Drum Xtreme
© 2003 Pacific Digital
This electronic drum set comes in a heavy box and takes about 2 hours to set up with the included screwdriver. It plugs into the USB port of a Windows computer, with sound output coming from the speakers or headphones. Components include five pads (a snare, high hat, two toms and a crash symbol), plus a bass pedal, a sturdy rack, two drumsticks, and two CDs (one with software, the other a music disk). When fully setup, the set is rather large, but it folds down to an easily storable size. The software is clunky but usable. Besides the drum tutorial, there are 14 different programmable sets of sounds to play with, including Latin, Chinese, Japanese, electronic, hard rock and cartoons. Experienced drummers will be impressed with the sensitivity of the pads. We wanted to upload our own sound files, but could not find an obvious way to do so. This could be a viable practice option for a music student, or even a substitute for a real drum set, providing you have a computer. The biggest advantage is that it doesn't need to be loud as long as headphones are used; which might be relief to parents.
$149, Windows
Teaches: music, percussion, drums, rhythm, creativity