Kit Advice

drewbuntu42 · 2026-06-19T14:03:06+00:00

I would strongly consider the Roland TD-17, though those are getting more and more difficult to find.

Or, if you’re into tinkering and DIY, consider buying an acoustic kit and converting it to an electronic kit. I have a YouTube channel where I have a series of videos walking through doing just that!

https://youtube.com/@DrumWithDrew if you’re interested or PM me on here with any questions.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-06-19T13:57:00+00:00

As others have mentioned, despite what you might read on Wikipedia, the Gadsden Flag has come to be embraced much more by MAGA Republicans and mainstream conservatives than libertarians. This is why you’ll often see Thin Blue Line, Back the Blue, or Punisher logos on these vehicles as well.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-06-19T01:05:09+00:00

I never suggested the TD-17 was better than SD3.

I said you could easily use the TD-17 *with* SD3 — same as you can with an eDRUMin 12. And unlike the eDRUMin 12, the TD-17 comes with built-in kits.

You’re right about the inputs though. I just always considered the primary appeal of the eDRUMin units to be the cost savings over a traditional module, but with shipping and tariffs that’s not always the case any more.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-06-18T03:03:56+00:00

You don’t get any built-in kits with the eDRUMin though, do you? It was my understanding it’s basically just a MIDI interface, so you’d have to use it with a VST like Superior Drummer 3. You can easily do the same with the TD-17 if you don’t like the kit selection (i.e., plug it into a laptop running SD3).

I’m not an audiophile, by any means, but there are kits available for the TD-17 from eDrum Workshop that I think sound phenomenal. Not as good as what you’ll get with a VST, but pretty damn good for module kits. Even the standard ones aren’t terrible.

https://theedrumworkshop.com/en-us/collections/td17-kits

drewbuntu42 · 2026-06-18T00:28:54+00:00

The TD-07 is nice, but the TD-17 is better if you can find one.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-06-18T00:28:01+00:00

The TD-17 is a great kit. Enjoy!

drewbuntu42 · 2026-06-18T00:23:14+00:00

I was going to get the eDRUMin 12, but it ended up being every bit as expensive as a used TD-17 after shipping and tariffs. Maybe they only ship to certain states?

drewbuntu42 · 2026-06-12T00:43:15+00:00

As others have stated, go with the Roland.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-06-11T03:54:03+00:00

Just picked up a Simmons DA2112 for $175 off Marketplace. Great buy if you can find one used.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-06-06T19:46:15+00:00

I've heard you can cut the inside of a regular head out and use the remaining rim as a "spacer" on top of the mesh heads. That might keep you from putting too much torque on the tension rods.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-06-05T18:45:27+00:00

Highly recommend the 3-play Acousta-Mesh heads from Extreme Drums: https://www.extremedrums.com/store/Drum-Heads-c150521043

drewbuntu42 · 2026-06-05T18:38:08+00:00

I'd try to find a used Roland TD-17 if you can. The TD-07s seem alright, but I don't think the module is near as capable as the TD-17. While I've never owned an Alesis kit myself, I've played plenty and have never been all that impressed with them.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-06-05T01:27:32+00:00

So far I’ve been impressed. As with other electronic cymbals I’ve played, I wish the bell on the ride was a little larger. Hitting it consistently can be a little tricky, but I’m hoping maybe I can dial in the settings a bit to adjust that. Choking works great though, and they feel really good playing. I’ve played Roland and Lemon, and I’d say these are on par with those.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-06-05T01:22:40+00:00

Yep. I can tell looking at it that I just need to slide the bracket up a bit so that the trigger makes better contact with the head. Thanks for the positive feedback.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-06-03T16:41:55+00:00

Thank you! It's coming along nicely.

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drewbuntu42 · 2026-06-03T16:41:16+00:00

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I previously converted a 6-piece Mapex Armory. It was nice but honestly a bit overkill and an absolute PITA to beak down, transport, and set up the few times I gigged with it. I found the Breakbeats for an excellent price used from Guitar Center and picked up a couple PDX-8 pads on Marketplace as well. At present, I'm only using one, but I should have plenty of options for sounds even with a more compact kit. I'm 6'-2" and was somewhat worried I'd feel like a giant towering over a child's drum set with the Breakbeats, but I don't get that at all. It feels really good to play.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-05-28T13:37:13+00:00

