This Drum Kit has a Secret Built Into it

[@rdavidr]

I was thinking, does it make more sense for ALL beginner kits to come with low volume cymbals or cheap normal cymbals? I figured the low vol cymbals would have more functional value past the beginner phase, while cymbals that come on beginner kits are one of the first things to get replaced. What do you think? 🤔

[@RicyStuff]

e

[@rufushayday6990]

yeah that’d make sense

[@JonManProductions]

Hmm, I'm just wondering the possibilities of adding diy triggers for funsies on the mutes themselves.. and combine that with electronic cymbals. That would be pretty interesting to see for midi silliness.

[@RancidRandalI]

A lot of drummers don’t realize, especially starting out, that you don’t have to hit the cymbals that hard for them to be really loud. I find a lot of beginner drummers hit them as hard as they do the actual drums themselves.

[@iamironsam]

Mesh and practice cymbals absolutely! Way better than crappy heads and brass cymbals

[@alexhill_79]

I reckon this is the best first drum set ever. It looks good, sounds pretty good and has practice pads built INTO it. Its exactly what a beginner needs. And the low volume cymbals are great, because usually the cymbals that come with drums, you keep for a bit then replace. These you would keep for practice, and then get some better full volume cymbals. And for 500 buck, u cant go wrong. Awesome kit, awesome video as always.

[@scottspencer979]

I honestly could not have put it better myself. Very well said.

[@Saul_.Goodman]

exactly! I want to start getting into drums and these seem like a perfect fit for me.

[@alexdem98]

Still an e-kit offers many many more custom sounds, headphone jack for silent practicing, so if you live in town, e-kit is still for you, I think.

[@tcg1_qc]

@@alexdem98 Yeah, but an e-kit will never have the same feel as an acoustic (especially the hi-hat pedal), at least not at that price point

[@metalinyourhead3604]

What’s also cool, is that if you have a drum triggers, you can play it acoustically, then engage the pads and use the triggers. Now you have an easily adjustable hybrid kit.

[@farolanramadhani7218]

Yooo that sounds dope

[@fluffycritter]

oh dang that’s a brilliant idea. I have both this Donner kit and a set of vdrums and not enough space to set up both, and you’ve just given me a great solution to this conun-drum.

[@drummerdan95]

OK, now take this kit to the next level. Triggers in the pads and electronic cymbals (kind of like the Zildjian Gen16). It it an acoustic kit? Electronic kit? Practice kit? Porque no los d̶o̶s̶ tres?

[@drummerdan95]

It just occurred to me, the Yamaha EAD10 probably has enough inputs to trigger a 4-5 piece kit. Just run some external triggers on the snare and tom hoops to the module, bring up the pads for low volume and boom, electronic kit that can easily become acoustic again. Plus the EAD10 can still function on the drums acoustically without the triggers. And you can record all the audio straight to your phone. Such a simple premise to put pads inside but now my mind is swirling with ideas. Damn it, David. I don't need another drum kit 😶

[@edisonrestrepo3825]

@@drummerdan95 i was at namm yesterday, got to sit down at a yamaha kit with remo silent strokes, low vol cymbals and ead10 triggers, sounded just fine! i imagine its just as good with the donner kit (i also got to sit down at one yesterday, honestly did not feel that great), but yeah youre right! acoustic/practice/e kit in 1

[@drummerdan95]

@@edisonrestrepo3825 that's awesome. I already have an EAD10 on order after wanting one for years, I'm excited to spend time messing with it. I'm not crazy about the feel of mesh heads which is why the idea of this kit has intrigued me so much so I might still give it a chance.

[@yessitsme6884]

Yeah, I sort of expected this to be a hybrid setup with sensors in the pads. Donner get on this! A hybrid setup that doesn't need changing heads to change mode would be killer.

[@BulletDrummer]

As someone who is so self-conscious about noise complaints that I haven’t had my kit set up in over 8 years, I was really pleased to see you do a noise comparison from the adjacent room. Stuff like that seems to be annoyingly overlooked when reviewing products such as this. Great stuff as always Dave! 👍 Now, can we make a silent hi-hat pedal?

