Review OSP DD-502 Elecronic Digital Drums
One day I went to Guitar Center to check out some guitars. I strolled into the drum room and started to play around with some of the Roland digital drum sets. I was having a blast but don’t have $1000’s of dollars to blow on a set.
I poked around a few drum forums and learned about a kit for sale on Ebay called the OSP DD-502. Most of the posters on the forums were kind of raggin on the OSP set. I chalked it up to the fact they were primarily drummers just being a little harsh.
I took a chance an ordered the DD-502 from Sigler Music on Ebay. This set cost me $399 with free shipping. I also got a free throne and some sticks. The set cam complete with all pedals too. I am quite pleased so far.
Sigler Music ships Fedex and I had it to my house in a matter of days right before Christmas.
Setup took about an hour. I gave the toms a few wacks and was impressed with the sturdiness of the set. I was expecting the frame to be a little flimsy. I plugged the set in and threw on some headphones. This thing didn’t sound too bad !
The drum module comes with 20 drum sets. You can also custom build up to 10 of your own sets choosing from about 230 different sounds. All of the sounds are useful sounds. Another real fun feature is that the module has 50 songs you can jam along with of all different types of styles. Some of the songs sound like cheesy midi compositions but they are a blast non the less.
Check out the video demo ! Just don’t rank on the playing !
One nice thing about buying from Sigler Music is that they also have a retail store. So I felt a little more confident buying from them.
The bottom line this is a totally awesome set for anyone looking to get a knock around set or an introduction to electronic drums.
bob said,
January 15, 2008 @ 4:01 pm
thanks, i just bought the same set from the same seller about 2 days ago and i’m a little nervous about my purchase, your review made me feel a little better about it but i cant seem to shake off the feeling that you work for siglermusic!
webmaster said,
January 15, 2008 @ 8:26 pm
Ha Ha …I don’t work for sigler. It’s a small leap of faith to buy this set since it seems like it’s an ebay only item. Also this set gets trashed in the drummer forums because it isn’t a Roland or Yamaha . I had read some good things from other people that bought from the sigler store.
DumDruma said,
January 19, 2008 @ 3:23 pm
Is this kit $400? How come there is absolutely no info on OSP on the internet?
webmaster said,
January 19, 2008 @ 10:36 pm
OSP web site
http://www.ospworldwide.com/
Larry said,
January 20, 2008 @ 3:12 pm
I just bought a set from Sigler for $399.00. I received it in about four days via Fedex. I have been playing drums for about thirty years and currently play in a blues band. I bought them strickly for practice. They are great for the price. You can update the heads to mesh for about twenty-five bucks a head. I am impressed with the high quality frame and the electronics overall. I play on a Drum Workshop 9000 pedal and the pedal that is included works quite well. I am very happy with the purchase, price and method of shipping. I would highly recommend this set. I hope my comments help everyone who doubts the OSP DD-502.
Dave said,
January 22, 2008 @ 2:46 am
Thanx for the review. They also have a video on ebay of this set but hearing from from a non company man strengthens the case. This is looking like the best for the money in digital drums to me.
How is the hardware? I noticed you’re sitting high in relation to the set and was just wondering if that was do to adjustment restraints.
I’d have trouble playing that for up.
webmaster said,
January 22, 2008 @ 7:43 am
Everything is on a tube so you should be able to adjust things to your liking.
One thing I have noticed is that if a hard hitter slams the cymbals they have a tendency to swivel down. I cranked mine tighter and we’ll see if that holds better. It would be nice of the cymbal adjustments had knurls
Sirhc said,
January 24, 2008 @ 10:18 pm
I just ordered them, havnt gotn them yet, but these reviews made me a lot more confident. Thanks
metalzmcgee said,
January 30, 2008 @ 10:43 pm
hey bro…. do you know what kind of double bass pedals it is compatible with…. i have one but i’m not sure…. email me at bentindo@hotmail.com
webmaster said,
January 31, 2008 @ 10:46 am
We have a Pearl double bass pedal on the acoustic set
that we never hooked up the OSP. It LOOKs like it
would work. I think any double bass pedal should work as well. All the demos on ebay show the set working with double bass pedals. We have hooked up other single bass pedals no problem.
I think you would have to boost the volume of the bass
trigger though because the hammers would’t strike at
the center of the trigger.
A cool work around is to assign a bass drum sound the
to the high hat pedal. We do that alot and it works
fine for me. As I mentioned I’m not a drummer and I
have a hard enough time working with one pedal.
mafia2285 said,
February 5, 2008 @ 8:47 am
i am gonna be purchasing this drum set within the next few weeks and i have to say that i had mixed feelings as well, but from hearing and reading about 100 reviews, there were more good then there were bad. that to me says that they are good for the money and a pretty good item. plus right now im in an apartment and an acoustic set will do me no justice. i would run all the neighbors out of here not that thats a bad thing, lol. so for me i think this would be my best choice. thanks for your reviews.
