Basically, when the Electric Drum Pad is struck, this triggers a voltage change in the embedded force sensitive resistor (FSR) (or piezoelectric transducer…what a mouthful!). This signal is then transmitted to the Drum Brain via cables and translated into digital waveforms, which produces the desired percussion sound selected in the Drum Brain. Each Drum Pad can be assigned to different sounds, giving the Electric Drummer endless potential of configuring the Drum Set. This ability gives Electric Drum Sets a great advantage over Acoustic Drum Sets because you can simply change the whole sound of the Drum Set with the push of a button.

Some critics say that Electric Drum Sets will never sound the same as Acoustic Drum Sets, but some brands out such as Yamaha and Roland are starting to make the playing experience and sound almost indistinguishable to Acoustic Drum Sets.

Check out these Professional Electric Drum Sets:

Yamaha DTXPRESS IV Special Electronic Drum Kit

Roland TD20SX V-Pro Electronic Drum Set

For more information about the history of the Electric Drum Set, click here.

Cheers!

Greg