would be kind of nice if you had a DB meter and compared rubber drums/cymbals to this just to get a gauge of the noise difference. but I really appreciate you tapping the cymbal so I could hear it.
Justin, great video! I’m looking to get high end e-drums and debating between getting the 706 or wait for the dwe - what would be your recommendation? I really don’t care about the acoustic portion of the drums and only care about the electric portion. I would only be playing this in a studio to record music and videos. Thanks in advance!
@@citychiropody8273 stop thinking so hard my guy ;) but for real though, a standard $1000 Roland will trigger MIDI just fine. nobody NEEDS a DW kit. It's just there for people that like the idea of it, and have the money
Nice kit and sounds! I gotta say, glad to hear you can buy the sampler plugin as its own thing. Right now I'm just writing drums on a midi keyboard (sigh) . Really interested to see how this works out for DW. Ambitious indeed.
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Way out of my price range, but can't wait to see this technology trickle down!
That's the best part of flagships, they spend R&D money on the hard to do tech first, and later when it's cheap and figured out, it trickles down to lower end drums
I’ve had it for years… I bought Versatriggers…
@@bucknaked31 Versatrigger existed yes, I have one too. But did it have positional sensing on the snare? Pitch bending? Snare throw off? I'm not saying that's all necessary, but DW is bringing more stuff to the table than wireless only
It's got to be some sorta magic...
@@65Drums It was going to have positional sensing, but development stopped when DW got involved. It was a big letdown for me, but I assumed that I would be able to buy the DW version soon… had no idea it would take years, though. I was working on a snare throw off, but pitch bending wasn’t on the radar at that point.
Hi Justin, as usual a super high quality & truthful review! The Roland engineers in Japan continue working on those little things you mentioned. And more :-) Hope to see you again soon - it's been a while. Kudos for what you keep on contributing to the e-drum community!!
Hoi Michael, hoe houdt de wireless connection stand wanneer er veel andere draadloze systemen aanwezig zijn? Zijn daar resultaten van? grts P
Brilliant job! You're a natural at this and I'm not surprised DW lent you this for a review. They're right to take you as a serious voice and you remain my No.1 go-to channel for product opinion.
Good honest review Justin. Watching the online reviews it sounds like the hi-hat, crashes & ride don't have enough multi layered samples, I can hear the cymbals machine gunning.
As you stated, this set is only for a small percentage of drummers due to the price, but 100% of e-drummers would love to go wireless (with little to no latency). Great review, as always!
Hopefully they do a more affordable version of this e-kit with their PDP drums line-up 🥁
Yes to the part 2! Very interested to know the smaller details of this kit.
Ya,Iike how the conversion to acoustic goes.
Part of the cost solution was to make this DWe kit available in a less expensive DW shell pack. And, in the future, there is no reason Roland (who owns DW) can't put those 'basket-type' sensors inside the VAD shells.
Yeah
Great review- would like to see you use and record this with another drum library like Superior Drummer.
I'd love to see the wireless version of this with the VAD 506/507 shells and rubber cymbals. Maybe in a couple of years they'll bring it down to a lower price point with "crappy" shells.
ePDP-Drum kit is coming soon... 😅
Absolutely the best review of this product that I have seen to date! Great work! This review really dissected the pros and cons of this kit and ekits in general.
This is the best review I viewed so far. Great job!
9:28
I like that you put a Prophet-6 in the slide
instead of a Korg microPiano 61
Thank you for doing such a detailed review considering the limited time you have the drum set. You discovered flaws other reviewer’s had skipped over. Thank you again.
Great review. I never buy the 'worlds first' of any product category, as they inevitably improve so it was great to hear that philosophy from someone else!
I also appreciate you going in depth on the pros and cons of metal e-cymbals, something Ive long wanted manufacturers to nail.
Questions for follow up / to test before the kit goes back...:
1. Is there any reason the kit needs a full size acoustic shell design? Could the tech work equally well in low profile/pad based configuration?
