Turning an old acoustic kit into an electronic kit ?

[LRLL]

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this, but I have some questions about this:

I was wondering if this would be worth it. Soon I'm gonna have an old kit available that I want to use for practising. Problem is, I need to practice as quietly as possible (appartment), so I was thinking about if it would be possible to turn this into an electronic kit, like with mesh heads and triggers (can you trigger mesh heads, or do triggers work 'acoustically' ?). Does anyone have experience with such a transformation ? Any information or links with good info about what I would need, like heads, triggers, drum module (what's the good stuff, what's the bad stuff, what works well together etc..), would be appreciated.

[HowDZ]

Check out this site : www.electronicdrums.com
I converted a rythym traveler kit(by Pearl)from acoustic to electric. It has mesh heads and homemade triggers...all the plans are on the site! You do have to pay a one-time membership fee, but it is well worth it! The most expensive part of the project is the module. Make sure you try out a couple different ones...If you try this conversion, you won't be dissappointed!

[MPCman]

I've got some good links about building e-drums yourself on my personal website (click below and go to links).

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My Personal homepage - MPCman's E-drum Picsite! currently with 14 profiles

[LRLL]

Thanks guys ! MPCman, what you tried to do with your mesh heads on the acoustic kit is what I had in mind too, and it's good that I can read your experiences with it, although it's unfortunate it didn't work out so well. So thanks for sharing that !
Other ways of doing the 'conversion' seem to involve reworking the drums and mounting all sorts of stuff in them, it seems like too much trouble to me, I was just looking at possibilities to 'quickly' turn it into an edrum set.
Seems like it would be a lot easier to get some 'real' edrums :P

[drumguru]

Take another look at the http://www.electronicdrums.com link, or look at their other site at http://www.acousticdrums.com/ad_frames/hybrid_free.html for a more specific acoustic conversion. This would involve minimal modifications to the drum and allow you to keep your acoustic look.

[Erin Epp]

I converted a set of Rhythm Travelers with a set of DDrum triggers and an Alesis DM5. To improve the velocity sensitivity, I just used a Remo Muff'l inside each of the drums and tightened the hell of of the heads. This raised the surface of the mesh drum head and improved the contact between it and the trigger. I had to spend some time tweaking the settings on the DM5, but it all now works wondderfully... picks up every ghost note. It's set up nice and clean, too. There's nothing makeshift about it.

Hope this helps.

Erin

[sepdrums]

A ddrum4 SE module, trigger pack, and a set of Hart Dynamics KS-2 dual ply mesh heads will be the absolute best bet...if your budget will allow for it. IMO there is not a better module out there for triggering acoustic drums, whether it has mesh or mylar heads. A module, trigger pack, cables, and heads will put you in the $1400 range... not too bad considering what you will have as a result - an acoustic kit that can be played / triggered acoustically when needed, played with mesh heads when needed...etc.

If you want electronic cymbals and hat control, you will need to stick with ddrum's hat pedal at least.... but you can use aftermarket non-ddrum cymbals if you are not concerned with choking.

Feel free to email me about doing the conversions - I have set up many of them.

Best of luck,
Erik