What is it?
Launched as far back as 1995, Millenium Drums is the in-house drum brand for the gigantic musical instrument retailer, Thomann. Furnishing school music rooms and practice spaces all across Europe, most drummers will be no stranger to this German brand. With a strong focus on providing affordable entry-level products, Millenium offers a comprehensive range of both acoustic and electronic drum kits.
The MPS-850 boasts an array of features, many of which punch impressively above its relatively low price point. We’ll delve into everything this kit has to offer over the course of this review but here are some examples of the more note-worthy attributes.
Firstly, the generous amount of hardware included in the kit. There are four mesh tom pads (2x8” rack toms and 2x10” floor toms), a 10” snare pad and 4x12” cymbal pads (hats, ride and two crashes). The bass drum tower uses an 8” pad which is also mesh. The benefit of a mesh head is that despite not having any effect on the drum’s sound, it can be tensioned to customise the feel of each pad. They also tend to be easier on the wrists than rubber pads.
A basic e-kit configuration would normally include just one crash and three tom pads as standard, so it’s interesting to see this ample 10-piece setup for such an affordable price. The kit is also supplied with a bass drum pedal and full hi-hat stand (rather than a separate foot controller) – another feature one might not expect without spending a little more. In much the same fashion as familiar offerings from other e-kit manufacturers like Roland, Alesis and Yamaha, the bottom hi-hat is substituted for a control sensor, which reacts to pressure from the top hi-hat pad. This controls the open and closed hi-hat sounds coming from the module and offers a more realistic hi-hat movement when compared with a fixed pad.
Each pad is dual-zone which in the case of the drum pads means separate head and rim sounds, and in the case of the cymbals means separate bow and edge sounds. In a surprise turn, the ride pad is actually triple-zone which means that the module can differentiate between individual bell, bow and edge playing. The ride pad has a more pronounced bell shape than the crashes to allow for this. Each cymbal can also be choked (muted) by hand.
The sound module itself boasts 550 individual voices, 30 preset kits and room for 20 user kits, 100 built-in songs and effect sounds, metronome, recording functionality, in-built FX, USB MIDI, USB memory, MIDI in/out, physical volume faders, separate master and headphone outputs and volume control (lots of similar range kits don’t have this), aux input, and custom sample import (which is practically unheard of at this price).
Pricing
- Launch price: £499
The kit we have for review, the MPS-850, is Millenium’s former flagship model which has recently been superseded by the MPS-1000 which utilises full-sized acoustic shells.
Performance
The kit is fairly straightforward to assemble (even for the uninitiated), and thanks in part to clear assembly instructions, the sturdy four-poster rack is up in little time. The included drum key is a must here as the vast majority of clamps use square-headed bolts. We found that the total floor space taken up by the rack was 56cm (22”) deep and 132cm (52”) wide. Fairly compact then, for a 10-piece kit.
Once the drum and cymbal pads are mounted to their respective brackets and arms, all that remains is to connect the jack input of each pad to the pre-labelled cable loom. The other end secures to the module via a serial connection which also locks it to the rack. It’s worth noting that tom 4 and crash 2, rather than using this loom, connect using additional 1/4” jack inputs on the module. With this configuration, no further hardware expansion is possible.
The MPS-850 comes with almost everything you need to get started. All you’ll need in addition to what’s in the box is something to sit on, plus a pair of headphones or speakers. There’s even a pair of sticks in the box. The bass drum pedal mentioned above is a welcomed addition as that’s not always something that comes included – it plays fairly well too and is more than ample for any ability level. The beater is double-sided, with felt on one side and plastic the other. Millenium recommends that the plastic side only be used on the mesh head as (anyone who has done this before will agree) the friction from a felt beater will tear the mesh to shreds over time.
Despite a wealth of functionality, if anything lets the MPS-850 down it is unfortunately the module sounds. The samples that make up the 30 factory kit presets are on the basic side, which for some, could be a deal-breaker for this kit. Some of the hi-hat samples are a little cutting, for example, sounding much better lowered in the mix which can be done using the faders on the module. The presets are roughly a 50/50 mix of acoustic and electronic style kits which include a broad range from pop, rock and percussion to hip-hop and house.
Verdict
For the casual player who’s not too fussed about top-tier sounds then this set could well be a contender for your hard-earned cash. As e-kits go, £500 is on the cheaper end which will inevitably bring some drawbacks. The kit is far from unplayable though and some of the samples are better than others. The ability to create and save custom kits using the 550 individual voices in the module means that it is possible to incorporate favoured kick, snare, tom & cymbal combos into a brand-new kit. These sounds can also be pitched and tweaked further using the inbuilt EQ, compression and reverb.
For those who are attracted by the hardware and not so much by the kit’s sonic capabilities, the MPS-850 could make a capable MIDI controller for VST software such as Superior Drummer, Steven Slate Drums or Get Good Drums. This would entail connecting the kit to a laptop via the MIDI in/out ports and using it to trigger sounds from within the software.
The module has a ton of built-in play-along loops which span almost any given genre – ideal for practice. Plus, there’s always the aux input for hooking up an external device.
In terms of overall playability, the kit reacts well with a reasonable dynamic range and no noticeable latency between striking a pad and hearing a sound. The module keeps up with the speediest of fills that we can throw at it and is generally satisfying to play. One gripe however is that the hi-hat control isn’t always 100% accurate in opening and closing. Also, when playing particularly fast double-stroke rolls on the snare, some ‘machine gunning’ can be heard – this is the effect created by the same sample being re-triggered in rapid succession.
The drum pads are rather loud acoustically which isn’t noticeable whilst wearing headphones but could be a consideration for those with less-tolerant neighbours or housemates. The mesh heads themselves aren’t an issue but hitting the rims with any force emits an audible ‘crack’.
