Getting my acoustic legs back...

[Guest]

With exclusively playing the TD-3's for the last three months I decided to try the noisy bastard route and sit behind the Sonor's for a go..much to my surprise the kit feels GINORMOUS!!..with seemingly having lost or misplaced all my dexterity and feel I once had...
must spend some time on land and get me acoustic legs back...
Up a creek with two kits...

[campster]

I've recently done the same thing, having spent the last year working on double kick on the td30, trying it on an acoustic kick drum feels like I'm back to square one

[yzf125]

I have done the same,I went back to A's and bought a brand new kit. After playing Edrums for so long you lose the dynamics and feel, but Im back on track again and loving the A's all over again

[Guest]

Glad I'm not the only one!...I guess I have to moderate the time spent on the plug-ins and spend a bit more time on the ginormo-kit! LOL..
such an odd feeling though,kinda like going from a Mini Cooper to a Peterbuilt!! back to the woodshed I suppose! ...

[yzf125]

Size of the 2 kits is not so much of a difference with me because I play a converted A kit, but world of a difference in dynamics !

[Guest]

I have the small TD3 kit and the not so small Sonor kit..
Btw,I was a Mapex guy for years and years..had a very nice Pro M maple kit..loved it...gotta go and learn how to play again!

Cheers 🍻

[John.b]

Mapex maple is to die for Bifster.

Trouble with e-thingies, all your hits are the same volume and on 2 kicks, its a real problem going back to A's. I find now that my left foot is stronger than my right.

[Guest]

So true John,played maple all of my musical career then last year needed a change and went with the Sonor birch..amazing punch and attack but still with the warmth..with coated Ambassadors all around..ain't nothing better!

B 😊

[John.b]

Yeh Remo Ambassadors are a great head.

[TangTheHump]

I'm not sure how well my techniques can be applied with other Roland kits, but I did the following with my TD-30KV kit to combat the problems the OP is talking about:

1.) Got rid of the drum rack and placed the drums and cymbals on regular drum stands. (Snare and toms on snare stands. Cymbals on traditional cymbal stands.)

2.) Used a tape measure to position drums and cymbals exactly where my corresponding acoustic drums are. Due to the smaller pad sizes of the TD-30KV, this leaves spaces between the drums, but I learned to live with that. Due to the physical placement limitations of acoustic toms, bass drums, and floor toms, it's important to duplicate these limitations in the electronic kit setup so that muscle memory is trained for the acoustic placement relationships.

3.) Adjusted all trigger settings so the hotspots in the pads are reduced and so the dynamic range is closer to acoustic drums. By default, the kit and individual instrument volumes are much too high, and the trigger sensitivities are too high. This leads to light hits producing loud and inconsistent volumes. By adjusting all of these settings (yes, this takes time), it's possible to get a dynamic response curve that is closer to acoustic drums. When the kit and individual instrument volumes are reduced (I go even lower than Tommy_D's recommendations, to around 80), the overall output of the TD-30 is significantly reduced so I use an external headphone amplifier to assist with headphone volume.

4.) Re-tuned all mesh heads such that the tension is as low as possible and thus closer to acoustic drum response. Note, due to the limitations of proper mesh head setup, the heads are still at a medium tension that is bouncier than acoustic drums, but my head tensions are much closer to acoustic drums than some of the V-Drum setups I've tried.

5.) Swapped a felt beater in place of the hard beater on the bass drum. Placed an additional head and layer of felt over the bass drum. I've done both of these things to reduce bounciness and make the bass drum respond more like an acoustic bass drum.

6.) Regularly practice singles and doubles on both kits (acoustic and electronic), from ppp to fff and back again, and at different tempos. This is to gauge how consistent my dynamic performance is on both kits. It really helps to use a digital audio recorder to record both the TD-30's output and the acoustic drums. Set metronome at 40 BPM. On both acoustic and electronic, practice doubles from ppp to fff and back again. Aim for no accents, perfect time, and identical hand-to-hand dynamics. Move metronome up 10. Repeat. And so on. Do the same with singles, hand-to-hand flams, and any other sticking patterns you feel like working on. Your ppp strokes should be as even as your mf strokes and your fff strokes. This is a chop building and dynamic building exercise, and it helps in gauging consistent performance between the acoustic and electronic drums. When you've finished a practice session, check the recording. It tells you where you're on and where you need to apply more work.

