td-10 vs xv-5080 vs ????

[marlenus]

I've been playing a TDE-7K kit pretty much since they hit the market. It's getting rather worn and problematic and it's time to upgrade.

My thoughts were just replace the brain for now, perhaps with a TD-10 (the TD-7 power cuts in and out so is now unreliable for gigs), however the TD-10 itself has been on the market for quite a long time and I would imagine it will be retired soon (we've all heard the TD-12 rumors).

Now, in the event the TD-12 isn't out by the time I make the plunge (a month or two), I was also considering the possibility of a trigger to midi interface to a Roland XV-5080. It's about the same price as a TD-10 but probably the technology involved will have more longevity than an all-in-one module.

The things that make this sound like a bad idea though is it probably can't take advantage of all of the dual zoned pad features and the tri zone cymbal features.

Also, I would probably never use 1% of it's capabilities (I play drums, some guitar, I don't touch keyboards or play with sequencing) but at about the same price as a TD-10, I didn't want to throw out the possibility.

Thanks for any insights!!

[marlenus]

ah ha! i was missing a piece of the puzzle, namely the 'Dynamic Drums' SRX board. Also I did mean to ask about PC driven software to control the 5080, sounds like the 5050 may be the way to go IF that is the direction I decide to take after researching all this. I will check out the Akai as well, I just figured Roland might be the easiest way to move given that in the future as I upgraded some of my PD-7 pads to the newer Roland pads, I still wanted to be able to take advantage of their full feature set (which I'm not even certain I can do UNLESS I go with a TD-10 or whatever its successor ends up being).

[marlenus]

this is a pretty new realm for me. while i've always been pretty on top of rolands drum brain product line, samplers and what not i know nothing about. youre right about the akai, it appears i can pick one up for around $800 (ebay pricing, haven't found a store that carries them at this price yet).

c.jude talks a bit about the trigger to midi interface and having enough inputs. obviously midi in would be nice, i dont want to limit myself if I don't have to, and it appears the TMC-6 does not have one, so any recommendations are appreciated.

We are sort of getting outside the realm of vdrums here, but does the Akai come with a library of samples (specifically drum samples) or is it pretty much just an unloaded unit and I'm responsible for loading in the sample library myself? Will the sampler allow me to take advantage of the abilities of Rolands the 3 zone cymbals and dual trigger pads? (or will it be a matter of finding similar samples and become a nightmare of trying to program the thing to get a decent crossfade mix?) Hows the PC software for this thing? I see they offer a USB board, but if thats just for faster xfer rates, I can probably live with midi.

Thanks!!!

[marlenus]

oh and one thing i didnt even think about was how is a modular system like the one we're talking about going to deal with the roland hi-hat pedal.

[jrcel]

You might consider either an Emu pro sampler or a Kurzweil, both can be set to use CC#4 to play hi-hat open closed anywhere in between, I've posted a how to on Alternate Mode's Forum, not possible on a 5080 to my knowlege. With a box like this you also get a pretty good sequencer and a sampler with upgrade in the case of the Kurzweil, not to mention unbelievable sound quality. They won't be obsolete in a year either.

[marlenus]

thanks, i read through the alternate mode forums (now i know where to get replacement triggers for my kickKATs) and found some info about this with the emu, but frankly if youre talking about the 4x, thats WAAAAY out of my price league. the akai can be had brand new for $900, the roland 5050 for $800 and the 5080 for around $1400, or are you talking about the EMU E5000 ultra (zzounds has it open box for $1000)?

[marlenus]

fyi, here is bart elliott's response when i asked him how he was doing this with his akai s6000 (with permission to repost along with this caveat:

Sure ... but I don't think I'm an authority on the subject. I'd hate to be wrong in some way and you be disappointed. I would highly recommend that you contact AKAI to make sure that what I am saying is precisely what you are asking about.

If you use AKAI program CD samples ... it should work like you are wanting.) .. /end caveat

At 09:14 PM 3/27/02 , rob wrote:
im dumping my roland td-7 brain in favor of a more flexible and powerful setup. i was considering the akai s5000 as there seems to be a fire sale on them ($800-900 new). im wondering with the 6000 (which id prefer if i can find one cheap, but the answer should be the same as the 5000) how you deal with things like a midi hi-hat controller where its open, closed, or anywhere in between (the rolands i believe is 256 total positions). im also curious as to what you use for "pads" and a trigger to midi interface. thanks bartman!!

---

Rob,
Thanks for writing!

Basically, you just have to have the samples that can be assigned to your modulations. I use the drumKAT Turbo with the HatKAT which will track MIDI Modulation information. The more sample variants that you have for you HiHat sound ... the better. The S5000 and S6000 are going to be the same in this area.


They are blowing out the S5000 samples because of the new release from AKAI.
Just a warning ... if you get the S5000 or S6000, they use SIMM Ram chips ... which are hard to find these days ... and can be pricey. Also, internal devices like Zip drives, Hard Drives, etc., that you may want to add MUST be SCSI. Sometimes this isn't easy to find ... such as the SCSI Zip Drive I just put it was used because the don't make new SCSI Zip drives anymore. Gear changes so fast these days. I bought my S6000 because of it's versatility ... only to find out that it doesn't matter how versatile it is if they don't make the add-on gear anymore due to technology. Who knew?!


Anyway, I love my AKAI sampler. If you get the S5000, try and pick up any and all of the add-ons that you might want ... NOW ... before it's impossible to find.

Hope this helps a bit.

Regards,
Bart Elliott http://bartelliott.com

[jrcel]

Check with Emu, but I think the Cords and Destination system is the same on an E5000 as witha an E4. You'll still need a way to send CC#4 to it, a Hatpedal and a Pocket Pedal wil work as well as you old module or the new Rolnd interface. There's nothing wrong with Vdrums though, you can do that plus pick up a used sampler on Ebay for $300, look for Emu ESI 32/4000/2000, Akai S2000, even old S760's or S1000's are wothwhile. Don't forget that sounds are not included with most samplers, especialy old used ones and you must buy a CDrom and hard drive for them. It was a huge decision for me to use samplers exclusively, I wanted more versatility than I was seeing in the modules I was looking at. Emu is comming out with a software version of the E4 for a fraction of the cost of the hardware version, it ships in October. Feefer is correct that simms are not getting hard to find, 30 pin simms are but modern samplers take 72 pin simms. Don't forget that you have to be slightly mad to want to use samplers to the exclusion of all other equipment, the Mad Scientist syndrome.

[This message has been edited by jrcel (edited March 28, 2002).]

[Nisse Nas]