Check Out The Sequel: What's Inside Vintage Electronic Drums? kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Z7Gje7CAqcjUnWg.html

When you see how basic the parts are you really start to question their insane prices.

"I'll have to use a regular drum key...like a heathen". OMG. I just about fell out of my chair! Justin, you're funny AND a great drummer!

Thanks Justin for providing us an in depth look at various approaches to e-drums From an engineering perspective, I would guess the Roland drum base, to be a highly reverberating type of material. Probably not plastic, most likely SMC which is far tougher than plastic as well as more dense. I looked at the Yamaha cymbal base and its designed the same way. (Large reverberating disk) You can probably acquire the same response from a sheet of metal (like Aluminum), however it would be far more expensive but probably more recyclable. The principal is when vibration occurs through the rim and therefore into the basket, where the rim piezo picks up the vibration and the foam protected head piezo does not. Inside the module it would digitize something like this 1) Rim Piezo = Voltage output, Head Piezo = Zero voltage then that combination = Rim click sound 2) Rim Piezo = Voltage output, Head Piezo = Voltage out, then that combination = Rim Shot sound 3) Rim Piezo = Zero Voltage. Head Piezo = Voltage out, then that combination = Drum head sound In all of these cases, the higher the piezo output voltage = louder (more full) sound ....... As far as cymbals go, they are obviously more technically savvy than drums The film switches are not only used to determine hand clamping for choke, the work in combination with the piezo to determine what sound the module outputs Bell switch on plus Piezo voltage for instance would equate to a cymbal bell sound in the module. Edge switch on plus Piezo voltage results in an edge sound being produced by the module The bow is where things can get tricky depending upon how its designed. you can actually trigger zones up the bow based on the location and electrical characteristics of the bow film. This is where the less technical savvy cymbals get separated from the more technically savvy designs. And its probably why Roland switched to a digital input for its ride cymbal (among other things). Digital parameters relative to a surface provide all types of dynamic possibilities. Automotive engineers developed a way to read raindrops on a windshield decades ago in order to turn the wipers on automatically... Imagine the technology they have today. By today's electrical standards, I would judge most of these drum strategies to be focused upon durability more than technical accomplishment. What is interesting is how Roland used a loose piece of plastic with flush mounted components and a rim mounted retainer and still acquired the proper center cone contact depth. That tells me the cone to head contact dimension has a fair amount of variation. In other words these folks measuring a finite 1.5mm above the bearing edge plateau as the dimension to be maintained by initial installation might be incorrect. That Roland assembly appears to have 3-5 mm play.

Time Stamps: 1:15 GoEdrum Snare 3:17 Roland PD125 5:20 Roland PDX100 6:36 Tama Techstar 8:38 GoEdrum Cymbal 10:09 Kat Ride Cymbal 11:08 Roland CY12C 11:55 Kat Rubber Snare 13:17 GoEdrum Hihat Controler 15:04 Kat Kickdrum 16:07 Roland KD120 17:45 Alesis SamplePad Pro

I think this is my favourite channel on youtube atm, not just because its about edrums but you can clearly see how much effort has been put in. Keep it up dude!

Justin, this is BY FAR my favorite video of yours! Fun fact...you briefly mention using an Goedrum controller and a CY-8 to put a electronic hi hat on a stand. I plan to do just that, but with a Yahama PCY100 and the new Goedrum controller for Yahama modules. It should be done in a couple of weeks. I have your channel to thank for the great idea 😃

Very informative, Justin! Always wanted to see inside those things! Happy New Year!

Great video explaining what is inside of all of the different pads. It kills me how expensive these are for for $1.00 worth of electronics. Just curious as to how you managed to get so much dust inside of these? I don't think my vacuum has that much dust build up!!