2. Does the wireless ecosystem make wireless headphones viable now? With everything routed to a computer rather than a module, can you use regular airpods, bluetooth headsets etc for lag free reliable use? Thanks again!
Wow, I'm really sold on some of the features of this kit. Pitch bending, throw-off and the high end shell pack are awesome. I would love to have a trigger that allowed pitch bending on my kit.
High end shell pack is a plus only if you want to buy a stupid expensive acoustic kit just to use it as an electronic kit. Personally, I already have a nice acoustic kit I prefer.
These things sound amazing. The only thing I could possibly ask for with these is same kind of mesh heads pearl uses. Love that stiffer mesh
This is the 3rd review video I've seen on this kit and you answered all the questions that the other reviews left me wondering about. Great job Justin! I think I'll be sticking with my VAD-506 with SSD5.
Hey man, I'm a big fan. It goes back to watching your early videos years ago. All thanks to you and your videos I was able to buy my first e-kit. The DWe video from some other channel popped up in my yt feed. As soon as I saw that DWe launch is here, I searched for your channel to understand everything.
Thanks once again for being such a help. All the very best.
Very good review Justin!
thanks!
Excellent video, thank you. You were unbiased, comprehensive, and accurate. You have the best e-drum channel on UA-cam. Thank you for your service to drummers everywhere.
This set is outrageous, its electric & a DW acoustic. Nothing is better than this.
I'd love to pair these drums with my Roland cymbals! DW did an outstanding job with this release. Love the wireless capability and it sounds great. Can't wait to see how they continue to tweak and improve over the years.
That will be possible. They are selling the shellpacks by themselves as well.
Thank you for making this video Justin! I’m always happy to see your videos
I’m veryyyyyyy impressed with this kit. I did this exact thing with my DW Collectors series kit. I converted it and played that kit with both a 2Box module and the Pearl Mimic Pro. I love it. This is good stuff. Those cymbals look awesome and fun to play.
1st, Justin, your playing has much improved over the years since I have been watching your videos.
This technology will eventually make it affordable for all.
Thank You
You serious? Technically he's still really not very good, but he obviously researches e-drums very well. His presentation is top notch, but a shame he can't back it up with his playing. Just my opinion of course ;)
FINALLY!!! The 1 review I've been looking for! Thanks Justin.
The review we've been waiting for!
Thanks Justin!
I’d love to see a comparison of this kit vs the vad706 with superior drummer.
The first step towards the evolution of electronic drums impressive as Roland always does especially in the e drums category.
Well this is tech that Roland bought with DW and they themselves bought it. So yea, not really a Roland innovation in this case
@@mikosoft You are wrong my friend first ever wireless drums with no cable's and removable🔋 the next evolution first we have xlr inputs lately we have 3 usb inputs on electronic drums now this is the next step from Roland that's why he bought dw and the future is brighter then ever.
On my wish list !!!😎
Thanks for your video Justin ! Loved it
best video on this ekit I have seen so far. all my questions are awnswerd! Can't wait for a lower cost version.
I really appreciate the extreme high quality and balance in your reviews.
Nice shout out to Fork’s. I absolutely love that shop. Great staff, amazing stock and it is a drum lovers true heaven.
Excellent review. I command DW for trying this and pushing the envelope, however I don’t see a big market for this kit. The eAcoustic hybrids are a tough sell, they’re really not ideal for either use no matter how you slice it, even with Collector shells. The wireless is impressive and it must be a lot of fun, but yeah, unlikely to set the industry on fire or to be seen live ar a club next to you. Again, great review.
Really appreciate the honest review and never a sales pitch. Interested IF there’ll be a 2nd gen
I hope so, there's a lot of potential here. But it's still a gen 1 product at the end of the day
I would just like the internals so I can retro fit my DW Collector. I don't take my ekit out to gig with because of all of the cables I'd have to deal with all the time.
