Hi fellow drummers,
I already own a Mapex 6 piece. I had been looking to buy the td-20 but the salesman pointed out his new Drumit 5. It was less than half the price, and seemed more versatile, and certainly sounded great, although they only had it for a day and the hi-hat was not triggering very well when opened (for a classic 70's disco beat), and I couldn't control the double triggering on the bass drum, which triggered twice due to a combination of the bass drum moving and my foot action I guess.
I have never used an e-kit before, but i would like to use it with the band i have joined. We are still jamming, not yet gigging: 70's pop, r&B, disco, soul songs. I thought that the e-kit might give me the option of changing the kit sound for each different song we play.
However I have read a lot on this forum since then, and the overwhelming tone of the posts is there seems to be many difficulties with the kit. I think that it cannot be that bad so....
What are the best things about the drumit 5 kit?
It isn't that bad, but there are some theething problems
The hihat triggering is much improved with the new sofware update (be sure shops have the right version inside their module) and the ride triggering must be improved. A few mesh heads are cracked but this is not specific for 2Box. The rack is more stable than people expected initialty. And - yes -there are some guys around this planet who destroy everything. Even Sonor hardware and Zildjian Z cymbals. Main advantage of the 2Box is the perfect sound and triggering. And the open system. And the fine pads. And it's orange ...
It has the best pre-loaded sounds out of the box out of ALL the e-drum kits on the market. It is less than half the price of the Roland TD20.
It is open source so you can download your own sounds onto it.
It is not Roland who charge you the privilege of having THEIR brand with no real added value as you trade up their kits.
Triggering is accurate and represents excellent value for money!
There are a few issues with triggering on hi-hats as puttenvr said but the great this ihat updates are coming though think and fast to resolve all of this.
The hardware is ok, but if you wanted you can upgrade this over time, I have bought a gibraltar hardware pack as it gives me more versatility with the set up that I want but out of the box, it is more than adequate for the job.
After owning several e-kits including a roland and DDrum 4, this is the best of the bunch!
Thanks guys, yes i had some difficulties with getting the hi hat to respond, particularly when trying to do a classic 70's disco beat! And i have grown into the colour, after initially thinking it was tacky! Now i think if it is gonna be an electronic kit, it may as well shout out, "I AM AN ELECTRONIC KIT, LOOK AT ME!" - but Puttenvr I presume your ardent approval arises particularly from orange being your home countries sporting colour of choice!
either the kit in the shop didn't have the latest firmware update (which enables much better hihat response), or it wasn't setup properly...
Quote from: signature on April 11, 2010, 12:26:28 AMbut Puttenvr I presume your ardent approval arises particularly from orange being your home countries sporting colour of choice!
Not realy ( I don't like sport ). Orange just is a beatiful and original colour
Well i like it too, and yes i hope that the hi hat wasnt setup properly as the salesman said it had only arrived the day before and hadnt been set up.
:P
I wonder how many instruments on this planet are NOT sold, because the shop keeper didn't set up things correcly or couldn't answer the most simple question ...
The rack shakes a bit when you hammer on the toms and kick. but I dont get any crosstalk. However: using a real snarestand to the snare and u can set up a really sensitive snare without cross :) I bought a separate snarestand, and im glad i did now when i have the kit, it isnt that expansine, bought one for 40 € which is extremely stable
Well in this case i think the shop keeper hadnt had the time as the kit had only just arrived, and he spent probably an hour with me as well. Good effort I reckon. I will be going back at some point in time!
Quote from: puttenvr on April 11, 2010, 09:30:52 AM
I wonder how many instruments on this planet are NOT sold, because the shop keeper didn't set up things correcly or couldn't answer the most simple question ...
you could also argue that it s up to the manufactur to make an instrument that cant be set up incorrect.
That would skip all edit functions and leave no room for an open system
Hi,
just my opinion about the 2Box-set:
pro:
- sound quality
cons:
- the editor is not available. no possibility to create sounds except of buying a tool which a 2Box-users has written
- hihat clatters
- unsteady snarestand
- multiple triggers at the snare (tried 4 snare-pads up to now)
- crosstalk from toms to ride cymbal
- trigger problems with cymbals (differentiation bell/bow)
If you ask me if I would buy it again: Yes, but I would wait until the editor is really available. The past shows that you can't trust any announcement regarding the release date. And maybe I would wait until the brain is available without the other hardware. A combination of a drum-tec diabolo set and the 2Box brain would be my favorite.
Quote from: Manfred on April 13, 2010, 05:11:33 PM
Hi,
just my opinion about the 2Box-set:
pro:
- sound quality
cons:
- hihat clatters
What do you mean the hi-hat 'clatters'? I use a yamaha hi-hat clutch so again I have no issues here - most drummers will replace these parts I think
- unsteady snarestand
I agree the snare 'basket' stand is weak compared to a real snare stand - the solution is to replace it or make sure the basket that comes with the kit is not moving with the rack too much.
