electronic drums for a beginner who wants to learn

[RainVillain]

I've always wanted to learn drums, to improve my personal rhythm and to make more interesting rhythm sections in my songs.

For sound and space reasons, I can only get an electronic drum set. I would use it to learn to play and also as my new MIDI controller for drums. I don't want to spend a fortune (500$ was initially my limit but I've pushed it a little further now), and the built-in sounds are not important to me -- I'll be using it 99% as a MIDI controller.

So basically built quality and accuracy are high up there for me.

 

I've basically narrowed it down to these three, that I've tracked down as available locally for cheap used:

 

Roland HD-1

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-musical-instruments-drums-percussion-Roland-HD-1-Electronic-Drum-Kit-W0QQAdIdZ306957511

 

Alesis DM6

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-musical-instruments-drums-percussion-Alesis-DM-6-Drumkit-W0QQAdIdZ306536913

 

Yamaha DTXplorer

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-musical-instruments-drums-percussion-Yamaha-DTXPLORER-Electronic-Drum-Kit-W0QQAdIdZ319515654

 

 

I've heard great stuff about the HD-1's mesh pad snare, not to mention its size is extremely small, which I like. That said, I've read that the bass drum and hihat pedals are not very good -- also, you can't upgrade the pedals so I'd be stuck with them for good.

Alesis DM6 seems like a solid drum kit but a lot of comments online generally dismiss Alesis drum kits based on build quality.

Yamaha I've heard mostly good stuff about. Though it is the priciest.

 

Open to suggestions.

[CarlosUnderground]

I'd recommend Yamaha. I have a dtxtreme3 and it's mind-blowing what you can do. That said, you can never go wrong with their stuff. I'd go with their high end stuff ten times over anything else, same goes for entry level. Remember, don't skimp on you're gear by one or two hundred bucks. In the long run, you Will pay the price twofold.