[@rdavidr]

The hats are definitely the loudest. I was thinking if put a towel or something between the 2 it would help out a lot

[@If6turnsouttobe9]

@@rdavidr ...trying to picture playing with a towel between....yeesh. I wonder... cotton batting like they use in quilting, cut a ring out and dbl. Side tape it between. May muffle the clap and not be as bulky and awkward.

[@billsmith1957]

A flour sacking cloth towel might work well between the hi-hats; thinner than regular towels and they can be cut and/or folded to size

[@steyer-crmg]

Not all rooms are built the same mate! I have a room where no sound gets through, but it was built for that purpose. But my kit is worth $5k, room cost $20k….if you want to be a drummer, get the room right first if you can.

[@derekflow]

I hope you get back to playing soon! I kinda went through something like that too

[@markthomas6980]

Amazing. I got my grandson a cymbal for Christmas. It cost about the same as this whole set. He’s a professional drummer in a jazz band.

[@Ranakade]

Donner deserves a spot at NAMM. They're like another Yamaha cause they're doing guitars, drums, and other music stuff and making it affordable

[@eboyeman8457]

Yamaha makes guitars?

[@patrickcampbellhatesthesoup]

Donner was there.

[@grazianodrummer]

Absolutely not, they are cheap and garbage

[@jazzfusionfanatic]

@@eboyeman8457 no shit sherlock

[@matthewcline8580]

@@eboyeman8457 Yamaha makes everything, honestly. Guitars, Drums, Grand pianos, Synths, as well as every orchestral instrument imaginable (and they're all considered pro level instruments).

[@thumperpaul]

I’m impressed. Instead of having to switch over to mesh heads for practice, you just raise the pads. They sound decent too.

[@deekerr1613]

Have heard of people using the low volume cymbals as a part of stacks, would love to hear that if you try it out. Really cool kit, makes a lot of sense and seems well executed while still being affordable.

[@brandonfeeley514]

I like how practice mode is still tuned so you can hear the difference between each drum.

[@sneedville80]

That would be a cool kit to trigger

[@Zinjadu100]

When you added the mics to the drums when you were playing to music; it sounds really nice. It seems that you are really good at mixing and mics...Or just really good at doing it all. That's why you several hundred thousand subscribers. RdavidR, you know what you're doing. Excellent video, like always educational, informative and comedic...keep it up!

[@DeadKoby]

This is something I wished they made years ago. It's a great way for someone to be able to practice without angering the family.

[@ILikeWafflz]

6:49 I absolutely love how everyone that uses that music in a video _always_ synchronizes cuts with the notes lol

[@DerZauberer65]

Good news, most of the "cons" of this set have been addressed. I just purchased this set for my son, Nov. 2024. The medallions are no longer decals, they are metal medallions rivetted onto the drum. The practice pad mounts are convex to attach more securely to the inside of the drum. The screws turn directly into the mount instead of nuts and washers. You also only need the drum key, instead of a wrench. My set, the Snare and mounted Toms were already assembled. This video definitely helped me assemble the kit, which took under 2 hours.

[@saydlowski]

A good way to gauge how much the pads interfere with the drum sound is maybe to just remove them altogether and see what the drum sound like without them?

[@liamcage7208]

Yup as mentioned by others, this is an excellent idea for a first drum kit to learn on. Some 13 - 14 year old just learning to play without driving the family to drink but then can disengage the practice pads when they are a little better to "jam" with their friends who are learning guitar in your first garage band.

[@paulrevelli]

I'm intrigued to say the least. Just a little worried that at that price it's not exactly built to last too long. But at least it looks like anything that's too janky can be easily fixed with some ingenuity. Thanks for bringing our attention to this thing. Great review (and playing).

[@T_Burd_75]

That is definitely a killer deal for a drum kit. Especially with all the features included, along with the low-volume cymbals which sound surprisingly good. I would definitely be happy with that kit!

[@ronnyinwaxhaw]

I bought a set of 14” Low Volume Hi Hats just before Covid and have never been able to try them out. It was great to hear the LV cymbals, but I wish that you had rode the ride in the demo.

