If you're looking for the best beginner drum set, you've come to the right place! Electronic Drums are one of those instruments that have an undeniable pull. Everyone loves drums! It must be a primal response thing for us as humans but we do love tapping out beats.
It’s also a (largely unprovable) fact that inside every guitarist, bassist and keyboard player lies the soul of a frustrated drummer, aching to get out and brutalise the nearest set of tubs in a rhythmic frenzy. It’s inside us all, and so I say unleash your inner animal!
This blog is for more than just beginners, as it will also hopefully be of service to existing drummers who have yet to try a digital kit. I'm going to look at an eminently affordable digital drum kit first, and then move on to check out a few kits from market leader Roland. Sound good? Excellent, but firstly, why choose digital drums?
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Practising and Recording Made Easy
Why Choose Digital Drums?
Why indeed? Why choose a digital set over an acoustic (referred to by most people as ‘normal’) kit? Well, there are a few reasons, and the most obvious one is volume. Electric drum sets are heard by plugging them into either a drum amplifier, a PA system/PA speaker or a set of headphones. The actual physical noise emitted from playing digital drums amounts to far, far less than you’d ever expect from an acoustic kit. It's basically just the impact sound of the drum sticks on the rubber or mesh drum heads, so whilst it’s not entirely silent, it’s a different universe of sound compared to a traditional kit. If you have neighbours within relative earshot, a digital drum kit can mean the difference between being able to play at all or not.
Secondly, there is the convenience. Most digital kits - particularly the more beginner-friendly ones - are smaller and easily collapsible, so you can quickly set them up and take them down if your practice space doubles as a living or dining room. Even if you plan to leave your kit set up, a digital set will take up less floor space in your property, and that’s always a welcome factor!
The third reason to choose a digital set is the variety of kits and sounds you can use. Every digital drum kit will have a collection of different kits available to select and use. These will range from real-sounding sampled acoustic kits to digital drum machine noises for more ‘electronic’ sounds. This is useful at all points in a drummer’s process but particularly so at the beginning, since the extra sounds offer more fun and inspiration, not to mention a certain element of novelty.
Practising and Recording Made Easy
Two of the most compelling reasons to ‘go digital’ involve practising and recording. Many drum modules (the ‘brain’ unit to which everything is plugged) offer practice programs, where a guide beat is provided and a player’s accuracy in following it is assessed. This is a very handy function for the fledgeling drummer, as is the simple metronome (otherwise known as a click track or simply ‘click’), which is essential in developing good timing and avoiding bad habits!
Most contemporary electronic drum kits are equipped with USB outputs to allow you to connect them to your computer. This serves a number of features - including allowing for firmware updates - but the most creatively significant one is the ability to connect to recording software and then record your performances via USB-over-MIDI. Whether you want to create songs with performed drum parts (as opposed to using simple programmed beats) or critically assess your playing by recording and listening back, this is an extraordinarily useful feature. And no micing up of drum kits! Yay!
Great Kits for Beginners
Alesis Turbo X
Here’s a compact 7-piece digital kit that will get younger players and beginners going, and it will not break the bank! The set includes the frame, snare, three toms, hi-hat, two cymbals, and two pedals (one for the kick drum and the other to control the hi-hat), so it’s a full drum kit!
The Alesis Turbo X is filled with good sounding kit samples for realistic drums and some fun sounds too! It’s easy to set up, doesn’t take up too much space in a room, and even comes complete with a drum stool, sticks AND headphones!
The Alesis Turbo X is amazing value and is the one to go for if you want lots of budget bang-for-buck!
For a slightly bigger spend, you canhave the same kit but with an upgraded mesh snare drum, which has a far more realistic feel and 'bounce back'. Check out the Alesis Turbo Mesh kit for this upgrade. It's not too much more, and it makes a pretty big difference to the playability of the kit.
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Roland TD-02KV
Roland V-Drum kits are known to be amongst the very best digital drum brands on the planet. They build huge mage-kits that are almost indistinguishable from top acoustic kits, but their expertise trickles down throughout the entire range. Everybody benefits!
The Roland TD-02K is the brand's entry level kit, available with or without a mesh snare.This is an affordable and sturdy set which will take you far beyond your beginner months. This is a 7piece kit with a nice selection of top sounds from one of the very best brands in the industry.
I'd personally recommend stretching to the mesh snare TD-02KV kit if you can, because it upgrades the performance aspect quite considerably, and future proofs the kit as the player's skill progresses.
An Advanced Choice
Yamaha DTX482K
Yamaha step into the drum fray with an affordable kit that impresses. The main upgrades you’ll notice with the Yamaha DTX482K is the ‘proper’ kick drum, which has a padded rubber trigger to give you a more realistic kick drum feel.
There are loads of quality sounds on here, and some very useful coaching functions too. It can be connected to your computer via USB when the time comes for that, so producers on a budget may find lots to love here. In short, it's affordable, it sounds ace and it’s good quality.
Start Playing Drums Today!
If you want to bring the fun and discipline of drums into your life, we believe a good digital kit is a cost-effective and neighbour-friendly way to do it. The kits above are all great choices for you, depending on where you are on your musical journey. As always, contact us if you want to know more: we’re here to assist you, and let’s face it, the world needs more drummers!
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