Quote (Floppyduck @ Apr 6 2012 09:37am)
I want to try this out, I saw that the ALESIS dm6 is going at a price of $399 and i was thinking of buying it.
besides not having room in my house, i was wondering in general, how are electronic drum sets when compared to the real thing?
I've never played drums before, so im a complete an utter noob when it comes to percussion. Should I take lessons first to see if I like it?
Electronic drums are sample pads sprawled out in the configuration of a drum set. They are not instruments. On an electronic drum kit you can learn rhythms, rudiments, co-ordination, timing, pretty much anything you can learn on an acoustic drum kit except tone. There is no way to extract tone or sound out of an electronic drum kit. The sounds are predetermined by the sound module or drum brain. There are pros and cons to both the acoustic and electronic drum kit. The electronic kit is cost efficient, small, quiet and fun.
I would recommend the Yamaha DTX500 for electronic drum kits to start. The Alesis has half decent sounds in fact, maybe even as good as the Yamaha but the difference is in the hardware. The cage, the mounting clamps and pads. These things on the Alesis are shite! These are the things that will be beaten with your sticks and because of their poor build quality will most likely break or not function properly. This can be a deterrent to your playing and might turn you off of playing drums.
I also firmly believe if it's something you truly want to get into, anything will do. The cheap kit, no kit, pillows, pots n' pans but if this is something you're going to spend money on, I'd invest the money on something nice. Think of it as investing the money into your self, not the drum kit.