[@scottross9023]

I just bought the light blue version because I loved the color. I tossed the mutes, throne and hardware and used my own stuff. I love this kit!

[@shirleymorrow7674]

The built in pads is a first for me. I like it, and I love YELLOW!

[@sixinarow1]

I am afraid that if a buddy had one of these, I would have to sneak up on stage and engage the practice pads just before he went on stage.

[@williambradfordbaldwin4386]

I would like to see more drum companies return to making more control devices for the drums! I like to have built in control rather than pillows and blankets! Very good vid sir thanks!!!

[@Jukebox707]

This is probably the most excited I've seen him. Keep up the good content!

[@eugenekelley5348]

I wonder if you added some kind of midi sensors to those pads if you could do a hybrid electric acoustic kit? Might be neat

[@rhinomechanics8423]

I GOT THIS KIT IN MY STUDIO. THANKS TO YOU. LOVE IT, BEAUTIFUL YELLOW. THE DAMPING PADS ARE VERY COOL. RECORDING WILL CONTINUE HERE. THANKS~

[@jeffbridges6110]

The kit sounds quite pleasing. The mic with ears though....I thought that was crazy cool.

[@jas_bataille]

It's a binaural microphones. Crazy cool yes - but as I pointed out, the sound engineer in myself had to say that as cool as it looks, it simply isn't the right mic for this kind of test. It's designed for spatial sound effects and ASMR and you have to wear headphones to hear the effect. It's not a stereo and the I don't think the sensitivity is even close to that of a regular par of condensers, thus the sound would likely be perceived much louder unfortunately :(

[@KhemBMD]

I see lots of ppl making stacks with low volume cymbals so this is a great deal

[@edisonrestrepo3825]

got to sit down at this kit yesterday, was sort of in a rush so i wasn't able to ask many questions (which ya were able to answer well) - fantastic video as always dave, thanks for putting this out :)

[@Lutzifer31337]

now, if these pads were also e-drum triggers, this would be perfection!

[@deadshot4245]

upon further review this kit with an added 14 floor would help it as well. I always feel the perfect kit is two mounted and two floor toms

[@DrummerDanVa]

I think most of the cheaper kits sound basically ok today. Their flaws would probably be the hardware lasting with a lot of setups and tear downs.

[@DrewKane]

The cymbals actually sounded okay under a mic.

[@JDKrug]

Some sound engineers actually prefer these low volume cymbals in recording sessions. Makes it very easy to mix within a full project.

[@carlupthegrove262]

Interesting concept. I wonder if any of the major drum companies will develop anything similar but with a bit more refinement? Nice work on the video and your description of the drums and how they sounded to you.

[@tallnotdeaf]

I’d like to see a high end company do this, I’d buy one

[@rainbowkrampus]

Eh, If you're going to buy a nice kit plus the markup from a well known brand, it seems like a waste to stick mute pads and all the requisite hardware in there and jack up the sound. These pads are also another potential point of failure. Could strip out the wood, the pin could break and damage the reso head. Then of course there's the added weight. Not a big deal if it lives in a dedicated space but carting these things around may not be everyone's cup of tea. Lots of problems. Seems better to just stick with these cheap shells and upgrade hardware etc.

[@tallnotdeaf]

@@rainbowkrampus I was thinking more along the lines of a company rich enough to explore this idea more and iron out the teething problems you have mentioned. Like smaller pads that will deaden the drum less allowing a better sound, better quality low volume cymbals and hardware etc.

[@LindaCrescent]

What a great idea. Especially for a first kit or for people who live in an appartment and don't want to disturb the neighbours. Another good option is what I'm using. I have low volume sticks on a standard kit. I'm using Ultra Tone sticks that are made by Lidwish Soulutions and I also have a pair of Adoro Silent Sticks. Both of these reduce the drum and cymbal volume by around 50 - 60% The Adoro sticks have a better grip and are about a 5A size. Although the Ultra Tones are a thinner stick they have a better sounding tip and are my preference for recording. The neighbours hear nothing and the family watching TV in the next room are not disturbed when playing with either stick. This is just my opinion of these sticks and I am not endorsed by either business. Both are worth checking out.

