This is a question everyone asks themselves at some point. There is a ton of content about it in the www. I'll try to summarize the basics here in a simple way, based on my own experience (I've been drumming for about 35 years).
Acoustic set rocks!
Advantages
The playing feel is unbeatable
Different playing techniques (e.g.: rimshots, rimclicks) lead to different sounds, therefore incredibly wide sound spectrum
The dynamics have a great influence on the sounds that can be achieved
the direct feedback of the sounds leads to an immediate experience - you can literally feel the frequencies
you don't need electronics, everything works without electricity
you learn important additional skills: tuning the drums, the use of different heads/cymbals/drums depending on the purpose of use
Disadvantages
it is really loud
practicing is only possible with tolerant neighbors
the drums and all the accessories are heavy and big
no fundamental sound changes possible
Recording can be time-consuming depending on the technique used
sound is rarely 100% reproducible
classic acoustic set (this is my own :-) )
E-Drums rocks too, but quieter for the environment!
As you would expect, many disadvantages of the acoustic set become advantages of the electric drum set, but of course the other way around.
Advantages
low noise development, therefore usable in a quiet environment (nevertheless, the structure-borne sound transmission through hihat machine and foot machine must be considered, here suitable structure-borne sound measures must be taken. See the article Podest zur Körperschallentkopplung.
modern modules or plugins produce really good sound that comes close to acoustic drums.
recording is much easier: via USB everything goes directly into the computer or DAW
less space required
extremely variable sound - there are no limits
a clear advantage for electronic music
reproducible sound at any time
no tuning of the drum necessary
practicing is easier: different sounds (mp3, metronome etc.) can be added to the headphones
Disadvantages
the feel is not quite as good as acoustic drums
without electricity nothing works
a good e-drum costs a lot of money - the entry-level models do not offer the optimum in terms of feel and sound
modern e-drumset (my own :-) )
Decision support
so, what does the inclined drummer do now with all these advantages and disadvantages?
As is so often the case, it helps to reduce the degree of complexity in complex matters.
From my point of view, the crucial question is whether noise development is possible. If this is not possible at the place of the event (rented apartment), practically only an e-drumset comes into question.
If the noise level of an acoustic drum set is not a problem (e.g. rehearsal room) then an acoustic drum set is probably the better choice, because a real acoustic set cannot be replaced 100% by an electronic set.
The optimum, however, is to use both worlds - that's how I do it: at home is the electric drumset, in the rehearsal room is the good acoustic set.
By the way, there are also good hybrid solutions: Acoustic set supplemented with e-drums, or acoustic set trimmed to quiet (meshheads) equipped with triggers and that sent to an e-drums module.
Here is another attempt to evaluate the characteristics of the e-drums and the acoustic drum set with different parameters. The evaluation itself is - this is in the nature of things - very subjective.
In a polar diagram, you can clearly see the strengths of the acoustic set: feel, natural sound and it runs without electricity.
The e-drumset scores mainly in the parameters "practicing in a sensitive area, variability, space requirement".
Acoustic Drum Set
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