Great Video Justin! I always wondered what these pads looked like inside. 👍

I just subbed to your channel a few weeks ago, and once again, a timely video that's focused exactly on the issues I want to study and understand in E drums. Its almost like you can hear the thoughts in my head as I explore designing an E-kit for the home studio I'm putting together for my young guitar protege son. You have my complete attention! ...... I almost want to hang back to see if you keep tracking the E-drum topics I want to know more about instead of projecting ideas to you. But I will shortly before I start spending money. Thanks ! You have a great channel!

a brilliant video, Justin..this is tear-down heaven :D happy new year to you!

definitely best edrum channel

Very interesting breakdown!

Super interesting. Thanks!

Really cool video to see what's all inside E-Drums : )

Another fun one!

Knowledgeable video thanks a lot

Keep up the good work bro

0:01 a *pyle* of electric drums i think Pyle is a drum brand lol

God bless you for this kind sir ❤️

Thank you!

Thanks, this is very helpful

Great video idea, who hasn't wanted to take all these drums apart

I think the wood and metal plates in the old designs were there to sort of dampen the movement and provide some surface for the piezo plates. Those don't work much in free air, but make pretty good contact microphones. Their electric behaviour is a bit funny, though. I guess they eventually figured out the foam trick for transfering the vibration/shock. Piezo is a greek word at heart, but I think if you imagine a mock italian cartoon character saying "come and taste-a my piezzo", it'll be close enough. Apple pie is the only wrong option, in this rare occasion.

Yes, most if not all rubber e-drum pads have the metal plate for 2 reasons. 1) The metal amplifies the vibrations from the rubber before it reaches the piezo. Unlike mesh, rubber by itself is not nearly conductive enough to create a usable signal for the module. 2) the metal plate gives the rubber it's rebound by providing resistance, rubber by itself typically has no bounce at all. With rubber e-cymbals, the plastic bottom essentially serves the same purpose.

That was interesting, thank you Justin :-)

Tha ks for sharing

You can make your own electronic drum with a piezo speaker and a Remo practice pad. 😁

I'm thinking of building an all wood set with mouse pads/piezos just for grins after watching this!

Great video. Thank you for taking this subject on. Your video moved along nice and quickly and is very informative. Thank you. ( The heathen comment made me laugh too)

Amazing video. 12:50 yes, all rubber pads have metal plates inside, those that have another kind material are really crappy pads. Roland, Yamaha, Kat pretty heavy metal plates inside.

When 65 drums stays home on Nye hehe "I'm takin my shit apart!!"

Cmon man I was expecting to see what's inside the module as well

Nice man! I wish you'd done the Roland Digital Snare/Ride, but I totally understand that would be way too expensive for you. :P

I finally get to add something to the music community. piézo : Greek πιέζω - pronounced, pee ey zoh. Second syllable sometimes sounds like a mix of long a sound and short e sound

Hey Justin great vid. I have the KD-120 and I want it to feel more like an acoustic kick. Do you think if I took out the foam pad and put on a real feel 3 ply or thick single ply I could get a more comparable feeling that translates to my acoustic kit? Thanks for everything you put on this channel!

At 2:02 to answer the question it's pronounced pee-A-zo, not Pie-zo. You had it right.

Awesome video! What are the best triggers one can buy to turn an acoustic kit into an electric (like you did)? Also what are the best and most accurate electric cymbals? Im sure you get this question a lot. Id greatly appreciate your feedback. Thanks in advance.

Here I am doing an DIY electric drum kit and thinking: it looks so crap, let me check how it is actually done. To my surprise, it's not crap, it's just simple engineering! In the end, I'm closer to the real thing than I expected.

Hey Justin do you think you could talk about superior drummer 3 in one of your vids? The hype about SD3 is real, everyone keeps talking about it on every edrum related forum. I've seen your vids about it from a year ago and to me it sounds amazing, better than the TD-30. Did you keep using it during this year or did the simplicity and ease of access of the module win in the end? It would be nice to have an follow up video and maybe a little more in depth comparison to your TD-30, no one mentions if there's a difference in feel and response between SD and Roland modules. Anyways, thanks for the great content as usual!