[@theguy6245]

1:11 He forgot about the low volume cowbell

[@rdavidr]

only true ogs will remember that lol

[@drewdabbs418]

The cheese grater

[@humanzee503]

Great!!! That ear mic setup made really added another layer of helpfulness *chefs kiss*. Thanks for the amazing content!!!

[@AngelofDeath1431]

This kit definitely lends itself really well to the style you were playing. Perhaps just at good with blues and jazz as well. Overall, nice (and yes, the yellow surely stands out)!

[@TempoDrift1480]

Sounds fantastic in the mix. Just as good as anything else.

[@kevinwilley968]

Dang, I was at NAMM yesterday and saw the Donner booth but didn't stop by. Would have been cool to look at.

[@SamCoffman]

a revelation! very nice-sounding combo missing from the world for too long!!! thanks for hipping me, rdavidr!

[@retiredaccountbriant]

This can be a good use for quiet times when it’s night:)). Maybe not when people are sleeping.

[@Dear-John-Reactions]

I wouldn't hesitate to buy one for a practice kit or for low volume club gigs. It sounds exactly what I figured it would sound like. On my Sonor kit I use a SuperKick II but also run a felt strip on the upper third to avoid having to add dampening inside since I don't port my front head. Once day just for fun I ran a thinner strip of felt under the tom's & floor tom heads and put the rings over it and tuned them up and for recording they were magic sounding. Played them in a club once and didn't have time to remove them and they sounded great as well, had to adjust the tuning a tad but nobody mentioned a thing except for the sound guy who said my drums sounded the best he's heard in a while. After telling him my trick he couldn't believe it, until I showed him the felts. So I've been playing them that way for over 8 years now. But if I wanted to remove the felts on the toms I just lossen the two lugs on opposite end and slide the strips out and re-righten the lugs. Donner with the low level cymbals are a great choice for this kit and they sound pretty good.

[@TessaAnderson]

A friend of mine bought this kit in blue sparkle recently. Beginner drums are so much cooler than when I first started about 15 years ago

[@thenameless3271]

Blue sparkle is fantastic

[@TessaAnderson]

@@thenameless3271 I would go with the yellow!!! I have drum vids on my channel that cause controversy. I wonder if that’s a good thing or a bad thing in the music world. Some of my favorite musicians broke rules like Jimmy Hendrix Kirk cobain and van Helen to say a few

[@jas_bataille]

This is a very nice video and this kit would be a hit if the pads were triggers! But... as a sound engineer, I must point out that the sound test wasn't anything that could give you an actual real-world equivalent result. First, this is a binaural microphone, not a stereo one. Now, not only do we not hear in binaural (it's an illusion given by the recording technique and you *have* to wear headphones to hear it), those binaural microphones are made to be used for spatial sound effects and ASMR, where the sound sources will be extremely close to it. Therefore I do believe their sensitivity to be quite reduced compared to, let's say, a pair of regular condenser stereo pencil mics in XY fashion, which would be a much better technique for such a test. But even those would not represent the sensitivity of human ears. As it stands, I'm afraid the kit would sound much louder in the living room next to it, at least if you have regular doors and walls without soundproofing!

[@rayraybonne8469]

hey. Nice comment. I made a similar reference to the mics vs drum tone in a recent comment. I am building a studio and recording drums & vocals to originals I wrote. hard Rock'nRoll. I like the placement of the Tom mics in his video that are out of the way of the drummer. I want to know what mics really sound best for snare & cymbals to get close to what the ear hears. I get a great 'pop' from my snare acoustically, but, on recording (I am using Shure SM-7s on-snare & above the Tom's and o/h currently, but cymbals and snare don't really replicate true sound on recordings. I don't like the rim mounts that came with the SM7s either - to 'in the way' and I cannot play freely. So, my cymbals turn out very 'bright' and I have to EQ the highs out for them and boost my lows but still no ideal. to reduce bleed overs I just mime all the movements I play in a song or lay really thick pads if I cannot play some songs without striking the drums. works great to isolate the drum or cymbal that I am recording. Tia. - RayRay

[@isaiahwinfree8372]

It’s crazy that I saw a channel show off the heads on the Shorts portion of the app, and you have the ONLY video on it at this point. Cheers mate

[@rdavidr]

you have a link to the shorts?

