Next up, our picks for the year’s best electronic drum sets!

This is a superb entry-level kit from Alesis. It features their latest Mesh technology which gives it an amazing feel and natural dynamics that you normally only find on premium kits.

The Nitro Mesh 5-piece kit comes with an 8″ dual-zone mesh snare, three 8″ mesh toms, a 10″ crash and 10″ ride cymbal. The hi-hat and kick drum pedals are custom designed and it’s all held together by a durable 4-post aluminum rack. Everything is included to get you up and running including all the cables, power supply and assembly tools. It all comes together really easy.

The Nitro drum module contains 40 classic and modern kits and lets you choose from 385 high quality drum, cymbal and percussion sounds. The front panel is even arranged like a kit making it easy to select and change sounds. The module has a USB connection for computers and MIDI In/Out if you wanted to expand the sound possibilities with other gear. Plug in your headphones and add your favourites tracks from your phone via an aux input to play along to.

It’s a great kit, simple, compact with great sounds and a snare that transitions naturally from hits to rimshots. It’s a great first choice.

Street Price: $379
alesis.com

This is a good looking kit that ticks all the right boxes for someone wanting a kit that delivers that perfect feel and expression without having to sell a kidney.

The Crimson II is a 9-piece electronic drum kit with Mesh heads and a solid attitude. The dual-zone snare is 12″ and the dual-zone toms come in at 8″ and 10″ for the floor tom. There are two 12″ crash cymbals and a 14″ triple-zone ride. The hi-hats are 12″ with a pedal and the kick drum is a modest 8″ with plenty of thud. It’s all held together with a premium quick lock chrome 4-post rack with a separate double-braced snare stand so you can really bash out those beats.

The Crimson II Drum Module features 74 drums kits with over 671 sounds and it has a bunch of tracks built in that you can play along to – great for improving your rhythms. It also has a metronome, real time recorder and an aux input for playing along to your phone. With the USB and MIDI ports you could starting taking sounds from your computer or other external devices, or load your own samples via a USB stick.

This is a solid kit that will satisfy the more serious Drummer or ambitious beginner.

Street Price: $999
alesis.com

At the other end of the Alesis scale is the Strike Pro Special Edition, an eleven piece professional electronic drum kit that looks as gorgeous as it sounds. Each drum has a Mesh head with multiple sensors and contact points built into the drum shell. It has the feel and familiarity of an acoustic kit with all the awesome versatility of electronics.

Those multiple sensors give an even sensitivty across the drum avoiding the “hot spot” problem of single sensor drums. The response and sensitivity of the drums can be adjusted right on the drum itself so you can fine tune each one on the fly.

The Strike Performance module features a full color LCD screen for detailed editing of the library of over 1600 multi-sampled instruments and 110 kits. You can even sample, store and add more kits via an SD card slot. The dual -zone snare is an authentic 14″ with four dual-zone toms, four cymbals with a triple-zone ride and dual-zone crashes and a 14″ kick and 12″ movable hi-hats. You also get individual outputs for mixing later in your DAW.

The Strike Pro SE is a top flight kit that provides a wonderful playing experience.

Street Price: $2,599
alesis.com

The TD-1DMK gives you a decent entry into the world of Roland’s well regarded Vdrums technology. It combines the feel of dual-ply mesh headed pads with that distinct Roland sound quality.

The straightforward kit comprises of an 8″ dual-zone mesh snare pad, three 6″ single zone toms, three choke-able 10″ dual-zone cymbals for crash, ride and hit-hat and a bass-drum pad. The stand is easy, compact and keeps everything together and adjustable to get the perfect placement for your reach.

The TD-1 module looks pretty simple and it’s very easy to use for beginners. In fact Roland push this kit as an ideal place to start your lifetime of drumming and include all sorts of educational features. It comes with 15 kits catering for all sorts of music genres, a built in metronome to keep you in time and a whole Coaching section which has some interesting tools to help you improve your playing. There are also 15 songs inside to play along to, or you can always plug your phone it via the auxilary input.

The TD-1DMK is a solid starter point with a premium feel that’s very easy to setup and use. There is a cheaper TD-1K which uses the same sound module but with rubber pads that are nowhere near the level of the mesh pads in the TD-1DMK. It’s worth every cent of the $200 extra.