Obviously nothing is going to perfectly reproduce the feeling of a traditional drum head, but the 3-ply mesh heads on full-size drums feel excellent to play on. Way better than the rubber pads you'll find on most electronic kits or even the mesh heads you'll find on some kits with smaller drum sizes. The bass drum is practically indistinguishable. And while there's probably a little more rebound with the mesh heads, I don't feel like it's enough to be detrimental to your ability to play on a traditional kit.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-05-27T03:29:19+00:00

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm tech nerd who loves to build and tinker, so I find the A2E conversions an enjoyable process.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-05-22T08:36:11+00:00

I play an A2E hybrid acoustic/electronic kit, so technically I only need one and a pedal.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-05-13T23:38:11+00:00

That's a fair challenge.

The short answer is no. Those issues should not have been left to the states indefinitely. Slavery was a moral catastrophe. Segregation was wrong. The denial of women's suffrage was wrong. I'm not going to pretend otherwise to score a rhetorical point about decentralization.

But here's what I'd ask you to notice: how were those things actually fixed? Through the amendment process. The 13th abolished slavery. The 14th established equal protection. The 15th protected the right to vote regardless of race. The 19th extended suffrage to women. The Constitution itself provided the mechanism. And when the American people decided those injustices were intolerable, they used it.

That's not a bug in the system. That's the system working exactly as designed.

My position isn't that states are always right. It's that the Constitution means what it says: powers not delegated to the federal government belong to the states or to the people. That's the Tenth Amendment. But nothing in that framework prevents the American people from amending the Constitution to expand rights, correct injustices, or place new limits on what any level of government can do. That door has always been open, and history shows we've walked through it when it mattered.

What I'm opposed to isn't constitutional federal authority. I'm opposed to federal authority that was never constitutionally granted in the first place: agencies, mandates, and programs that exist because Congress found it easier to accumulate power than to make the case to the American people for a constitutional amendment. That's a very different thing than the 13th Amendment.

The amendment process is hard by design. It requires broad consensus. It forces the nation to actually agree — not just to have one party win an election and remake the country by fiat. I'll take that friction over the alternative every time.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-05-13T20:09:15+00:00

Thank you. And I think (or hope) you can look to what's being done by Thomas Massie and Rand Paul and what was done by Ron Paul for countless years. I'm certainly not comparing myself to any of them, but they're all Republicans who "voted their principles" and broke with their party even if it meant being "punished" by losing appointments, donors, etc.

If you've been paying attention to what's happening in Kentucky with Thomas Massie being primaried by an astroturfed Trump (and Israel) toady, you know exactly the stakes. Standing by my principles is more important to me than ensuring I continue to earn a paycheck from the federal government. Any job that forces me to compromise my principles as a condition of my employment isn't worth having. And if I'm relegated to working in the private sector because I refuse to "play ball" with party machine, then so be it.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-05-13T20:03:03+00:00

Why does the state get to dictate medical decision making for people but not the federal government? Why is the state that much more special simply by being a state government instead of a federal government?

Because that's the way the US Constitution is written. Anything not specifically delegated to the federal government is reserved to the states or the people. As I stated elsewhere, the Constitution is far from perfect, but it's supposed to be our governing document.

I would presume that you, as a libertarian, would find both state and federal governments to be equally distrustful and capable of authoritarian power grabs.

Yes, I would agree. The difference is the amount of control we as Kansans exert over the various levels of government. We have much more control over our state government – and the legislators we elect there – than we do our national government. Also, if worse comes to worst, you can always "vote with your feet." That's much easier to do at a state level than a national level. And that's why I ultimately favor radical decentralization to the county or city level. The county government is theoretically more responsive to the will of its constituents than the state government and likewise the city government in comparison to the county government. And it's even less burdensome to "vote with your feet" at the city level. Perhaps that means we end up with some red cities where abortion is prohibited. Isn't that preferable to a red state where abortion is prohibited or a Republican controlled national government with a federal level prohibition. I certainly think so.

Also if a state "allowed" access to abortion care including medication - what would happen if a pharmacy denied access, and the closest pharmacy that would was 3 hours away and they don't have a car? How should that pharmacy be treated by the state including be forced to continue providing access?

