“It’s hard to argue with the amount of features on offer here for such an affordable price”: Millenium Drums MPS-350 E-Drum Set review

What is it?

Launched in 1995, Millenium Drums is one of several in-house brands belonging to retail giant Thomann. Producing both acoustic and electronic drums, the German drum builder has a reputation for budget-friendly gear, particularly ideal for beginners but also catering for drummers further along their journey.

The MPS-350 is the latest addition to Millenium’s MPS e-kit range, which also includes the MPS-150, 450, 750, 850 and 1000 models. As you might imagine, the model numbers increase proportionately to the size and features of each kit. The MPS-150 represents the most compact and entry-level option, retailing for £225. In contrast, the MPS-1000 (£869) deploys full-size wooden shells, while the kit’s sound module boasts a wide array of features. The new MPS-350 sits toward the lower end of the overall range and retails for £311, making it the second most affordable in the current lineup.

The eight-piece kit features an 8” bass drum pad plus an included pedal, an 8” dual-zone (head and rim) snare drum pad with a separate cross-stick zone, three single-zone 7” tom pads and three 10.5” cymbal pads for crash, ride and hi-hats. The crash and ride are dual-zone, which allows separate bow and edge triggering, plus they can also be choked by squeezing the edge of the cymbal pads. If one crash cymbal isn’t enough, an extra trigger input on the MPS-350 module allows the kit to be expanded with a second crash pad (available separately from Thomann).

Each of the drum pads (including the bass drum) uses mesh heads rather than the rubber pads found on many beginner kits. This promises a more realistic playing experience and is also easier on the hands during prolonged practice sessions.

The sound module features 25 preset kits and a total of 500 individual samples. There are 35 inbuilt play-along songs, a metronome, aux audio input, USB MIDI and Bluetooth audio for wireless connection of playback devices.

It’s worth noting that there is no seat included. You’ll also need to consider headphones or some form of amplification, neither of which are included. It does however comes with a pair of sticks and even a little holster style stick holder which clamps to the frame, keeping sticks in convenient reach.

Performance

The four-poster rack is fairly straightforward to assemble and feels sturdy once levelled correctly. An L-rod is supplied for the snare, which gives extra control over positioning. The toms, however, slot directly into the brackets on the horizontal bars of the rack, which restricts them from tilting left or right but still allows them to be angled up or down. The fairly compact rack lends itself to keeping the pads quite tightly packed together, making for an ideal child’s setup. There is, however, some room to spread the pads out for growing youngsters or even adults. The rack is also height adjustable, allowing adjustment to a comfortable level for drummers of essentially any size. There are very few wing bolts in sight, though, so you'll need to keep a drum key handy for the vast majority of rack adjustments.

The snare and tom pads are solidly built and the mesh heads feel much closer to a ‘real’ drum head than the rubber playing surface found on most kits of this price point. They are also a fair bit quieter under-stick compared with rubber alternatives. Each mesh head can be tensioned in the same way you would an acoustic drum, allowing the feel of each pad to be tailored to personal preference.

The cymbal pads are quite firm by comparison and their thickness combined with a small diameter doesn’t allow much in the way of flexibility. The dual-zone response is a welcome addition, though, and makes for another feature not always found on kits at this price. Aside from the standard bow and edge sounds of the ride, it is also possible to produce a bell sound by striking the bow of the cymbal more firmly. Maybe not quite as good as having three completely separate zones, but that’s not something we’d ever expect to see on a £300 kit, so we’ll take this as a close second.

The snare pad does actually offer three independent zones – head, rim and a special cross-stick section on the upper portion of the rim. In theory, this is a great idea but doesn’t always work flawlessly. There’s something inherently awkward about playing cross-stick on an 8” pad anyway and it doesn’t always react perfectly, needing a fairly firm strike to work.

Finally, on the pad front, the bass drum pad feels sturdy thanks to its extendable spurs and also benefits from being compatible with double bass drum pedals due to its 8” mesh playing surface.

The MPS-350 sound module is simple in its appearance but is fairly capable under the surface. A large rotary dial allows navigation through menus on the small LCD screen and physical volume faders offer convenient control over the mix of the kit. Some elements are sub-grouped on the faders, such as the toms and cymbals, which means some diving into the settings menu is required to adjust the volume between the crash and ride, for instance. A small gripe but worth noting, as the crash is notably louder than the ride on many of the kit presets.

The pads connect to the module via a cable loom which uses a single serial input on the bottom. Each of the pads is then connected to the loom via jack cables which are labelled accordingly. There is one additional trigger input on the rear of the module labelled “crash 2”. This allows an additional crash to be run alongside the existing trigger inputs on the loom.

USB connectivity allows the kit to be used as a MIDI controller. This broadens the options for sounds significantly, allowing VST software such as Superior Drummer or Steven Slate Drums etc to be used as an alternative to the internal module sounds.

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The Millenium samples themselves are a bit of a mixed bag in terms of quality but generally perfectly usable, particularly for beginners. The 25 presets range from pop and rock to metal, jazz, funk, reggae, a handful of electronic kits and some percussion. There are no additional slots for custom kits, but individual samples can be swapped out for others from the total of 500 in-built samples. There is also pitch control, equalisation and a reverb unit, so you can make the kits a little more your own.

The 35 in-built play-along tracks are a little underwhelming and the basic MIDI sound makes them feel quite dated. Thankfully, the Bluetooth connection allows us to connect a phone wirelessly to the module and play our own songs or backing tracks. There’s also the option to use the physical mini-jack aux input for external playback sources.

The triggering isn’t necessarily the most balanced straight out of the box but can be improved with a little refining of some settings. For beginners, this will likely be nothing to worry about, but for the more discerning player or people who like to take a deeper dive, settings include sensitivity, threshold, scan time and cross-talk. These help to give a deeper level of customisation over the responsiveness and overall playability of the kit, although they aren’t always the easiest to find.

Verdict

It’s hard to argue with the amount of features on offer here for such an affordable price. Mesh heads, dual-zone pads and Bluetooth audio are a few features we wouldn’t necessarily expect to see here. The clip-on stick holder is a nice touch and who doesn't love a free pair of sticks thrown in for good measure?

Hands-on demos

Millenium Drums

Brand new e-drums for all skill levels | Millenium MPS-350 - YouTube

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Alternatives

Roland TD-02K: £339 at roland.com

Find out more: Roland TD-02K

Alesis Nitro Max: £345 at alesisdrums.com

Read the full review: Alesis Nitro Max

Millenium MPS-450: £366 at milleniumdrums.com

Find out more: Millenium MPS-450

Specifications