Introduction - Looking for recommendation on mesh pads

[dsteinschneider]

My main instrument is bass guitar but I love playing drums. In the early 90's I bought Dauz 5 and 10 inch pads on ebay and assembled a rack from plumbing hardware and used them with an Alesis D4 (used DW Kick Pedal with rubber trigger) . I took drum lessons and used them to practice. I donated that kit to our keyboard player's son after I had visited a music store that had Roland V-Drums but never pulled the trigger on that purchase (sorry for the pun ) because it would cost at least $2000 for a TDK-25K.

I have been making drum parts in Reaper using SMDrums with the RS5K sampler VST that comes with Reaper. I play them from a midi keyboard.

I would like to purchase the 32 input USB midi only kit. I'm looking for recommendations for the least expensive mesh type dual trigger pads. I'm not sure I want to go DIY for the pads but am open to the project. I have a hi-hat stand and will probably purchase the Roland VH11 for it. I still have a DW kick pedal so I might use that with something like the KD-9.

If there is a good alternative to Roland pads I would be interested.

Thanks,

Doug

[dsteinschneider]

Just priced out individual pad costs for TD 25K S kit - comes out to $1900.

PDX-100 Snare - $209
Roland Mounts - $90
PDX-6 Pad - $124
PDX-8 Pad - $219
CY-12C Crash Pad - $230
CY-13R Ride Pad - $192
KD-9 KickPad - $199
VH-11 Hi-Hat Pad - $400

Maybe DIY pads are the way to go?

[Edit] - Perhaps a used TD9 V kit might be the way to go? ($700 for one in good condition on ebay)

I will most likely always use it in a home studio to trigger a VST sampler.

[ignotus]

Pads are quite easy to DIY (cymbals not so much, though it's doable). A cheap acoustic set converted to electronic will cost a fraction of the price of a Roland set and won't feel and look like a toy. For hassle-free, easy to make triggers, I'd go for side-mounted ones. You could also check these out if you prefer not to make them yourself - it'll still work out far cheaper than Roland pads.
A hi hat controller is also surprisingly easy to make for Megadrum. See this thread. You can use whatever cymbal you want with this controller and save a ton of money.

Cheap 2nd hand 5-piece acoustic kit ~ $200
Set of 5 Triggera triggers ~ $200. If you DIY them, they can be done for $2 each and work just as well.
Set of decent mesh heads ~$150
DIY hi hat controller ~$10
Cables ~$50

And you still have a pretty decent budget for cymbals before going anywhere near the price of a Roland kit - and this one will be much more satisfying to play.

[dsteinschneider]

Thanks for the reply ignotus. I was beginning to conclude that I should use a real kit as the basis for a DIY solution. I didn't mention in my first post that before I bought the Dauz pads I made pads with piezos I bought at Radio Shack and glued onto practice pads. The ones I made from Remo practice pads that had a real drum head didn't work well for some reason. The ones I made from sheets of rubber glued onto abs plastic worked better. Probably the RS piezo units weren't ideal. The main reason I went to Dauz pads was I never could get the quarter inch jack to be reliable.

Do you have a link with info about making the triggers myself?

Thanks