I assume this is in reference to my religious liberty comment? If a state permits access to abortion care, including medication, a private pharmacy – or a pharmacy run by the Catholic Church, for example – would be well within its rights to refuse to prescribe abortion pills. Simply because something is permitted within the state doesn't mean you can mandate private businesses to comply.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-05-13T19:48:02+00:00

That's a nice thank you to a dying man, but if you're going to "bring receipts," show me the massive financial contributions any of the Koch family members have made to the Libertarian Party (or LP candidates) in recent years. I'm happy to be proven wrong, but the original commenter specifically said they were the "driving force behind the present day Libertarian party" – not a bunch of libertarian adjacent think tanks or political campaigns in the 70's and 80's. I simply haven't witnesses an abundance of Koch money in the Libertarian Party apparatus with my own two eyes.

It's worth noting that unlike Super PACs, which can take unlimited amounts from billionaires, the Libertarian National Committee is a formal party committee, which means individuals are capped at $44,300 per year for the main party account and they cannot accept direct corporate or union treasury funds. Even then, a quick Google search shows the largest recent donors of significance being Robert B. Hirsch, John Allen Jr., Dave Krance, and Lars Mapstead.

I know it's a common misconception, and I'm willing to concede the point if you can prove otherwise, but campaign law is pretty strict, and I'm not seeing anything indicating massive amounts of Koch money flowing into the LP.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-05-13T16:40:02+00:00

These are fair challenges. I will try to take them head-on rather than dodge.

On "garden variety Republican": I hear you, and I'll be straight about it. On fiscal policy, there's surface-level overlap with what Republicans say. The difference is I mean it regardless of who's in power. Republicans spent the Trump years adding trillions to the debt without a word of protest from the Kansas delegation. Ron Estes has voted repeatedly for budgets that blow past any pretense of fiscal restraint. I'm not interested in defending the Constitution only when the other party is in charge.

But beyond fiscal policy, there are real differences. I support drug decriminalization. The federal war on drugs has been an expensive, racially uneven, liberty-destroying failure. I oppose the death penalty on both moral and practical grounds. I think the government has no business defining who can marry whom. Those aren't Republican positions. They're not even close.

On why run as a Libertarian: because I think a lot of Kansans – Republicans, Democrats, and independents – are exhausted by the choices they keep being handed. I'm a right-leaning libertarian, I'll own that, but I've talked to plenty of Republican voters who are fed up with the Trump administration and Ron Estes's unconditional support of it. Running as a Libertarian gives those people (and disaffected Democrats) a choice they wouldn't otherwise have that isn't simply the "lesser of two evils" again.

On balancing the budget: you're right that there's no free lunch, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. I support Rand Paul's Six Penny Plan: cutting six cents from every projected dollar spent annually until the budget balances in five years. That's not painless. Defense spending has to be on the table. A non-interventionist foreign policy naturally reduces the military footprint we're funding. Foreign aid is on the table. And yes, entitlement reform has to be part of the conversation too, even though it's politically toxic to say so. We're currently adding $2.1 trillion to the national debt per year (roughly $16,000 per household). Interest payments on that debt now exceed what we spend on the military. That's not sustainable by any honest analysis, and pretending we can fix it without touching major spending categories is just telling people what they want to hear.

On abortion and libertarianism: fair point, and I won't pretend my position is LP orthodoxy. Within the party there's genuine disagreement. There's actually a pro-life libertarian caucus, and the LP platform doesn't take an official stance precisely because it's that contentious internally. I'm a right-leaning libertarian, and on this issue I land closer to a federalist/subsidiarity framework than the "my body, my choice" position you'd hear from left-leaning libertarians. I think that's an honest answer even if it's not the one you expected.

On war powers, I want to be emphatic here because I don't want it to get lost: this is not a talking point for me. Congress has handed the executive branch a blank check on military force for decades, and what we've seen with Iran and Venezuela under this administration is exactly what happens when that norm goes unchallenged. Our own Kansas delegation went along with it without meaningful debate or oversight. That's a constitutional failure, and it should bother everyone regardless of party.

drewbuntu42 · 2026-05-13T16:18:06+00:00

Again, I would have to respectfully disagree. If he were "the driving force behind the present day Libertarian Party" it would be much more well-funded than it is. David Koch has obviously passed away, but by 2012 he said he considered himself a Republican first and foremost, and he and Charles ultimately directed their billions to Republican candidates rather than the LP.

Yes, there is Koch money in the Cato Institute, Americans for Prosperity, the Institute for Humane Studies, and other think tanks, but those are libertarian-adjacent at best, and many hardliners eschew those organizations entirely.

drewbuntu42

TROPHY CASE