Ion iED01 Electronic Drum Set with Drum Machine Review

Summary:
Its more than a month since I bought this. I have bought this as a birthday present for my little girl. But it is MUCH BETTER THAN A TOY. Now, I play this almost daily atleast for 5 minutes, just because I LOVE THIS. TO ME THIS IS A GREAT DRUM SET. I have not even started looking into the features of the drum controller. I don’t know, may be not for professionals on stage or recording. But definitely great at home & practice.

About Me: (so that you know how many pinches of salt you need to add to my review)
I am not a trained Jazz drummer, but I am a percussionist trained in Eastern percussion instruments(Tabla for those who know). I used to play in bands(not in US). So trust me, I may not be an expert about Jazz Drums, but I am not bad either .

Purchase: I did’nt buy this from amazon. I was looking for a good drums as my daughters birthday present. I didnt buy this one earlier because of the negative reviews I have read. So thinking that at a slightly higher price, I maybe able to find a decent ones, I went around few local drums & musical instruments shops. The cheapest electronic drum I found was 9. So, I decided to sacrifice my desire for a good one and make the 3year old happy(for whom this was originally intended). From my earlier visits, I knew that my local target store had this @ 9. To my luck this one was marked down to 0 on the day. But Trust me, It is a Great one even at the full price.

Why the review:
The negative review kept me away from this in the first place. After a month of use, i feel this is not as bad it is seen in many other reviews. Thats the reason why I decided to write this review(Now I am shopping around for the extra pads). I am giving it a 5 stars even with the minor gripes i have listed below because its well worth the money.

The good:
- Very much affordable even at the full price. Much lower than any other electronic drum set.
- Comes with an excellent Drum machine which has tons of options as per the user guide. I didnt get time to explore them though.
- The drum machine(controller) has 9 inputs and one hihat and one kick pedal controller for expansion.

Not bad, but could be improved:
- Frame. Not Rock Solid. It does’nt wobble when I play the drum. But my 3year old girl can still turn the pads with my bare hands even when the nuts are tightened well. again, NOT BAD, but could be improved.
- The pads are not sensitive enough to be used as a hand percussion. Ofcourse this is not sold as a hand percussion, but JUST MY GRIPE.
- Looks. Circular PADS could have been better ! RIM could have helped with Rim Shot to get the feel of real drum. If the shape of cymbals and the Hi Hats could have been closer, the Looks could have improved drastically. Ofcourse they sell a seperate crash cymbals as an optional accessory.
- Tangling cables. The cables could have been arranged better if they are routed through the frame. you can tie it to the frame using a velcro, Wrap & Twist or something similar. But cables routed through the frame would have been an excellent cleanup.

The bad:
- Why only 5 pads in the standard package ? Atleast 6 pads are needed if not 7. With 5 pads your drums ends with 2 Tom-Toms. A bell and claps(smaller pads) could have been great. Ofcourse maybe at a slightly higher price or as an optional accessory pack ? the extra 2 pads are at . I am now in amazon to buy that one .
- The Kick Pedals give the plastic-ky feel. Slight touch is enough to trigger the pedal. If you practice on this and get on a real drum, your kicks will never reach the real drum. I am thinking of trying the do-it-yourself moddding someone else has mentioned in the review.
- The sticks are loud when they hit the pad !!! I did a quick fix myself by wrapping a small piece of cloth at the tip. It is better now, but not good still. Maybe a silicone tipped stick could be better on this one.

Ion iED01 Electronic Drum Set with Drum Machine Feature

• Electronic drum set with 5 drum pads, 2 foot switches, drum machine, headphones, and cables
• Snare pad, 2 tom-tom pads, cymbal pad, and high-hat pad; kick drum and open high-hat foot switches
• iDM01 drum machine delivers 233 natural drum sounds and 50 preset rhythm patterns
• Dynamic Articulation function adjusts tone to match drummer’s intensity; includes drumsticks
• Auxiliary output cables for direct stereo or PA connection; 90-day warranty

Ion iED01 Electronic Drum Set with Drum Machine Overview

The iED01 drum kit features everything you need to start playing drums right out of the box. The kit includes headphone so you can practice privately and auxiliary output cables for when it’s time to get loud. The drum machine includes 233 natural drum sounds and 50 preset rhythm patters, to be sure to keep things interesting. Our exclusive Dynamic Articulation feature enables a drum sound to change its tonal content as it’s played harder for truly realistic performances. Expand the drum set with our drum pad accessory kit (iDP01) and the optional drum throne (iDT01) for the maximum experience.

Ion iED01 Electronic Drum Set with Drum Machine Specifications

Equipped with everything you need to play drums right out of the box, the Ion iED01 electronic drum set is ideal for beginning or intermediate drummers. The pads range from a single snare pad and two tom-tom pads to a cymbal pad and a high-hat pad, each of which sounds crisp and powerful. The kick drum and open high-hat foot switches, meanwhile, help drummers lay down a solid rhythm. The pads and switches are coordinated by the iDM01 drum machine, which delivers 233 natural drum sounds and 50 preset rhythm patterns to keep things interesting. And thanks to the exclusive Dynamic Articulation function, the harder a drummer pounds, the more the tone changes, resulting in a truly realistic performance.

