Is the Electronic Drum Now More Popular Than the Acoustic Drum?
The debate as to whether you are a proper drummer if you play an electronic drum rather than an acoustic one is probably similar to the one between being a proper photographer if you use a digital camera rather than a film camera.There will always be the purists who will never be persuaded to use either an electronic drum or a digital camera, and I say good luck to them because after all that is what choice and democracy is all about.
There are a number of considerations you would have to make when buying a drum kit and these considerations will influence the type you would buy.
If you have never played the drums before, It is recommended you purchase a set of acoustic drums. This will enable you do develop the feel of the drum when you hit the skin. You don’t need to spend a fortune or buy that many pieces of kit, just enough for you to get the feel and different sounds they make.
Size of budget is definitely a consideration. A cheap acoustic drum kit is far better than a cheap electronic kit which is prone to things going wrong. Anything under $600 is regarded as being cheap. If money is no object then there will be other considerations you will need to take into account.
The practice area.This is the big one. If you have your own studio, sound-proofed room or you live in the desert without neighbours then you can get away with an acoustic drum and bang away to your heart’s content and no one will bother you. However,if you are one of the majority, then you are surrounded by people either in a college dorm, your bedroom at home or a local hall. If you want to remain in one piece you most definitely will have to consider the neighbours. This is where the electronic drum scores over the acoustic.The drums are plugged into the Module and the volume can be controlled.You cannot mute an acoustic.
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Everything You Need to Know About Electronic Drum Sets
The drums most people know are made of wood shells and plastic heads; when you hit them with a stick, they produce a thud that sounds just like a drum hit with a stick. (What else would you expect?) In today’s high-tech world, however, pretty much anything you can do acoustically can also be done electronically, using digital recording and playback techniques. The merger of digital electronics with acoustic drums is the electronic drum – something both a little more and a little less than a traditional drum set.
Electronic drum sets have been here since the late 1970s. Those early electronic kits include arm-damaging hard rubber pads and produced synthesized bloops and bleeps that sounded more like the movie Star Trek than anything ever produced by an acoustic drum. The novelty of synthesized sounds soon wore off, to be supplanted by digitally recorded sounds – so called samples of traditional acoustic sounds. Today’s electronic drum sets utilize digital samples of big-sounding acoustic drums insert into a memory chip and triggered by the striking of an external pad. When you beat the drum, the sound of the cymbal or sampled drum is created, just as if you were performing the original acoustic kit.
That’s in theory, of course. In reality, samples sounds never sound completely the same to their acoustic counterpart, and playing on a rubber pad isn’t quite the same as playing on a real drum. Still, electronic drum sets provide a wider variety of sounds than you can produce with a single acoustic kit, and they let you play loud through an amplifier or soft through a set of headphones. They are also a lot more solid than acoustic drums, making them perfect for the gigging musician who hates to lug around a bunch of heavy wood drums.
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Six Things to Consider in Purchasing an Electronic Piano
I remember when I was a kid taking piano lessons. We had an old upright piano that weighed a ton, looked awful and never seemed to stay in tune. Not exactly what you would call inspiring to a beginning piano student. But who could afford a grand piano? Or who had room for one if they could afford it?
Fortunately today things are a little better. There are a variety of cost effective electronic solutions. The main advantage of choosing an electronic piano is price. In addition to price, an electronic piano never needs to be tuned. Most are light weight making them easy to move, and they can be purchased in a variety of furniture style to match your home decor.
Still there are a few things to consider when making your purchase.
The first seems to be a “no-brainer”, but “does it sound like a piano?” With all the “bells and whistles ” available on electronic pianos today it is easy to overlook the obvious being enamored by the cool drum sounds and realistic orchestral sounds that these new instruments are capable of producing. Along with this consideration it is important to evaluate the other sounds. Some models may make the traditional keyboard sounds such as piano, electronic piano, organ and harpsichord. That’s great if that’s all you’re looking for. However today’s versions are capable of the traditional keyboard sounds and a lot more. Some models are capable of producing every instrument in the orchestra as well as many modern synthesizer sounds. Normally the more sounds it makes the more it costs, so weigh your options carefully. Most models also include drum sounds.
Tags: electronic music, electronic piano