Which kit should I choose?

[comradec]

I'm planning to learn to play the drums so I'm looking to purchase an electronic drum kit. Unfortunately, I don't live somewhere I could get away with practising on an acoustic kit, so an electronic one will have to suffice. It's important that I don't upset the neighbours or my own family by making too much noise. I'd also like to be able to use the kit for the occasional gig if I turned out to be any good at this drumming lark and use it for recording in my home studio.

Anyway, I wondered if anyone here could make any recommendations as to which of the kits currently on the market I should look at?

The main contenders so far as I can see are Yamaha's DTXplorer, Roland's TD-3KW (and also the HD-1, which comes out later this year), Alesis' DM5 kit and DM5 Pro, and Traps' E400.

What are their respective strengths and weaknesses? Any horror stories about models I should definitely avoid?

I don't want to spend much more than 600 GBP (equivalent to 900 EUR or 1,200 USD).

[SPISHAK]

Being a drummer, I'd suggest getting some kind of kit with drum heads, rather than just rubber. I have the older V-session kit which is out of your price range, but you may find something on E bay. There are other sets out there with some kind of a "drum head" that you can not only TUNE to the feel of real drums, but get the response of a real drum which is very important. I think HART or somebody makes fairly inexpensive drum pads, then you can get whatever drum brain you want......which brings up another option.....piece it together. Sometimes on E bay you can find drum pads, and brains, and even the rack that holds it all together for pretty cheap. I realize you're in UK, but my advice is get something with drum heads like V-drums.....the feel is what it's all about. try some at a dealer before you decide. CHEERS

[Matroskin]

I have purchased for my home studio a Roland TD-3KV set a year and a half ago, I have payed $1400 for kit + USB MIDI interface, and later I spent $50 for a kick pedal. I didn't like Yamaha DTX (non-expensive model) for it's cymbals can't be choked & sounds are plastic. Alesis DMs are just brains, you'll need a set of pads.
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I am not a drummer, but drummers that were recorded in my studio told me that they like TD-3's sounds, choking cymbals etc. But (!) they noted that hihat pedal FP-8 works rather unnaturally & they don't feel comfortable with this device.
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As for me - I have never played drums before I had purchased my TD-3KV, so it is my first drumset. When I try to play on real drums, I feel myself not comfortable, to tell the truth.

[speedtribe]

here is the dvd of TD-3KV

http://media.roland.com/rja/mov/V-Drums2/04L.html

[sunfly143]

Hi if you are wanting to learn to drum td3 - kw are fine, basically i feel there is a lot more to drumming than the sound the actual drum kit makes,so for learning to read drum music and learning how to play drums a good course such as icanplaydrums complimented by a Fantom X and a td3 - kw
means you can produce great sounding beats on a Fantom long before you actually have developed the skill on a td3 - kw set. Of course a proper drum set is a different kettle of fish.But drummers are becoming quite rare these days because not so many get to learn them for obvious reasons.If you like you can always hire a studio with a set of drums in a studio for a few hours,not so expensive.Just to get a feel for real drums..But obviously the likes of quieter drum practise are for many a necessity.