Once you hook up an electric drum set to your computer, you can use the physical drums to trigger drum samples in audio software. Use a standalone drum program if you just want to create a drum track; if you want to integrate the drums into a digital audio production, use a virtual drum set plug-in in a digital audio workstation. XLN Audio's Addictive Drums, Native Instruments' Battery and Ableton Live's built-in Impulse and Drum Rack all allow you to trigger drum samples using an electric drum set.
The Musical Instrument Digital Interface standard provides a means of controlling music software on a computer using a physical instrument. Electric drum sets connect to your computer using either a MIDI connection to your sound card's "MIDI In" port or a USB cable that connects to a standard USB port on your computer. As most consumer-level sound cards do not have a MIDI port, a drum set that uses USB is much more versatile. If your electric drum set only has a MIDI connection, use a MIDI USB interface to connect it to your computer.
Before you can play the virtual drums, you'll need to "map" the electric drum set to the samples in the drum program. MIDI mapping connects a certain electric drum in the set with a certain sample in the program. When you hit the electric drum, the sample plays; the harder you hit the drum, the louder the program plays the sample. Enable MIDI mapping in the software, click on the drum sample you want to trigger, then hit the electric drum with which you want to trigger it. Repeat the process for the rest of the electric drum set.
Although triggering drum samples is the most obvious and common use for an electric drum set, you can also use this instrument creatively in non-traditional ways. Try mapping the drums to trigger vocal samples in your digital audio workstation, or set up the electric drum set so that each drum enables or disables a certain audio effect. You can even map each drum to a different MIDI note in a synthesizer, then play the synth using the drums.