Portnoy's vs. Mangini's drum set

[YtseJamittaja]

Which one's drum kit you prefer?

Choose their best looking kit and compare. Tell me also which drum sets you chose!

[Sycsa]

Mangini's wins, just because it's symmetrical. The overhead cymbal rack is also a nice touch, not to mention the beautiful color and bass drum artwork of his latest kit. The sharpest looking DT kit to date. 

[The Stray Seed]

Agree with Sycsa! It's an awesome set!

[Daso]

MM's is a lot more aesthetic, while MP's was more of a "holy shit, look at that!" kind of thing. Voted for MM's.

[OsMosis2259]

Went with MP. Nothing looks cooler than the Mirage Monster.

[Raise the Drum]

Mangini's drum set is awesome and everything but i have to go with Portnoy's drum kit.

I always liked all the "monster" kits but my favorite of all times is the Purple Monster. I don't know, there are a lot of things about that kit that I really like; how it sound, how it look, the diferent colors (purple, green and red), etc.

I grew up playing drums listening to that drum kit and I have never found a better sound on another drum kit.

Mangini's drum kit looks amazing, but the sound is not comparable with the one on the Purple Monster.
       

[Sycsa]

Mangini's drum set is awesome and everything but i have to go with Portnoy's drum kit.

I always liked all the "monster" kits but my favorite of all times is the Purple Monster. I don't know, there are a lot of things about that kit that I really like; how it sound, how it look, the diferent colors (purple, green and red), etc.

I grew up playing drums listening to that drum kit and I have never found a better sound on another drum kit.

Mangini's drum kit looks amazing, but the sound is not comparable with the one on the Purple Monster.
       

Yeah, but this thread is about looks rather than sound. Also, I'm pretty sure the differences in sound are due to production and the actual acoustic sound of the kits would compare entirely differently.

[AngelBack]

I have to go with the Purple Monster as well.  MM is light years beyond my skill level, but for me I don't see his set up as the most efficient use of placement....unless you are MM.

[TheMunz]

As a drummer who isn't ambidextrous like Mike Mangini, I have to go with Portnoy's kit because I could actually play it.

[wolven74]

I love Mangini's kit. It's huge, yet it has a smaller footprint on stage, and it's laid out for economy of motion. Beautiful colors, beautiful design... Both tours have had the 2 best DT kits to date. I loved the Monsters, but Mangini's kit's are works of art.

[Dark Castle]

Even if you yourself would have a hard time playing Mangini's kit, the way it's laid out is radular.
I don't see how you can take that as a negative, seeing as ALL drummers set up their kits in a way that's comfortable for THEMSELVES to play.

Mike Mangini's by a long shot.

[bosk1]

Actually, I think they are both radular.

[mikeyd23]

MM's kit on this new tour might be my favorite looking DT drum kit ever.... It's truly beautiful 

[Dark Castle]

Actually, I think they are both radular.

[bosk1]

Actually, I think they are both radular.

Are you trying to say you think I'm radular?

[changing_seasons]

My favorite kit is still the one from the Scenes era. I don't like the idea of merging two kits into one - I prefer the all in one approach. I like Mangini's set up as well but the Dream Theater from ca. 1999 will always hold a special place in my musical heart.

[Obfuscation]

I have to go with MM's kit, espcially with the way it looks on this tour. I really like MP's but its basically 2 drum kits put together and would rather have it just be 1. Even though it would be easier and more natural for me to play on MP's, MM's kit looks like it would be really fun to play on as well.

[rumborak]

MP's for me. I think the overhead stuff is tacky.

Overall I'm a fan of smaller kits anyway. You don't have to go Paul Geary, but I think it somewhat shows that interesting drumming is not a function of kit size.

[nikatapi]

As far as looks go, MM's kit is better to my eyes, mainly because of it's symmetry and innovation.
MP's sound was/is better though.

[Gonza_1928DT]

Purple Monster FTW !!!

[ReaPsTA]

MP's for me. I think the overhead stuff is tacky.

m?  It's a good place to put things.  MM's kit puts functinality over aesthetics, but that actually makes it artistic in its own way.

That said, I do have to go with MP.  The albino monster is one of the coolest things I've ever seen:



Also, it's where the two kit concept really worked and made sense.  The big kit was a traditional Dream Theater kit, the the small kit was a really big and simple Zeppelin kit.  It really was two styles in one.

