New topic spun off from Most Compact of All Electronic Drum Kits

Moved Reply:

Speaking of COMPACT electronic drums, last year I came across a midi controller for electric drums called a ZENDRUM. You can use it to trigger many of the drum modules out there.
Rolands TD-XX SERIES, ALESIS DM5, or go the software route with BFD, Addictive drums, to name a couple. Attached is pic of my setup. Easy to set up ,break-down and good sound. Life is good. I am using a Roland SPD-20 with a Bose Model II, 4 Subs with a packlite and a
T-1. Happy drumming THUMPER

Moved Reply:

Hi Thumper,

I think you now hold The Most Compact of All Electronic Drum Kits.
Congrats!

P

Moved Reply:

Hi, Thumper!
Cool small ... and I'm sure it confuses the person who walks up thinking they'll pull out their sticks and "sit in" for you!

By the way ... if you normally use the B1's flat like that (as I do, too), you can rotate the Bose logo so it is horizontal, too. Just lift the logo by holding the "B" and the "E" (not the little 'tails'!) and rotate it. It is "spring-loaded", and will lift ~1/4" or so to allow it to rotate.

Moved Reply:

Hmmm... I also note the use of the T1 support as a strap hanger for your "drum kit".

I'll bet the Bose designers of that hanger mechanism NEVER envisioned it be used to support an entire "drum kit"!!

Moved Reply:

quote:

I'll bet the Bose designers of that hanger mechanism NEVER envisioned it be used to support an entire "drum kit"!!

Dan
That is too funny
Thumper
I have to say I love this Idea. Was there much of a learning curve going from full drum kit to the Zendrum?

Moved Reply:

There was not a much of a learning curve per se. I am still learning something every day I practice-play. I receive my ZENDRUM last April and after a couple of months of practice felt that I could play it out live with the band. If you can tap on your car wheel you can pick up playing this instrument fairly easy. The hardest part for me was deciding where to put what sounds. This is one of the great things about this instrument. You can program any trigger to sound any sound that can be midi. This means it could be a drum,guitar,bass, play loops off the computer, only your imagination limits you. So far I am having a lot of fun with the Zendrum. Small,easy setup, unlimited sounds, what's not to like. Life is good. Happy drumming Thumper

Moved Reply:

Here's the link to zendrum's website
ZenDrum

Moved Reply:

Thanks Michael
Thanks Thumper

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Starvin,

Moved Reply:

Thank you Michael for posting the link to Zendrum. After I read my post I realized that I could have at least mentioned Zendrum.com. Their forum contains a lot of information and they are very helpful answering questions. Each Zendrum is custom-made for you when you pick out the different woods that it can be made with. I want to say from order to delivery is about 30-45 days, although I received mine in less than 30. They have a couple of different models to pick from. Take a look if you are interested. Thumper

Moved Reply:

Hey All,

How strange I find this post the very day after it is placed...

I too use a Zendrum ZX as my drumset. Man, go out and try one (well, if you can FIND one) and you will be SOLD. I have absolutely nothing but great things to say about it.

As for learning curve, I bought my first Zendrum at around noon and played it at a gig that night at 8. Maybe not a stellar performance, but I felt great and got lots of compliments. I have been playing my acoustic drums while I fill in for a local band these past months, and I just DREAD the loading. yeah, I love to play 'em...but I am so spoiled anymore!

Also, until recently I have been playing only my acoustic drums for jazz gigs, which I do 1-2 nights a week. I usually use a 3-pc cocktail kit that I built out of Tama Starclassics, which is ultra-portable (not as much as the Zendrum). But, one place I play at called a friend and me to play as a duo on Valentine's Day, simply because we would have the smallest "footprint" so they could set up more tables in the restaurant! So of course, the Zendrum was the ticket. I was genuinely worried about my jazz playing, as I had never done this, and I gravitate toward a busy bebop sort of playing...but it went so well, the guy I played with practically demanded that I "Zen out" for our gig the next night. So of course I did. The bandleader was surprised and skeptical, but he trusted us about how cool it was, and damn, we had a great gig! I am seriously considering making the Zendrum my one and only live rig.

Speaking of rigs, I use a Muse Receptor (the BEST ever), a DBX DriveRack (which I use mainly for its auto-EQ) into 2 Bose Model 1s, with 2 B1s each. I wish I could really crank it up sometime...this system is, in a word, SMOKIN'!!!

Jer

Moved Reply:

Hi Zendrumdude
I was wondering how much tweaking you had to do to get a good sound from your BFD samples through your L1 or did they sound good right out of the box.

Zendrum& BFD turbo receptor

Hey tberry & Pete.
I saw this and thought of your Hi-Hat problems.

BFD turbo receptor & the Trapcat

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Starvin,

Moved Reply:

To be perfectly honest, no, it didn't sound incredible out of the box. I think the thing to realize is that a drum module like a Roland TD, etc. has pre-tweaked sounds...compression, EQ, muffling, etc., so they just sound like a good "produced" drum sound. The BFD concept is for YOU to have the control to do all those things with outboard gear. The problem is, in Receptor, everything is in one channel, so whatever production you do, you do it to the whole kit. There are ways around this, but this is the way I am using it. However, in BFD2 (which is already available, and will be available in a Receptor version very soon) has compression, EQ, effects, etc. for EVERY instrument individually, while still taking up only one channel in the Receptor.

