C.
I am not a drummer but I play with drummers and understand what a drum is supposed to sound like. This does not sound like an acoustic in the sense that when you hit it, you only hear a tap. Once you hook up to an amp or headphones is when it truly shines. It responds to light and heavy strikes and everything in between. I have no other reference to compare to but it sounds good to me. Some sounds sound raw, some EQed. There is a sound for every music you would like to play. I have been practicing along to music by plugging into the audio input.
I did find that I wanted some of the strike components to sound louder on some sets but then I found out you can adjust the volume individually! This was a great feature. There is a TON of sounds in here. You can adjust timber, kits, use a metronome and put it into demo mode if you want to hear a backing track.
The drums react to force and area where they are hit. I found it cool that you can hit a cymbal and grab it to mute it. Again, not a drummer but I didn't feel like anything was lacking. Except a seat maybe. Everything I imagined it to do, it did well. More than anything I am happy that my daughter can play without annoying the neighbors. I find myself using this a lot because its so quiet with headphones on. I have no experience with electric drums so I cant say at what level these are at in comparison to whats available in this price range I can say that I am happy to have this as a replacement. Sound is clear and crisp with no artifacting, Solidly built with metal and good plastic, metal foot pedals. Even cost the same as my daughters acoustic drum set. I have even recommended to my drummer who cant practice at home since he lives in small apartment.
Adam D.
Ok here is my review after 1 afternoon,
I got the DED-400 this morning in the mail, all the pieces were in the box, labeled and the instructions were fairly clear.
A couple things to note off the bat; although the kick pad has a spot that is definitely for attachment like the other pads, there is no attachment to the rack itself, just to the tower piece it comes with, for some that may be preferable, to me, I would rather have it stationary, since it instead likes to walk and then taps annoyingly against the rack. For myself I am just gonna 3d print a piece to attach it, I realize not everyone has that luxury. The second thing to note is that the throne, kick pedal and headphones, are nice to have so that you can immediately set it up and play, but all three should be on your mind for replacement as soon as possible. The headphones are the first things I would say, I happen to have semi decent ones already, and the sound difference is outlandish. The kick in the provided headphones sounds like it is completely blowing the headphones even at lower volumes on multiple kits. With even low grade studio headphones, the sound from the module is much more enjoyable. The throne, is small, and not super comfortable, but, I am a large guy, and I knew that I would probably need to replace it going in. The kick pedal actually isn't terrible, I am not by any means a good drummer, but I am having a lot of ghost noting on the kick, I tried adjusting settings both analog and digital to fix the problem, then, when that didn't work I had a much better drummer friend try it out and even he was having issues with it, so new kick pedal is on my short list of upgrades.
All that said, here is why I still gave it 4 stars, the kit was fairly easy to put together, the sounds that were included in the kits, are not the worst sounds I have seen, the drums themselves seem sturdy, and they aren't missing notes at least from what i have played so far. The rack is pretty solid, the module has a fair amount of customization available, it will be beneficial to actually read the manual, as its not the most user friendly to figure out how to do adjustments, but once you understand how to navigate the module, it is gives you much more control. The cymbals are choke-able, it does not list them as choke-able, but I can tell you they are. The rim shots on the snare, are not set up very well originally, but once you mess with the settings, they are much better.
I bought this kit because I want to practice drums and get better, the coaching feature is good for getting timing down, the provided songs are super weird, which is nice, because they make you actually think about what makes sense, if you turn off the drum track that is provided. If you follow along with what they programmed in, it is challenging for a beginner, but not impossible.
Things I would like to see addressed in future builds: Bluetooth aux in, by in large, most people use their phones to play music, and they no longer have a 3.5 mm port, Bluetooth just seems like a no brainer at this point. Allowance for user sounds, with 25 user kits, allowance for user sounds doesn't seem like a leap if this is touted as your top of the line model. Sending an optional rack attachment for the ride cymbal or the kick tower, would be helpful as the ride being in the position that is intended in the original setup, is not optimal, and as noted the kick tower, being stationary would be excellent.
It is at least as responsive as the Alesis Nitro Mesh, sized better than even the Alesis Surge, and more responsive than the Simmons 650 model, lastly, it is less costly than the low end Roland, and although the add on pieces are not especially good, they do technically work so you can legitimately be able to play straight out of the box.
I will be doing some more testing of the unit including running it through a VST over the next couple of days, if there is more to add to this review I will return and do so. For a E-kit right around $500 USD, I feel like this was a good value. Price wise, I feel like it is the best kit for the money, especially if you catch it on sale.