Street Price: $719
roland.com

While Roland offers various levels of V-Drums kits the TD-27KV hits that mid point perfectly between professional performance and attainable price. This is the real deal in terms of authentic feel, powerful sound modelling and versatile connectivity.

It is just a 5-piece kit but you’re getting the 14″ PD-140DS digital snare drum that looks and feels like the real thing with 3-ply mesh and 8 sensors to capture every nuance of your playing. You get three 10″ PDX mesh toms and a hugely responsive KD-10 kick drum designed for single or double pedals. The 18″ digital ride cymbal is awesome with multiple sensors and the sway of a real cymbal. The other cymbals aren’t bad either with 12″ and 13″ crash cymbals and the VH-10 hi-hat that sits on a real hi-hat stand and works exactly as you’d expect.

The TD-27 module comes with 100 kits, 728 instruments, reverb, compressor, EQ, mic simulation and 30 multi-effects that are all editable. You can create custom kits using the Prismatic Sound Modelling technology derived from the flagship TD-50 to give you control over every shell’s tone and tuning, and every cymbals size and liveliness and then place the mics exactly where it makes the most sense to you.

The module has room to connect three more drum pads, it has MIDI over USB and 28 channels of audio for mixing your performance. You can stream songs to it over Bluetooth and even add your own samples via an SD card. The TD-27KV really does have everything covered.

Street Price: $2,999
roland.com

A recent trend in electronic kits is to move away from the thin pads and weird futuristic kits and towards something more familiar. The Roland VAD706 gives every impression of being an acoustic drum kit, but in fact all the shells are skinned with the same V-Drums technology as their other e-kits. Instead the full sized wood shells lend a presense and bulk to the experience of playing the kit that pads just can’t provide.

The five-piece V-Drums Acoustic Design Kit comes in four different finishes and is run by the extraordinary physical modelling of the TD-50X drum brain. It has multi-layer samples recorded in world-class studios combined with sophisticated behaviour modelling techniques that draws on the decades of experience Roland has building electronic kits.

The sensors in the digital snare, ride and hi-hat lend an authenticity to the response that you won’t feel anywhere outside a real kit. The detection is atomically fast and helps the technology melt away and you simply enjoy playing.

The Roland VAD706 is not going to save you any space, or any money, but it’s the best plugged-in drumming experience you can have.

Street Price: $6,899
roland.com

This is a rough and ready kit that brings great sounds and easy playability to the beginner that embraces modern technology to let you edit your kits and design your own way of learning.

The DTX402K has the best feeling 8″ rubber pads of any rubber kit. And while mesh is better these drums are fast and dynamic for a decent playing experience. The 10″ cymbals can be choked and it all sits on a nicely stable stand with plenty of adjustment.

The DTX Drum module is simplicity itself with 10 buttons for 10 genre based kits. The buttons double up as the training system to get you playing along and improving your rhythm. Via the DTX402 app you can connect to the module and edit your kits from the comfort of your phone choosing from over 400 sounds. It has Song Score Gate and Rhythm Gate features for practicing and fun drum challenges to compete with your Drummer friends.

Although the kit is pretty basic you won’t find the sound quality or editing facilities in any other kit at this price.

Street Price: $499
yamaha.com

Yamaha likes to put the focus on their DTX-PRO module which is renowned for its punch, definition and realism while having a simple, knob-driven interface for easy editing.

With 40 studio-captured preset kits you’ll feel like you’re in the best live room in the world rather than your back bedroom. There are 400 sounds inside with which you can create your own custom and hybrid kits. With three knobs you can control the Ambience, Compression and depth of effect without having to delve into menus.

To go with the professional power of the DTX-Pro module you get an impressive kit that cuts no corners. The XP80 snare gives you 3-zones for head strikes, rimshots and cross-sticks. For the feel Yamaha goes with Textured Cellular Silicone which is designed to feel like a real coated drumhead while being soft and easy on your wrists. The toms have the same technology and the KP90 kick tower is no slouch either. For cymbals you get the PCY135 3-zone ride and crash cymbals and unlike many kits you get a proper hi-hat stand included.

The DTX6K3-X is a solid kit designed for the discerning Drummer but also has plenty of training tools to keep the beginners on the right path in developing their skills.

Street Price: $1,799
yamaha.com