Very detailed review. Thank you for breaking this down. Am considering this set so your thoughts are helpful, especially the truthful comments on the cymbals. Will find somewhere to test it out in person.
Great review! Thanks for all the work that went into this
As someone brand new to edrumming with a TD27, it's mind blowing to learn about the other stuff that's out there. Nice review. Thanks.
One of the major selling points for this kit is that you can easily remove the electronics and have a top of the line DW acoustic kit to play. How practical is that application, and could the electronics be moved to a different kit with similar results?
Amazing review as always! Impresive kit and the fact that they are premium DW shells and one can easily convert into acustic e such a great ideia. I hope this comes to less expensive kits!
This is an excellent direction for e-drums to move in. For someone playing live this brings the best of electronic drums, looks and the easiest setup possible, ever. No cables about it! I am quite excited see how this will evolve in its upcoming iterations. Personally speaking I think this one lays a solid foundation for the evolution.
Being a tech yourself, what do you think Justin?
P.S I am coming from a place where the biggest tours in the world are mostly reliant on the hybrid approach, more of electronics and triggering pre-made sounds .... a lot less reliant on actual acoustic drums for the mix.
ohhhh man! I am so excited for this wireless stuff to be more affordable over the years. im a left-handed drummer and I can only dream of easily sharing an e-kit with right-handed people
Thanks Justin!
Love this review, Justin. You covered most of my thoughts about a wireless edrum kit. ❤
Here’s a quote that, for me, sums up DW Drums absolutely perfectly. It’s from one of my favorite movies, Robots; the character giving the quote, Bigweld, was the founder and CEO of Bigweld Industries, and he said this: “You know, I love to tinker. But all the tinkering in the world isn’t useful unless it starts with a good idea. So, look around for a need, and start coming up with ideas to fill that need. One idea will lead to another, and before you know it, you’ve done it!! See a need, fill a need.”
Congrats on the video! This was a very difficult product to present and you did a great job. Very objective and realistic when highlighting the pros and cons. I think DW made a huge bet on this one. The price range is extremely high and I think many drummers will think twice before making such a big investment on such a new (and undoubtely cool) wireless technology.
Great video as always Justin. Yeah the noise of the metal cymbals is the deal breaker for me, but I'm sure it will suit gigging drummers
Your right about the cost, that said ...😀😀🤘🤘🤘NO CABLES, No more bad ends, no more re splicing , no more routing all cables all over and plugging into wrong inputs lol. Old times. Love the wireless also love it works with mac, The price is not that bad for the convenience . Very nice
I’d be interested in buying the triggers, hardware/software to upgrade my Design series
In comparison to the VADs, how much louder or quieter are the actual drums? The cymbals seem to be much louder, but what about the drums?
It totally makes sense now why Roland bought DW. If they had a whiff of this kit and the tech in this kit, then Roland had to jump on this. It shall be interesting how things progress in the next few years on the ekit front now that this has come out. I am a little surprised that you didn't cover how long it takes to change it from an ekit to an acoustic kit and from an acoustic kit back to an ekit. If you could, do a video on that, and on the availability of user ekits vs preset kits and how many preset kits does it come with? Thanks Justin for another great video review.
For me what has worked the best is to use electronic pads and acoustic cymbals with overhead mics. For live performance.
I hope they will make a version that you can apply to your own, acoustic kit.
Justin. You're the beast. They should be picking you for a tester before they send out to the market. Cheers M8!
Wonderful and insightful review as always Justin! I wholeheartedly agree with a lot of your points, especially with the cymbals and target audience. Look forward to the wireless technology trickling down to other Roland kits and pads.
A couple of fun facts: you can purchase the Soundworks VST and expansion libraries through Roland Cloud Manager, the kits were recorded with something like 15 mics, and there will be a few dot revisions of firmware coming as this thing is released/bought.
If Pearl ever gets their act back together and matures the ePro Live kits paired with the Mimic Pro module, it would be an interesting commerce battle. I'm not holding my breath though, sadly.
