TranslationI bought it because I was hoping it would perform better than my Roland PD-125 pad. The bottom line is that it definitely has better dynamics and control. Here are the improvements for me in order of importance.
- Rimshots: Better dynamics and control of rimshots. The problem I had with my PD-125 was that it was hard reliably triggering rimshots unless you were hitting really hard and if you hit that hard then you don't have much dynamics (most rimshots are 127 velocities). The Drum-tec solved that problem--I can reliably play rimshots at different levels. It also revealed that part of my rimshot problem was that my left-hand technique isn't as good as my right hand.
- Head hits: The head is better with dynamics than the PD-125 too. This is actually very subtle since the PD-125 head tracks very well too. At first, I thought there was no difference but I noticed I was gradually reducing the velocity curves and gain on the drum-tec and still felt like I could get loud hits when I needed them.
Also, hotspot suppression works really well on the PD-125 but I couldn't get it to work on the drum-tec--and, yes, the pricey drum-tec has a hot-spot. Oddly enough, I don't notice it when I'm playing. I think is because it's small and the head is large so the probability of hitting the hotspot is smaller and it's easier to stay clear. The center two inches of the head is pretty hot too but it acts more like a sweet spot for really sensitive drumming. I would still like to have the Edrumin hotspot suppression work on the drum-tec, mainly because it just bugs me, but practically speaking it has not been a problem when actually playing.
- Sidestick - it's the same story with sidestick--the dynamics and reliable triggering are better than the PD-125. However, also like the PD-125, for me, I couldn't guarantee not accidentally triggering a rim-only hit during, for example, a massive flam, so I assigned a shallow rimshot sound to rim-only rather than a cross-stick rim-click. This works really well and makes the snare a joy to play because you can really dig in and get very expressive and real-sounding snare work accented with controlled rimshots and rim hits. I don't have much experience playing a real snare but this experience seems really nice to me.
- build quality is heavy-duty, top-notch, and beautiful. The output jack is the serious locking kind. The only odd thing is that the rubber rim cushion isn't notched by tension rod heads so it's a bit of a wrestling match to get a tuning key on some of them. Eventually, I found out that if I line up the key with the tension head nut and push down hard you can get the key down. Not a problem, but given the excellence of the rest of the hardware I was surprised that was overlooked. Similarly, getting the rim cushion off and on is also a real wrestling match.
- its output is hot--I was running my gain at 1 (min) and it seemed to hit max velocity too easily so I added in some 25K resistors for the head and rim and that cooled things down just enough so I just need a little gain to get the full range of dynamics.
- at first, I was sort of shocked by the 14" size versus the 12" PD-125--it seem to dwarf the rest of my kit and it felt odd to have to squeeze up against it to play. However, I quickly got used to that and that's easily outweighed by better dynamics, triggering, and just a larger area to smash away at. There is also definitely something nice about hitting something that is solid--the snare has some real mass.
- position sensing does work but I use Steven Slate drums, which doesn't support positional sensing, so I have no way of evaluating that.
Is it worth the money? There's about a $400 USD difference between it and a used PD-125. My feeling is that if you are just learning, or don't need slightly better dynamics, the PD-125 is excellent with Edrumin. But like with fine musical instruments, you are paying a premium for an incremental change in performance, but that incremental improvement may be very valuable to you.
- edrumin drum-tex snare setting.JPG (100.59 KiB) Viewed 1910 times
