Session Pro DD505 I bought a well used set of these a few months ago on Ebay. When it arrived I found the condition was not a good as I had hoped, but after playing with it for a while this ceased to matter. I'm an old school 'real' kit player who hasn't played for far too many years, so 'rusty' doesn't scratch the surface. The good: The bounce from the snare is surprisingly good. Much better than the 70's practice pad I was expecting. The toms and cymbals are not quite as good as the snare but still OK. Adjusting the cross-talk and response curve settings make a huge difference to the response and the sound of the kit. Finding this feature was quite a relavation. This can be individually set and saved into a user kit for each pad. Getting the right setting can make even a dodgy drum roll can be made to sound smooth and creamy with the right setting. Some voices are velocity sensitive and allow a lot more colour and expression. EG max velocity on some of the snare voices gives a rim shot the ride cymbal gives a 'cymbal bell'. Some of the tom sounds simulate the stretch of the head the harder you hit them. You have to tweak the velocity curves to make this usable, and a velocity curve setting to get the best out of one feature is not necessarily right for another. I have set the same voices across several user kits with different curve settings in each as I find this feature really useful. In amongst the mostly bland and 'plastic' voices there are a few really good ones. The open-close response of the HH pedal can be adjusted. Some voices take advantage of this to give a 'half open' sound. The dual zone features of the snare and cymbals are worth every penny. It sounds a lot better through a good PA amp and speakers than a small practice amp or headphones. The headphone jack on the brain has worn and does not make reliable contact with the jack plug. I've overcome this by forming a very slight bend in the jack plug. Having said that, I use an amp and speakers via a mixer and if I want to use headphones, I run them from the mixer. What you loose out in sound quality (and it's not all that much) you gain many times over in variety. You can take a whole percussion section with you including A tamtam, and timps. With a keyboard in tow you can have tuned percussion as well. The bad: The 50 songs are a waste of time once you've played them once. The memory should have been used for more user kits and voices. The trigger is missed if 2 pads are hit exactly together. This can be overcome by careful setting of the cross-talk feature. The brain drum buttons do not trigger a midi out signal. The midi out is not 100% compatible. There are issues between the 2nd tom and the ride with certain types of connected midi equipment. There are some patch work-arounds on the net, but I've not found one that I particularly like. The clamps that fix the drums to the frame are brittle and can easily break if fitted incorrectly. Great care is needed. The rubber Tom head pads stretch and distort. This doesn't really affect my playing, but it's annoying. The kit cannot be extended, but the Midi function will allow another brain to be linked. The cymbal voices do not sustain anything like a real cymbal does. It makes the choke feature somewhat superfluous but not totally redundant. I would certainly rather have it than not. I'm used to playing a real drums using different parts of the head for different volumes, bounce, and tone. I really miss this. I'm reluctant to mention this as because I now know the issue exists I can notice it whereas I hadn't given it a thought before. There is a very slight latency between the strike of the pad and the sound. It's not much and not noticeable in normal use. I only discovered it whilst trying to adjust out the trigger issue above. It fits in the corner of the spare bedroom without taking over the whole room. The drums pack into a single suitcase and the frame can be folded virtually flat. The whole thing can be carried in and out of venues in one trip. I even beat the guitarist to the bar! Overall: I love this kit. It's great fun and despite the bad points, I'm really pleased with it. I would much rather have this old but better featured kit than a new entry level kit for the same money. For me, It's versatility far outweighs the disadvantages compared to an acoustic kit. It doesn't 'look' like a kit should, but that doesn't worry me. I don't think a digital kit will ever replace an acoustic one in much the same way that a keyboard won't replace a symphony orchestra or a concert grand, but it's a instrument in it's own right and deserves it's place in a drummer's arsenal.

I've had the Session Pro DD505 for about two months now. As a practise tool - brilliant. There are some actually surprisingly good sounds loaded onto this module, which is actually more intuitive to program than some I've used (I'm looking at you, Roland!) mainly thanks to the game-like layout of the various pads on the control console.

Everything about this kit is great (doubly so for it's price) with the following exceptions:

1. Though the pads feel very good, they aren't particularly sensitive. This is particularly true of the high-hat pad, which is a piece of rubbish, and the first thing that will be replaced on mine. The dual-zone triggers on the cymbals are a little weak too, and often don't trigger as intended. This isn't really a problem for practising, but might be a little embarrasing at a gig, should you use it for that (if you do, you're brave)

2. You can't load custom samples. I would have thought that an SD card reader (or similar) would be a good addition to this brain, though it is on the cheap side of things. To get a totally custom sounds, you need to use the MIDI out and run to another unit. Better off getting a new head.

3. USB connectivity lags about 15ms. Not the end of the world, but the end f being able to use it play live.

4. No option to add more pads.

Otherwise, it's really good for the price. And doesn't weigh so much - which is brilliant for drummers on the move.

The Session Pro DD505 is good for practice, lightweight, cheap, there is a stress point on the clamp, as you tighten it, it breaks and there doesn't seem to be anyone in the UK that stocks spare parts, as i found out, ive only had the kit over a yr, and can't use it. unless i cough up 20 dollars per clamp plus 20 dollars posting from the USA.

The Session Pro DD505 is a great sounding drum kit, very very strong built, i brought mine from www.mc247.co.uk and the service was fantastic. If your considering one of these go to www.mc247.co.uk the best price i could find. Great all round drum kit, ideal for home practicing!

The Session Pro DD505 is a very good drum kit which seems to be very strong and extremely well built. I have had one of these for about three months and has been fantastic so far. The 4 tom tom pads have a hard plastic rim so if you miss hit the pad then you will know with a hard "clack". The cymbal and high hat pads are full circles rather than the segments of pads that you get on other cheaper kits. The DD505 consists of:

A snare drum,
A high tom,
A mid tom,
A floor tom,
A high hat,
A crash cymbal,
A ride cymbal,
A bass drum,
A bass drum pedal,
A high hat control pedal,
A control panel "brain"
And a stand to hold it all together.

The pads are held onto the stand by metal rods and clamps which tighten onto the bars of the base and then onto the pads themselves. Everything is completely adjustable by just untightening (which isn't hard at all) and then moving. On the user interface the controls are very simple and easy to use and a small screen which displays information like which drumset your using and the tempo of the songs you are playing which can be easily changed. Underneath the screen is a set of nine buttons which light up depending on whether you hit the corresponding drum pad. There is a output plug which can be connected toapairof headphones or dowhat i do and lug it into a guitar amp. The only bad point i can find is that the high hat control pedal which has to be pressed right down before it works but that is about it. I think the Session Pro DD505 is best value for money electric drumkit ever. I would definitely recommend this to either a beginner or even a professional. It really is that good.