2Box DrumIt Three Soundmodul

Nice upgrade for my roland td1-dmk

Pros:
A lot of configuration features
Nice collection of free sounds available on 2Box website, the one included by default are usable too.
Output routing. You can have 4 separate audio routing channels + 2 more from headphones mix.
Universal pad support

Cons:
Very very slow USB transfer speed for updating sounds, make sure you have planned an hour or two for updating the sounds on the module.
Time consuming to configure.
No USB-MIDI, there is DIN-5 MIDI in-out ports, so have to use external MIDI interface.
4GB size is quite OK, but you'll have to spend some time deleting the sounds that you won't probably be using.

Overall I like the module, and has made my old e-drums more playable. The cons can be something you can live with, as you don't configure the module on daily basis, only the early few days of owning it.

Für erfahrene E-Drummer

Ich spiele schon länger E-Drums und bin mit den diversen Triggerparametern usw. sehr vertraut. In den letzten Jahren nutzte ich ein reines VST Setup mit Trigger to MIDI Interface. Irgendwie hat mich das aber zunehmend gestört am PC herumklicken zu müssen und ich habe mich nach der "Einfachheit" eines Modules gesehent.

Das 2Box drumit three (und auch das fast baugleiche drumit five mkII) ist da recht angenehm, da man es mit den Multilayer Samples aus z.b. Superiour Drummer 3 füttern kann, und dann ohne PC und Ladezeiten diese Kits in recht ansprechender Qualität zur Verfügung hat.
Ich erwähne das, weil man für dieses Modul zwar nicht unbedingt jahrelange Erfahrung, aber auf jeden Fall den Spaß an der Beschäftigung mit technischen Geräten mitbringen muss. Es handelt sich um das Gegenteil von ATV Modulen: Hier kommt man ohne Handbuch nicht weit.

Doch:
Das Triggerverhalten ist gut, die Latenz Spitzenklasse und die Kits stehen sofort zur Verfügung (auch bei 1.1 GB großen Kits).
Leider sind die 4GB die hierzu als Speicher zur Verfügung stehen recht knapp für die Möglichkeiten des Modules bemessen, weswegen ich allen die viele Samples importieren wollen eher zum drumit 5 MKII raten würde.

Great potential with some annoying features

I wanted an upgrade for my e-drum sounds after playing for about 10 years with the Roland TD-12. After some investigation, I came to the conclusion that the DrumIt Three would probably be my best option at this point. Roland TD-50 and Pearl Mimic Pro were beyond my budget and I didn't like the sounds of the Roland TD-27 which costs roughly the same as the TD-12 when it was new. Alesis and ATV were somewhat interesting but seemed too limited compared to 2Box. I also didn't feel like using a VST software through MIDI because the setup would be too complex for my taste.

I knew that the DrumIt Three would not be a perfect module in terms of usability and drum-tec's representative was in fact slightly reluctant to recommend it for me when I asked about it, but in the end I wanted to try it out anyway. (As a side note, I felt it was good customer service from them to advise caution and not just try to make me buy expensive things - thanks for that!) So I ordered the module and I think it turned out to be the right choice for me.

I was expecting good sounds and I was not disappointed. The quality of the acoustic samples is much better than anything that the TD-12 could do. After listening to the 2Box, I don't think I can go back to the Roland world that still sounds a bit synthetic most of the time. A minor complaint about the preset samples is that it's hard to mix and match parts of different kits because the samples have different levels of ambience and you can't adjust it in the module. You need to do some work to find or create the right samples for yourself, but on the other hand, the possibilities are almost endless. This is probably the strongest feature of this module and the one that really sets it apart from anything else in the market.

The biggest downside of the module, in my opinion, is that it's not easy to use. In addition to the effort of finding a good set of samples, you need to spend quite a bit of time to find the right trigger settings for your pads and style of playing. This is made even more difficult by the user interface which feels a bit like it was developed in the 1980s. For me, this is not a big issue, but I wouldn't recommend this module to someone who wants something intuitive that works right out of the box. Another slightly annoying thing is the USB functionality: first of all, you need to turn off the module and then turn it on in "USB mode" in which you can transfer files and edit kits on your computer but cannot use the triggers or audio output. Secondly, the connection is first-generation USB and it is s-l-o-w when transferring a large amount of data. Backing up the 4 GB initial setup to my computer took about two hours!

To sum it up, I would say that this is a very good module for people who want high-quality acoustic samples with good customization possibilities, have enough experience to know how to tweak the trigger settings, and are not intimidated by the archaic user interface. This is pretty much the case for me, and I believe I'll have a good time with this module for quite a while.

Top Drum-Modul!

Nachdem ich (seit über 20 Jahren Schlagzeuger) schon über 10 Jahre das Roland TD-12 gespielt hatte, wurde es an der Zeit, mir ein neues, zeitgemäßeres Modul zuzulegen, welches v. a. D. nahezu wie ein A-Set klingen und mir ermöglichen sollte, meine bisherigen Pads (Drum-tec, Roland, Yamaha) benutzen zu können.

Da Roland meines Erachtens klang-mäßig nach wie vor nicht auf der Höhe der Zeit ist, ATV noch nicht ausgereift (wie kann man bei einem DRUM(!)-Modul auf ein Metronom verzichten) und mir das Mimic Pro bezüglich Sounds (zu glatt), Limitierung auf Steven-Slate-Sounds und Preis nicht gefällt, entschied ich mich für das Drumit 3, und habe das auch bis heute, nach ca. einem halben Jahr Benutzung, nicht bereut. Zwar musste ich das Modul einschicken, um einen bekannten Fehler beheben zu lassen, was aber problemlos verlief, und das Modul jetzt einwandfrei funktioniert. Und wenn ich mir demnächst noch eine VST-Software zulegen werde, wird die Hütte so richtig brennen.

Lange Rede, kurzer Sinn; auch wenn noch Luft nach oben ist (deshalb nur 8 Sterne), ist dieses Modul für mich zur Zeit der Goldstandard, wenn man
a) bereits Pads besitzt,
b) authentisch klingende Sounds sucht
und
c) maximale Freiheit in Sachen Sounds (Stichwort VST-Software) haben möchte.