Electronic Drums and MIDI

I plan to buy some digital drums by Alesis, Roland or Yamaha - not decided which model yet. I already have a Yamaha Motif-rack ES that I use for instrument and drum sounds for recording because it has digital outputs. It is connected by regular midi to a key board on which I play drums!!

Thing is, all the electronic drum kits seem to have a USB output for midi and expect to be connected to a computer. What I would like to do is connect the drums direct to the Yamaha Motif and use its digital outs. Is there a way I can do that without having to use a computer?

Cheers

Ian

I have several conversion cables, which were very inexpensive, that have a USB plug on one end and two midi plugs on the other, with a small module in between. As far as I know, they are plug & play and should be bi-directional. If the drum brain has USB connectivity and the keyboard has traditional midi connections, I don't think there would be a problem.

Spiritworks said:

I have several conversion cables, which were very inexpensive, that have a USB plug on one end and two midi plugs on the other, with a small module in between. As far as I know, they are plug & play and should be bi-directional. If the drum brain has USB connectivity and the keyboard has traditional midi connections, I don't think there would be a problem.

Click to expand...

Sounds good. Can you give me an example product?

Cheers

Ian

would something like this work?

http://www.kentonuk.com/products/items/utilities/usb-host.shtml

Ian,

I bought an Alesis several years back and found it incomprehensible!  I am sure its just an age thing :-\

I would definitely advise getting someone in a shop to explain how it works first.

I now use my Roland keyboard for the drum parts.

best
DaveP

I'd stay away from the Alesis modules. The modules that I have had were all........ Not that good. (Trigger I/O, DM5, D4)

I'd recommend to get yourself a Roland. I haven't got any experience with the Yamaha modules myself, but I do believe they're good as well. (It's yamaha after all)

As far as I know, all the Roland modules have Midi outputs.

Just my 2 cts.

I'd second the Roland suggestion but that is based solely on me having a TD-9kx2 set. 

It has midi out - I can confirm that - but to be honest it is the playing 'experience' that really sold me on it when trying them out.

Ian

Thanks guys, that's exactly what I was hoping for - first hand experience.


I'll check out Roland's offerings.

Cheers

Ian

                               

eBay item number: 350893131362.

I am leaning towards this Roland kit:

http://www.umbrellamusic.co.uk/p/Electonic-Drums/Roland-HD3-Electronic-Drum-Kit?gclid=CJuZhNvUhboCFSTKtAod_moAEg

Seems to be well liked, has a regular midi out and there are some interesting package deals available.

Opinions?

Cheers

Ian

I don't know that particular kit, but I own a TD-5 which is 20 years old, back then this was the middle class of the roland drummodules.
I also have a TD20x, which was Roland's flagship until the TD30 was released a few years back.

The TD-20 sounds much better, but the trigger response vs velocity curve of the TD-5 is almost just as good as the TD-20.
Read the last sentence again. Do you get the point ? This is the reason why I prefer the Rolands. The only other drummodule that I have played with that was on the same level regarding the trigger response was the Ddrum 4 (the nordlead stuff, not the modern "world-class" stuff).

So, back to the HD3 kit : I'm sure it'll be a good piece. And if you use midi for getting other sounds (keyboard, sampler, softsampler), then you don't have to worry about the soundquality anyway. The expensive modules have the same trigger to midi interfaces afaik, so, why getting something more expensive ?

By the way : you should check out the Toontrack drumsampler stuff. I really like the Easy Drummer libraries. I also have SD2.0, but I always use Easy Drummer, hahaha.

Oh, one thing to take into account : The more affordable modules have less inputs than the expensive ones. That's why I wanted the TD-20. (and a sidenote to that : The TD-30 isn't really an upgrade to the TD20x, it's just a newer model).

I have an alesis dm8pro electronic drum kit - it's not bad at all considering the price. I'm happy with it.
Didn't feel I needed to go up 50% in price to the next level. Had for 1yr+ and no issues at all.

You can do better with the more exe alesis or move to Roland and what not.

But if you find a deal on it, can be very effective - assuming you want a kit and not a drum machine

It has a usb port and no midi - not sure if it works properly without a computer.
Certainly works great with one.

