will electronic drums work?

Sebastian · Post by **Sebastian** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 5:10 am

I have been thiking about buying a set of eletronic drums (see link). I want to play them as AUDIO or MIDI and record them in Ableton.

Anyone done this already? Any pain in the ass issues?

TRying to avoid spending if its not a smooth thing to use with Live

thanks

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=445332

lummux · Post by **lummux** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:48 am

I do this all the time, no major pains for me. I sometimes record the audio, sometimes the MIDI and use battery.

You will need ultra-low latency though, (think mine is at about 6ms) because it's much more noticable with percussion than other instruments (in my experience). Obviously, if you can direct monitor then this is not an issue. But hell, I LOVE sticking my TD-8 into live and mashing up my beats, with delays, beat repeat etc.

The Yamaha DXtreme IIs you are looking at has multiple outputs, so if you can get a soundcard with multiple inputs that would speed up the process of laying down the tracks if you record the MIDI to trigger the DXIIs.

Other than that, have fun. I'm a Roland fanboy myself, so couldn't possibly condone your choice of Yamaha

ishimaru · Post by **ishimaru** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 9:00 am

There's a dude on this board that does this rad DnB using one of those Roland drum pads.

Check out his videos here!

b0unce · Post by **b0unce** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 11:50 am

I tried the roland series of electronic drums with live 4.14 and it sucked BIG TIME. way too much latency to be in any way useful if you are a decent drummer.

in fairness, I was using an maudio interface *spit* - but that being said it never introduced latency when using a midi keyboard.

on this topic, I strongly suggest you demo those pads before you buy - depending on your needs & expectations it could be sweet as a nut - or rough as cabbage

ILTK · Post by **ILTK** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 12:55 pm

For realy good electronic drums get D-Drum make sure D-Drum is the company name and NOT the name of the set, what sets them apart is that they have real drumskins on them and you can actually tune then skins to get the feel you need, long time since I got my set so I have no idea of the price now, but they are great.

I allways recorded mine as audio though, since I have a ton of cymbals.

lummux · Post by **lummux** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:11 pm

b0unce wrote:I tried the roland series of electronic drums with live 4.14 and it sucked BIG TIME. way too much latency to be in any way useful if you are a decent drummer.

in fairness, I was using an maudio interface *spit* - but that being said it never introduced latency when using a midi keyboard.

on this topic, I strongly suggest you demo those pads before you buy - depending on your needs & expectations it could be sweet as a nut - or rough as cabbage

Can't see how the latency would be down to the drumset, it's only MIDI after all...like I said though, much more noticable with percussion

b0unce · Post by **b0unce** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:21 pm

well it may just be midi, but those drums have to convert kinetic energy into midi velocity via whatever system they have installed in those rubber pads combined with the main unit which outputs the midi, I'm no expert but I'm guessing thats where the latency was introduced when I tested them out.

at any rate, I'd be testing them out before buying

mcconaghy · Post by **mcconaghy** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 8:48 pm

b0unce wrote:I tried the roland series of electronic drums with live 4.14 and it sucked BIG TIME. way too much latency to be in any way useful if you are a decent drummer.

in fairness, I was using an maudio interface *spit* - but that being said it never introduced latency when using a midi keyboard.

on this topic, I strongly suggest you demo those pads before you buy - depending on your needs & expectations it could be sweet as a nut - or rough as cabbage

It's all about adapting the settings to suit your style of playing. I have no noticeable latency using Roland brains with Live 4.14, Live 5.2 or Logic - and I'm using an M-Audio FW 410 as my MIDI Interface

b0unce · Post by **b0unce** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 9:06 pm

ILTK · Post by **ILTK** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 9:31 pm

There will be a noticeable delay no matter what if you are used to real drums, I played the d-drums exclusively for a number of years before going back to my Gretsch set, you will adapt to it, it was funny when I went back to real drums, I played slightly in front of the beat for a while before adjusting back.

telengard · Post by **telengard** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 9:52 pm

Sebastian wrote:I have been thiking about buying a set of eletronic drums (see link). I want to play them as AUDIO or MIDI and record them in Ableton.

Anyone done this already? Any pain in the ass issues?

TRying to avoid spending if its not a smooth thing to use with Live

thanks

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=445332

I gig w/ an acoustic kit fitted w/ ddrum triggers and use Live. Works quite well. I also use Bidule for stepping through notes via a trigger. There is a weenie bit of latency but it's not so bad that it's unusable. I barely notice it. I use a Indigo card in my laptop. The trigger interface I use is a DrumKat.

~telengard

micah frank · Post by **micah frank** » Sat Apr 22, 2006 11:07 pm

as mentioned above, i got this setup goin on. played out a few times with it and it's stable as hell and feels pretty natural once you get the hang of it:

http://www.youtube.com/user/kamoni

electropoet · Post by **electropoet** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 1:28 am

Could someone please explain something to me...do you only experience big time latency if you are triggering sounds from the computer (Battery/Reason/Impulse)?

I guess I want to know...If you use say...a drumkat...with an external module (roland brain or Alesis D4 or something...)...and you direct monitor the module (i.e. send the audio from the module to a mixer so it doesn't get routed through the computer)...will there be any latency if you play (for instance) a 4 bar drum groove and record the midi so that after the 4 bars are up (and you stop playing)...the groove keeps on playing in time?

I hope this makes sense. I'm trying to incorporate drums into my show...I have a bunch of tracks going so I can't get my buffer to low...triggering reason or impulse sounds from my akai MPD16 has proved to be impossible. Just wondering if I was triggering external sounds...if that would bypass the problem.

Thanks, Scott

lummux · Post by **lummux** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 6:43 am

I haven't tried this but it sounds OK...latency is associated with audio, not MIDI, so as you are bypassing the audio routing the timing should be fine.

I've also found that if you have a reasonable latency (up to about 9ms) then you can unconciously compensate for the latency by playing slightly before the beat

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 8:04 am

Yep.. latency's more about audio, not MIDI. Yes, it does take a finite amount of time from the time you hit the pad until the MIDI note-on hits Live, but it's miniscule in relation to the audio.

You do subconsciously adapt your playing style by pushing ahead. I play to a click, and have pushed the click forward to help compensate for latency. Even without the click, I just do what it takes to play in time with whatever else is going on at the time

will electronic drums work?

will electronic drums work?

Re: will electronic drums work?