[Madman Shepherd]

MM by far.

MP's just looks messy.

MM looks like he is in the cockpit of a rocket ship and when you see him play you realize that is actually a decent analogy. 

Now that I've typed that, I think it is a pretty dumb analogy but it does kind of make sense...sorta.  I mean his facial expressions alone look like a man blasting off into space

[Kotowboy]

Mangini. It 's way more efficient and is designed to play all of DT's back catalogue without the whole LOL I HAVE TWO DRUMKITS.

Take away the two extra kick drums that are just for show on MM's kit and it actually looks reasonable whilst MPs massive kit always just looked stupid.


Also - there was nothing MP could play on the Bonham kit that he couldnt play on the big kit. Don't tell me there was.

[Dark Castle]

This picture right here says it all for me. There's a shit ton of drums and percussive instruments on it, but it's compact, organized, looks fucking radular, and Mangini looks insanely awesome playing it.

[Kotowboy]

I think MM's kit would look better without the extra two kicks but he's not even close to Terry Bozzio levels yet

[Lucidity]

I think MM's set looks too trapping and mechanical to me; it seems like by being behind all that equipment he's sort of detached from the audience and from the band. On the other other hand, MP's feels more open and (just an opinion!) more practical to me. I really don't like all the overhead gear on MM's kit; it has its novelty, but I feel like it just gets in the way and looks rather annoying.

[kiwiclapton]

Interesting that MMs has been getting bigger, and MPs smaller.

[jonnybaxy]

To me it's more MM's kit is for show more than MP's

Portnoy's is logical where as mangini's is look how fast I can move my hands around the kit I set up so I could do it.

How is it easier for the octobans to be above your head?

Purple monster all the way! 

[JayOctavarium]

I voted MM but if there was a neutral/both option... I would have gone with that.

[erwinrafael]

To me it's more MM's kit is for show more than MP's

Portnoy's is logical where as mangini's is look how fast I can move my hands around the kit I set up so I could do it.

How is it easier for the octobans to be above your head?

Purple monster all the way! 

Mangini's set up is logical for a drummer who plays comfortably on both hands and who does not cross hands when playing. It's actually symmetrical. The Octobans are on top so as not to clutter the main drum kit and so that it would be on the center, meaning it's not on a left or a right side. And MM says it's also fun. Hehehe:

"The last thing are the four octobans center-mounted up on the rack. Pearl calls them Cannon Toms but everyone refers to them as octobans and that's what they are. They're way up high for three reasons: Firstly they're in the middle for the same reason as my signature snares because I need to access them with either hand. I can't have them stuck way to the left because sometimes my other hand is tied up. I just need them in the center for access. Another reason, which would make the most sense and be the most simple for anybody to understand even if they're not a drummer, is there's no other place to put them. Finally, they look like exhaust pipes up there. It's just a good, fun look. I think that's a great way to conclude the whole basis of my setup beyond the musical purpose of it. Me being who and what I'm making myself to be, and being happy to play, and all that. It's fun. Drums are fun. Setting them up is fun. Hitting stuff is fun. I don't know a better way for it to hit home than to say "putting those octobans way up high in the middle was a lot of fun". I think that's a good explanation."

He explains his layout a bit in this vid: https://mikemangini.com/equipment.htm

MOre detailed explanations here:

https://www.metalsucks.net/2011/09/15/rigged-dream-theaters-mike-mangini-takes-you-through-every-piece-of-his-mega-drumkit-part-1/

https://www.metalsucks.net/2011/09/29/rigged-dream-theater%E2%80%99s-mike-mangini-takes-you-through-every-piece-of-his-mega-drumkit-part-2/

https://www.metalsucks.net/2011/10/17/rigged-dream-theater%E2%80%99s-mike-mangini-takes-you-through-every-piece-of-his-mega-drumkit-part-3/

[jonnybaxy]

But as he goes lower in pitch he has to move his arms to the opposite side of his snare.

He's moving his arms round more than necessary really.

[erwinrafael]

But as he goes lower in pitch he has to move his arms to the opposite side of his snare.

He's moving his arms round more than necessary really.