Hoping to give these a go at NAMM if the company gets a booth.
lol when is the last time DW didn't have a booth? They have every year I've gone, I skipped some COVID years though.
@@SoonerThunderFan I was at winter NAMM this past April 2023 and they were not there. Hoping they and/or Roland will be this coming January 2024 NAMM.
This sounds fantastic. Those dynamics are very realistic.
Well, this looks like the beginning of the end of wired module edrums. Eventually this is gonna be the new standard. It would be great if you can just install this in an existing shell pack. Also with 30 drums, the sky is the limit!
I just recently played this at a local store and I could not tell a difference in latency between this and my kit at home. This is definitely going on my wishlist and if they ever sell the trigger system or the module separately, I'm going to get it piecemeal. It is so much more convenient than my current kit and would be my forever kit.
I’m assuming the snare throw off is applied to an FSR sensor and the pressure of the magnet turns snare sounds on/off OR simply a switch that the magnets engage?
I’d also say that the “wireless feature” was added to the v1.0 to draw more attention out of the gate.
Hardware-wise it’s probably okay. Firmware updates abound.
I love your reviews dude! Really looking forward to trying the cymbals! It's so COOL that they have 360-degree sensitivity and can free spin with no cables. Someone finally came up with a wireless system...the cable management on my drum kit is a nightmare haha
Great Review Justin!
I'd love to buy one, but I'll wait until they sort out all the bugs.
Great Video again! How is the Hi-Hat compared to the Roland VH-14D?
Roland and then EFNOTE are the kings at the moment in the hihat world
Very interesting, great video. I am not an early adopter when $10k is on the line. Will watch its progress eagerly.
Hey Justin, thanks for the review! Would this be a better way to trigger SD3 compared to USB midi from TD50x? If so, would you get same results if connected via TD50x to wireless hub? Like most ppl not sold on the cymbals. Would you say the ride is significant;y louder than Roland's digital ride? Thanks again!
SounDWorks is available right now by the way and works with any V-Drums kit too.
Love those drums- but can't afford them at this time. Would be nice if they would also offer the wireless trigger system to fit on anyone's acoustical drum kit (separately) at a more affordable price for us average guys. Amazing technology. The computer program looks awesome, Ahhhh to dream,
First things first. It's fresh to the market. Conversion kits might be able in a few years.
Been waiting all morning for your review! 🤘🏽🤘🏽
Thanks! I was a bit late, but wanted to get it right
Good review Justin. The metal cymbals are probably a dealbreaker for many. I am however yet to be convinced that people would prefer having a "hybrid" kit like this one where they need to assemble/disassemble the kit (sort of) when they need to go acoustic and vice versa, over having a dedicated acoustic kit which is "just there", possibly along with a serious e-kit that has a solid reputation. Most drummers I know (including myself) have at least 3-4 acoustic kits. It's like buying 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner. If people buy this kit I would presume it's primarily for it being an e-kit (and, of course, the groundbreaking wireless novelty being the USP).
The other dealbreaker is the ability to connect this kit to other drum software VSTi:s. Here, the Soundworks software is basically the module sounds, so I would really hope there is a way to continue routing the outputs from the Soundworks software to Superior Drummer or other libraries (BFD, AD, SSD, NI, OWD, GGD ...). I tried to find some info on this but haven't. Will see Sweetwater Nick's walkthrough as well. Huge miss if that has been overlooked, even if I'm sure Soundworks is capable.
I am more than happy to let the early adopters take this bullet.
The DW trigger interface is agnostic. You don't need to use the SoundWorks software. It produces MIDI signals and that means you can connect it to any drum module and any drum software.
Would love to hear your opinion on the durability of the materials and latency/lags or even sounds drops a bit more. Might be difficult to judge in such a short time window but from your experience maybe. The price is super steep so any acoustic die-hard early adopter would like to understand if warranty claims are a high risk here and/or whether the tech will be a little less unique in maybe half a year from now? Meaning, do you think that many of the other brand will now soon follow? My guess would he that dw has something that sets them far ahead of the competition which is qualitatively better for years to come, that would make the expense more future proof. Happy to hear your thoughts. Lastly, what about the differences in finishes and price for these variations? Where do they stem from?
