5 Ways Electronic Drum Sets are BETTER THAN Acoustic Kits (2023 Version)

I recently bought an acoustic kit to learn on and I'm loving it. However, I should buy a ekit also before my neighbors hate me. Any good suggestions?

I have played guitar for over 4 decades. I can do things with my electric guitar that can't with my acoustic. That cannot be argued. I have played drums for 7 years now. I can do things with my e-kit that can't do with my acoustic kit. Stop being close minded about this. Look at the e-drum industry right now it is on fire. DW, Roland, Evans, EFnote, Alesis I can go on and on. Get behind a good e-kit you will like it. Not to mention your family will like you more.

I wish I got an e kit instead of acoustic. It doesn’t have a crash cymbal included and because of how loud it is, it doesn’t give me the motivation to play since it will annoy people. My dad told me to get an acoustic instead because it was the real but I did want an electronic originally.

Great video man! I'm 14 and I've got a TD17 for practice in my room and a Mapex Armory double bass kit in our soundproof garage! It's so cool to practice with the eKit. It's less loud and you've got a great sound in your ears so it feels real! 🤘

You don't buy a $200 e kit and do the same thing as a $200 acoustic kit. People are like me and looking back at $1000 e kits from 20 years ago and cheap $300 e kits from 5 years ago and the problem is that it's something you have to go all or nothing into. The chep e kits don't have dynamics or do custom samples on board. Also the interface is so horrible on portable equipment. Older recorders by roland are tricky to figure out. Cheap is the only option for a lot of curious folks and there is a learning barrier.

I have two acoustic kits and one e-kit. I’ve been playing drums for over 50 years. The E- kit is a Roland TD11KV. The toms and kick sounds are killer. The snare sounds are pretty good too. The cymbal sounds basically suck! They are quieter and don’t hold the same acoustic sound properties of the real ones. I mostly play the ekit now as I live in a condo. It took me a long to get used to the difference in setup between the two types. Hitting a tom that is 8” wide vs one that is 16” is way different.
Between the kits, my fav are the acoustic. There’s nothing like laying into a snare with a big fat rim shot and they don’t vibrate as much on heavy fast sticking patterns. Pros and cons to each type but that’s my take folks. Cheers!

I have said this in multiple places, I have never not been flamed for it.

I've had a Roland V10 kit since 2000. I've played live with it and recorded in a studio with it. i used acoustic cymbals of course live. but the quality of the sounds and variety? please. plug it in and the drums for the gig are pro sounding and mixed. done.

Although all these points are certainly valid and things that I do appreciate when it comes to E-kits, to me there is nothing an E-kit can do to give me the same feel I get on my acoustic drums. I’ve owned an Alesia Strike Pro, which was a pretty impressive kit to me, as well as played on Roland’s high end E-kits for multiple church gigs and things like that, and it just doesn’t come close to the feel I get playing real drums.

Way better for live gigs

Toy drums....

As someone who has owned and play the ols Simmons kits, the world has opened up.

I bought a eFnote 3x last January as a splurge as I got a decent bonus. I have and old Yamaha DTXtreeme IIS kit downstairs that my son used to play. I gave my son the eFnote kit for his birthday as he moved to an apartment to go to work and it's far more quiet than the Yam. I'm trying to get something out of the old girl.

The main thing that annoys me with e drum mfrs is, they limit the pad inputs. For me this is a pita. Yes I know you can assign multiple voices to various parts of the kit but just give us enough jacks to be able to run an 8 piece kit without resorting to splitters and such. EFnote have sort of done that with their new pro range but it's at an eye watering price.

I know a bloke in Romania who make custom trigger inputs. He can build you a box with 24 inputs if you want. The problem is, you can't hook them up to a drum module without a load of deep diving to separate channels.

This coming Jan, I'll buy another eFnote 3x but I'll still be limited to the inputs and proprietary cable unless I contact my mate in Romania

I bought a high end but cheap mac pro. I'll just run everything to the mac and use AD or some other programme.

3500 still unattainable for most beginner or even intermediate players. Great for a professional or advanced student though. I'm not sure any of the entry level items are up to the same snuff.

Excellent video! But" Ain't nothin like the real thang" period !

Electric drum set with silent cymbals?

So you can get still get similar cymbal feel

I'm a total newb; just bought my first electric kit. Not top of the line, but for a beginner like me, it does the job.

Enjoying your channel. I'm sure I'll pick up lots of great tips

Still, how many live bands use ekits vs. acoustic?

Can u teach us how to play Johnny be good👍 would greatly appreciate it😁

Can you please give me a shout-out It would help a lot.

I’ve had an electronic kit for years. I don’t really feel like playing it anymore. It feels like hitting pads rather than playing drums to me.

They are better!

I play an acoustic Birch Sonor/Paiste 2002 kit tuned the way I like it & I was let down with my Roland TD11 ekit sounds. 2 years ago I brought a 2Box Drumit module and have made multilayered samples of my Sonor kit with sticks & mallets (sampling brushes & rods soon). This is a game changer when practicing on the ekit now which sounds just like my acoustic kit. I know you need a module that can import multilayered samples like the Pearl Mimic pro, 2Box Drumit, Alesis Strike Pro SE or the new Yamaha modules. Some other drum sounds that are fun to play are free samples of Timpani & Japanese Taiko drums. I hope everyone is able to import & play they own multilayered drum sounds on every ekit in the future including mallets, rods & brushes.

