mr dave

a friend of mine has both kinds of kits. they each offer their own respective benefits and drawbacks. he used to run a hybrid kit with electronic toms to accentuate his acoustic ones.

no electric kit will ever sound quite as bombastic as a real deal acoustic kit, but an acoustic kit is bulky and a hassle to move, on top of having to maintain your skins and cymbals.

electronic kits are significantly smaller, lighter, easier to move, and can be damn near silent in comparison (which makes it possible to use them in an apartment).

the way electronic kits work is that all the pads are connected to a main 'brain' synthesizer unit that generates sounds once the triggers in the pads are activated. depending on the quality of the brain unit you'll be able to process and tweak the individual drum sounds to better emulate the real thing, or go the complete opposite direction and create some sort of whacked out percussive cacophony. it's also easier to add live effects like flange and echo into the line with an e-kit.

you also don't have to use mics but you would definitely need some sort of PA or at the very least a robust keyboard amp to project the sound of the electronic kit. or you can just run the brain out into a good pair of headphones and not get evicted for playing the drums in an apartment.

__________________
i am the universe