Donner Ded-200 Review

World tool producer Donner bolsters its drum equipment line with the DED-200, an reasonably priced and flexible digital drum equipment that rests squarely in the midst of the corporate’s lineup. However do drummers sacrifice to hand options on the expense of a wallet-friendly ticket? Uncover extra in our Donner DED-2oo evaluation.

If you need an reasonably priced electrical drum equipment that comes with the whole lot you wish to have out of the field, then the Donner DED-200 suits the invoice. In contrast to many competition, the package deal features a drum throne, unmarried bass pedal, stressed out on-ear headphones, drumsticks, and a 2m jack cable for mono output. Even if the instruction guide isn’t all the time transparent, meeting is simple. All in all, it took me somewhat greater than half-hour to position it in combination. The incorporated L-rods and rotating mounts made it simple to place the pads the place I sought after them. 5 velcro straps are incorporated for securing the free cables to the four-post rack. The drum equipment can be hooked up to an exterior speaker device, any stressed out headphones, or a USB MIDI tool corresponding to a legitimate card or audio interface. When recording with the latter, you’ll map the MIDI outputs for each and every pad immediately from the module’s settings menu.

For the fee, the Donner DED-200 performs effectively. As an example, the nylon heads at the snare and toms be offering a extra herbal reaction than rubber pads. The encompassing lugs can be adjusted with the drum key to extend or lower the strain in your choice. The 6.5-inch rubber bass tower responds neatly to the felt beater and is big sufficient to connect a double bass pedal if desired. The cymbal edges may also be squeezed to recreate cymbal chokes, and the cymbal tops produce a crisper, extra pronounced sound than the perimeters when hit. The hi-hat keep watch over pedal works neatly to distinguish obviously between closed, faucet, and open sounds. The twin-zone snare pad includes a rim sensor that may be struck to play cross-stick samples. Like the remainder of the drum equipment, the snare rim boasts sensitivity and speed parameters to breed a extra herbal sound.

You’ll make a choice from 31 other drum equipment presets, although the default “Pop” and “Usual” kits are essentially the most lifelike sounding. However, you’ll create a customized setup beneath the “Consumer” preset if you wish to hone your sound. Whilst there’s best house to avoid wasting one distinctive equipment, you’ll pick out between 30 drum voices to use to each and every pad. As soon as decided on, the module supplies an inventory of in-depth settings and changes corresponding to pad quantity, sensitivity, pan, pitch, speed, threshold, “XTalk threshold,” and repeat triggers. I discovered the sensitivity and threshold parameters to be to hand property. Adjusting the previous influences how loud the pad sounds in line with how difficult you strike. The latter dictates how difficult or cushy you should play for the pad to sign in your hit.

The module additionally gives bass and treble dials for tuning the general EQ of the equipment. The default environment at 12 o’clock is nice when the use of the headphones equipped, however I had to alter them when connecting to my amplifier. There may be a grasp quantity dial and an “Atmosphere” dial for making use of reverb to the entire equipment. The module helps 3 training classes: Time Take a look at, Quiet Depend, and Auto U/D. Time Take a look at is to hand for training timekeeping, whilst Quiet Depend measures your talent to carry time with out a metronome. The Auto U/D characteristic steadily will increase and reduces the pace. The parameters for those classes may also be adjusted within the settings menu.

My major criticism in regards to the Donner DED-200 is the consumer enjoy equipped via the module. As an example, there is not any capability for renaming the drum equipment presets, together with the one “Consumer” equipment. Moreover, the 50 playable songs don’t have any titles constructed into the module. As a substitute of showing at the LED display screen, I needed to check with the instruction guide to discover a record in their related genres. Additionally, the metronome isn’t built-in with the songs. Whilst they technically run the similar pace, the robust beat one click on is not going to essentially fit beat one of the most bar. That is irritating, as the ones short of to apply their timekeeping and improvisation abilities concurrently will combat with out those two options running harmoniously.

Running the module additionally took some being used to. As an example, the menu button turns out to serve as because the input button, whilst the input button does little or no. The training classes are to hand however best labored correctly when taking part in on a unmarried pad. This may well be used for training rudiments however struggles to sign in drum grooves neatly. You’ll toggle the information drums off and on when taking part in again the songs, however there is not any devoted possibility for activating a metronome. It is usually unimaginable to cross-consign explicit pad sounds to different pads. As an example, you can’t observe a trip cymbal pattern to the second one crash. As a substitute, you need to switch the pads’ jack cables and assign your preferred pattern.