15:56 you are a godsend. My kat 4 kick peddle trigger was kinda off. I replaced the head on it and I must have put it back together wrong. I have been playing it with the trigger plate on the back side of the sandwich you were talking about. Anyhow yours is the only vid that i could find to help me with my problem. Thank you! BTW where can I get spare parts for the KAT4? I do not think DW is making anymore.

HI Justin, I've been playing Acoustic for years and have now finaly bought my first (used) Roland E-Kit mit TD20X Module. I have the 2 Roland PD125 and also the 12 inch bgger brother. When I saw your video, it made me wonder if I could simply place the pad "guts" into another shell. Ofcouse getting the instrument cabel jack set up correctly on the new shell might be a little challenge, but doable. So my question is, can I simply make such a change?. Thanks Mike

The inside of the one in minute 4:15 looks like the wheel of a Miura...

Hi Justin thanks for all the videos , has anyone actually put samples on the td-50 ? I know this video is about something else but wasn’t sure where to ask . The Roland sounds are the normal Roland tone , but after almost a year of being out , there doesn’t seem to be any videos about how the td-50 sounds when adding other samples . I have a td-30 but was considering upgrading, not sure about the mimic or the td-50 . Have you tried ?

I've combined a Millenium MPS-850 with an Alesis Turbo Mesh! Wanna see?

Those big cushions are just to provide support in those Roland bass drum pads. Not part of triggering system.

Hi Justin, enjoy your videos. I live in Manila Philippines and have been trying to find a source for cymbol switches that go around the rim of cymbols. I found one entry on Ebay from UK. Do you happen to know of other sources for these membrane switches? Thank you for the info.

The PD7 I've taken apart is almost the same as the Kat pad except the piezo is directly on the metal plate and not on a plastic plate attached to the metal plate. Also it has a switch 360 degrees around edge. I've been told the PD8 is the same.

♥

What's inside the PD-140DS? How do the three triggers under the drum head connect together?

Mmmm...how about one of those Yamaha Textured Cellular Silicone pads?

Great video, Justin! Thank You. I can add extra information concerning my drum-tec pro-s series. The shells are made of beech wood with a thick heavy shell. The shells are made by Sonor. The Sonor factory is located 50 miles south to the drum-tec headquarter. When I saw these shells it was clear that they are from the Sonor SQ2 series because this is the only series which is available in beech wood in heavy. This makes absolutely sense because solid shells are nessesary to produce an accurate position sensing. Maybe this is also the reason why Roland pads are so rock solid. The trigger system is from r-drums, the RTS-II trigger series. www.r-drums.com/english/shop/rts-ii-drum-trigger-system-m5/#cc-m-product-11134598493

Faz um video do oad roland PDA140F

Where do you buy the replacement foam cylinders? Mine disintegrated.

Can anyone tell me if the ATV hi hat would work on a roland td20x module thanks

Should I get a multipad or table top edrum as a beginner before something like an alesis nitro mesh

Do I remember it incorrectly or did you also show the inside of a yamaha silicone pad in a video somewhere? Love the videos, keep it up.

I do wonder if anyone can tell what the benefit of covering the pressure sensor with a cone is, like they did on the Roland Caty 120 close to the end of the video at 16:10 ? Will it make the drum more or less sensitive? There must be an advantage or it would been pointless adding it? I tried to google this but all I found was controlling pressure inside fluid pipes. :D

Hi ! You did throw away every cymbals except "this one"... Witch one ??

!!!

I just don't see how most of these are worth $250+.

Don't worry about pronouncing piezo. Your Tama and Yamaha are what need work! :P

Why do they get so dusty?

Knowing whats inside edrum pads makes you wonder how they get away with charging what they do. In canada the kd120 is $700 and a pd125 is $630,let that sink in.

So can yoy justify a rlnd pad cost 800€ when piezos are chip the is no fancy eletronics?