[@homegnome8946]

kzbin.infoRC1ZbbR_9rk?feature=share

[@johnmatamoros9218]

Dude, the joke about the plastic under the drum throne...top fucking notch!

[@dxzxax8772]

Pretty cool idea, doesn't sound too bad to me. I like especially the quiet kit.

[@mat4410]

I tried out the low volume cymbals at a drum shop and the zildjians did sound half bad surprisingly. I like your channel as you do a good job coming up with some stuff to satisfy the “ what if” in me. Thanks

[@reubenk7331]

This is actually a pretty sweet! I am sure my parent's would have loved this 15 years ago 😅🤣

[@lizleart]

ok so i’ve been playing set for a few years now but basically all my playing has been at school (various band ensembles and a free period every day) because my set at home was literally $10 at a yard sale and functions about as well as you would guess. My set is certified hot garbage(not only sounds awful but the flor tom legs are literally sticks and the high tom falls off it’s arm every song) but i was alright with it because i just played at school every day. With the summer here and not being too caught up in band to have a job (for at least a month untill marching band) i think i’m gonna dedicate all my time to getting a job to hopefully save up enough to get this set. Idk what this says abt rdavidr but the dude somehow inspired me to spend my last break before senior year working to save up for a drumset and that’s kinda neat

[@malo374]

Great video :) One thing was bugging me though. Putting the microphones in the other room does not really help to find out how loud the kit is. You would need a loudness level to compare it to. One way to do that is to play the loud kit and then, without changing the gain settings, play the silent kit. You can do the same thing in the other room, too.

[@jameslabriola8761]

when he drops the drumkey at 3:48 i sort of laughed to myself because i do that all the time.

[@johnkenn1608]

That ending song was freakin dope my dude.

[@SurefireNebula]

Love ur backing tracks they are always so sick! :)

[@M4RCM0NT31R0]

I didn't know Donner did drums in the Tony Williams yellow finish!

[@rdavidr]

I was kinda surprised when I saw it too. Not many companies do yellow drums

[@carlgeorgbiermann2915]

I'm not a drummer, I just come for the music at the end. So nice!

[@rdavidr]

haha appreciate it 🤘

[@sethputnamsghost]

I’m excited just watching you open the box!! Damn I wanna find one of these kits!!

[@saulhudson302]

A drummer I know just stuffs his Tama drums with underlay or foam ....alot of it and pretty much gets these results. 👍

[@robthompson8285]

Donner don't make bad stuff. I used an electric kit of theirs and it stood up.

[@braydencranford3926]

thank you to whoever edits the vids love it

[@mortalportal5407]

Proof positive that good cymbals are way more important than good drums : ) Damn I LOVE those K Extra Dry's so much.

[@wirenutz7869]

Put electronic drum triggers on those inner damper pads and BAM ! You did it !

[@recksmusic1487]

I really love the snare tone without the pad on. 🔥

[@recksmusic1487]

Is that the number?

[@yourlocalryan]

Imagine changing these to electronic pads. So you could turn some of them on and change the sounds

[@eddo00]

You're one of my fav channels. Thanks my guy for doing all of this

[@rdavidr]

🤘

[@coreyw5981]

Love the honest review!

[@micah_bush]

that is such a cool idea for a beginner drum kit!

[@RokDAWG1]

Really interesting and actually kind of nice to have the extreme muffs built into the kit

[@silasmathenymusic]

Hey man you should put like good new heads on it that you know are good and like see how good you can make the kit sound, sounds great now but I love donner products honestly and I feel like that kit could could be something ya know ?

[@rorymaitland8275]

love yellow drum sets to stick out so much

[@JakeWu]

This drum set has been showcased at NAMM 2022 at Donner booth. Very impressive.

[@MrReedEnt]

I remember when these dampers, we called them mufflers back in the day, they were standard in many drumsets for controlling the overtones but also for muting the loudness of the drums.

