Beginner - want to get an E-drum kit

Hi all,
Ive been a guitarist for many years, listening to the likes of Jojo Mayer, Morgan Agren, Mario Duplantier, etc has got me interested in learning drums. Since I live in an apartment, I have decided on an electronic drum kit. I would like to add a double bass pedal to the kit, so I would like it to be compatible with external pedals. I plan to connect it to my Steve Slate VST so not too bothered about stock sounds, but connectivity to the computer without much latency is very important.

I've been considering Alesis DM6 and Alesis DM8, Yamaha DTX etc...but since I have no prior experience, Im not sure on how to differentiate between these.

I am also looking for a nice double bass pedal.

The genres of music I am mainly interested in are metal,jazz fusion and prog rock.

Please advise. Thanks

It's all up to personal preference, and it would be smart to go try to test some out in person. But what I would recommend is to go with Roland. They are a little more expensive, but it's for good reason. I started with a Roland TD-3 when I first got an electronic drum set. I got it used from Guitar Center and it only cost me $350 for the whole set. I upgraded pretty quickly, but not because I didn't like the TD-3, in fact it's because I really liked it and wanted more. You can also get a Roland TD-9SX with all mesh pads for $950. Most Roland bass drum triggers work with double bass pedals. There's the KD-7 that doesn't work, but that's about it. But if you don't want Roland, I'd go for Yamaha. Most people end up switching to Roland anyways though because it's definitely the best.

Having just returned an Alesis DM8 USB kit to the dealer, I can definitely say go with Roland. On my Alesis kit, two tom pads simply came off their bases (looked to be glued with some sort of questionable glue of all things) and then the kick pad simply quit. Luckily, I got a full refund, which enabled me to get a Roland TD-11K. It has fewer drum kits in the module (25 compared to Alesis' 100), but they are all serious kits, not gimmicky, and the whole workmanship of the physical kit is far superior. I actually prefer the three rubber toms to the mesh heads of the TD-11KV, especially since tom 1 and 2 on that kit are the smaller six-inch ones. The three PD-8's on the Roland are great, no rim shots though. The Roland cost $899 Cdn vs. compared to $498 Cdn. for the Alesis (clearance price on that one), so one would expect better build quality. Roland seems to be a lot more serious about the e-drum business, at least from my experience of the lower/mid end models.

Gradier

Regardless of what all these people are saying about Roland, their mesh pads are ridiculously over bouncy and their kits are way over priced. For a good beginner kit there is no beating a Yamaha 520K or 530K kit, plain and simple! Plus, additional pads or almost half the price of the outrageously overpriced Roland pads and Yamaha's cymbal pads are far and way better than the Roland's are. And there is plenty of expansion opportunities if you choose that route in the future.