- multiple triggers at the snare (tried 4 snare-pads up to now)
My snare does not double trigger at all, and I have the threshold set to maximum. I am using a real snare stand, so it shows your problem is not related to the module or pads (the most important parts of the kit), but the lack of a real snare stand.
- crosstalk from toms to ride cymbal
Again, This simply does not happen on my kit. There is no double triggering or crosstalk. Once again this shows that its not the hardware at fault, your stand is probably not set up correctly, you have a faulty part, or your cymbals and toms are moving too much.
- trigger problems with cymbals (differentiation bell/bow)
Deve says this will be fixed in the next update, so you can cross this off the list.
Basically Manfred, I think all these problems can easily be solved - I have the same kit you do, yet I have none of the same problems. My kit works great. So it must be something about your kit, the way it is set up, or the need for a new hi-hat clutch or snare stand is the problem.
Hi Baby Samus!
Of course there are workarounds for most of the problems. I also use my sonor hihat and a regular snare stand. But that doesn't change anything at the usability of the original 2Box equipment. The crosstalk can also be removed if i put the ride cymbal in a more upright position. But thats not the position i like to play it. Another possibility is to modify the cymbal holder with a piece of armaflex or use an extra cymbal stand. Otherwise the ride-cymbal triggers when i hit the rim of the second tom.
At the snare there are up to 4 triggers if i hit it one time. Other users have the same problem as you can see in several threads or this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBrUky2alvs
This can also be solved with a different mesh head, a piece of cloth or reducing the dynamic. But at my kit without any modifications there is no way with thres set to -48.
The problem with the cymbal triggers will be crossed off my list when the problem is solved. Just an announcement of a new software is not enough. Lets see if it can be fixed with an software update or if there are additional hardware-issues. And don't forget, the editor was announced for mid of march. So lets wait when the new software will be available.
For all of my problems you can find other examples at this board or at the german drummerforum. Maybe you have got the "golden" kit without any problems. But why do you use other hardware when everything is fine?
No doubt, the sound quality is very good and i like my set. But all these modifications shouldn't be necessary if you spend about 2000 Euro for a brand new drumset.
Hey Manfred,
the guy in the video does not use a regular snarestand.......
Neither do I, and have no problems.
Firstly, I don't think my kit is a 'golden' kit that is somehow lucky to work. Its just set up properly. There are plenty users on here who also have none of these issues that you describe, in fact I would say these complaints are in the minority - maybe we should set up a vote to see who has problems and who does not, to see how common they are? This would help us and 2Box I think. I'll see how to do that after posting...
I never said the kit is perfect, it could obviously improve as you mention, but I think the price reflects what you get. Compare to a TD-9 which is around the same price - you don't get a hi-pedal or a base drum pedal at all. So as far as the price goes, I think you get a good deal considering the kit is competing at the lower end of the e-kit market. Both the TD-12 and TD-20 from Roland cost a lot more, so we can say that 2Box is trying to undercut them and is competing at the TD-9 sort of price range. Also Roland modules and pads are made of plastic, so I think you get better quality from the aluminium used in the 2Box module and pads.
Therefore to suggest that its expensive ('But all these modifications shouldn't be necessary if you spend about 2000 Euro for a brand new drumset.') in its price range is simply not true. 2000 euro's is not a lot of money to get a full e-kit like the 2Box. I can't think of any other kit on the market for 2000 euros (aside from the TD-9 which I think we all agree sounds much worse) which gives you anything close to what 2Box are giving - can you?
I have only made two very simple and cheap modifications to my kit, which cost me nothing, yet make it play brilliantly. a snare stand, and a hi-hat clutch. Thats it. You can pick those two things up on e-bay for next to nothing.
I have been drumming for many years, and so I have this sort of equipment lying around - but if I use the 2Box live then I would NEVER use the hi-hat clutch or snare stand that came with the kit - its simply not meant for professional use. For home use yes it is, but if you want to better experience what the module and pads can do when properly stable, you have to spend a little money. 2Box start you off with the home hardware and yes its not brilliant, if you want it to be sturdy enough for high stress and high usage, so its more reliable and plays better, you need to upgrade my man.
Even with the extra cost of a snare stand (£20 on e-bay) and maybe a hi-hat clutch, it will still be great value.
As for the software update, if deve loper says it plays better, I believe him. The hi-hat update greatly improved playability - why shouldn't this one? I agree of course we must wait to see the proof, but they fixed the hi-hat so why not this?
