[Flint]

Roland's V-Drums are sweet, no doubt about that. The tunable mesh heads with positional sensing and triggerable rims are a delight, very responsive. One of the coolest things about V-drums is the virtual sound modeling - you can "build" a drum from scratch: what kind of shell material, how thick, how many plies, how deep, what kind of head, what kind of mic, what mic position, in what kind room, etc. etc. etc. - it's like having every possible drumkit, all in one set. Plus, the effects are built in.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. As a gigging drummer, the possibilities are endless with these things, because for each song, you can construct the ideal sound palette - IE, for slow tempo ballads, dial up a huge snare that goes "boosh." I've seen cover bands using these things to great effect, having patches built for each song which emulate the exact sounds heard on the album.

Taking all this into consideration, one of the fundamentals of drumming, to me, is that less is more, and too many options are a distraction. You always run the risk of your work being influenced too heavily by the tools you used to create it, leaving a discernable artifact on the music which isn't your own personal signature, but one that was pre-destined at the factory. My chosen path in drumming, at this point, is to stick to the fundamentals, and expand my musical horizons through technique, as opposed to gadgetry. That's just where I'm at right now.