Post
by slavedave » Thu Jun 11, 2015 11:05 am
Thank you for that post -that is a good price for the Alesis kit.
I have used many different manufacturers of midi drums over the years (Roland, Yamaha, ALternate Mode, Zendrum, Korg etc) and it would be fair to say that comparing Aerodrums to these products is like comparing apples to pears. I love all the various options for midi drumming that use physical pads - I really enjoyed the ROland Handsonics I have had using fingers/ hands, Rolands Vdrum brains, Yamaha's DTX 12 Mutli pad using sticks, Korgs PadKontrol using fingers and the amazingingly touch sensitive ZendrumLT that I still own that you can play with hands / fingers. I have used them all to trigger various external sample libraries via a laptop.
What strikes me about aerodrums is that it is new (and innovating) technology. That is what drew me to it. It takes up practically zero storage space, is silent, is responsive to subtle playing and can be set up in minutes - all things that are important to me since I use it in a home office / practices away from the home and have a family of four kids who don't even want to hear the tapping of fingers / sticks on rubber pads at night time when I play.
Aerodrums are a solution to a problem for me that I couldn't find elsewher. They work for my needs.
I think that one thing that is "added value" with aerodrums is that the included sample library FAR exceeds the stock sounds that you get with hardware drum controllers, unless you start spending multiple times the price. You can't compare the sounds of my Yamaha Dtx or the Roland TD8 (with added VEX expansion kits) with the kits in aerodrums. I almost forked out for the original sample library owned by Natural Drums (I think) years ago because they were ahead of the game against the likes of Tootrack / BFD and you get some of their library included in this product. I even have played the stock kits live lately and they are really good (so the added value is that you don't HAVE to play third party libraries through your laptop if you don't want to,). I have Addictive Drums, BFD Eco, Ocean Way Drums and several other great drum samplers and play them at home practicing regularly but the included kits have merit in their own right.
So, in my mind, if you already have a laptop you are purchasing a midi control system AND a good sample library for a lot less than even the cheapest pad controllers, let alone a midi drum kit (the cheapest option I have tried is the Korg nanopad which was less than €50 and works well but has no library - check out videos by David Fingers Haynes on youtube - it will blow your mind!). All in all - that seems like good value to me.
PS I do not work for aerodrums and I am a tight wad and part with my money carefully. They are not the ultimate solution - they still fall short in bright environmental conditions, it is hard to get all the articulations on a snare that you can get with pads etc but they are pretty cool all-in-all.
Give em a go. I think there is a money back guarantee (or there was) if you are not sure.
All the best.