mafia2285 said,
February 5, 2008 @ 9:03 pm
i just wrote that i was gonna buy this set, now i am confused because osp also sells acoustics, in fact they have a 7 piece with all symbols, pedals, and throne, for only $330.00. that is an amazing deal for the price but not sure of the quality. they have a video of the guy who was playing the dd502 at sigler music and it looked and sounded great. all though im in an apartment i realized i can buy the pads to muffle the noise. how much do the pads muffle the noise? i need some opinions on what would be the best choice. if anyone out there can help me figure out what to do i would appreciate it. im stuck between the both of them.
webmaster said,
February 5, 2008 @ 10:37 pm
I bought the Pulse Pro acoustic from Musicians Friend ($350). I also bought the Drum One SilentOnes Practice Pads. I had to upgrade the cymbals on this set. The cheapest cymbal set you would want to upgrade too are the Zildjian ZBT or Sabian B8. That will be another $230 or so.
On the other hand if you ever wanted to play with a band a decent amp for the DD-502 will be at least $250.
The digital versus acoustic argument is an age old debate. As a guitarist I would probably choose the digital. I like to have different sounds and I can hook up the midi out to my PC to record. The acoustic set with the pads is pretty quiet but I kind of think the electronic set is the way to go for apartment life.
I have to admit I do like to bash the acoustic set too and I kind of like the feel better.
I think you would be able to sell the OSP on ebay for a pretty good price used. I don’t think the resale would be as good on the OSP acoustic.
mafia2285 said,
February 6, 2008 @ 4:30 pm
yeah you know what, i have been thinking bout this since i wrote and i think im gonna get the digital. im not really planning on playing in a band, maybe just with a guitarist. but i like the fact that i can put it on the computer. thanks for your opinion. there is only one thing that i dont like about the digital, and that is the way the symbols dont really role that good, so ive been told, but other then that its cool. hey, what do you think of the deal they have where you can buy the kit with throne and amp for 550.00? its a 30 watt amp and its supposedly for the dd502. whats your opinion on that?
webmaster said,
February 6, 2008 @ 7:18 pm
So for an extra $130 you get an amp. Normally I wouldn’t even think of a 30 watt amp for this kit. However I see the Roland PM-10 amp is only 30watts. If an amp uses an efficient speaker and the cabinet is well designed 30watts can be pretty loud. Roland usually does not make junk.
You may want to actually call Sigler music and ask about the OSP amp. See if they have an opinion on how loud it gets.
As you can see in he picture of my set I use a Behringer KX1200 keyboard amp for my set. This amp is supposed to be 120watts and it gets plenty loud for me.
I tried a Roland KC-150 (60 watt) keyboard amp recently and was surprised how loud it was. Read all about my latest keyboard amp purchase here.
You may want to poke around the Vdrum forum to read some opinions on amps. If you post don’t even mention you’re thinking about buying the OSP. They’ll string you up !
mafia2285 said,
February 6, 2008 @ 8:08 pm
ok thanks alot for your help, im gonna do some more research on this amp. thanks again and ill let you know what i come up with, so it might be helpful to your site.
mafia2285 said,
February 6, 2008 @ 9:45 pm
k i did a bit more research on that amp and found it to be not that bad. its a 10” speaker with dual voice coil, and it sounds pretty sturdy. i guess for the price its not to bad.
Paul said,
February 9, 2008 @ 9:20 pm
I have no knowledge of the digital kits but would like to get a kit for my 2 boys. Is the osp-502 have extra inputs to expand with tom pads or cymbals? If it does, how many. I have been looking into the roland td3 but its almost 3X the price. I’ve only played acoustic drums and just picked up a dw kit but I have been wanting to try digital for quite some time now. Do they sell the dd-502 with the mesh heads at a more discounted price or not. Also are the mesh heads that much of a difference in feel and sound that they are worth the extra $100.00?
Thx,
Paul
webmaster said,
February 10, 2008 @ 7:02 pm
There are no extra inputs available on the DD502. I’m pretty sure something like the Alesis DM5 module would work pretty well. Those are on ebay all the time.
I tried some mesh heads on a Roland kit. I didn’t feel it made that big of a difference. I was under the impression the mesh heads help with the stick noise in the room and really aren’t about the feel of the heads. I didn’t notice any improvement in stick bounce or anything like that.
If you’re thinking about upgrading and expanding right off the bat maybe you’re better off with a Roland kit.
Alex said,
March 5, 2008 @ 10:03 pm
I bought the dd502 and its great fun. But I have one problem with it and I don’t now if its my unit or if its something they all do but about 75% of the bass drum sounds have this horrible clicky noisy sound as the sample ends. Depending on the bass drum sample it will go from amost unnoticable while playing beats to very anoying like I am playing through an old time record player. Only the bass drum samples do this. They make this sound from any trigger. Drives me nuts cause there are some realy cool bass drum samples but I can’t use them to record for sure. I’ll have to plug into my pc via midi and use a kit on my pc. Witch I would do anyway but for a ruff quick recording its a pain. I like this set alot but I just want to find out if this is normal for this head unit or should I be sending it back?
-alex
webmaster said,
March 6, 2008 @ 11:19 am
Are there specific bass drum samples are giving you the problem ? I’ll give a closer listen on my set.
