I know, I could do searches and stuff, but I'm not a drummer, and wouldn't know what to look for. Here's my simple question:

I just added a drummer to my group, and he has a very nice Roland Virtual drums setup (don't ask me which version, I don't know). Next week I'm meeting with him, and bringing my L1 Model 1 w/2 B1's and T1. He's sold on the Bose, there are no issues there, and I'm sure we'll have to tweak down the road.

But are there any quick initial things I need to know, based on all of your experience? Just basic do's or don'ts. I was going to run his single 1/4" output into my T1, just to give me volume control onstage at my fingertips...no effects or alteration at all.

And while I'm here, do you all feel I'll need another pair of B1's? I want it to sound real, and good, but I'm doing Buffett style acoustic music, no hard rock or anything.

Anything I need to watch out for, initially?

If your initial meeting is in a rather small room (e.g.: living room or garage), my suggestion is to NOT place the L1/B1's real close behind the drummer ... give a little distance (~6') so the B1 & L1 sounds "merge" before getting to the drummer's ears.

Of course, if the bass sounds anemic, the first thing to do is to move the B1's a few feet along the wall, or turn them sideways, or try some other positioning in the room. That's true no matter what room you play in.

Hi Tres,

Check out (or print out) these threads for the drummer.

1) *
2) *

You may not need to do some of these things or any at all, but you'll have some ideas.

In general, the Roland kits seem to need the reverbs rolled off some, EQ the high end click out of the kick, and damp down the toms a bit.
Four B1s will make a huge difference in the drum tones, but you can sure rehearse with just two.
I've been jamming with a friend in his kitchen with only two, and it's a letdown from 4, but heck, it's just a kitchen.

Thanks, guys.

BTW: my initial tryout with the system will be outside oh well.

Outside has never been a bad thing for us.
So is it just going to be you and a drummer?
What kind of tunes are you going to do?

Well, it's complicated!

I'm a solo acoustic guitar/singer. In order to get more gigs and expand my sound, without the ordeals of forming a band, dealing with amps, etc., I advertised for a percussionist. I thought congas and some percussion toys would add a flavor to my overall sound.

I recently met someone answering my ad, who is a very good percussionist, and drummer, and bass player.

First, he tried to talk me into letting him use the Roland drums vs real instruments. I resisted at first, because I know how lousy they sound if you don't set them up right, and run them through a proper system. I also didn't want a drum kit because of the stage area taken up.

But he showed me the Roland kit takes up less space than his conga/percussion setup, and he definitely knows his equipment - the drums sound great. This led me to the possibility of adding both percussion or drums, depending on the song needs (or both simultaneously he showed me - cool!). This got me jonesing to start a band or at least trio.

Turns out he plays bass as well (but not both at the same time - too bad!).

I do acoustic troprock (Buffett style) music.

Probably won't do full out drums until I find a bassist, it wouldn't sound balanced. But I'm looking to the future...

PS: my only concern re outside is that I don't own 4 B1's yet, probably won't for awhile. I didn't want his first impression to be negative.

PPS: I'm impressed with the Roland. When he hit his "conga" pad, I thought it was very nice, and very doable...but not perfect. Then he had me stand behind the congas, and hit the lower one...he made an adjustment...I hit the higher one...he made an adjustment. The we went back and forth, me playing one of the congas, him playing the same conga pad - I couldn't tell the difference! Awesome...

It should sound really good. Right now we're only using 2b1's with our e drums. The kick sounds killer to me. Actually the whole kit sounds killer.

I have our L1 and B1's to the right of the drummer so he can hear it, and out front the drum sound seems to be coming from his kit.

Since you'll hear what you get, he might have to find a drums set in his settings that sounds good.

My drummer uses a roland TD3 module. We basically went through each drum sound and build a kit from scratch.

What he might like at home through his amp might not sound as good through an L1.

So, expect the first meeting to be some time spent just messing with drum sounds.

Of course he very well could plug in and like it right away.

quote:

Originally posted by Troisnoir:
...PPS: I'm impressed with the Roland. When he hit his "conga" pad, I thought it was very nice, and very doable...but not perfect. Then he had me stand behind the congas, and hit the lower one...he made an adjustment...I hit the higher one...he made an adjustment. The we went back and forth, me playing one of the congas, him playing the same conga pad - I couldn't tell the difference! Awesome...

From this description, I really don't think you have anything to worry about. He seems to be very comfortable tweaking the sounds, and that's really all that is required ... someone with an ear to know what is desired and the experience with the sound module to know what "knobs to tweak".