I use it to rough out drum tracks which I can clean up in midi editing and later add some real drum parts on top of.

Of course, having a real drummer is a lot more interesting!

Cheers

Spiritworks said:

I have several conversion cables, which were very inexpensive, that have a USB plug on one end and two midi plugs on the other, with a small module in between. As far as I know, they are plug & play and should be bi-directional. If the drum brain has USB connectivity and the keyboard has traditional midi connections, I don't think there would be a problem.

Click to expand...

Generally the drum brains and keyboards and what-not are USB devices, with the square Type B connector. They are meant to talk to a Host (your computer). You can't connect a USB-to-MIDI adapter to the sound module because that adapter is also a USB device.

So your suggestion won't work.

-a

helterbelter said:

So, back to the HD3 kit : I'm sure it'll be a good piece. And if you use midi for getting other sounds (keyboard, sampler, softsampler), then you don't have to worry about the soundquality anyway. The expensive modules have the same trigger to midi interfaces afaik, so, why getting something more expensive ?

Click to expand...

That's the thing; all the less expensive ones seem to have a USB port for midi but I need a regular DIN midi to plug into my Yamaha Motif-rack. If I could  find a cheaper one with a DIN midi out then that would do fine.

Cheers

Ian

Andy Peters said:

Spiritworks said:

I have several conversion cables, which were very inexpensive, that have a USB plug on one end and two midi plugs on the other, with a small module in between. As far as I know, they are plug & play and should be bi-directional. If the drum brain has USB connectivity and the keyboard has traditional midi connections, I don't think there would be a problem.

Click to expand...

Generally the drum brains and keyboards and what-not are USB devices, with the square Type B connector. They are meant to talk to a Host (your computer). You can't connect a USB-to-MIDI adapter to the sound module because that adapter is also a USB device.

So your suggestion won't work.

-a

Click to expand...

That is why you should check out the kenton devices I suggesteed earlier, for as far as I understand that should solve the problem of that type of usb connector to regular midi, although at a price...

also, you might want to take a look at:

http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/drums/7-best-electronic-drum-kits-in-the-world-today-200148#!1

or

http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/drums/electronic-drum-kits-6-best-beginner-sets-in-the-world-today-177956#!1

Andy Peters said:

Spiritworks said:

I have several conversion cables, which were very inexpensive, that have a USB plug on one end and two midi plugs on the other, with a small module in between. As far as I know, they are plug & play and should be bi-directional. If the drum brain has USB connectivity and the keyboard has traditional midi connections, I don't think there would be a problem.

Click to expand...

Generally the drum brains and keyboards and what-not are USB devices, with the square Type B connector. They are meant to talk to a Host (your computer). You can't connect a USB-to-MIDI adapter to the sound module because that adapter is also a USB device.

So your suggestion won't work.

-a

Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification.

erikb1971 said:

That is why you should check out the kenton devices I suggesteed earlier, for as far as I understand that should solve the problem of that type of usb connector to regular midi, although at a price...

Click to expand...

Sorry, didn't click the link earlier. That thing is brilliant.

The price seems reasonable for something which fills a niche and as such doesn't warrant high-volume production.

-a

Andy Peters said:

erikb1971 said:

That is why you should check out the kenton devices I suggesteed earlier, for as far as I understand that should solve the problem of that type of usb connector to regular midi, although at a price...

Click to expand...

Sorry, didn't click the link earlier. That thing is brilliant.

The price seems reasonable for something which fills a niche and as such doesn't warrant high-volume production.

-a

Click to expand...

Let's save the sorries for important things! You're welcome!

THanks everyone for the input. I have plumped for the Roland HD3. It arrives on Monday. 

Cheers

Ian

helterbelter said:

I'd stay away from the Alesis modules. The modules that I have had were all........ Not that good. (Trigger I/O, DM5, D4)

Click to expand...

I've had a DM5 for about 15 years. Never had to complain. I'm not a MIDI freak, I use it just because it's convenient.
But today I use software instruments (Band in a Box). They sound just as bad as the DM5  .