Sounds like you already tried to assign the bass drum tones to other pads. Are you listening through headphones ? Maybe your headphones or speakers are blown and can’t handle low frequencies?
Alex said,
March 6, 2008 @ 6:21 pm
I’ve hooked it up through my phones, my bass amp, and my monitors. With no change. The sound is definatly coming from the head unit. To me it sounds like its coming from the sample itself. However the unwanted sound tends to lend itself to the lower frequency bass drum samples. The default kit’s bass drum is a good example. I listened closely and noticed that sound is alot like a elelctical short sounding click but the audio doesn’t drop off. And the click sometimes ends before the end of the sample depending on how long the drum rings. About 70 percent of the bass drums on the default drum kits on my 502 have this sound.
DaMusicMan2008 said,
March 7, 2008 @ 3:52 pm
I got a question.
Would this set work with Sonar using BFD?
I would natually assume it would since it has a MIDI out.
Can anyone calarify that for me.
Thanks
GAVIN
Alex said,
March 7, 2008 @ 11:26 pm
yes it should work fine if you have a mini in. I use sonar also. I had to buy a midi to usb interface cord.
jim said,
March 17, 2008 @ 7:40 am
can i plug my i-pod into the brain and listen while i play?
webmaster said,
March 17, 2008 @ 6:34 pm
Yes. There’s a jack to plugin an mp3 player to jam along with. I like to take midi tracks, remove the drums, and play along to that.
Chals said,
March 19, 2008 @ 12:01 am
I have owned DD-502 since one year. Somebody in this forum mentioned that the snare head can be replace with a mesh for $25. Can you please give more details. The DD-502 heads are really loud when you hit on the plastic.
Any information would be appreciated.
Thanks
Chals
Chals said,
March 19, 2008 @ 12:03 am
I forgot to mention my emailid in the previous post.
s_chalasani@hotmail.com
Max said,
March 24, 2008 @ 8:07 pm
what kind of amp do u use for this set?
webmaster said,
March 24, 2008 @ 9:48 pm
A Behringer KX1200 keyboard amp. It’s in the pic.
swan said,
March 29, 2008 @ 11:29 am
hi! i’m a non-drummer, but am thinking of getting a set for my church from reading all the good reviews. just need some clarifications - is this the same set under the name of Medeli DD502? http://www.medeli.com.hk/products/dd/dd-506.html
swan said,
March 29, 2008 @ 11:31 am
sorry, this is the right link…http://www.medeli.com.hk/products/dd/dd-502j.html
webmaster said,
March 29, 2008 @ 3:58 pm
Yes I think it is the same set. The brains are in a different case. I think I read someplace that the same set is sold under the Yoki brand as well. I can’t say if all these sets are the same quality wise. Maybe they use different pads.
kev said,
April 5, 2008 @ 4:34 am
I have just purchased the medeli dd502.I am quite impressed overall,but could anyone tell me about the save feature because I have followed the instructions to save my own drumkits but they have gone when i switch the kit off .
thanks
kev
Raisethealarm said,
April 18, 2008 @ 6:52 pm
Hello… I am hoping someone can answer this question. After reading numerous reviews on the Osp DD502 I am planning on purchasing one. I am starting a small home studio and have minimal gear. I will be recording on an 8 track Fostex MR8. The MR8 is a digital recorder. My question is this. I want to use the OSP for drums but do not want to go through a computer. Is recording the OSP directly into the Fostex MR8 possible.
Thanks
webmaster said,
April 18, 2008 @ 10:36 pm
I don’t see why not. Just go from the line out of the drum kit to one of the inputs of the MR8.
Adrian said,
April 24, 2008 @ 11:13 am
Does the OSP module work with other drum pads, for example the roland pads, or yamaha etc?
Danny said,
May 3, 2008 @ 10:40 pm
I have one of these, but the hi-hat broke. Anyone know where i could get a replacement?
BlamBlamWithTheBlamma said,
June 13, 2008 @ 10:17 am
A few other people inquired about replacing the drum pads with mesh heads. Do you know where I can purchase these mesh heads? Please e-mail me with any details. Thanks.
BlamBlamWithTheBlamma said,
June 13, 2008 @ 10:19 am
Here’s my email: emiller849@mail.usp.edu
Dan R. said,
June 22, 2008 @ 11:41 pm
Hey Alex,
My DD502 kit has the static on the bass drum sounds too. It is less noticable when playing through speakers, but very obvious in headphones. I have also noticed sloppy endings to other samples because of the reverb on the samples, the fade out just doesn’t sound too good. And to others, if you don’t want to buy an amp right away, this set can go from the headphones out and into the AUX input of any stereo receiver amp, hunting around at garage sales you can find old big tower speakers for cheap (I found a set with dual 12″ woofers in each tower for $20).
Mike said,
August 10, 2008 @ 6:52 pm
Hi, I am wondering if I can plug any drum trigger in to this brain? I noticed that the sensitivity of the pad can not be adjusted so I’m wondering if there may be some other brand trigger pads that will not work very well.