Again, it’s important to remember just how cheap this kit is when trying to look at things objectively. There wasn’t a huge dynamic range to them, but the fact that they didn’t sound like a MIDI kit is what is most impressive. This was a fully turn key set, and included everything you need to start out. We first put together the stool, which was really straight forward, and actually pretty sturdy. Even though it’s ultimately designed for kids, it still felt pretty solid under 250lb of adult drummer. The pads had mesh heads, which is truly remarkable at this price point, and like everything else, they were easy to assemble. It also came with hi-hat, crash, and ride cymbals, each with a soft touch rubber strike pad, and a rounded mount for a more realistic feel. The DED-200 Upgrade main unit has been re-upgraded: DSP chip software sound processing, with precise velocity layering sensitivity, built-in includes 30 preset drum kits and 1 user-defined drum kit, with rich sound presets and customizable Drum kits with 450 sounds covering all musical styles!

This is not a perfect set by any means: the drum module's #6 set has a typo (Old Shcool, maybe that's intentional, a pun on cool?), the high hat rubber doesn't provide enough rebound for 1/16 note beats, the high hat pedal has to be fully released to get a good open high-hat sound, some of the drum sets are very low volume with the headphones connected to the module (to the point that I can hear myself hitting the pads more than the drum sound), and the snare pad doesn't have great rebound. I've been able to demo both of these e-kits! The Donner DED-80 and DED-200 are both affordable electronic drum kits that provide a variety of useful options and are fun to play! I am impressed at the number of features Donner has included in their line of electronic drumsets. The DED-200 PRO features a built-in sound module that includes over 450 high-quality drum and percussion sounds, as well as the ability to import your own sounds via USB. The sound module also includes a variety of preset drum kits, which you can customize to your liking. Modular nature: Each pad can be moved and installed wherever the user wishes. Strangely, I like my hi-hat where the snare usually would be, and vice versa. With that in mind, I was able to place both of those where I want them, and that's prohibitively difficult on acoustic kits. There is a minor complain about how far this modular setup goes, but that's in the next section. In all, this is a kit that you can fully personalize on the hardware level, by changing where pads are located and how they're arranged. On the other hand, rubber is still a great material for electronic cymbals. Good ones will have sensors on the bottom as well as the top to make them just as dynamic as the heads. They’ll be able to tell whether you’re playing the bow, bell or rim and you’ll even be able to “choke” them with your hand, just as you would with acoustic cymbals.Yes, the Donner DED-200 PRO electronic drum set allows you to customize the tones and sounds of individual drums and cymbals in a kit, and you can create your own custom user kits. Space: It is compact, but not tiny. It is not a sprawling, larger than life acoustic kit, if that's what you're looking for. Obviously, it cannot be, for a number of reasons. It is small enough to fit in the corner of most rooms quite comfortably, and depending on how you place the pads, you can probably fold it up with ease and fit it into smaller spaces within two minutes. The full kit takes up less than 5 feet by 3 feet worth of space. Depending on where you live, the time it may take for your exchanged product to reach you, may vary. To customize the sounds of individual drums and cymbals in a kit, you can use the sound module's editing functions to adjust parameters such as pitch, tone, and volume. You can also assign different sounds to each drum and cymbal pad, allowing you to create custom drum kits that suit your playing style and preferences. Once you have created a custom drum kit, you can save it to the sound module's memory as a user kit, which allows you to easily access and use your custom kit in future playing sessions. Overall, the DED-200 PRO offers a high level of flexibility and customization options, making it a great choice for drummers who want to create their own unique sound.

Note that I'm set up as a lefty. Setup was no problem, it just took a few extra minutes to make sure I reversed the parts pointed out in the document. Getting the control unit hooked up was also a straight forward affair. Each of the cables from the drums and cymbals to the brain was well labeled, and fit tightly to avoid being shaken loose through heavy use.I really can't get over the quality of the drum pedal included in this kit, at least for my needs. It's very responsive. Hi-hat, and hi-hat control is great! It sounds and feels good, with a more expressive open-hat then the Alesis Nitro Mesh. Overall, I was quite happy with the product. The frame is relatively sturdy, the mesh heads are holding up well, the brain is good, and the tower is not bad. I would highly recommend this to a beginner or even an intermediate drummer that wants an inexpensive practice tool or a way to have fun quietly. Yes, quietly. My roommates do not hear this drum kit unless I'm really hammering away on the bass pedal, and that is just the nature of the pedal itself. It is metal, it has moving pieces, it makes noise. Further details are below. I encourage you to give it a read, as I waited weeks before writing this review and I have a lot to say. Other essentials include a drum seat, or “throne.” This should be height-adjustable, especially if you’re buying for a young learner who needs room to grow into their new instrument. Headphones are another must for training purposes with an electronic drum kit, and ideally you’ll want these to be the full-size type with ear coverings. (You want to hear the synthesized sound of your drumming, not the actual hits on the mesh heads.) Once players graduate to gigs or jam sessions, an amp will be another must. Just make sure it’s compatible with your output type.

Are you able to customize the tones and sounds of individual drums/cymbals in a kit? Can you make your own custom user kits? The sounds of the drums are good.. enough. Of course not professional sounding, but you can get some good beats out of a couple of the 16 presets. Electronic drum kits have come a long way since musicians first started pairing synthesizers to rubber drum pads in the early ’80s. Today, the best mesh heads can be calibrated to feel just like their acoustic counterparts, and they are equipped with multiple sensors that can react to the slightest changes in pressure. Those sensors feed data to modules that can be loaded with thousands of drum sounds or samples, giving musicians access to almost unlimited kit configurations. And best of all, those sounds can be fed through a pair of headphones, making electronic drum kits a great choice for beginning drummers (and those who share a house with them). Getting it set up was relatively easy. After assembling the frame, making some adjustments and plugging stuff in it just worked without issues up to now (1 month later).I should add that a wonderful complement to this set, especially for the price, is the DDA-80 amp/speaker. It absolutely solves the problem of the low volume of the headphones; plug the headphones into the amp, plug the drums into the amp, and it sounds really good. The bluetooth capability of the DDA-80 is wonderful, too. I have been waiting for over 3 decades to find a way to play music mixed with my drumming, and the amp solves that nicely, again, for a very reasonable price.

Well, if some drums are dual zone and some aren't, just have the primary zone sound as the default for single zone drum pads. If the issue is that the pads themselves are only programmed to input those specific commands to the brain, why? Yamaha was cranking out kits with this functionality in the early 2000s or earlier. I implore Donner to reach into the 21st century, this is my largest complaint by far. The cymbals I think could be quieter as you hit them, possibly with softly rubber? Besides the exterior thud noise of the cymbals, they’re good. The sensitivity for the bell and rim sections could be a bit better, a couple times I mean to hit the rim but it comes out as a bell sound. The feel was another huge plus for this kit. They had true mesh heads, and the rebound was really authentic feeling. Incredibly, the heads could even be tuned, which let us adjust how taught they were. At the level that these drums are aimed at, it’s quite unnecessary, but still a nice bit of attention to detail. My major criticism is that there is no way to change the individual function of a given pad. The snare will only have snare sounds. Even if you change the placement of the snare, it will always be one. The ride must be a ride. You cannot change the hi-hat control to a second bass pedal, unlike many other electronic drum kits.Frame and heads: The frame is excellent, being very sturdy, and it tends to stay where you put it, as long as you tightened it enough. The heads have a great feel, bounce, and stand up to some real punishment. The sensitivity is so good that you can even do rolls on the snare, which is uncommon for a lot of electronic kits in my experience.