[@stevenlewis7643]

I'm not crazy about the color yellow, however I love it on stratocasters telecasters and that drum kit!!! 👍

[@marvinhanson9391]

Those drums would make converting to a hybrid setup a breeze

[@williambradfordbaldwin4386]

I like the basic idea of this I like to be able to control my drums, I even went so far on my first drum set 1967 Sears and Roebuck Pearl set, to make internal bass drum double mufflers out of coffee can lids and carpet, they worked pretty good! Do these control the resonance or just deaden for practice?

[@JoeyRam.]

I have Sabian Quiet Tones and those are solid, nearly imposible to break them. I record my practices and they sound great, plus you can still use them for certain songs, there's no need to get rid of them ever. In short, instead of paying extra buying kits that include cymbals, go better without them and have the freedom to choose what is really needed that will last a looong time.

[@rayraybonne8469]

what mics/setup do you use on drums?

[@JoeyRam.]

@@rayraybonne8469 I have the H1n behind me, height about the waist. Search it at Amazon. Very cost effective mic and easy to record and load it to the computer. I can't separate any sound because it takes all at once, but if that what you want, is better to get the ddrum Chrome Elite Trigger along with Superior Drummer 3. Less expensive than mics, cables, etc. There are many videos here in KZbin showing the conversion.

[@alexpagan4814]

*THAT Eastar Kit*

[@mightyV444]

Mind = Blown 🤯 And on several levels, too! 🙂

[@crlaw75]

Interesting set, reminds of the internal mufflers of the made in Japan sets in the '60's (which quite a few drummers removed).

[@Primordilian]

Donner slightly better sounding drums than Easter but both are awsome when it comes to the price.

[@tylersecrest5536]

I'm surprised you didn't compare the sound from the next room with practice pads off vs on

[@luke_bongoman89]

This drum kit is really interesting. I personally don't have a good space to practice at home where it won't be too noisy. I have a cheaper electric kit but this would be so much better for a better feel. I do worry about the quality of finish though

[@bwenedianjr]

if only i could convince my mom and dad to get me a drumset XD

[@fitzeflinger]

that snare sound tho. damn!

[@powerboon2k]

I've got 2 donner pedals and they are both dope.

[@sesa2984]

I want this set. In EXACTLY this color.

[@jabbastwin]

Sounds nice for the added features and price.

[@zackedge2456]

Illuminati confirmed (referencing the triangle on the drums)

[@dayonedrummer]

Great video and explanation of the kit. This seems like it would be a nice kit for private lessons to reduce the volume. I wonder how my students would feel about playing on a muted kit with low volume cymbals? I'm tempted to get one to see:) Any thoughts on how it would positively or negatively effect the learning process? Or do you think it would be a seamless transition. (90% of my students are beginners)

[@anthonyvenedicto518]

For a practice kit those hi hats sound nice tbh.

[@lifeintornadoalley]

There's shorts of this kit taken from your video. Gotta love those that take your video and clip it for a short. Of course they racked millions of views

[@rdavidr]

You got a link?

[@lifeintornadoalley]

@@rdavidr kzbin.infoRC1ZbbR_9rk?feature=share

[@lifeintornadoalley]

@@rdavidr not sure who runs this channel but they take alot of peoples videos to clip for shorts. Kinda low ball move. You make quality content and spend time making it. Not for someone to clip a short for views

[@LuckyOwI777]

@@lifeintornadoalley What channel is stealing his content? Post a link to it

[@homegnome8946]

kzbin.infoRC1ZbbR_9rk?feature=share

[@thebarak]

It is a very clever concept and a very reasonable price.

[@Drum_Beats_Guitar_Riffs]

The kick drum is great. Tune the rest of kit up 2 turns!

[@alexdem98]

Very nice groove! I'll steal some tom roll ideas for my next jam hehehe 😈😈😈

[@kurikokaleidoscope]

Great video Thank you.

[@raythackston1960]

Pearl made a killer drum kit in the 1980's that was bright yellow. I loved them but already had a new kit from Pearl.

[@Saul_.Goodman]

as a guy who wants a drum kit that doesn’t make too much noise for the sake of my family it’s either this or an e-kit