10 Best Cheap Electronic Drum Set for Beginners Under $500

Last Updated on December 28, 2021 by Danny

Mastering a skill takes more than just your time; it also requires your money’s wise investment. This statement also applies to drumming. If you are serious about learning and improving as a beginner, you need to get your hands on a good starter kit. We’ve listed below our recommendations for some of the affordable electronic drum sets suitable for beginners under $500 for this purpose.

We believe that electronic drum sets are ideal for newbies as it contains functions such as built-in training lessons, volume control and requires lesser space while preserving a standard drum kit configuration. If you are interested to know more about our top ten recommendations, feel free to read on.

The Best Cheap Electronic Drum Sets For Beginners Under $500

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1. Alesis Surge Mesh Kit – The Best Cheap Electronic Kit Ever

Alesis always produces high-quality entry-level electronic drum sets, it’s no surprise why Alesis Surge is one of the best electronic drum set for beginners. The superior dual-zone mesh heads ensure the set’s natural feel and sensitivity. This kit has a 10″ snare pad, three 8″ dual-zone mesh tom pads, three 10″ cymbal pads, and one 8″ kick drum tower with an exclusive drum pedal. Additional hardware such as the power adapter, drumsticks, drum key, 4-post Chrome rack, and cables are included upon purchase.

You can expand the drumkit by configuring a compatible Alesis pad to the drumkit’s sound module as you grow comfortable as a beginner.

The sound module is also an asset to this electronic drum set. With 40 Kits, 385 sounds, 60 Play-Along Tracks, and USB/MIDI Connectivity, you can record your tracks or connect any of your smartphones or MP3 player to jam along with your favorite band and songs.

The dual-zone mesh pads offer a more realistic response, changing the drum voice’s volume and pitch based on the intensity of your stroke and the location where your stroke lands. Furthermore, the cymbal pads support choke and swells.

Even the most experienced drummers consider this as an excellent starter electronic drum set that exceeded their expectations. If you are buying a kit for the first time without any electronic drum sets experience, this is a good kit to start with. Later on, you buy more expensive ones once you learn to play a basic kit.

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2. Alesis Nitro Mesh Kit – Value for money

The Alesis Nitro Mesh is a value for money electronic drum set for any beginner drummer regardless of the skills he/she has. With thousands of individual reviews online and an average rating of 4.6 stars, this drum set has proven its worth. The kit features eight-piece all-mesh electronic drum pads with a sturdy solid aluminum rack that withstands even the heaviest full-strokes. The mesh drum heads offer a realistic sound and response, increasing its playability. Like most 8-piece kits, it contains three cymbal pads, three tom pads, one snare pad, and one kick pad. You can choose a high-quality rubber kick pad instead of the standard mesh pad if you are on a tight budget.

Do you want to know why the Alesis Nitro Mesh is a popular and cheap electronic drum set option for beginners?

It is because of its massive coach features and training functions. The sound module alone offers 385 Sounds, 40 drumkits, and 60 Play-Along Tracks. You can further improve and practice songs not included in the sound module by interfacing the kit with your computer or mobile devices. The sound module also offers a sequencer, a metronome, and a sound recorder so you can monitor and track your learning progress as a beginner. You can also acquire 40 drum lessons from Melodics for free.

With this kit, getting better at the drums has never been so easy. You get all the connection cables, a pair of drumsticks for electronic drums, a drum key, and a powerful sound module that you can all use to improve as a drummer.

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3. Donner DED-200 – Best electronic drum set under 500

Last but not least is the Donner DED-200 Electric drum set. If you are looking for more than just a starting kit, the Donner DED-200 is perfect for this purpose. Its features make it an ideal kit for early performances and touring. It is lightweight, easy to transport, and has a feature-rich sound module engineered for maximum playability and compatibility.

The DED-200 is an eight-piece electronic kit with complete drum accessories such as the throne, sticks, headphones, and audio cables. Should you need a giant kit, you can add a few hundred dollars and obtain four cymbal pads instead of three. With this complete package, novices and even seasoned drummers would have everything they need to start playing right away.

Like most 8-piece kits, it has three 8″ rack toms, one 8″ snare mesh pad, a kick pedal, 10″ Hi-hat, a hi-hat pedal, and two 10″ cymbals for crash and ride. The 10-inch silicone cymbal pads are more stable and safer while still providing the evenly distributed tone response so you can play the cymbal anywhere on its surface. Mesh-heads are the standard for high-quality electronic drum sets as it provides a more natural stick response and dynamics.

Sounds are sampled from real drum sets, and you can shorten the shock response to minimize sound and response delay. This feature comes in handy when you interface the kit with speakers /mixers. The sound module offers an excellent avenue for practicing. It has 200 timbre, drum, and percussion sounds, 20 demo songs, 20 presets, and a supported connection with MP3 devices.