Then your only problem is double triggering and crosstalk, which the snare stand should eliminate on the snare pad. Is there a video of you playing the whole kit to show the cymbal crosstalk and toms happening? Maybe we could look at the rack and see if there is an issue when compared to how my setup looks when you are playing it?
Quote from: Baby Samus on April 13, 2010, 09:59:00 PM
maybe we should set up a vote to see who has problems and who does not, to see how common they are? This would help us and 2Box I think. I'll see how to do that after posting...
Its set up in a new thread - vote away people (owners only)
Hi,
I have experimented some crosstalk at the beginning when I played toms and most particularly when I hit the rims : it trigger above all my ride cymbal.
Now it's ok with the threshold set to -36 for my toms. I still have the kick light to come on when I hit the rim of my floor tom even if I set the threshold to -18 which is the minimum : but it's not a big deal cause I even do not ear the kick sound.
Maybe it will be interesting if some users could post their settings for each pads of their drum kit.
Thanks.
Hi
I'm the guy in the video. 8)
I always have double trig, but less. I solved the problem with a roland mesh head.
I use a normal stand of snare drum and I did not notice that there was less double trig with this one than with the original.
Otherwise I have problems of crosstalk too, between toms and cymbals or rims and toms, but with some good settings of thresold, everything is good.
I suppose that with a well insulated rack this would'nt happen.
Hi Baby Samus,
as i wrote in my previous post i already use a regular snare stand. This doesn't have any influence to the multiple triggers. The number of problems is still the same as i posted yesterday. Crosstalk and multiple triggers are annoying but can be fixed with the above mentioned modifications.
The cymbal triggers and particularly the missing editor are the bigger problems in my opinion. I hope they will be solved soon.
The main reason why i bought the 2Box kit is that it has good sounds without the need of a computer. I don't want an extra computer next to the kit. Otherwise a drum-tec diabolo in combination with superior drummer or BFD would be my choice. You can get really good sounds with many other kits (even roland :D) with this software solutions. And i still think that a brand new set should work without any modifications no matter how much it costs.
I think the best about the 2box is the size of the pads and the price. You can't buy a Roland kit with these pad sizes for the same price and have a real moving hihat as well. And it sounds great. Now that the hihat works almost perfectly and I've managed to fix the double triggering on the kick, only the cymbals are of some concern. But they are working on a update for that.
Quote from: Manfred on April 14, 2010, 06:42:38 PM
Hi Baby Samus,
as i wrote in my previous post i already use a regular snare stand. This doesn't have any influence to the multiple triggers. The number of problems is still the same as i posted yesterday. Crosstalk and multiple triggers are annoying but can be fixed with the above mentioned modifications.
The cymbal triggers and particularly the missing editor are the bigger problems in my opinion. I hope they will be solved soon.
The main reason why i bought the 2Box kit is that it has good sounds without the need of a computer. I don't want an extra computer next to the kit. Otherwise a drum-tec diabolo in combination with superior drummer or BFD would be my choice. You can get really good sounds with many other kits (even roland :D) with this software solutions. And i still think that a brand new set should work without any modifications no matter how much it costs.
I'm just saying if we're using the same hardware and software (which it seems we are) and we are also both using a proper snare stand, why does my kit work perfectly and yours doesn't work at all? Just seems odd thats all. Perhaps your module is faulty maybe? Or try loading the software again?
Plus the kit doesn't really
need any modifications. My 2Box already worked perfectly when it was first set up, I just prefer using heavier duty hardware as it stands up to more punishment. I didn't
have to do it. Its just better that way and improves the experience. Some people like using better hardware than the stuff that comes with kits - thats why people like Tama, Yamaha, Drum Workshop etc sell there own brands of hardware seperately - if you want better gear you need to pay for it - it never comes free in the box.
i don't have any problem with multiple triggers, using the standard 2box snare mount. there are ghost multiple triggers if i have the threshold at its minimum value, but that is to be expected. the threshold control wouldn't be very useful if it wasn't sensitive enough to cause multiple triggers at its most extreme setting.
.. I beg to differ on the matter of the kick double trigger. If you ask someone else to hold bass drum for you when you play there is a big difference (especially if you play with a double pedal. I have done a quick fix which makes things a little better (see attached picture).
As for the double trigger on the snare there is a simple solution. Just cut out a piece of soft foam and put it under the drum (see pictures). I have no double triggering and my settings are: Gain 0, Thres -48
I also have a little crosstalk on the ride when playing on the toms, but this can be reduced if the cymbal is mounted low (i.e. close to the rack/toms)
** Sorry wrong tread. I should have posted this as an answer in the "2box owners poll" **
..picture
..snare picture #1
..snare picture #2
..snare picture #3
Hi
you can use the original snare stand (with its clamp) to maintain the bass drum.
