Electric Drums – A Buyers Guide

Electric Drums

Electric drums have seen a massive rise in popularity over the last few years, with more and more drummers turning to digital drum kits over the traditional acoustic kit. In this buyers guide, we’ll go over the history of electric drums, discuss the reasons so many players are choosing to go electric, and give you some hints and tips to help you find the right one for you.

The History of Electric Drums
Electric drum kits have existed since the 1970s, but first began to become widely commercially available in the 80s. However, the electric drums that were available back then were not particularly realistic, either in feel or sound.

All electric kits at that time – even the top of the range models – featured rubber-topped sensor pads, similar to the entry-level models still seen today. Their sound modules also typically featured either basic audio samples of acoustic drums, or synthesised sounds made with analogue synth technology. And while the sensor pads were velocity-sensitive – meaning the sound would change depending how hard you hit it – this would only raise or lower the volume of the sampled sound being triggered.

Despite these limitations, many bands in the 80s experimented with electronic kits to provide a different sound, particularly in genres such as New Wave and electro-pop where the synthetic-sounding drums were a good stylistic fit. Their popularity in these genres resulted in electronic drums becoming strongly associated with 80s music for decades to come.

Roland Changes the Game
This isn’t to say that electric drum technology stood still in all those years, however. In the 90s, Roland – already icons of electronic drums due to their TR series of drum machines – once again revolutionised the electric drum world with two major innovations. The first of these were mesh heads, developed by Roland in partnership with drum skin manufacturers Remo. These replaced the old rubber-topped sensor pads with a double-layered mesh, stretched like a real drum skin over a head. Not only was this more realistic to play, as the stick would bounce off the mesh head in a very similar way to a real drum skin, but it was also a lot quieter than striking rubber pads, making it ideal for at-home practice with headphones.

The second innovation was a sound module that generated drum sounds via complex mathematical modelling. This was controversial when it was announced, as players thought replacing real drum samples with digitally generated tones would sound less realistic. However, players soon came to realise that generating tones in this way meant the module could now change the tone and timbre of a drum or cymbal in response to subtle changes in the drummer’s playing. This made the new modules capable of far more realistic sounds, and more variations of them!

These innovations formed the foundation of Roland’s acclaimed V-Drums series. Today, Spears Music is one of the leading suppliers of Roland V-Drums in the country.

Booming Popularity
Digital drum kits are now more popular than they have ever been, for many reasons. A huge turning point was the COVID-19 pandemic, when beginners and experienced drummers alike turned to digital kits in order to play quietly at home during lockdown. Suddenly, a new generation of players who previously thought that electric drums were just for playing 80s music were awakened to the fact that digital drums have gotten really, really good in the years since.

Modern digital kits come equipped with dozens if not hundreds of drum kit sound presets, built-in effects like reverb and compression, and USB or Bluetooth connectivity for easy recording straight into your computer. Beginner kits often have lessons built in to their modules, and more advanced modules are capable of downloading expansion packs for even more drum sounds. They’re an incredible solution for everything from practising at home to recording to touring!

Kitting Yourself Out
So what should you look for in a digital drum kit? Well, the answer to that is going to depend in large part on your situation; are you a brand new beginner, a committed hobbyist, a gigging musician, or a touring pro? It will also depend on your budget, and the space you have available.

If you’re brand new to drumming and just want something to practice some basic beats on at home with a pair of headphones, the best entry point would be a Roland TD kit. The TD-02K is the most affordable, but comes with rubber pad heads for all drums. These can make a fair bit of noise when whacked with a stick, so for the sake of your housemates and neighbours, we’d recommend going up to either the TD-02KV (which comes with a mesh snare head) or one of the TD-07 models (all mesh heads). If your budget can stretch to it, you may even want to check out the Roland VQD106. Not only is this a much better kit overall, with a far more advanced sound module and trigger pads, it is also designed with shock absorbers throughout the kit to reduce acoustic noise – perfect for quiet practice at home!

If you’re past the point of basic beats and want to give yourself a more authentic drumming experience, consider getting a digital kit with real pedals. On entry-level kits, the pedals used to hit the bass drum sound and to change the hi-hat cymbal sound from open to closed are simply electronic triggers that send a signal to the module. However, more advanced kits – such as the TD-07 kits and up – will come with a drum head in place of the bass drum that is operated with a real kick pedal, as you would find on an acoustic kit. Going beyond that, the next step is to replace the hi-hat trigger pedal with a real hi-hut clutch pedal stand that opens and closes, with a sensor on the hi-hat cymbal to tell the module when to make open, semi-open and closed sounds. You’ll find this feature on models from the TD-17KVX2 and above. These improvements will not only feel more realistic, but practising on them will better prepare you to move onto an acoustic kit in future, if you should ever want to.

For gigging musicians, the VAD series kits are perfect. Their advanced sound modules create absolutely stunning drum sounds, which you can mix and match to create custom kits for each different song if you like! They comes with Roland’s PD drum shells, with 3-layer mesh head and positional detection for stunning realism, opening up possibilities for expressive, nuanced drumming previously thought impossible in a digital kit. Most VAD kits are still compact enough to load in and out without too much bother, they’re easy to connect to the venue’s sound desk for consistently great quality sound (and a quick sound check), and with their acoustic-look design with real wood shells, they’ll look the part on any stage.

The cream of the crop is the Roland VAD716. This full-size acoustic design 6-piece kit is available in 5 different finish options, from the dazzling Pearl White to the classy and understated Satin Walnut, and looks absolutely incredible in all of them. It boasts the top-of-the-line V71 sound module, packed with a sound library developed in conjunction with legendary acoustic drum manufacturer DW, and studio-quality effects and sound processing tools. Or if you want all those features, but don’t want to take up all that room, take a look at the TD-716, which has all of that in a compact digital design.

The Future of Drumming
Drums are the oldest musical instrument in the world – we find them in every culture all over the world, going back as long we’ve had civilisation. But now our technology has managed not just to catch up with traditional acoustic drums, but surpass them. Head over to the Drum department on our website today, or drop in to see our digital drum showroom in person to see – and hear – for yourself. Our friendly, knowledgeable staff are on call to help you find the best digital drum kit for you.

Now beat it.

Ba-dum-tish.