Donner DED-200 MAX Electronic Drum Set, Mesh Heads

Pros:

– The price
– Quiet and the mesh heads have good rebound (after you adjust the tension to your liking).
– Super light and easy to move around (also a con, see below)
– Nice that it includes the pedal, throne, and drum sticks. IF you’re unsure you will be dedicated to getting better. Con if you are, they’re garbage compared to moderately priced upgrades.
– Module has some nice features. It has a metronome that’s easy to turn on and off and adjust the speed with a nob. You can also change the timings, volume, and the chime it makes.

– There’s a coach mode that uses your current metronome configuration and scores you based on how well you keep your timing for like 20 seconds or something. It also tells you if you’re on time, too fast, or too slow while you’re playing which is great to have that feedback.

But it’s wonky, sometimes if I’m just warming up on the snare and playing nothing else it will score me a 0. Like it wasn’t picking anything up, if I throw a kick or two in there then it decides to start scoring. You also can’t change how long it coaches you for. I don’t even care about a score, I just like having that live feedback telling me if I’m on time or not. I have a better ear for it now, but when I started I thought I was keeping good timing but I wasn’t consistent and the coach feature helped out. So it’s nice, but could be so much better.

– There’s also some midi songs you can play along with but I don’t really see the point when you can easily just listen to a song while you’re playing.

– The module is compatible with Melodics and InstaDrum (an awesome IoS app). It was just plug and play with both of those. Get an Amazon Basics printer to USB cable so you can plug into your PC.

Cons

– After about 6 months, my bass drum pad doesn’t always pick up hits. I played on it 3-4 days a week. 1-2 hour sessions. I don’t slam on my kit but I’m not gentle with it either. It’s not a huge deal to me because my app still picks it up for some reason, the sound just doesn’t come through the module.

– The throne and pedal are garbage. If you think you’re going to be pretty serious or already are. Immediately replace them.

– The snare mount rotates a lot on me. I do strike it pretty hard when I’m really getting into it. But nothing crazy. I tightened all the things and it still rotates. Like above, if you’re pretty serious just get a snare stand.

– The f’ing hi-hat….depending how often I’m hitting it through like a 2-3 minute song it will start to spin and I have to grab it and rotate it real quick since the sensor is only on half of the cymbal. I feel like it’s become a part of my grooves now. When I upgrade to a better set and won’t have that issue I’ll probably feel like something is missing haha!

But for the price, it’s great. I’ve wanted to learn the drums since highschool. But they’re too loud, too big, and the electronic ones were outrageous. So I’d mess around in my buddy’s set and when Rockband came out. I would just sit in my room alone and hunch over that little drum set dreaming of having an actual set someday. If you had a similar experience growing up, just get it dude. Learn some basics and reward yourself with upgrades. If I learn X skill/song then I’ll get myself a new pedal. If I practice religiously for 3 weeks then I’ll get myself a new throne. Happy drumming!

I have been looking at electronic drums for awhile now, and came close to buying a used set locally. However, they were rubber heads not mesh, and I needed mesh heads if I was going to learn how to play, and not get divorced in the process. I play ukulele, and one of my first ukes that I bought was a Donner tenor. I’ve had it for a couple years now, and really like it. When I saw Donner had a drum kit with mesh heads, I figured why not take a chance.

The set arrived well packed in a very nice box. One thing to be aware of, the box weighs 60lbs, so you might need a helper to get in in the house. Everything in the box is packed in individual labeled boxes, which was a nice tough. Instructions were very clear, and I think it took me all of an hour to get everything assembled. They include all tools needed as well.

Pros:
The rack is metal, and very solid. Also, both pedals are metal, which was a pleasant surprise.
The mesh heads are nice, and very quite.
Cymbals seem to have dual zones, and can be choked.
Snare and high hat are dual zone as well, with the snare rim being, well, a snare rim hit.
The drum module has the ability to add a third cymbal, although I am not sure Donner has this for sale yet.
Sounds are quite good for a beginner kit. You get a total of 15 different drum kits, as well as the ability to change each drum sound to make you own custom kit.
Built in metronome, and demo music. The music is 30 tracks from different genres, and is nice to drum along to.
Line in jack, so you can plug your phone in, and jam away to your own tunes.

Cons:
The only con I can find, may not be a con at all, hence I didn’t remove a star for it. Another reviewer had issues using the USB MIDI to connect to Garageband, and I had the same issue. What happens is it works fine for about 10 seconds, then completely stops. I can unplug it from the iPad, and plug it back in, and it’s fine for another 10 seconds, but then stops. What I found, is that this seems to be an issue not just with these drums, but with certain keyboards as well. It seems that plugging a USB hub into the iPad/computer, and then plugging the drums/keyboard into that, fixes the problem. I have no idea why this works, but I do have a hub on order, and will update this review if it does fix the problem.

Conclusion:
I think this is a great kit for the money, and if you are a beginner, go ahead and get the option with the drum throne included, as you will need it. I did not mention it, but the stand folds up, so you could easily slide this behind a couch, or put in a closet when not in use.

Due to the price range I found this set in o made it a point to not get my hopes up too high. I had not picked up drum sticks in well over a decade and was looking for something not too expensive but that I wouldn’t out grow in a month as my skills came back. This fit the bill perfectly. I am a few months in to picking it back up, my skill set has rocketed up, and I still in no way feel like this set cant handle whatever I throw at it. Honestly I don’t think I will ever need anything more that I can’t add to this set. One and only down side so far is the throne. It’s not very comfortable and being a rather large man I had to upgrade. I’m about 280lbs and I found the vertical bar was starting to buckle under my weight. But I couldn’t care less frankly. I had to buy a throne but got a kick ass set of E-drums that I play almost every day. I’d make that deal every day of the week. Great investment.

I bought this drumset solely for the purpose of using them for rock band 4 pro drums using a roll limitless adapter. They were quite easy to set up and I made sure to test the function of the drums through the supplied headphones and was quite impressed. Although I have never owned a drumset before, this is my first. With them being used for rock band, I had to switch around the setup and the plug ins but once I got it all figured out, they are awesome and work perfect for what I wanted them for. The tom/snare pads feel great and are very quiet. I am very satisfied with this purchase.

For those using them for rock band like I am, an added feature that i discovered is that the hihat pedal functions as a double bass which is a feature that I didn’t know until using but with still probably eventually go with a double kick as the feel is much different.

Il prodotto si presenta bene sin dall’imballo. All’interno della grande scatola ogni elemento è inscatolato e protetto.
Le istruzioni per il montaggio sono semplici e chiare. La batteria si assembla con facilità e in tempi rapidi. I tubi del telao sono in metallo, probabilmente alluminio, mentre i morsetti sono in plastica, e per questo motivo è meglio fare attenzione quando si stringe. Lo sgabello compreso nel kit è un po’ leggero, ogni tanto è necessario stringere i morsetti. Una volta montata la betteria è molto bella. Per quel che riguarda i suoni, considerato che sono un “batterista” amatoriale, a mio avviso sono belli e nitidi. I tamburi sono sensibili e soprattutto, grazie alle pelli mesh, silenziosi. Forse l’unica pecca sta nel fatto che l’Hi-hat è o aperto o chiuso e non si può regolare, almeno io non sono riuscito a trovare la regolazione. I piatti forse sono poco sensibili al cambio di zona. Concludendo un buon prodotto ad un prezzo giusto.