Yamaha EAD10 Drum Module
Function: Hybrid Electric/Acoustic Drum Module
Price: $499.99
Overview: With the brand new EAD10, Yamaha has ushered in a revolutionary approach to micing, recording, and performing acoustic drums live. Using a hybrid of microphones, triggers, and an electronic drum module, the EAD10 takes your acoustic drums and gives you a load of effects, samples and practice tools at your fingertips. The Yamaha EAD10 is so simple, we almost thought there were pieces missing when we opened it up!
Features: At the heart of the Yamaha EAD10 is the drum module/effects processor, or “brain” if you will. A second piece called the Sensor/Microphone mounts on top of your kick drum on the beater side and is equipped with a trigger sensor that picks up the kick, as well as stereo microphones to pick up the rest of the kit. The drum module/effects processor has six inputs for additional triggers and two ¼” outs for stereo output. Setup only takes seconds, and once installed, you can use the EAD10 module to browse 50 preset scenes, 757 sounds (or add your own samples) and add 36 effects to your entire drum kit. The EAD10 ” features an AUX input that allows you to play along or practice to your favorite songs, and also allows you to record WAV files over USB to the unit itself, a USB thumb drive, via USB to your computer, or to a free app Yamaha has provided called “Rec’N’Share”. The Rec’N’Share app allows you to shoot, edit, and upload videos of practice/performance with music tracks from iTunes or Dropbox and easily share them. One of our favorite features was the ability of the Rec’N’Share app to tempo analyze any incoming song, and loop and adjust the speed to practice along to any song.
Sound: The microphone and kick sensor does an incredible job of picking up the entire kit and for smaller to medium-sized rooms, this mic system is absolutely fantastic. We did have a small issue with feedback from the stereo microphones on larger PA systems at first, but if you keep the mic input level low, the microphones capture the entire kit beautifully. In the studio, drums sound incredibly natural and “live” and we would be hard-pressed to find another microphone system that sounds better and is easier to set up. The effects sound fantastic, especially the distortion, reverb, and delays which proved to incredibly useful and tasteful. Some of our favorite presets were “Dirty” and “Arena”. The EAD10 has proven its ability to be a great live tool as well as a must-have for practice and recording, and for the price, should be on any drummer’s radar.
Bottom Line: Great practice, recording, live tool.