I have the thing sounding great right now, but it has taken a lot of tweaking, and some things are still a compromise. For example, the way the drums are recorded (very flat, no effects, EQ, compression, gates, etc.) the bass drums are the part I think suffer the most...so I have a pretty serious EQ on the drum channel in the Receptor to beef up both the attack and the bottom of the bass drum sound. This also happens to do largely the same thing for the toms, especialy the floors, and it sparkles up the cymbals, while the bass boost seems irrelevant for them. However, this EQ is NOT good for snare drums! The piccolo sound I use is fine, and the middle-of-the-road hi-pitch one is OK, but the "fat" snare sound I use especially is not punchy or in your face, because I am sucking out the very "punchy" midrange frequencies it needs in order to make the rest of the kit sound good. It's not a perfect solution, which is why I am dying to get BFD2.

Please understand, though...the fact that these are REAL drum samples, played at literally over 100 dynamic levels each, brings a sense of realism and "life" that no other module can even hope to touch. Even my top-of-the-line Roland TD20 simply sounded like plastic after hearing this!

Another thing is, I use the DBX DriveRack to auto-EQ my Bose systems for each room I play in. It really helps the Bose system start on "even footing" in each room, so the trweaking I do doesn't have to be redone every time I set up. Even though the Boses do sound very similar in each room, I have found the auto-EQ a BIG help in geting "my sound".

Jer

Moved Reply:

quote:

For example, the way the drums are recorded (very flat, no effects, EQ, compression, gates, etc.) the bass drums are the part I think suffer the most..

Hey Jer
The flat no effects is pretty much what you get when you mic an acoustic kit. I was wondering if you have tried the T1 with this system. It has EQ, compression, and gates, ect...

quote:

in Receptor, everything is in one channel, so whatever production you do, you do it to the whole kit. There are ways around this

You mentioned ways around this. Is it possible to send the kick, snare to separate channels? That way I could use the presets, eq., gates and other effects I want, using my T1,the way I do now when micing my A kit.
Rick

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Starvin,

Moved Reply:

Thanks for all that info and the video link, very helpful.
I just got back from a weekend trip to a nearby city to put my hands on a Zendrum.
A guy my age, Christian musician has one along with a Roland keyboard rack module.
He was very good at showing me how useful a Zen could be for the typical combo drummer.

Now I know it would take some serious labor to get good with one, and the high end modules and accessories are very expensive.
Learning play with fingers as feet, and relearning how to sing while playing seem to be the major hurdles.
There is a lot to consider about before making that jump.

Moved Reply:

Well, I don't think there's any way to do exactly what you are asking about without more outboard gear...the Receptor itself has only 2 audio outputs (R & L), period. You could theoretically route bass drum and toms to one, snare and cymbals to another, for example, but not very user-friendly, and mono of course (which wouldn't be an issue with one L1, but I use 2 for stereo). However, you can put different instruments in different channels WITHIN the Receptor (it has 16) and do your EQ/Compression etc. in there, and send the processed signals via right and left outputs to the T1.

There is another way, which I admittedly know very little about. There is an ADAT optical output with 8 digital channels available, which you can route different instruments to. You'd need a breakout box (MOTU, etc.) to run that one optical output into, which would then send 8 audio outs. That's a solution that, I believe, would work the way you want. NOT something I have any experience with, so don't quote me on it!!!

By the way, why the heck isn't the T1 capable of running stereo outs?!?!?!? I would totally buy one TODAY if it had stereo outputs for use with my 2 L1 systems!

Jer

Moved Reply:

Go ahead and make that jump! I also thought along the same lines as you are doing now. I sing a lot with the band and thought that it would be difficult at best to learn playing with my hands only and singing, but I jumped in and with a little practice (it is fun learning something new) and the freedom of being mobile (wireless) makes for an exciting gig. You will no longer be the drummer in back! You will be the guy playing that cool looking thing anywhere in the room you that you chose. Anyway Drumr I am having a ball playing the Zendrum ZX and many times I have people come up to me and ask questions as they have never seen anything like this before. As you have said before there are some trade-offs and some of the modules and equipment you can buy IS very expensive ,but you are more than half way there already having a BOSE! PS we played 2 gigs Sat one 6-7 and one 8-12 we broke down and loaded our 2 Bose Model II and all our other equipment in 7 minutes. I think that was a new record for us.
Bose rules!!!

Moved Reply:

quote:

By the way, why the heck isn't the T1 capable of running stereo outs?!?!?!? I would totally buy one TODAY if it had stereo outputs for use with my 2 L1 systems!

It doesn't have stereo outputs “per say” but you can use the Aux out and the master out to create stereo outputs for use with your 2 L1 systems. Left channel Receptor to channel 1 on the T1 master out to L1# 1 and right channel Receptor to channel 2 on the T1 aux out to L1#2 creating stereo. I may be wrong but I think the only effect that can’t be sent through the aux.out is reverb.
Rick

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Starvin,

Moved Reply:

Hi zendrumdude,

Rick (Starvin007) is dead-on.

Here are some notes about

getting stereo through a T1®.

and

No reverb on Aux.

Moved Reply:

Thanks guys. Unfortunately, this isn't going to work for me. I definitely need reverb on both channels, as my dual-L1 system is my band's entire PA system. And, I don't like the idea of not being able to control the stereo volume all at once, trying to get the Aux and Master to match. I still just can't figure out why the master (and Aux, for that matter!) are not in stereo. Maybe a future model???

Jer