(in another way, it can be used to hold musical scores)
Put the female singer with her botton in front of the kick
Problem solved
:D haha ..or use the fat bass player...
haha, but if you asked the rest of the band, they might suggest the drummer's head instead...
Quote from: nonoduweb on April 15, 2010, 12:32:38 PM
Hi
you can use the original snare stand (with its clamp) to maintain the bass drum.
(in another way, it can be used to hold musical scores)
hey, great idea!
i don't have any problem with triggering using the original snare stand, but the pole is too short for me to get the snare in the right position. your idea gives me some extra incentive to buy a separate snare stand.
Omg, the snarestand-solution looks great, will test if that improves my issue. Also a beatersock!
Great solution!
I havent bought the kit yet, but the movement in the kick causing double triggering was something I spotted when i tested the kit in the store. I was thinking of bracing the kick drum some how, but obviously had not worked out how! Since I was always planning to supplement the snare stand, here is a simple solution!
Well done!
Quote from: hwasser on April 15, 2010, 01:41:15 PM
Omg, the snarestand-solution looks great, will test if that improves my issue. Also a beatersock!
Didn't help. Yeah it helped the kickdrum stop bounce the 2-3mm it did before, but that doesn't seem to be my problem. I taped some foam in the front of the beater however, and that made the job! With some foam I really had to try hard to doubbletriggr to make it happen! :rock:
Quote from: hwasser on April 16, 2010, 06:38:56 AM
Didn't help. Yeah it helped the kickdrum stop bounce the 2-3mm it did before, but that doesn't seem to be my problem. I taped some foam in the front of the beater however, and that made the job! With some foam I really had to try hard to doubbletriggr to make it happen! :rock:
Yes, I think it can't stop double triggering on the kick drum, it just stops movement.
Quote from: hwasser on April 16, 2010, 06:38:56 AM
Didn't help. Yeah it helped the kickdrum stop bounce the 2-3mm it did before, but that doesn't seem to be my problem. I taped some foam in the front of the beater however, and that made the job! With some foam I really had to try hard to doubbletriggr to make it happen! :rock:
how thick or thin that foam is?
Quote from: puttenvr on April 13, 2010, 03:09:14 PM
That would skip all edit functions and leave no room for an open system
with these pictures of DYI methodes from users so that they can avoid some issues,you just cant hold up that is it set up wrong by the shop or whomever.
Its good and fun to see the creativity,but lest face it,these pictures arent very flattering and certainly not a good advertisment for 2box.
Quote from: Calimero on April 16, 2010, 01:23:55 PM
with these pictures of DYI methodes from users so that they can avoid some issues,you just cant hold up that is it set up wrong by the shop or whomever.
Its good and fun to see the creativity,but lest face it,these pictures arent very flattering and certainly not a good advertisment for 2box.
How can it be 2Box when my kit is working fine with none of these issues? If you look at some of the comments
some users are making, they are setting their gain at +18 and things like that - clearly some users just don't know how to correctly setup the module.
I'm not using any mods. Yet my kit is solid and works perfectly. As Manfred says, maybe I got a lucky kit, but I doubt it. I'm more likely to believe that its a combination of several things.
For instance for many new buyers it will be their first e-kit. If they have no experience setting them up, they will surely run into problems. You need a bit of experience and help if thats the case. Some users will almost certainly not have the kit set up correctly in the module, some the rack will not be set up correctly, for some maybe there are a few faulty stereo leads that need replaced. This can also cause double triggers. Perhaps the heads are not at the optimum tension. or the software needs to be re-loaded. Maybe a pad or the mofdule is faulty?
All I am saying is, before you go blaming 2Box for all these problems, you have to take into account that many of these issues will be user error, faulty cables, wrong setup etc. Many of these guys may not even have used an e-kit and just don't know where to start - of course they will have issues.
i'm sure some people's problems are setup issues, but there is no doubt that there are triggering issues with at least some kits, which may well be due to manufacturing variances. i'm sure the original 2Box design was solid, i mean those guys know what they are doing, but maybe they didn't count on mass production tolerances throwing things out.
for sure the widespread cymbal triggering problems have been acknowledged by 2Box.
Quote from: fishmonkey on April 16, 2010, 02:51:36 PM
i'm sure some people's problems are setup issues, but there is no doubt that there are triggering issues with at least some kits, which may well be due to manufacturing variances. i'm sure the original 2Box design was solid, i mean those guys know what they are doing, but maybe they didn't count on mass production tolerances throwing things out.
for sure the widespread cymbal triggering problems have been acknowledged by 2Box.
Yep I agree and this will probably improve as the manufacturing process is refined. Its just another reason why maybe some have issues and others don't. As for the cymbal triggering, lets wait for the update (which we all know is coming) and see if that solves our issues.