Out of thousands of electronic drums available in the market today, it ranks number 11. This electronic drum set can help you achieve your drumming goals without hurting your finances.

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4. LyxJam EDS750 – Best in Budget Electronic Drum under $300

The LyxJam 7-piece electronic drum kit has gained a good reputation in the drumming industry during the past few years due to its advanced sound module, high-end rubber cymbals, and 100% mesh fabric for responsive play.

This drum set is a good practice kit, but if you consider recording your original loops or drum tracks, you can use this kit to generate studio-grade recordings, make sure to record in a closed/sound-proof room.

This electronic drum kit is a complete 7-piece kit with premium electronic drum pads designed to imitate a standard drum kit’s configuration. It has three 8″ mesh tom pads, an 8″ snare pad, three 8″ cymbals, a hi-hat controller, a pair of drumsticks, a drum key, a kick pedal, and its sound module.

The sound module itself has 200+ preloaded sounds, 50 play-along songs, and a built-in recording capability that you can use even without other recording devices or software. The sound module has an easy-to-read LED display, and it also has dedicated connection ports for your headphone, drum amps, USB, and other music players.

With its real mesh fabric, you can feel the difference from other generic mesh heads. Its woven mesh heads support multi-zone sensing to provide a more immersive playing experience and a more profound sound expression. The cymbal pads also incorporate the same multi-sensing technology so you can practice your cymbal chokes and swells.

With LyxJam’s 7-piece electronic drum kit, you can experience next-generation sound right at the comfort of your home. It is easy and intuitive to set up, perfect for beginners to intermediate players looking for a highly-versatile electronic drum kit.

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5. Roland TD-1k

When it comes to beginners, Roland is one of the most preferred electronic drum set manufacturers. Pioneering several sound module advancements and pad technologies, Roland has set the standard. Getting Roland TD-1k V-drums is an excellent budget option for a beginner.

It is an entry-level electronic drum set that uses the same advanced supernatural sound engine based on TD-30’s flagship sound module. With its intuitive sound module, you can easily access several functions, including a flashing tempo indicator to accompany your sessions. If this feature is not enough to convince you as a beginner, the Roland TD-1K has also provided a complete training software dedicated to polishing your skills and guiding your learning progress.

It also offers a USB-MIDI interface, making it simple to make music with your computer and interface directly on your digital audio workstation software.

Furthermore, you can save a significant amount of space with this kit while still providing a comfortable playing environment behind the drums. What’s unique in this kit is that the snare pad supports positional sensing, rim shot, and cross sticks playing, giving a more dynamic and realistic playing experience.

Upon purchase, you’ll get a PDX-100 (10 inches) snare pad, three cymbal pads, and three mesh tom pads: PDX-8 (8-inch) pad for floor tom and two PDX-6 (6.5 inches) rack tom pads. All pedals are included. Furthermore, you can easily swap and customize each drum pad or cymbal pad to suit your preference.

If you want to develop your techniques as a new drummer, the Roland TD-1K might be the best beginner electronic drum set for you.

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6. BEHRINGER XD8USB

Aesthetic and Authentic. These two words sum up what you can expect from Behringer’s Black and Grey XD8USB electronic drum kit. It belongs to the middle price range for beginner electronic drum sets for a good reason. With its extensive sound module and complete package bundle, you will get everything you need to get started as a drummer.

Behringer’s XD8USB kit features a complete eight-piece e-drum kit with an HDS110USB sound module. The dual-zone snare pad gives room for creative rimshots and cross-stick plays, while the professional-grade kick pad gives a solid sound ideal for setting a steady fat groove. The three 8-inch single-zone tom pads provide a good avenue for practicing and honing your fluidity in the drums, while the three 12″ cymbal pads give a response and feel close to standard cymbals. All pads are velocity-sensitive, which triggers perfectly without significant delay.

The drum rack is easy to assemble, and the hi-hat control pedal is fully adjustable to suit your preference. You also get a free pair of drumsticks so you can unleash the pro in you in no time.

The HDS110USB contains ten factory-presets plus five user-defined drum kits. It also uses high-definition sampling (HDS) for 120+ studio-grade cymbal, percussion, and drum voices for a more authentic drumming experience. It also supports connectivity to different devices, smartphones, and MP3 Players so you can practice any song of your choice.

With Behringer’s black and grey XD8USB, you will get a warm welcome from the drumming community as you get more motivated practicing every day! This kit also has an advanced version you can read the detailed review of Behringer XD80USB.

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7. Alesis Turbo Mesh Kit

If you are looking for a performance-ready electronic drum set that is guaranteed to suit your needs as a beginner, the Alesis Drums Turbo Mesh kit is a great starting kit. It possesses the same superior mesh heads that Alesis is best known for. It is unlikely that you’ll ever find an electronic drumkit with the same features and quality as the Alesis Turbo at its price range. The Turbo mesh kit is a seven-piece mesh electric drum set with 100+ Sounds and 30 Play-Along Tracks that you can all use to your advantage.

