When learning to play the drums, it’s important to consider how much space you have, how loud you can play, and what sort of sounds or styles you’re interested in.
Because of this, a compact electronic drum kit is the perfect starting point. The VISIONDRUM Compact Mesh Electronic Drum Kit is a new addition in the world of compact electronic drumming – but what’s different about it? And how does it compare to other beginner electronic kits?
To answer these questions, I spent a few hours playing the VISIONDRUM Compact Mesh Electronic Drum Kit, taking notes on the module, sounds, playability, and more.
My initial thoughts of the VISIONDRUM kit
The package I used was the VISIONDRUM Compact Mesh Electronic Drum Kit With Stool and Headphones. One of the first things I noticed was how incredibly small the kit looked – I was convinced at first glance that it was for a smaller player.
However, this wasn’t an issue as I quickly realised that the kit and stool were impressively adjustable and I was able to alter them to a comfortable height.
The kit offers a compact solution, even when at full playing height.
Once the kit was set up, I had a quick scroll through each of the preset sounds on the module, hitting a few pads on each preset to get a good feel of the voicings available.
The range of onboard sounds are ideal for beginner drummers who want to dive into a few different styles.
It includes a selection of authentic acoustic sounds as well as some unique electronic options.
So far, so good! I was excited to dig deeper and discover what the VISIONDRUM module had to offer.
Setup
It took around 5 to 10 minutes to set this kit up on my own. Adjusting it to the size I wanted was simply done via the wingnuts on the rack – no drum key required. The pads and module were already connected to the rack from the box, so I didn’t have to worry about adding these.
Once the kit was the right size, I just had to connect each of the pads to the module. This is incredibly easy on the VISIONDRUM, due to the colour-coded and labelled cables. These tell you exactly which cable plugs into which pad, making it effortless to get the kit up and running.
Sounds
The VISIONDRUM module includes 12 preset kits taken from the DD500 series.
These offer a great variety of genres, from funk to pop and gospel to rock.
Each preset is authentic to the style and adds a layer of versatility to the kit itself.
The electronic sounds, in particular, are also fun to play around with thanks to their range of unique sounds and loops.
But my personal favourite kit on the module was kit number three.
This kit sounds like a variation of the rock kit – and I enjoyed the high-pitched snare tone and the cymbal sounds the most.
Module
The VISIONDRUM module is smart and easy to use. You can navigate through the preset sounds using the arrow buttons and adjust the volume via the volume knob. A tempo track – ranging from 20 to 230 BPM – can also be turned on and off with a singular button press.
You can also add EQ and Pan to the sounds, allowing you to create your own unique mix.
There are 10 demo songs to play along to, whether you want to learn the exact drums, improvise, or compose your own drums to go with the tracks – the choice is yours. I found that the demo songs fit with the preset kits well – each preset has at least one suitable demo track to play along with.
Drum pads and cymbals
All the drum pads feature a mesh construction and offer a nice stick feel that feels authentic to acoustic drumming.
The heads also respond to the speed and dynamics of your playing.
One cool feature on this kit is the cymbal pads’ 360-degree triggering.
This means that it doesn’t matter where you hit the cymbal, it will produce sound.
It’s a great addition to the kit, adding an authentic feel in such a tiny package.
The standalone pedals are small but they do the job nicely.
I found these pedals to respond very well in comparison to other kits I have used previously.
Connectivity
With the VISIONDRUM Compact Mesh Electronic Drum Kit, you get an impressive range of connectivity, even at the kit’s low price point.
The phone input is the only connectivity I opted for, and I used it with the supplied headphones. These sounded great and were perfect for low-volume play.
USB connectivity enables you to link the kit to your computer and explore additional drum sounds from third party drum libraries. This gives you an enormous selection of sounds and styles for the extremely compact kit.
The L/Mono output allows the kit to be connected to an amplifier – perfect for rehearsals and performances.
Finally, the aux input lets you to play along to your favourite songs by simply connecting your smartphone.
Differences between the VISIONDRUM and other beginner kits
Why choose this kit? There are five key differences between this kit and other beginner options at a similar price range.
First of all, there’s no kit like it that’s this compact – at least, not at this price range. The kit could be very easily stored away in a cupboard, wardrobe, or under the bed when it’s not in use.
Having a beginner electronic kit with all mesh pads is also great. Although this is becoming slightly more common, there are a large number of beginner kits with rubber pads which don’t offer the same level of playability and authenticity of the VISIONDRUM.
I’ve not previously come across 360-degree cymbals in a beginner or even intermediate electronic drum kit. This is an excellent feature that considers the cymbals’ small size, allowing you to hit them anywhere.
Having an easy-to-use and smart module is very useful for a beginner. Some low-cost electronic drum kits feature a module that’s quite confusing to navigate. This module is one of the easiest I’ve used and has everything accessible at the push of a button.
Finally, the colour-coded and labelled cables are an absolute lifesaver when setting up this kit. It means that taking the kit apart for storage isn’t such a bad thing after all – you’ll be able to get it back up and running in no time.
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Find out more
Now that you have more of an idea as to what the VISIONDRUM kit has to offer, why not check it out? We also offer it as part of an drum kit/amp pack, giving you everything you need to get started!
Bought the Vision Drum + kit with the kick pad. Very happy with it overall, although I did find some of the individual drum volumes seemed uneven in the preset kits, especially kick drum – however managed to map it easily to my user kits in Ableton via USB midi, so that takes care of that issue. I only need the kit as a studio kit anyway, so no problem with that. It might be useful for other users to provide some guidance on midi mapping of individual pads as they are not standard. It’s not hard to fix, but does require a little knowledge. Anyway, cheers. Looks and sounds good and fits into my shoe-box studio.