Any thoughts on circuit Bending with this ?

Cheap enough that it might be worth it just to tear it apart and see.

Hmmm

Keep in mind, that at $20 (shipping included), these are about $3 more than most (decent) drum sticks, nevermind drums.

DotX wrote:Perfect! my gawddaughter's mother just pissed me off. Payback in the form of birthday present. Muhahahahehehoho

Ancient Chinese Proverb:
"If thine enemy offend thee, give his child a drum."

tentoesover wrote:This looks like a great deal, $49.99 on Amazon. Reviews are varied. I'm in for one for the kids http://www.amazon.com/First-Act-Electronic-Drums-MI115/product-reviews/B001D2CW6Y/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

The reviews all say it's a toy, and to stock up on rechargeable batteries (it uses 5)

kramerd wrote:Keep in mind, that at $20 (shipping included), these are about $3 more than most (decent) drum sticks, nevermind drums.

Where are you shopping for drumsticks???

kramerd wrote:Keep in mind, that at $20 (shipping included), these are about $3 more than most (decent) drum sticks, nevermind drums.

I'm not quite sure what point this is trying to make... but $17 for one pair of drum sticks is exorbitant. 8 or 9 bucks maximum will get you a premium pair.

Does this work with Rock Band?

oio wrote:Does this work with Rock Band?

No output jacks other than headphone, so no.

DotX wrote:Perfect! my gawddaughter's mother just pissed me off. Payback in the form of birthday present. Muhahahahehehoho

I was thinking along the same lines. Make sure you head over to kids.woot and pick up the harmonica to go with this. What could be better revenge than a kid with a harmonica and a drum set.

For $20 this is better then the 11 month old banging on the pans and for the 8 year old he can use headphones.

jmunger wrote:Does this seriously not plug in? It's batteries only?

You could hardwire a 6VDC adapter?

You should only get this if you have a kid who wants a drum set and you're not sure if they'll stick with it. It's a good way to avoid investing too much right off the bat.

If you're an adult and considering buying this for yourself...DON'T. It's way too small. If you're serious about getting into drums, buy an actual full-size acoustic or digital kit, not a table top one. If you wanna go all out, I'd advise getting a DTXpress by Yamaha.

First Act is a kid brand. This set is way too small to really do anything with unless you're a kid. You'll get bored with it fast.

HawkSlayer wrote:Here's a video of the nerd king reviewing this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T9vj55Q8oY

Don't forget part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0PQgnSjnxg&feature=related

Wow. Boo Woot for selecting such a poor quality product. Waste.

Where's the Cymbals?
No Cymbals.... No drum set.

bsmith1 wrote:Takes AA batts? That's sorta inconvenient for around the house. I suppose if you plan on playing it outdoors it makes sense. Good for pan handling, I reckon.

Just means portable - which is what you probably want this to be - "Get out of here with that!"....

Use rechargeable batteries. If you havent started doing this yet - your just paying too much for regular batteries and hurting environment (but you probably are doing this already and being good and green ;) )

grampella wrote:Amazon sells these for 4X this price , and they get good reviews.

Use to play the drums - it will never match the real thing - but its fun. I would still if I could play them... sigh. This is prob used to 'spark interest' and then the real expense begins once its ignited... drums, lessons, being labeled a geek in school for being in the band (though better than any other instrument) - you got big sticks).

remisser wrote:No line out means you can't attach this to speakers or to a computer which is a big deal-breaker for me.

It has headphone outputs which means that it can be attached to speakers and your computer.

bongosolo wrote:Ancient Chinese Proverb:
"If thine enemy offend thee, give his child a drum."

Are you sure that's Chinese? It sounds more like an I Love Lucy episode. I think the Chinese would have said, "give his child firecrackers!"

Any time I see computer drums I think of when ZZ Top went back and remixed and remastered all of their old albums, replacing the drum tracks with awful-sounding computer drums. It completely ruined the songs.

I'm sure Frank Beard would love these.

perf1 wrote:Close, but not really...Unless you put the square pad pegs into the round pad holes, would it sound the same?

Actually, I addressed that here.

I asked why the photo here is different from the manual's illustration. The dilemma comes from the fact that the Manufacturer and model numbers are identical but the illustration and photos are not.

This thing looks like it is actually the FD115 (Product manual) rather than the MI117 (Product manual).

