I started with a yamaha DTXplorer, and then bought a Roland TD-12. That's probably a bit beyond your budget though. The alesis stuff is cheap an feels nasty and won't last. If you are just testing out the idea to see if you like drumming then go for it, but you probably should try get a used DTXplorer instead for that price range. If you're serious about drumming then I'd recommend you wait a bit until you can afford something with a mesh head, at least for the snare. You probably don't need mesh toms for drum and bass and breakbeat styles which I guess you'll be looking into, but it's a world of difference when it comes to the snare.

If you live out in the middle of nowhere then you can probably get an acoustic kit for the same price as a cheap electric, and then add triggers which send midi to your DAW. I'd definitely have gone down that hybrid route if I didn't have neighbours (or a sleeping wife) to worry about.

Personally speaking, I wouldn't consider buying anything for under a couple of hundred pounds cos its all just shite. YMMV though. You mentioned realistic feel and for that you need some decent gear at 5 or 10 times your budget. Shit, you cant even get a decent hihat STAND for 200 quid.

I use the alesis USB studio kit with the real head triggers. They feel pretty close to to playing an acoustic kit, and you can put whatever drum heads you prefer on the triggers. Price tag is about 600usd for the whole kit, which is Damn decent for the quality of the kit(the same kit costs almost 1000 more with the brain containing the alesis sound banks). The only thing I would recommend is upgrading to the brass hi hat trigger. The rubber cymbal triggers are fine for a crash or ride, but trying to do intricate rolls on the rubber hats don't provide favorable results.

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i know...i'm willing to spend more, but wanted to know what others thought on the low end no frills and alesis kits. It sounds like the yamaha DTxplorer might be a better option...

it's annoying because there are no music shops that i know that have these set up for you to try...i'm not serious about drumming enough to warrant paying loads, i'm more just wanting to practice on one in my spare time, something that i can eventually 'get good' on...unfortunately i have neighbours and can't go acoustic.

I've thought about learning drums for fun and as a more natural way to improvise beats than tapping on pads or keys. Anyone else got any thoughts on the DTxplorer or other low end drum kits?

no, but i do use this:
http://tactilesounds.blogspot.com/p/...thesizers.html though it's a vst, it sounds realistic as hell

you'll have to sample the kick if you want to make dnb style basslines, but i use it as is for pretty much everything else

to me, sounds just like an 808 (uncontrollable pitch bends between kicks included) and it's even more tweakable

the site also has 909 and other drum synth clones and are pretty good without hogging ram