Superb review! Very honest & informative. Thanks Justin 👍
Love to get more look into the software module and the sounds it comes with.
But I'm impressed with what they did here with the wireless. I could see others getting some competition out there in a few years, and that would be nice.
How does the triggering stack up against the Roland TD50 digital snare, hihat, and ride? I would surely hope it's using the same or better triggering technology.
you do the best videos online about e drums I've seen Justin. I just watched a video about e drums that was suppose to be a sort of introductory roundtable discussion about e drums and the differences between e drums and acoustic by Drumeo, and it was total f'ing garbage. Nothing about hot spots, nothing about what happens when or if you break a head or cymbal, nothing to really speak of in regards to understanding a module if you've never used e drums etc. What I did get from those fools was close to an HOUR of jokes, an inability (on the rare occasion they did get into specifics) to stay on a specific topic or concept, nothing about potential durability issues, and instead a whole lot of their opinions on what each of them personally liked or didn't like about e drums. In other words, a TOTAL waste of time.
I wanted to thank you personally for taking so much time in your videos, being thorough, and realizing that just because you know a whole lot about e drums, a lot of us still don't. I'm in my early 50's and I played very seriously for over 25 years, stopped for roughly 10 years, then came back to drumming. My body isn't the same (multiple surgeries etc), and because of that I'm considering an e kit. Your videos have been truly invaluable Justin. Keep up the good work. I wish you all the success in the world.
Absolutely awesome technology! But with prices starting at $9,000 as well as being just another foreign company now… I’m just going for a nice custom kit with shells from Keller or Nordic. Probably Nordic over Keller at this point because their facility is only a few hours from my house so I can easily go pick them up and not have to pay shipping or worry about any damage during shipping…
The HIhats failing is the biggest concern you'd have to say. That makes it untenable. Are you sure that's not a calibration issue, Justin?
Another stellar review. Straight fwd and helpful. Can you compare the hi hat to the VHD14D?
Amazing! Finally some real evolution
You might not need a super expensive audio interface to get individual outs for this. There are a few low priced digital mixers out there which could do the job including those made by Behringer and Soundcraft. There are also audio interfaces which may not have ten outputs but do have mixer software to do stems of drums (like all the toms on one output, all the cymbals on another). Several of the MOTU interfaces can do that.
Good point! Though I think the person who drops $10k on this set, will probably buy a expensive interface to go with it anyway
You are correct… I use SD3 into a Behringer X32. I originally used the USB built into the x32, but to get the latency down to an acceptable level, I had to use an RME Raydat and lightpipe into the x32 lightpipe card. Now it’s ridiculously low, but it cost a little over a grand to do it. The upside is that I have by far the lowest latency setup available…
@@65Drums Probably but as an audio engineer if it was me I would see a $1400 Apollo interface as major overkill. MOTU even has one which has just outputs that would be perfect for that.
@@bucknaked31 The ones I'm thinking of are the small rack mount mixers like the XR Behringer or the Soundcarft UI stuff which are well under $1000 and that's if you get them new.
@@coder4libertyThat’s all well and good, but the latency is terrible on those. When I said $1000, I wasn’t including the cost of the x32 because we already used that board as our main PA.
FINALLY some real innovation in eDrums land. I applaud DW for doing something new and exciting.
Roland has been sitting on their asses for decades, only doing the bare minimum. They even sound like early 2000s tech.
Price is a problem though. Hope they can revise that.
Great in-depth review, as always…
Thanks!
