Interested in playing drums again after 37 years of not playing . Question concerning Electronic Drums . Is the Alesis Nitro Max 8. $400 Good Deal
- Thread starter Cydog
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electrodrummer
Senior Member
[scary personal opinions as requested]
I'd rather get a 2nd user Yamaha or Roland than a new Alesis - which can fragile, TBH. I'd personally never get a kit from anyone that uses a proprietary cable snake to connect the pads to the module.
What heads are best? "Best" is down do you, really. Drummers have been using rubber heads on practice pads (and edrums) for many decades, and all rubber heads feel different as they use different compounds. Mesh is popular but can be bouncy in feel and suffer hot spots with a sensitive centre and noticiable fall off away from the centre (it can also sound like hitting Tupperware). Yamaha's silicone many would suggest is closest to Mylar and is very quiet, but more expensive.
I'd rather get a 2nd user Yamaha or Roland than a new Alesis - which can fragile, TBH. I'd personally never get a kit from anyone that uses a proprietary cable snake to connect the pads to the module.
What heads are best? "Best" is down do you, really. Drummers have been using rubber heads on practice pads (and edrums) for many decades, and all rubber heads feel different as they use different compounds. Mesh is popular but can be bouncy in feel and suffer hot spots with a sensitive centre and noticiable fall off away from the centre (it can also sound like hitting Tupperware). Yamaha's silicone many would suggest is closest to Mylar and is very quiet, but more expensive.
Chris Whitten
Platinum Member
Buy used.... and a brand that is known for quality electronic drums.
charliedrummer
Senior Member
Sorry to say but a new electronic kit priced at $498 will likely be cheap in terms of quality in addition to cheap in terms of price. Roland and Yamaha kits hold up well. If your budget is limited, look for a used set. It is best if you can see and try it in person (rather than buying online) so that you can inspect it up close.
JohnRick
Member
As an e-drummer for the past 20 years (and regular drummer for 30): stay away from Alesis. Yamaha and Roland are your best bet. I am of course biased since I prefer Yamaha's TCS heads over Roland's mesh heads any day of the week. Feel, response, tactility, trigger sensitivity etc. But mesh heads should work fine for you, as they already do for many others. Generally you get what you pay for.
Suburbankidz
Well-known Member
Rack height can be a problem if you're tall. I had an Alesis Mesh Surge and loved it for a year and a half, then started having problems with the snare and one of the toms shorting out (dropping notes) and apparently there is no replacement for the mesh head on the kick tower. I used this ekit daily and didn't abuse it, and it didn't hold up.
My advise would be to do some research and look for a mid-range model Yamaha or a Roland.
Or if sound is not a problem at your location, you can find a good used acoustic drum kit for less than what the cost will be for the mid-level ekit. I prefer playing an acoustic kit
My advise would be to do some research and look for a mid-range model Yamaha or a Roland.
Or if sound is not a problem at your location, you can find a good used acoustic drum kit for less than what the cost will be for the mid-level ekit. I prefer playing an acoustic kit
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Doraemon
Well-known Member
If your budget is limited and you find nothing used, it's a fine, popular beginner kit. Best if you buy from Sweetwater in US or Thomann in EU with longer warranty. But it's only $399, so $498 is definitely not a good deal.
(Looks like the title has been edited, but the OP left.. weird.)
(Looks like the title has been edited, but the OP left.. weird.)
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Tamboreter
Silver Member
As others have said, there are no good reasons to buy this kit. Once something breaks or gives way, you will hate it; then you will be unable to sell it because of it's overall low quality. Either bump up to a quality Roland e-kit or go acoustic.
mday
Junior Member
I had a long lie down from 17 to age 58. Took some lessons & bought the same ekit the teacher had with mesh heads.
Fast forward a couple of years & wanted to play in a band so bought an acoustic kit. Took some time to develop dynamics & feel.
So if you're sure you only want to play for fun then an ekit will probably suffice but if you have ambitions....?
Fast forward a couple of years & wanted to play in a band so bought an acoustic kit. Took some time to develop dynamics & feel.
So if you're sure you only want to play for fun then an ekit will probably suffice but if you have ambitions....?
Tamboreter
Silver Member
Yes. In my experience, harder to go from e-kit to acoustic than the other way around.
