Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I bought these as a Christmas gift for my brother, who's in his 40s. He's been a wannabe drummer for a while and has had a few acoustic drums sets, at least one of very high quality--but he's never had an electronic drum set. (He's jammed with bands, but not played professionally.) He had to sell his last and best drum set and hasn't had a set for a long time. Plus he lives in an apartment. So I saw these at Target for $200 and decided to take a chance, thinking I could always return them if they sucked or were broken.
Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to see him during Christmas and wasn't able to give him the set until 1 week ago, long after I'd lost the receipt, so I was really worried that he wouldn't like them.
Well, I got a call today, after he'd been playing them "hard" for a week and he raved about them. Things he mentioned:
- 100 sounds (each of which is tunable, which I didn't see mentioned in the specs, but was hoping for).
- He says he really beats the s**t out of his drums and he's really impressed that the set so far has no dings, and neither do the sticks or rims of the drums. This, he thinks, is because there is a tube of air around the edges that prevents them from getting damaged.
- Came with headphones (though I'm not sure of the quality). He said I could have mine back. :)
- Came with drum sticks (as mentioned, no dents so far)
- He likes the way the module lights up, so it can help you learn how to play
- Likes that you can remove the drum part from the songs that come with it, so you can "be" the drummer
- Likes that you can plug in an MP3 player
- Likes that you can record your own playing. It sounded like you could only lay down one track at a time, but he's not that familiar with sequencers so I'm not sure if that's correct or not.
- Said when he got it out of the box he thought the stand would be flimsy, but he's very impressed with it because it's held up really well.
- He said the pedals were made in a sturdy way too with some kind of special bushing or something.
Basically, he said it was the best gift he ever got ("the best gift a man could give another man" were his exact words), so all I can say is that if you're on the fence, get the thing! I should get one for myself.
Oh, I just remembered one more thing he said. He said, "If I'd known electronic drums were this good, I would have bought a set a long time ago."
Update 5/15/2010 It's been 3(?) months and he's still playing these things on a daily basis for a few hours a day. He claims, and I can see, that he's a much better drummer. Now he can keep time! (He refused to use a metronome in the past.) He now thinks in terms of patterns and fills, 16 beat measures, practicing with a part until you get it, trying different things to see which sounds best, etc. all concepts that he never got before.) On the down side, shortly after my first review, one of the foot pedals broke (he really does stomp the hell out of them though). He is pretty good at figuring things out though, so was able to fix it by himself. Had something to do with the way the contacts are made. Ever since his fix, it's still been going strong.
Update 2/27/2011 He's still, still playing them. They must be very well constructed.
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ION Audio Sound Session Complete Electronic Drum SetLearn the drums with Ion Audio's Sound Session complete electronic drum set--a great choice for those who don't have room for a traditional set of drums or need to keep practice session on the quiet side. Fitting into a fraction of the space of an acoustic drum set, the Sound Session set comes with everything you need to get started playing.
It features natural-feeling drum and cymbal pads as well as foot pedals for hi-hat and bass drum. A rugged, adjustable stand holds the drum and cymbal pads and comes with all the mounting hardware, and the set also includes all the cables you'll need.
The Sound Session set includes a drum-sound module with over 100 different instruments in 15 drum sets. You can modify and save the drum sounds and drum set for totally custom setups. There are 41 play-along music patterns for practicing and jamming out. You can listen to the drum parts on the patterns to get ideas for what to play, then mute the drums and play your own part. Record your drum performance and listen back, and use the built-in metronome for learning to play with a steady beat.
Key Features
Complete electronic drum set
Natural-feeling drum and cymbal pads on a completely adjustable stand
Takes up less space than acoustic drums
Makes almost no sound when played with headphones
108 drum, cymbal, and percussion sounds in 15 customizable drum sets
40 play-along music patterns with mutable drum parts for practicing and jamming out
Light-up play-along display for learning drum patterns
Record your drum performance and listen back
Metronome for learning to play with a steady beat
1/8-inch stereo headphone and speaker-system outputs, mix-in input for CD or MP3 player
What's in the Box
Three drum pads
Two cymbal pads
Two foot pedals
Adjustable stand with mounting hardware
Sound module
Connection cables
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