Best Electronic Drum Kits of 2021

Better pads and smaller processors have ushered in an eDrum renaissance in recent years, with today’s kits being sleeker, more powerful, and more affordable than ever before in history. Whether you’re in the market for your first eKit or searching for the most transformative drumming experience money can buy, now is a great time to pull the trigger. Here are seven of Sweetwater’s favorite electronic drum kits available in 2020.

The Rankings

What earns an electronic kit the honor of being named one of Sweetwater’s best kits of 2020? Here are six factors we considered:

Value — How much “kit” do you get for the price?Sound — How many sounds come stock, and of what quality? Is it possible to get that kit-in-a-room response through headphones or speakers?Response — How responsive are the pads and module? Is there perceptible lag? How do the pads perform? Do they rebound similar to acoustic drumheads?Durability — How well does the kit hold up?Extras — Does the kit have any standout features? A large display? Onboard practice and training tools? USB MIDI control? Importable user sounds?Replay — How likely is a player to hang on to the kit and continue playing it down the road?

Using these as our criteria, here are the kits that quickly rose to the top of the list:

Roland V-Drums TD-17KVXAlesis Strike Pro SERoland V-Drums TD-1DMKAlesis Nitro MeshAlesis Command MeshAlesis DM10 MKII ProYamaha DTX6K-XRoland V-Drums Acoustic Design VAD506

Roland V-Drums TD-17KVX

The Roland V-Drums TD-17KVX uses the same synthesis-based (as opposed to sample-based) Prismatic Sound Modeling engine as Roland’s flagship TD-50 kits. And let us tell you: it shows. The cymbals are expressive, the pads are fun to play, and the response across the board is dynamic and lightning fast. There is almost no perceptible lag between striking the pads and hearing the sound. Paired with the module’s single-touch Ambience control, this creates an impressive psychoacoustic response through headphones. The 12″ mesh snare, tunable mesh toms, and pedestal-based kick pad have a quiet and lively feel that mimics real heads. And of course, you can always crank the pads for even greater rebound. A streamlined interface provides quick access to such features as sensitivity and ambience. Meanwhile, importable WAV sounds, as well as onboard training tools, are sure to cement the TD-17KVX’s place in eDrum history.

Alesis Strike Pro SE

With its fusion-sized wood shells and polished-chrome rack, the Alesis Strike Pro SE has the look and response of a retrofit hybrid setup, which makes it perfect for traditional band outfits and stage setups where you’d expect to see an acoustic drum kit. Low-noise mesh heads and rubber rim triggers give the Strike Pro SE’s toms and snare multiple strike zones, which means you can trigger dynamic hits (rimshots, tom skanks) or even percussion effects depending on where you strike the instrument. The kit also comes with a full-size 20″ kick pad! The Strike sound module now includes 115 hyperrealistic kits and over 2,000 instrument sounds with firmware v1.5, along with onboard sound sampling and sound import capabilities, so you’ll never find yourself wanting for inspiration. One feature we at Sweetwater really enjoy about the Strike module is the mixer-like layout, which gives the drummer full control of the kit to blend into headphones and out to front of house. “Hammered” cymbal pads, stand-mounted hi-hats (hi-hat stand not included), and a 3-zone ride with bell/bow/edge triggers complete the ensemble.

Roland V-Drums TD-1DMK

Drummers who are looking for something a bit more compact and streamlined from Roland — a kit you can store in a closet between uses — will want to check out the Roland V-Drums TD-1DMK. This kit has some premium features for an entry-level V-Drums kit: tunable mesh heads, responsive cymbals, and a super-stable kick pad that’s plenty wide enough for double pedals. The low-profile rack stand sets up and collapses quickly, yet it still manages to support heavy strikes without wobbling. The impressive and extremely intuitive TD-1 sound module makes its 15 preset kits (EDM to metal) accessible with no menu diving of any kind. The same goes for its onboard coaching tools, metronome, and play-along backing tracks. An included Melodics software suite will walk you hand in hand from your first steps to a full sprint. And MIDI over USB gives the TD-1DMK exacting control over virtual drum libraries in your DAW.

