My first electronic kit... help me out

andy89

Junior Member
Hey all!

This is my first post here and I am excited to be apart of this community. I have experience on an acoustic set but haven't been on a kit regularly in a long time and - well what can I say... I'm ready to get back on it! My current living situation wouldn't accomodate an acoustic set as I am not trying to be a disturbance to anyones sleep schedule. So into the world of electronic drums I go. I have read just about every article online and post here about into kits. It is my understanding that the budget kits available are of budget quality. While I understand this is often the nature of the game, I also know in each market there seems to be a product that exceeds all expectations. I am a guitar player by trade and I have had experiences with MIM Strats and Classic Vibe Telecasters that have made question my top tier instruments to the point that some were replaced. I am looking for that in an Electronic kit. What are the kits on the market that people say, with good vibes, "Wait, how much did I pay for this?!" I want a quality product that will do justice both in the studio and live. In your recommendations know that my pockets are not endlessly deep and this economy has free cash much less fluid but I do understand when
money needs to be spent to get the right product.

All your thoughts and help is greatly appreciated!
 
I too play guitar primarily,and have had the exact same experience with lower end guitars being phenomenal....with the right tweaks.I threw some seymour duncans in my epi les paul standard,it its a beast.I have owned many guitars,but never one that growls like this one.I think the duncans make it a better sounding guitar than the actual gibsons with the 490 pickups.For like 1500 bucks less.
So I hear you there.You want to find that rare gem,in a e-kit.I dont have enough experience with e-kits as I do with guitars unfortunately,but I literally beat the crap out of my Alesis usb studio kit.I mean I go off and almost try and brake something just so I can justify going to guitar center lol,and the thing will not fail.Needless to say I have grown quite fond of the little beast.Its no Roland and shouldnt be compared to one.They make better stuff....but then again so does Gibson compared to Epiphone.
I cant imagine any other kit taking the beating this one does.My double kick skills are improving very well,but still have the feet of a beginner,so I can be pretty hard on that little bass trigger,but it never miss triggers...never ghost triggers.
I have ezdrummers metalheads running into it,so it sounds like a top of the line DW surrounded by top of the line sabians.

I cant say its the equivalent to what my Epiphone is as far as diamond in the rough....but its way way more than I expected for 500 new.

Youll get more votes for the td-3 and td-4 used,but im just throwing out my personal experience.Which isnt much,but im happy with them.

Good luck and welcome to the forums.
 
I've just gone for a DM10 studio which should be sitting in a nice new box at home by now!
Currently using a session pro dd506 which has brought me a long way ( i think!) and wanted something with 'a bit more' to fiddle with. Accoustic kit is out of the window at the moment until i manage to fully soundproof the shed!
If it's something cheap you want as a beginner to see if you will actually play it, then i haven't had any problems at all with the session pro. You wouldn't want to gig with it and it'll never set the world on fire with its sounds, but to set up in the spare room to smack around on and see if in a month you'll give up and go back to the six string, then it's perfect.
And i know where there is one going cheap ................... lol
 
Thanks for the input guys! I have continued my research and I find it interesting that you have both posted about Alesis. I have been taking a serious look at the DM10 Studio as well as the DM10 X. The Studio is probably all I really need but that doesn't mean there isn't appeal to the X, I'm sure you all know how that goes.

bog_72 - It sounds like from your experience Alesis has durability which in this case might be synonymous with build quality. This is great to hear.

danthevan - While I appreciate what I appear to be an offer on your dd506 I think I am looking for a little more. I understand short term impression of gear could greatly differ from the long term but I am interested in what you think of your newly purchased Alesis. Congrats by the way!

Thanks again for the input. Looking to hear more!
 
Here's a quick review from about 2 hrs of messing around with it!