Drummers will also dig the headphones, which let players perfect their chops in privacy (a must for small homes or apartments), and the auxiliary output cables, which connect directly to a stereo or PA system for seriously loud drumming. The kit also comes with a single set of drumsticks and all the necessary cables, and is backed by a 90-day warranty.

What’s in the Box
One snare drum pad, two tom-tom pads, one cymbal pad, one high-hat pad, one kick-drum foot switch, one open high-hat foot switch, one set of drum sticks, one iDM01 drum machine, and headphones.

Available at Amazon Check Price Now!

Related Products

• Ion IDP01 Drum Pad Extension Kit
• Zildjian 5AND 5a Nylon Dip Drumsticks
• Ion IDT01 iDT01 Height Adjustable, Single Braced Drum Throne
• Ion Cymbal for IED01 and IED04
• Pacific Drums and Percussion 700 Series Drum Throne

Customer Reviews

Don’t waste your time - J. Howard -
I bought this for my son for christmas. It worked for 30 minutes. I contacted Ion-audio and was on hold for 20 minutes. They did offer to repair the module but it would take 7-8 weeks. I went to amazon and this item cannot be exchanged because it is out of stock even though it is still available to be purchased. Thanks guys and Merry Christmas!!

Can’t beat the value! (pun intended) - Jaytee - Cincinnati, OH USA
Purchased this unit for my teen son. He has a standard set but we needed something he could play anytime of the day or night without disturbing the rest of the family. We’ve been shopping electronic sets for a little while but not ready to commit to the high price of the systems we liked. This Ion iED01 set meets the immediate need perfectly. It doesn’t have the high-end sounds and features the 00 sets have, obviously — but this set is a great option for pad practice. My son loves it and he plays it almost everyday. It was very easy to setup initially and easy to adjust and expand upon. This system comes with a drum machine that alone is worth the purchase price! Set is a bit small but big enough even for a full grown adult player to enjoy. Set came with everything needed — stand, pads, cords, power supply, drum machine, sticks and even a nice set of headphones. All you need is a throne or chair.

Can Be Improved With Serious Modifications - Timothy D. Dailey - Ringwood, NJ USA
Many good reviews here cover all the pros and cons of this modest budget drum set. I posted this to share my
modding experiences with those willing and able to do so. The power supply for the IEd01 is really mediocre -
I found that false triggering, hum, and backround noise were all greatly improved by cutting the unit over to an
external power supply. Any number of old LCD panel supplies or external drive supplies will work for you. On mine,
I installed a female nine pin “D” connector on the back near the original 9VAC jack and put a male on the power
supply from an old LCD monitor with the appropriate specs. Plus and minus 12vdc(for the audio chips), and a 5 bv
logic supply which the onboard supply regulates down to 3.3vdc. The othr big issue is trying third party or home
made trigger pads. I made a snare pad out of a REMO practice pad, and two cymbals by adding piezo units to cheap
Ebay 10 inch cymbals. The trick is - this unit has no sensitivity or level adjustments for the trigger signal! So
you have to physically modify the trigger pad to produce the signal level it wants to see. I found using the larger
piezos - 35mm - which are used inside the factory pads are the best bet. You will have to experiment with the
amount of resilient material behind or in front of the piezo.

Good for novices, not for anyone else. - Anjel - Chicago, IL
The Ion iED01 is exactly what it looks like: a very simple, bare-bones electronic set. There is nothing flashy or glamorous about it. It offers five pads: one to act as snare, one to act as a cymbal, two as tom-toms, and the hi-hat. You can mix and match, replacing the pads wires to different plug-ins on the module to function customize what the pads will play. The module box really doesn’t offer flexibility on doing anything except playing. It does have plug-ins for PAs or if you’d like to record on a computer, but beyond that if you have recording intentions, the Ion iED01 isn’t going to cut it.

The sensitivity of the pads are questionable. Subtle taps will barely be recognized, and doing rolls will likely go unheard as the module box can only handle so much at once. Simple beats will be fine, but trying to go complex on the module box will cause hits to skip. This is NOT recommended for experienced drummers. The drum samples are decent, but misleading on how many sound sets it actually has. Many of them sound way too similar to be claimed different.

It’s also hard to really recommend this set for anything over 0 (I paid less as it was an end-of-life product at the store I bought it from). It’s a fair sized set, but the parts are also very cheap. The bar that holds the clamps for three of the pads have no hold or sort of traction and will often slide down. I had to use a windowsill to make the sticks holding the pads keep the bar from sliding.

Still, if you’re on a tight budget and want something to practice with or you simply want to try out drumming quietly, the Ion iED01 will meet that goal. Anything else…well…save your cash for the bigger, better boys.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Feb 08, 2010 05:30:09

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