Great review! I love high-end drums and would buy an instrument like this in a heartbeat! 🥁
I use versatrigger. Which I believe you reviewed some years ago. I use the U-boxes where you plug your own 3rd party triggers into the boxes and it’s all still wireless. Not a fan of the boxes that have the trigger already built in them like what you reviewed. Those can be a bit weird. But at any rate, I play it everyday and it’s amazing. He doesn’t make them anymore. Just spoke with the guy about a week ago. I wonder if he sold the idea to DW and they took it over and did their own thing with it and this is the creation? 🤷🏻♂️
yeah I still have one of those early versions of Versatrigger, when you couldn't replace the battery. Cool concept. I think he worked with DW in some capacity for this, but DW is very tight lipped on that stuff.
Yes they bought the design and expanded on it
@@ironblast5 That’s exactly what happened…
@@65Drums Actually, the Sweetwater interview of the DW developer head specifically names Paul Piscoi, the inventor and founder of VersaTriggers, who they brought on board at Roland to continue its development. it's not tight lipped at all.
@@482jpsquared It’s not tight lipped any more, but it was for a few years.
Hoping they add patches for Individual DW artists as buyable packs. Would LOVE to see a Chris Turner pack. I’m so In love with his drum sound
Great DEEP Review, as always!!!
I’d love to see you going through sounds (not all obviously) but basically build your dream kit live with how it sounds along the way.
great review man... nicely done
I got a chance to play this at a Guitar Center display model. The good, this technology is revolutionary. I was amazed that with being wireless, there is no latency here. Not sure how they do that, but it was pleasing. Best kick drum feel I've seen on an e-Kit. The cymbals feel great to play, and the overall feel of the kit was spectacular. Having real size drums, you feel right at home.
For the bad, the cymbal triggering is just OK, not great. I was extremely disappointed in the hi-hat triggering. Roland sill rules here as far as realistic sound sampling/modeling. I don't know if it was a setup issue, but there was no automatic side stick triggering. It's cool they have the snare throwoff, but it's just not quite there. Bottom line I don't feel the price is justified by the performance. I would not trust this rig in a live setup and it would be super frustrating in a recording setup. I can appreciate the push for technology here, and may be software and firmware revisions can improve this. Because of the relationship with Roland, I feel this could one day be the future, but on the other hand Roland is also going to compete individually on their own. DW is run as a subsidiary, so it's not like they are fully sharing everything. I feel this product has a very niche market.
Cam you use them as triggers while you have acoustic drum heads on it
Fantastic review, thank you! I'd love to go wireless so my music corner does not feel as shackled to the laptop, coupled with a good control surface this could really be fantastic for a home studio. Price is kinda nuts when I have a TD-50 already and I think the cymbals would be too loud for my apartment but it's reaaaalllly tempting.
It would be kind of nice if you had a DB meter and compared rubber drums/cymbals to this just to get a gauge of the noise difference. but I really appreciate you tapping the cymbal so I could hear it.
Justin, great video! I’m looking to get high end e-drums and debating between getting the 706 or wait for the dwe - what would be your recommendation? I really don’t care about the acoustic portion of the drums and only care about the electric portion. I would only be playing this in a studio to record music and videos. Thanks in advance!
I wish this had direct outs thats the one thing that its really missing for professionals in my opinion
yeah you have to buy a large audio interface and run that into a laptop to get lots of outs. I think this kit is better for recording
@@65Drumsso why bother with a expensive acoustic when any old ekit will do ?!
@@citychiropody8273 stop thinking so hard my guy ;) but for real though, a standard $1000 Roland will trigger MIDI just fine. nobody NEEDS a DW kit. It's just there for people that like the idea of it, and have the money
Dante Virtual Soundcard.
What a kit! Wish I could afford it…someday!!
Nice kit and sounds! I gotta say, glad to hear you can buy the sampler plugin as its own thing. Right now I'm just writing drums on a midi keyboard (sigh) . Really interested to see how this works out for DW. Ambitious indeed.
I would like to know more about DAW setup, plugin vs standalone app, etc.
Maybe we're approaching a time where FOH will have access to the drum software.