Ion Drum Rocker Premium Drum Set Review

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(More customer reviews)In a nutshell, this is a fantastic electronic drum kit for Rock Band. It's worth picking up if you have skill and the drums and want to advance to the next level.
Some notes before starting out:
- When I compare the Ion Drum Rocker to the standard Rock Band kit, I am referring to the original R.B. drum kit, not the R.B.2 kit
- I have the Rock Pedal (which works for this kit with a simple 1/8 to 1/4 adapter) and will not discuss the pedal that comes with this kit (though it seems more responsive than the standard pedal)
- I have been a "Rock Band drummer" for about 10 months, and can play roughly 75% of the songs on Expert
Let me explain some specifics about this kit via a pros/cons list:
PROS
1) Drum pad placement. Lots of flexibility to move drums pads around--change the angle, height, and placement on the bar. You can set the four pads to wherever is most comfortable for you. The L-shaped rod under each pad gives you some flexibility in height.
2) Noise reduction. The drum pads are much quieter than the standard Rock Band kit. (There are some YouTube videos that demonstrate this, and it is a noticeable difference.)
3) Sensitive pads. The drum pads are velocity sensitive and also have more 'bounce' to them than the standard kit.
4) Easy adjustments. The kit comes with a drum key (an allen wrench, really) that lets you make every adjustment that needs to be made.
5) Cymbals. Come on, you really want this to have the cymbals, right? :> The cymbals are also quiet and really add to your enjoyment when playing. It also makes you focus more closely on what's going on in the music (not just blinding hitting the blue pad without noticing whether you're hitting a tom or a ride cymbal).
CONS
1) Cymbal placement. Well, it's okay, but you're a bit more limited when it comes to placement and angle. The kit comes with a short (~12") bar and a longer (~24"-30") bar, so you have some flexibility in height. The drums give you more freedom of placement.
2) Ships with two cymbals. You can order the third for $50, though.
3) No option for a fourth, or "red" cymbal. Some songs ("Run to the Hills" or "Rio" amongst others) have you hit the red pad as a cymbal, but there's no option to plug a cymbal into a "red" input. Not a huge problem, just a tad annoying (I'm actually more annoyed at the RB programmers for ever turning the red snare drum into a cymbal!).
4) Bigger/Bulkier than the original RB kit. Or maybe this is a con. :> It's not too much bigger, but it is heavier and a little trickier to move.
As a sidenote, I have not had any problems with the cymbals dropping 'fast' notes (mine are set to Ride/Blue and Crash/Green currently, so I haven't tried the Hi-Hat/Yellow).
Overall, the pros vastly outweigh the cons. These seem to be very high-quality drums, and it adds to the challenge of drumming when you have to differentiate between cymbals and toms when you're playing! If you are really into Rock Band drumming, I highly recommend this kit.

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The wait is over for the next generation of musical gaming equipment. Whether you are an aspiring amateur, or a practicing professional, Ion's award-winning Drum Rocker Premium Drum Set for PlayStation 3 lets Rockband players finally jam out with ease, letting your inner rockstar come out screaming.
Game Critics Awards Winner Rockband, which took the gaming world by storm in late 2007, was followed by the highly-anticipated sequel, Rockband 2 that was released in September of 2008. With Rockband 2 came Ion's Drum Rocker Set, which quickly took the Game Critics Awards top spot in 2008's Best Peripheral/Hardware category.
Professional-Grade Aluminum Rack and Pads While other drum controllers force you to use their configuration with a pre-molded, plastic array, the Drum Rocker's professional-grade aluminum rack lets you position your snare, tom and cymbal pads the way you want. Not only can you play your hi-hat with a right-hand crossover by placing your cymbals anywhere around your kit, but by mounting your pads to the drum rack with the included metal L-arm and clamp system, you can tilt, swivel, raise and lower the cymbals to whatever position you want.Drum Rocker's velocity-sensitive drum pads feature an ultra-quiet playing surface and a more natural and consistent stick rebound than your average pad. The pad housing is made of a hi-impact plastic, which means that no matter how much you punish them night after night, they will always be ready for more.
The Drum Rocker's all-metal kick drum pedal is also designed to take abuse. It offers the perfect amount of tension to replicate the feeling of a real drum pedal. And keeping in line with its set-up flexibility, the kick drum pedal comes with Velcro and retractable spikes, allowing you to place it in the most comfortable position.
Go Beyond Gaming into Real Music Built by the engineers at Alesis, one of the largest manufacturers of professional electronic drums in the world, the Drum Rocker Premium Drum Set delivers the most realistic drumming experience available to a gamer. But when you're ready to move from playing the game to playing in a real life, you can swap the game controller module with one of the professional drum brains made by Alesis, such as their DM5 drum module, or any other drum brain that accepts a quarter-inch output. (Drum modules are sold separately.) And with the option of purchasing a third cymbal, you can round out your kit and move beyond gaming and onto the stage.
The Drum Rocker Premium Drum Set is compatible with both Rockband and Rockband 2 for the PlayStation 3.What's in the Box: Aluminum drum rack, 4 drum pads, 2 cymbals, drum pedal, all mounting hardware and connecting cords, and 2 drumsticks.

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