And, yes, this requires batteries unless you're comfortable wiring a proper wall wart onto the battery leads.

dunsparrow wrote:The poor guy that posted that review is now set to receive some undesired attention. :[

I feel bad for that guy that recorded that video... it really gives a bad name to band members... but for $15? It's worth a shot I think... if nothing else then give to charity.

I used to sell instruments for a living. Anything from First Act is a subpar product. They shouldn't even be allowed to call their products "musical instruments."

I have one and it worked great for learning time signatures, but I went into it knowing it was a plastic desktop toy. If you really think you are getting some amazing product for this price you might want to think again ;)

bongosolo wrote:Where are you shopping for drumsticks???

Your link is "down for maintenance".

bongosolo wrote:Ancient Chinese Proverb:
"If thine enemy offend thee, give his child a drum."

Ancient Mexican dicho, "tough maracas, comadre!"

I've seen all negative reviews on this drum set. Buy it with caution :-)

JenDupre wrote:Badum-ching!!!!!

Ha ha! Perfect. :-D

Checked it out on the web...Needs 5 AA batts ONLY? Seems a little painful to me. Just my .02
Unless you have rechargeables, but still.

cheroke55 wrote:You could hardwire a 6VDC adapter?

My husband did that for our baby swing that did not come with an adapter - BRILLIANT! He did go to college for electrical engineering though - so to him it was easy & I knew he could do it safely. I have NO clue how hard/easy - safe/dangerous such an undertaking might be.....

bongosolo wrote:You mean busking? No, for a couple of reasons.
1 - You won't get a good quality sound out of this TOY.
2 - You won't get a loud enough sound out of this TOY.
3 - You won't be able to actually play this TOY as if it were an instrument.

And,
It's a TOY.

But, it could work if the sign next to your hat said,

"Help me buy a real drum kit!"

remisser wrote:No line out means you can't attach this to speakers or to a computer which is a big deal-breaker for me.

The headphone slot is a line out.

I'm considering getting these just to put them through my guitar amp and use its shiny modulation effects to annoy the hell out of everyone I will ever meet.

DotX wrote:Your link is "down for maintenance".

It's working fine now...

Perfect gift to discourage your child from playing the drums.

pure junk...the comments about the impact noise being louder than the drum sounds are spot on. makes as much "drum" sound when it's off as it does on.

I bought this for my 14 year old daughter for Christmas. The good news is that it was $39.99 so $14.99 is a good deal. The bad news is it is crap and I took it back and got my money back. It just didn't sound good. Another note is it was missing the battery cover for the back. I called customer service and they were very helpful; said no they didn't have any battery covers and the product wasn't very good and I should take it back. It's a shame because I would love to have something like this for my daughter.

This is on Woot? What's on Kids Woot, then? BTW, the First Act drums sell for about $7.99 @ Goodwill; Target sells pallet loads of their unsold merchandise to GW.

bowdogmusic wrote:I used to sell instruments for a living. Anything from First Act is a subpar product. They shouldn't even be allowed to call their products "musical instruments."

I grabbed a First Act LP-style guitar for super cheap on clearance (25 I think) from an unnamed evil entity about 7-8-ish years ago just for shiggles, and I swear it was the best guitar I've ever bought. Straight as a pin, great tone, great action, amazingly servicable pickups, solid signal with a nice chunky bottom, really cool thick green marbly finish, and the damn thing held tune forever. Little light in the body, the sustain was alright but unremarkable, but it was a real joy to play. It was my main demo/laptop guitar. I dared not gig with it EVER, I'd prolly have been laughed out the door.

I wish I still had it, but the rugrat boofed it bad. I'd try another if I had the chance, but I fear I either got real lucky with the first one, or they've since slipped. Sigh. I shoulda salvaged the parts, but I just gave it an undignified dumpster burial.

Anyway, just saying, First Act is good for what they do, making entry-level instruments for entry-level players. Yeah, they make toys too, as this drum thingy illustrates. But, at least back in day, they made some good stuff for cheap.

Bought this for my 6 year old last Christmas for $35 at Target. It was perfect for him then and he still continues to play with it now, over a year later. It IS a toy, and as that, it's a decent product. He likes it for the different types of drum sounds it makes (including one that isn't a drum at all!) and backup rhythms. It can be a little obnoxious at times, but thankfully the volume can't be turned up too loud. We've only had to replace the batteries a few times.