As a novice drummer, it is always a great idea to invest in electronic drum sets containing coach and training functions, and the Turbo Mesh kit does not lack in this aspect. With 30 built-in play-along tracks, onboard drum coach, Aux input, and metronome, you’ll have more than what you need to jumpstart your skills as a new drummer.

The Mesh pads give a responsive and realistic response, providing an epic playing experience and feel that is a must for drumming. It is not enough to develop your tempo as a drummer, but you should also work on your feel and natural sense of rhythm and dynamics, and for that, you’ll be impressed with what the Alesis Turbo Mesh kit has to offer.

The kit has three 10-inch cymbal pads, an 8-inch mesh snare drum pad, three 8-inch mesh toms, and a customized hi-hat and kick-pedal. All Connection Cables are also included, and to complete the package; you also get a free pair of drumsticks so you can play right after you received the item.

If you want an electronic drum set that balances quality and price, there’s no reason not to buy Alesis Drums Turbo Mesh Kit.

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8. Yamaha DTX402K

For more than five decades, Yamaha remains to be one of the pioneers in drum manufacturing. Their best products have paved the way for several drum legends to rise from the bottom to the top. The good news is that you might be the next drum legend to rise with Yamaha’s DTX402K Electronic drum kit, provided that you practice consciously, of course!

Yamaha DTX402K electronic drum kit might look plain for an average person, but what it lacks in design is well-compensated on its features and quality. The digital drum kit features top-quality drum sounds and effects that you can use to learn and to develop your drumming style.

Like most beginner kits, it features three rack pads, one snare pad, three cymbal pads, two pedals, and one sound module. The good thing about this kit is that you can adjust the pads’ height and stand, so you can develop proper playing posture while maximizing comfort behind the kit. If you need to transport or relocate your kit, the rack is also foldable so, you can spend less time on assembly and more time for learning.

The DTX402K’s sound module also boasts a wide variety of acoustic effects and electronic sounds that you can choose from, with 10 Built-In training functions and an exclusive App for iOS/Android. With these features, you will see results and improvement in your drumming in no time.

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9. Carlsbro CSD130

The Carlsbro CSD130 is one of the most affordable electronic drums that you can buy in the market without compromising quality. The CSD130 contains a full digitron display, making its interface way simpler and more straightforward. It has 240 onboard high-quality percussion and drum sounds, which you can use to create beats and grooves for your project.

There are 20 ready-made kits that you can use and experiment with for almost any type of music genre there is. If you are a new drummer and are not yet sure which genre to start practicing first, Carlsbro CSD130 got you covered. However, if you want a more personalized kit, you can create up to 10 kits by combining any onboard sounds.

It also provides AUX input, line input, and headphone output, so you can expand the features of this kit by interfacing it with other devices. With the headphone output, you can train without disturbing your neighbors. The sound module features a click-track, 20 demo songs, and a selectable reverb effect, making your training session more enjoyable.

Furthermore, you can connect any of your devices through its USB interface or directly plug your MIDI devices, so you can easily record or make your music tracks.

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10. RockJam DDMESH1000

Are you looking for a perfect beginner rock drum kit? Look no further, and consider the RockJam eight-piece electronic drum set. This kit offers excellent features that you cannot see from more expensive electronic kits.

With its velocity-sensitive adjustable mesh heads, you can guarantee a smooth and realistic response. Unlike its rubber competitors, velocity-sensitive mesh heads give a more natural bounce and response to your drum strokes. Furthermore, the drum cymbals are fully adjustable. So you can position and adjust their angle to suit your reach and preference.

Free drumsticks are given together with two pedals for controlling the kit’s hi-hat and bass. The sound module is loaded with 30 drum voices, tempo configuration, and several demos that you can all use to give you a good head start at drumming.

Also, RockJam had exceeded the expectations from an entry-level electronic drumset by providing full USB, Midi, AUX, and stereo inputs. With these dedicated ports, you can interface and communicate with other devices to expand your playing experience and options. The journey from a beginner drummer to a pro need not be expensive. Reach your full potential, and save more of your money with RockJam’s DDMESH1000.

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Cheap Electronic Drum Kit Conclusion

Buying a good cheap electronic drum set requires wise decision making. You have to consider several factors and compare different products that would suit your preferences. Even as a beginner, you have to consider your personal choices, especially if you are buying your first electronic drum set.

It can make a significant difference in the first few stages of your learning experience. Remember, one product might appeal to someone, but another customer might not show any interest in the same product. If you found any of our recommended products for beginners interesting, the only thing we can guarantee you is that you are considering a product that is worth its price. These electronic drum kits are the most affordable kits to get your hands on while still delivering robust performance and rich features.