Recording side note: You can literally save right off the module. You don't even need that one cable, if just getting it recorded is all you want. Thanks for giving us E-Drummers some love.

i see it as electric is good for at home practice or studio then acoustic kit is good for live performance

E-kits have gotten way better than even 10 years ago. I use one with one of my bands and everybody in the band loves it. One advantage is level control in the studio and live. On my A-kit I can get nuances that I can't on an E-kit, but I imagine if I could afford a top of the line kit, I imagine it could get more of those acoustic nuances. There is an electronic group from Germany that at times will use both with a drummer on each. Some pro drummers like Pat Mastellotto use a hybrid kit. Each type of kit has a place depending on place and genre. Also, you can usually get a brush kit setup on an e-kit. While not exact, it works alright. The tech is advancing by leaps and bounds, so e-kits are getting closer in quality sound with every iteration of equipment, software, sampling and peograming. One last advantage- they are light weight and easier to move if need be. I have played one rock gig with my e-kit and nobody in the band seemed to notice the difference.

I love acoustical

I disagree, acuastic kits are eternal ☝

I think the electronics sets don't sound as the acoustic. E seems dull to my hearing.Again th esets are not colorful living me with little choice

My electric set is best for church services. Acoustic for everything else.

Electronic doesn’t have the same feel or sound period!

I love your positive "not a competition" outlook, it's sorely lacking in many music circles, but it's an undeniable truth!

Im about to watch this but before i do one benefit ive noticed is that without the resonance from the drum it is sometimes easier to hear if you are bang on the beat timing wise on an e kit.

Personally i really dont enjoy playing them, but you cant hide behind a nice full sound that you have on a real kit either, everything sounds smaller so you have to focus on the playing and timing. Quite a different approach

damn i wanna save for an electric kit now

I'm glad I'm not the only one who humms when I play! Did know I did it until I got my first acoustic kit after getting an apartment and my girlfriend told me I was humming. I couldn't believe it. Great video and agree on a lot of points you brought up. Nothing replaces an acoustic kit but e-kits are really a lot of fun and ease of recording for demos and such is a beautiful thing.

I can't disagree more.
Having authentic sounds vs. a fake unrealistic tone whether from snare, toms, kick, and especially the cymbals and hi-hats, simply no comparison.
I missed the emotional expression coming from each artist

There's only one thing and that's volume control.. that's debatable. Real drums all day. E kits good for rehearsal. Still feel and sound clinical.

Thanks for the positive energy and perspective

Electronic drums have come a long way for sure. Some of the new kits sound amazing! Great video.

While being able to change full kits in a matter of seconds is a huge asset, I find that creating that "go-to" kit and using it as a template to create and save various snare options to be a big plus. How many videos have you seen with someone on a sweet acoustic kit surrounded by racks of snares? Great video Stephen...!

hey man it's quite alogtime now i haven't see you you final have your mohawk at the end ;p cheers pal

I joined an 80s covers band just before the pandemic and had to practice with my band in between lockdowns in my bedroom with my Roland TD-30. The band loved it so much, we took it on the road. I made a small compromise and play mic'ed acoustic cymbals.

The advantages for us are...

Complete sound control across the entire band, especially useful in very small venues.

A heavily processed "recorded drum sound" rather than a raw acoustic sound that so often competes for 'space' in the room. So very little need to do additional work on the desk to shape the sound.

Awesome video

As a builder of fine acoustic guitars, I have to say I’m a bit afraid of the day when someone figures out how to make an electronic one.

As for flexibility, a few years ago I was percussionist for a performance of Sound of Music. The orchestra leader was stunned when I turned up with every percussion instrument in the score mapped to my kit, including tubular bells and glockenspiel. For cover work, it is great to easily switch between jazz, rock and metal kits.

I never had that problem (delay between hitting the drums and hearing the sound) and I have been playing electronic and acoustic kits since 1988

Great content. If it wasn’t for my electronic kit I wouldn’t be playing and practicing today. And You aren’t as self conscious when you can practice in silence.

I used to play an acoustic kit 30 years ago, gave it up when kiddos came along . So i picked up a used td. 6v , it was cool but had rubber pads, which kinda suck,but it was fun, then I saw a review for td 17 years later itsc an amazing kit,i love its perfect for what i need. Converted it to acoustic shells. Comparing e drums acoustic drums are like Comparing acoustic guitars to electric guitars, its a different instrument, with slightly different playing techniques, i would never go back to an acoustic kit, as you can make an e kit sound like literally anything you want. Great video thank you for what u bring to the drum community

I can think of 2:
Volume control
Unlimited* kit variation

Hi Stephen, I'm really glad you are enjoying your Roland Vdrums.

Which kit did you prefer - Alesis or Roland?

And yes, same rules for guitar. Just as idiomatic. Same layout but very different approach and tonalities depending on format.