Alesis Nitro Mesh

When it comes to value, you can’t beat the Alesis Nitro Mesh kit’s whisper-quiet mesh heads and affordability. The Nitro Mesh is compact and visually impressive, with dynamic 8″ pads, a crash cymbal that chokes when you squeeze it, and a matching black rack stand that folds up for storage and transit. The Nitro drum module gives you 40 preset kits to breeze through and 385 total sounds for building custom sets. And when it comes time for practice, you’ve got 60 onboard play-along tracks and a mobile-friendly aux input to help build a thriving drum vocabulary. The Nitro Mesh kit even includes sticks, cables, wraps, and a drum key, so you can set up and start drumming straight away.

Alesis Command Mesh

A step up from the Nitro Mesh, the Alesis Command Mesh gives you more sounds, better pads, and allows user-importable drum sounds. The Command drum module is one of the sleekest-looking options in its class. All key functions can be accessed via its single jogwheel and transport-style encoders. Both the snare and tom pads feature tunable mesh heads and dual-zone triggering, which means you can dynamically trigger separate head and rim sounds or dual-trigger loops and samples from toms for live use. Onboard you’ll find 50 full drum kits, more than 600 sounds, and import options for WAV and MP3 drum samples via a USB memory stick. You also get MIDI over USB for virtual instrument control. One key feature that acoustic drummers will love is the sleek chrome rack, which really makes a statement in a studio or onstage. As with the Nitro Mesh, sticks and cables come included with the Command Mesh kit.

Yamaha DTX6K-X

Yamaha’s latest intermediate eKit, the DTX6K-X, is powered by the next-level DTX-PRO module and expressive 3-zone ride and snare pads. It’s loaded with enough practice and performance tools to take your stage and studio skills to the next level. Inside, you’ll find 40 fresh preset kits captured in a world-class studio environment. A trio of one-knob Kit Modifiers allow you to quickly punch up any kit with room reverb, compression, and genre-bending multi-effects with the touch of a dial — no menu diving required.

Module
aside, a highlight of this kit has to be its 8-inch XP80 snare pad. The XP80
features Yamaha’s TCS textured silicone playing surface, which not only feels
great on the joints but also responds intuitively to backbeats, rimshots, and
cross-sticks, just as if you were playing a traditional snare. Other standout
features include a large, 3-zone, chokeable ride cymbal and a robust,
millimeter-thick steel rack stand for pro musicality and set-surviving
durability.

Roland V-Drums Acoustic Design VAD506

Roland’s VAD line of hybrid kits is designed to fuse the look and feel of a traditional, acoustic kit with the groundbreaking electronics of its cutting-edge modules and pads. The VAD506 is the current flagship of the V-Drums Acoustic Design line. It gives you a traditional, two-up/one-down configuration of full-sized drum and cymbal pads. The VAD506’s hardwood shells sport premium Midnight Sparkle wrapped finishes and Roland’s legendary tunable mesh heads. Cymbals feature soft rubber V-Drums playing surfaces for ultra-quiet performance and a natural cymbal rebound. All pads feed into an included TD-27 drum module, which not only gives you a breezy browsing experience using its intuitive, hands-on interface but also deep levels of customization using Roland’s powerful Prismatic Sound Modeling engine. Factor in Roland’s latest multi-sensor digital pads (14-inch PD-140DS snare and 18-inch CY-18DR ride), and the VAD506 is one hybrid kit that’s engineered to stand the test of time.

Hit Us Up!

Love eDrums as much as we do? Give your Sweetwater Sales Engineer a call at (800) 222-4700 and let us know what you’re looking for in an electronic kit. We’ll find the perfect match for you.
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