[Guest]

I'm not sure how well my techniques can be applied with other Roland kits, but I did the following with my TD-30KV kit to combat the problems the OP is talking about:

1.) Got rid of the drum rack and placed the drums and cymbals on regular drum stands. (Snare and toms on snare stands. Cymbals on traditional cymbal stands.)

2.) Used a tape measure to position drums and cymbals exactly where my corresponding acoustic drums are. Due to the smaller pad sizes of the TD-30KV, this leaves spaces between the drums, but I learned to live with that. Due to the physical placement limitations of acoustic toms, bass drums, and floor toms, it's important to duplicate these limitations in the electronic kit setup so that muscle memory is trained for the acoustic placement relationships.

3.) Adjusted all trigger settings so the hotspots in the pads are reduced and so the dynamic range is closer to acoustic drums. By default, the kit and individual instrument volumes are much too high, and the trigger sensitivities are too high. This leads to light hits producing loud and inconsistent volumes. By adjusting all of these settings (yes, this takes time), it's possible to get a dynamic response curve that is closer to acoustic drums. When the kit and individual instrument volumes are reduced (I go even lower than Tommy_D's recommendations, to around 80), the overall output of the TD-30 is significantly reduced so I use an external headphone amplifier to assist with headphone volume.

4.) Re-tuned all mesh heads such that the tension is as low as possible and thus closer to acoustic drum response. Note, due to the limitations of proper mesh head setup, the heads are still at a medium tension that is bouncier than acoustic drums, but my head tensions are much closer to acoustic drums than some of the V-Drum setups I've tried.

5.) Swapped a felt beater in place of the hard beater on the bass drum. Placed an additional head and layer of felt over the bass drum. I've done both of these things to reduce bounciness and make the bass drum respond more like an acoustic bass drum.

6.) Regularly practice singles and doubles on both kits (acoustic and electronic), from ppp to fff and back again, and at different tempos. This is to gauge how consistent my dynamic performance is on both kits. It really helps to use a digital audio recorder to record both the TD-30's output and the acoustic drums. Set metronome at 40 BPM. On both acoustic and electronic, practice doubles from ppp to fff and back again. Aim for no accents, perfect time, and identical hand-to-hand dynamics. Move metronome up 10. Repeat. And so on. Do the same with singles, hand-to-hand flams, and any other sticking patterns you feel like working on. Your ppp strokes should be as even as your mf strokes and your fff strokes. This is a chop building and dynamic building exercise, and it helps in gauging consistent performance between the acoustic and electronic drums. When you've finished a practice session, check the recording. It well tell you where you're on and where you need to apply more work.

All great points!!....I've wondered about doing what you had done with the kick drum trigger,will have to give it a try.

Cheers,
Bster

[joelHFX]

My biggest issues is the volume of the acoustic kit when I switch back. I tend to hit hard with my ekit when I should really be practicing more lightly for when I return to my acoustic set.

[TangTheHump]

My biggest issue is the volume of the acoustic kit when I switch back. I tend to hit hard with my ekit when I should really be practicing more lightly for when I return to my acoustic set.

Interesting. One of the benefits of electronic drums is you can hit much softer than with acoustic drums and still achieve full dynamic range (within the range offered by a given electronic kit). If you need to hit hard all the time, I suggest adjusting your trigger settings. Configure the trigger settings so that soft strokes trigger quietly. Then, adjust for medium to medium loud strokes. Finally, adjust again so that your loudest strokes trigger, but only at the very end of the scale. The loud strokes should trigger infrequently. Your goal is to play in the medium range most of the time, so that you can play softer (quieter) or harder (louder) when needed.

Another suggestion. Force yourself to practice at all dynamic levels. For example, take a pattern you're playing forcefully at loud volume and play it at triple pianissimo, super quietly. This forces you to use different drumming muscles (or different drumming gears, as Jojo Mayer and Dom Famularo refer to them). If you find you cannot play the same pattern at triple pianissimo, then you need to work on a different set of muscle groups and techniques. It's a fun challenge and one that immensely opens your drumming technique. Take all your patterns and learn them at all dynamic levels. You'll go through a variety of drumming gears and each gear set requires different training. It can be frustrating at first, but in the end it's extremely rewarding and musically useful.

[Peter Warren]

I had the same problem at shows. I would hit the E kit too hard but then messed up my shoulder. Now I never hit it too hard!

[Alan VEX]

I'm really curious why 2-3 year old topics are getting bumped lately. lol