All feels nice and solid, the drums are damn heavy for what they are, and the skins have a nicer response than the rubber pads. Feels a nice solid build.
One thing i will say is you NEED to do the firmware upgrade (that's where my problem lies at the moment as my pc is dicking about) as the crosstalk (hit the snare and the ride goes off) is awful straight from the box. The upgrade fixes this though.
There are also problems with the Tom1 input on *some* modules. Apparently Alesis know this and it's not a problem to get the units replaced. Something to do with a dodgy batch of diodes or something. There is a workaround by copying the Tom1 sound to a spare input which is what most people have done, but would need to do this for every kit you use.
Every pad seems to be dual trigger so get things like cowbell, tambourine by hitting the edge of the toms.
There is plenty of buttons, knobs and whistles to play with, and one thing I like over other kits i looked at is you can change the volume of each pad on the mixer sliders, so can be done in a few seconds rather than going through menu's etc.
Because of the problems above and only having a couple of hrs on it, i didn't get much chance to play, but what I did bash around with I liked a lot.
I don't think it's a straight out the box, plug in, and away you go kit, as i can see there is going to be a few hours of tweaking sensitivity, getting sounds right etc for your particular taste.

more info over at www.dmdrummer.com where they're pretty clued up and have a few alesis employees on there too.
 
Ok, quick update on the above........

The module settings when shipped are shockingly bad, but a quick call to Numark who handle the UK side of Alesis, and i had an email with an update for the module.
2 mins to update, and all is well.

Really quite impressed with it now it's all up and running.
Just need to learn how to play now lol
 
First, welcome to Drummerworld.​
I have both Roland and Yamaha, and "vintage" Tama Techstar e-kits .... and four acoustic sets.​
Alesis, I'm not a big fan of ... but to each, their own. e-kits are like computers ... every generation is better than the last ... the 5 year old "pro" model was the "pro" model ... 5 years ago ... and now, you can buy one used for $500 (or less) ... so, it really depends on how much you want to spend, and how "state-of-the-art" you need to be ... or want to be.​
Roland is the largest drum manufacturer in the world ... and they don't even make acoustic kits. They "are" the top dog. Yamaha, since they make "acoustic" drums ... sample all those ... and that's what you get in their sound files. And they're #2.​
Go to a drum shop, and play some e-kits. You may want all mesh heads ... maybe you'll only want a mesh snare ... maybe you'll only need rubber pads ... you really won't know, until you get there.​
 
First, welcome to Drummerworld.​
I have both Roland and Yamaha, and "vintage" Tama Techstar e-kits .... and four acoustic sets.​
Alesis, I'm not a big fan of ... but to each, their own. e-kits are like computers ... every generation is better than the last ... the 5 year old "pro" model was the "pro" model ... 5 years ago ... and now, you can buy one used for $500 (or less) ... so, it really depends on how much you want to spend, and how "state-of-the-art" you need to be ... or want to be.​
Roland is the largest drum manufacturer in the world ... and they don't even make acoustic kits. They "are" the top dog. Yamaha, since they make "acoustic" drums ... sample all those ... and that's what you get in their sound files. And they're #2.​
Go to a drum shop, and play some e-kits. You may want all mesh heads ... maybe you'll only want a mesh snare ... maybe you'll only need rubber pads ... you really won't know, until you get there.​
Harry have you tried the new Yamaha white rubber pads on their top of the line kit. I think they are the most realistic feal yet, with the best rebound. I have a TD10 with mesh heads which are good but a little too bouncy.
 
Harry have you tried the new Yamaha white rubber pads on their top of the line kit.
Haven't had a chance to, but I hear great things about them.​
Personally, I use pads as triggers. I have no problem playing my acoustic drums at home. So, my e-kits ... when they get involved ... it's more like a hybrid thing. I like a "real" snare .... and I like "real" cymbals .... toms and kick, I can go e-kit on those. Or not. I also have two Mandala V1 drums, and two Korg Wave drums ... and both those drums (types) do "amazing" things ... simply no e-kit can touch those.​
 
Haven't had a chance to, but I hear great things about them.​
Personally, I use pads as triggers. I have no problem playing my acoustic drums at home. So, my e-kits ... when they get involved ... it's more like a hybrid thing. I like a "real" snare .... and I like "real" cymbals .... toms and kick, I can go e-kit on those. Or not. I also have two Mandala V1 drums, and two Korg Wave drums ... and both those drums (types) do "amazing" things ... simply no e-kit can touch those.​

I had a chance to try them out recently at GC...they have a pretty realistic bounce feel to them and are also very quiet...
 
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