Acoustic to Electric??

[Johnbmx26]

Hello,
I've really been thinking about doing this due to the noise issues in my neighborhood. Either this, or sell my kit, and buy an electric kit.. (which i would really rather not do)
I have a Yamaha Oak Custom, and I have been thinking about getting triggers, and mesh heads? Is there anyway to run the sounds through a laptop, and not a module? If so, is that cheaper? I've seen some Alesis modules used for less than 150..

What do you guys think the cheapest solution would be? The sound quality is really not an issue, since I'll only be practicing.. I'd like it to feel as close to a real drum as it can get.. so I can easily switch back to acoustic.

Thanks
John

[rhjanes]

I'm not sure you can get mesh heads in all the sizes. check that first. They feel the best. But, I'm not sure regular drum triggers would work...maybe they would.
A DM5 or DMPro on Ebay is a good solution. Easy to set up and use.
Trick is about a computer, how you going to hook up 10 or 15 1/4 instrument cables to it? Each trigger takes a cable.

suggestion:. search around here on "mesh" and electronic and such. some ideas might be there.
Visit alternatemode.com. call them up. very easy to talk with. Or, Hart Dynamics is usually easy to bunce some ideas off of. They get calls like this all the time!

[Crazy8s]

You can get mesh heads in most standard sizes from Hart percussion. Google them. You could likely affix inexpensive piezo transducers from Radio Shack to the heads. Epoxy maybe? You will need a controller to plug all the transducers into which would convert it to MIDI, and you can use your laptop with it if you get a MIDI input for it. (PC Card MIDI inputs should be available.) The controller will also have its own sounds. To keep it cheap, look on eGay for an Alesis D4 or D5.