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[Steve Garris]

As others have noted, it can work really well. When I played back in the 80's, we had triggers on the drummers acoustic kit and they sounded fantastic!

[John L Nobile]

Drummer in the house gig I had used Roland drums for 3 years. We spent a lot of time on them and we still all hated them. Lifeless and uninspiring especially for the drummer. First thing we did after the director left was go back to real drums.

I've also had a tribute band through here a fair bit that uses triggered drums and I don't like those either. The show's producer makes the drummers use them and they hate them as well. But the gig pays well.

For me, there's nothing like a good drummer on a real set of drums. Well worth the stage volume and bleed.

[Bill Hornibrook]

He thought is that that will give him a cleaner and tighter sound, and also let him tailor his drum kit tone so it sounds more like the song they are covering.

Assuming muted or silent heads and cymbals it will do all these things and more - give the band a contemporary sound while maintaining a classic look, cut down on stage volume, making the overall band much easier to mix in small clubs...

In my experience most drummers are hesitant to surrender the full power of an acoustic kit for the betterment of the band. If he's offering, I'd suggest rolling with it.

[Tom Roche]

A possible compromise between separate triggers and an ekit is the Yamaha EAD10.

[Debbie Dunkley]

A possible compromise between separate triggers and an ekit is the Yamaha EAD10.

We have one and I really like the sounds but it has been found to be a little inflexible for live use we are finding. If only it had separate outs at least for kick and snare, it would be perfect. 

[Mark Scrivener]

Wally Schnalle, a fairly well respected Jazz drummer, uses triggers on acoustic drums with his project "Idiot Fish" for live shows. He mainly uses them to trigger synth sounds (run via Ableton Live). As far as I know he isn't using them for drum samples per say, but I'll ask him when he gets back from his Asia tour. I know he has some cool trigger sensors that clip on the edge of acoustic drums and respond to hitting the head in different locations, brushes vs sticks, etc. I also know it wasn't cheap.

[Robert Lofgren]

Do you only need kick and snare? If so, then have you tried to pan them left and right to get two mono sources?

We have one and I really like the sounds but it has been found to be a little inflexible for live use we are finding. If only it had separate outs at least for kick and snare, it would be perfect.

[Debbie Dunkley]

Do you only need kick and snare? If so, then have you tried to pan them left and right to get two mono sources?

Mmmm....Actually no I haven't. Its not my unit - it belongs to our drummer so I'd need to play with it. If this is doable and would leave the built in mics panning alone, that would do the trick I think..... It is s good unit and allows for that 'BIG' drum sound on songs like Pour Some Sugar etc.

edit: I just thought - that won't work. With only L & R outputs, any volume change to one or the other will change the volume to the built in mics too....

2nd edit: I just read the manual and there are no panning options either.

[Dan Hoppin]

Thanks everyone for your responses.  it was great to hear everyone's perspective on this.  It sounds like the mesh heads might be the best compromise.

Right now the drummer doesn't sing and doesn't have a monitor pointed at him.  With the mesh heads would it be best to have the drummer wear in-ear monitors, or just use a standard floor monitor?

[Scott Olewiler]

Does Anyone Here Use Drum Triggers for Bar Band Gigs?

I run sound for my son's band, and his drummer is considering investing quite a bit of money in some drum triggers and a sound module.  He thought is that that will give him a cleaner and tighter sound, and also let him tailor his drum kit tone so it sounds more like the song they are covering.

They usually play smaller bars for audiences of 50-150 people.  I mic up the kick/snare/toms but typically only have them coming through the FOH speakers just enough to fatten up the sound.  You can usually still hear the acoustic kit to some degree.

I don't think this is a worthwhile investment.  I told him that either we should keep things the way they are, or totally switch over to E-drums.  Any opinions here?

Band I played in in the nineties did this and it worked great. Biggest issue is that you have to get the acoustic kit quiet. E kits didn't have the right feel back in those  days.

For the amount of money needed to use triggers, I'd have to think the new e drums with mesh heads would be a more practical option today. Friend of mine uses a kit in a country band and they sound phenomenal.

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