The sensible implications of the adjustable pad parameters are hit-and-miss. Whilst adjusting the pitch of each and every pad can be nice for recording the drums in a specific key, there is not any transparent measure for what word you might be pitching the drums to. Making use of panning to each and every pad too can help in making the drums sound higher in your combine. Alternatively, it’s complicated that central panning is ready to quantity 64, whilst hard-left is 0 and hard-right is 127. All the way through trying out, I additionally discovered that adjusting the rate made little noticeable distinction to the audio sign. The repeat cause adjustment additionally made an excessively marginal distinction to the output. Donner additionally added an “XTalk threshold” characteristic. I had no cross-over problems after setup, however this can be utilized to forestall different sensors from choosing up vibrations when hanging different within sight pads.

The module’s “atmosphere” dial applies reverb to the grasp output. Sadly, there are best 5 synthetic-sounding presets to make a choice from. There may be no option to assign the reverb impact to a unmarried pad, such because the snare drum. It is because the module does now not permit personally attributed results channels. This can be because of a reminiscence limitation, given the module’s recording button can best retailer your most up-to-date take. There’s no menu for storing and naming a couple of recordings, and you can’t file a drum take performed to the metronome or one of the most integrated songs. The bass and treble dials are helpful, however there is not any option to see what frequencies you might be adjusting or via what quantity. There may be no dial for adjusting the playback quantity of exterior media hooked up by means of the aux enter, and the mono output does now not mechanically mute while you plug in headphones.

The on-ear headphones are welcome however could cause ear fatigue when used over lengthy sessions. The scarf is tight, the padding is company, and the ear cups have little maneuverability. Their 1.2m cable period is brief in comparison to different stressed out headphones available on the market, such because the Roland RH-5. This may be true for the facility provide, which has a cable period of simply 1.5m. Having so little cable period makes it tough to place the drum equipment in case you wouldn’t have get admission to to an extension wire.

In any case, the drumsticks equipped are usable however are significantly lighter than their branded opponents. As an example, a couple of Vic Firth 5A’s weigh 48g each and every. By means of comparability, the in a similar way sized Donner sticks weigh simply 41g each and every. The wooden additionally feels affordable and lacks any type of lacquer to offer protection to it from sweat.

How does the Donner DED-200 sound?

The Donner DED-200 boasts good-sounding audio for the fee tag. Like nearly all digital drum kits, the DED-200 does now not sound like an acoustic equipment. Alternatively, maximum rookies will to find the vast record of to be had pre-saved kits satisfying and a laugh to make use of. Every of the DED-200’s integrated kits is aptly named after the genres they’re modeled on. As an example, the Funk equipment embellishes a crisp-sounding hi-hat, whilst the Steel equipment includes a cymbal. Most often talking, the cymbals all decay effectively.

Beneath are 3 recordings of the similar groove performed the use of the Pop, Usual, and Funk drum equipment presets. I recorded each and every pattern in stereo the use of the 2 1/4-inch (6.35mm) outputs at the again panel of the module.

Donner DED-200 Pop drum equipment pattern

To exhibit the DED-200’s panning characteristic, I altered the panning parameters of each and every pad apart from the bass drum: particularly, I panned the snare drum to 80, the hi-hat to 96, the high-tom to 78, the mid-tom 32, the ground tom to twenty, crash one to 115, the trip to twenty, and crash two to ten.

The Donner DED-200 performs effectively and has sufficient integrated options for many rookies. The twin-zone snare provides further probabilities for enjoying cross-stick grooves, and the bass pedal and hi-hat keep watch over reply neatly. Alternatively, the loss of larger customization and module controls leaves a lot to be desired. As an example, the Alesis Nitro Mesh prices beneath $400 and provides 20 customizable consumer kits, 60 play-along tracks with metronome, hi-hat splash sensitivity settings, MIDI in/out, two cause inputs for extra cymbal and tom, and 60 loose classes from Melodics.

However, the DED-200 is a superb spouse for purchasing to grips with the basics of drumming and recording. The on-board classes can lend a hand give a boost to timekeeping, and the preset kits supply get admission to to an inventory of a laugh drum voices. The USB MIDI output makes it simple to play digital tools in actual time and to file velocity-sensitive drums into your DAW. Whilst there is not any dial for controlling the aux enter quantity, it’s nice that you’ll play alongside in your favourite songs.

Like maximum lower-end electrical kits, the DED-200 does be afflicted by the machine-gunning impact (led to via an identical sounding drum samples when performed in speedy succession). If you need an e-kit that provides extra lifelike sound high quality with out breaking the financial institution, then the Roland TD-02KV ($599.99 at Amazon) could also be higher. For $599, the TD-02KV supplies 16 decent-sounding kits, a complete integrated metronome, training classes, and the power so as to add wi-fi audio/MIDI streaming with the BOSS Bluetooth Audio MIDI Twin Adaptor.

If you need an digital drum equipment with an in depth tool library, vast dynamic vary, and bigger customization, you could have to fork out more money on a higher-end drum equipment. The Donner DED-200’s energy lies in offering the entire equipment you wish to have out of the field. In the long run, it sacrifices complex options for affordability.