His snare is in the middle. The toms are not arranged linearly from lowest to highest. It is designed so that he can go  L R L R when going through an ascending / descending drum roll. His kit is designed so that he will not cross hands.

[erwinrafael]

To quote Mangini on his toms set up:

"The tom-toms are arranged like that in an apex shape from the middle out; they neither go from left to right or from right to left either. The center tom-tom is a 6″ diameter drum. To the left of that is the next one below it which is the 8″. So when I say the toms go 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 what I'm saying physically is: right, left, right, left, right, left, right and then the gong bass drum is with my right. That is the only part of this kit that breaks the protocol; that the 20″ drum isn't all the way to the left just for the sake of me doing it for some reason just to do it. I'll put the gong bass drum to the right because in the future of Dream Theater with me, I'll use that gong bass drum as a connective orchestration tool between my toms and the kicks. Because it is a bass drum, I use it for some bass drum hits. It allows me to do that with my right hand which frees up my left hand for some other purposes. Here's my point: the gong bass drum being next to the 18″ floor tom is the only part of the kit that breaks that protocol of right, left, right, left.

The way that I use the toms is extremely specific to the music. For example, there might be a riff in Fatal Tragedy where Mike does a regular kind of drum fill where a drummer starts on the snare drum and goes to the high drum and whips around the kit. Upon studying exactly what, for example, Jordan Rudess is playing, some of the transitions, Jordan is going up. He's ascending in pitch, so I'll use my drums to follow him. I'll play the same rhythm that Mike played, but in this case specifically, I'll change the notes that I'm hitting – the actual pitches of the drums so that it reflects a little bit more of what one of the band members is playing. I cannot do that if my drums are ascending or descending. I can only do that, and I think that any human is in the same boat as me, where you really can't hit a drum set one note at a time from ascending to descending.

For example, if Jordan is ascending in a D major scale – he starts on a low D and ends up at a high D (he hits an entire octave), the way that I do that on my kit, I can start on the low drum and play it with the following physical picking going right, left, right, left, right, left right up the drums. But if I was on an ascending or descending pitch arranged tom-tom setup, I'd have to cross my hands over to do that. And I couldn't. I just couldn't keep up the speed like that. With the acoustic drums, the setup is very specific. I'm an orchestral trained musician that loves heavy metal. When I look at the band I'm in and check out the drum set, which makes me go back to that comment before, "who's going to see this? Who can I work with that doesn't tell me what to do all the time" or "that I have too many drums. Why don't I groove and use a small bass drum and a small kit and just show up with 3 drums and a cymbal?" I have no problem doing that, and I enjoy it and love it but it's not my potential. It's not what reflects the thoughts in my mind and the feeling in my heart. I'm going to die one day.

I'm not going to be on my death bed saying "I can't believe that I let others, who should have minded their own business, make me feel bad and change my drumming. Screw them." I'm doing it now. I have done it for a long time. It's just that when somebody hires you, you need to do what they need. As a hired guy I never opened my mouth. I just did what I was asked to do and found joy in it because I was composing many times. In this case, it turns out everybody in the band sees it. Everybody gets it. Everybody is secure. Everybody is so supportive of this growth of mine. I get inspired by them and hopefully my attention to detail and learning how to play this drum set can be inspiring to them and be positive all around. I don't have to worry about those taps on the shoulder anymore. I'm in Dream Theater now. I can do this. When I sit back and say "man, that is a huge thank you for the entire organization" I think after this explanation it's not hard for you to believe that I really mean it."

[jonnybaxy]

I'm not saying it's wrong, this is an opinion thread and I think MP's kit is more tastefully layed out and better looking, there's a drum fill in TLG video with an overhead cam of MM and it's just seems like a burden for him with the layout.

[erwinrafael]

I'm not saying it's wrong, this is an opinion thread and I think MP's kit is more tastefully layed out and better looking, there's a drum fill in TLG video with an overhead cam of MM and it's just seems like a burden for him with the layout.

I reacted to your initial basis for saying that MP's kit is better. You said "Portnoy's is logical where as mangini's is look how fast I can move my hands around the kit I set up so I could do it." So I presented to you the logic of MM's drum kit, not to convince you to change your mind, but just to show you that MM's kit is logical and not just for show.

Now you change your basis to MP's kit being more tastefully laid out and better looking. My postings do not have anything to do with that argument.