- Disclaimer -
I have basically only played a Roland TD-50 for comparison (which costs like 8 times as much as this kit and is considered the best on the market)
I bought this kit for my home studio for 2 reasons, the price and the acoustic look/size of it, it was a gamble since I haven't really seen any real in depth reviews of it (they mainly focus on the built in sounds which I don't care about), but I am very happy with it, I will try to explain why below.
- Sounds - (0 / 5)
Pros
* None...
Cons
* Ok, lets get this over with straight away, sounds are terrible, BUT, no E-kit on the planet sound good so this is not something to even consider when buying an E-kit IMO, I hook it up to a computer and run Superior Drummer 3, I would have done so even with a Roland TD-50, so this isn't even a negative as far as I am concerned, I just couldn't care less.
- Feel/Ergonomics/Playability - (4 / 5)
Pros
* Having the drumkit layed out like an acoustic kit is amazing, E-kits are traditionally much smaller than "real" drums and therefor feel like some kind of kids toy, this one doesn't.
* The mesh heads feel ok and can be tuned easily using a standard drum key so you can pretty much get it to feel like an acoustic kit.
Cons
* The mesh triggers are kinda basic and flimsy and just put pressure on the mesh from below the mesh itself, the construction where the trigger is attached to is not even screwed in place or anything like that, it kinda just floats and is kept in place by the pressure from the mesh head. I had to remove the mesh head on one of the toms to adjust the trigger since it had fallen down inside the pad. I don't see this happening again though, I think it might have been something that happened during transportation.
* The mesh triggers again, you kinda have to hit the pad in the center to get the best result, if you start hitting closer to the trigger you would get a much louder hit and íf you hit further away from the trigger you would get a much quieter hit. This is not a real problem since you are supposed to hit pads at the center anyways, so if anything this could be a positive since you need to learn to hit the center anyway. (But I still remove a star because of this)
- Quality - (4.5 / 5)
Pros
* The quality is amazing for the price, really great hardware all around, the stands are solid and I don't see them falling over any time soon. I would even go as far as to say that the hardware on the Roland TD-50 feels worse than on this (its using a rack instead of separate stands but still)
* The rubber pads (cymbal/ride/hi-hat) feels just like any other brand, I can't feel any difference in these pads compared to the Roland TD-50 ones.
Cons
* The wood on the pads are very basic but I really don't see how that matters on this type of kit anyway since it isn't supposed to produce acoustic sound anyway.
* The hi-hat pedal feels a bit flimsy, but not more than other E-kit hi-hats I have tried, it does the job though!
* I haven't tried the bass drum pedal (I ordered an Iron Cobra double pedal with this kit) so I have nothing to say about it but I would assume you would want to replace it if you are serious about your bass drum speeds.
- Features and drum module - (4 / 5)
Pros
* Built in metronome, its great for practicing (sometimes I use the built in sounds with a metronome just to practice)
* Super easy UI to navigate, MUCH better than Roland TD-50 for example which is super confusing to put it gently.
* All settings you could possibly need are available in the module, you can adjust velocity curves, note sends, super easy way of removing unwanted false triggers from other pads (you just enable a X-talk feature and hit the pad and once it no longer false triggers you save it).
* There are a lot of settings for the built in sounds as well (mixer, effects and multi-out from the module) but I haven't used those but for those who want it its nice that its there.
* The ride pad has 3 zones (bell, bow, edge) + choke functionality. Its pretty much all you need on a ride and more than I seen in more expensive kits.
* No audible latency when triggering with Superior Drummer 3 in Cubase11 using a Steinberg UR44.
Cons
* Lacking MIDI-out, you must use a USB B cable to get MIDI to your DAW.
* The metronome maxes out at 240bpm so if you want to play faster (like I do), you have to put it in half tempo.
* Limited expansion possibilities in the module, there is just 1 more aux input after you installed the second cymbal included in this kit, so If you want to expand it with another rack tom and a cymbal you are out of luck, there are splitters you can use so potentially 3 more pads can be added.
* The pad inputs is a large cable bundle that has fixed cables for each instrument in the kit (except one cymbal) so if a cable breaks I really don't know how to fix it.
It would have been much better with separate inputs for each instrument. You are now limited to place the kit as they intended since the cable lengths are just enough to put everything in place. (You cant move the module to the right side of the kit for example, like I wanted)
Final verdict
Perfect!