Hey cydog - Few months behind on the thread.. 67 year old grandfather playing again after 20 year break. Got me a Roland TD9SX for 700.00 used on Marketplace (excellent condition with mesh heads). I am enjoying playing more now than ever! I did not learn correctly the first time around. Grad the sticks and rock & roll. All self taught. Couldn’t afford lessons raising four kids. Great instructors on YouTube. Now I’m into playing more of the jazz fusion. Having the time of my life. I had a nice Premier set that I got rid of. I practice probably minimum of 3 to 4 hours a day (empty nester and semi-retired). Good luck and remember three things 1. Practice 2. Practice 3. Practice. Hope things are going well for you! They certainly are for me!!
Doraemon
Well-known Member
Cool. Any reason why you have the module sideways?
yammyfan
Senior Member
I was going to ask the same thing. E-kits stunt one's development in some ways.
GetAgrippa
Diamond Member
I agree with that. I reluctantly bought an ekit because of complaining neighbor during Covid. I played only it for a year-it's fun I like ekits now-which I had disdain. Now when I got back on my acoustic kit I felt a bit like a duck out of water because feel so different but mainly it was cymbals. I had spent a couple years working on getting my jazz thing going with ride and hat cymbals and made a lot of progress. But dang it was all gone-you really cajole and finesse sounds out of bronze cymbal. It's come back but I don't think I'm back full to where I was. I still play both-I can play ekit anytime and I can play my acoustic starting after 4-5 pm in evening with no issue. To OP good luck on your drumming journey! It's the wild ride of Mr. Toad-you'll have a blast.
doggyd69b
Platinum Member
While I understand your aversion to cable snakes, I really feel that for a person new to electronic drums it will just make it so much easier to setup and diminishes the risk of losing cables. If a cable got damaged replacement snake cables are very cheap and easy to find, you can also add a patch bay to connect your snake and feed individual cables to your pads.
second most drummers will find mesh heads more agreeable to play vs other surfaces.
third at the price the op is suggesting you will most likely won’t find many great kits.
I never had issues with hot spots even with my first diy kits. There are a few settings to adjust but once you do, things should work fine.
I agree that Yamaha generally has better sounds than Roland, no evil cable snake, and are built to last (like Roland). also similarly priced. But at the op’s budget he can do better than what he could afford with either Yamaha or Roland unless he happens to luck out and find a great deal on a used set.
to answer the op’s question no, I don’t think it’s a great deal, I would personally save to get to the $1000- 1200 ball park and look at Simmons or a used Yamaha or Roland. Check the music stores for demo units you can get a much better kit for much less than it would cost new. (I found my Roland TD-27 for $1500 after taxes) yes it was the floor unit, but after testing everything thoroughly and making sure there were no issues I bought it. The kit had barely been played there were no marks on any of the pads and the settings were still default which told me almost no one messed with it so it was basically new. The new price for that set at the time was $3500 so it was a steal. About a month prior I was in San Diego and the Guitar Center there had a Roland VAD 507 that they had added an extra bass drum and an extra floor tom to make it a double bass kit. They also added the Roland single pedals(which are surprisingly great) and hi hat stand as well as a snare stand, I believe they also added 2 extra cymbal pads, needless to say the kit looked amazing and the price was right $4599 for all that. For some stupid reason I didn’t buy it. I still regret it now… all that new would have been over $10k….
the other option is buy a super cheapo acoustic, add triggers and mesh heads, and cymbal pads, and say an older Yamaha or Roland module but the cheapest you can do will still cost you about $ 1500 for a complete 5 piece kit with hi hats, ride and a couple of crashes…
doggyd69b
Platinum Member
I forgot to mention that when I started building kits I bought 3 toms for $50 from a pawn shop, I cut them in half and they looked like high end Roland pads, I built them to be double zone with Radio shack piezos, now you can find said piezos in Amazon. I made my own mesh heads with pet proof mesh screen, (I bought a set of Pintech cymbals which I still use with my current kit all these years later) and I triggered everything with an Alesis DM5 which I still have. Later I bought an Alesis I/O and Steven Slate drums, my cheapo kit sounded amazing. I bought a goedrum hi hat controller and was able to use a real hi hat stand. Later I bought a Roland TD11 kit, which I also still have, I made my own splitters (to be able to use the rim zone on the toms since the TD11 supports dual zone but the rubber pads are single zone) the splitters allowed me to be able to add more cymbal pads so I had a TD 11 with 7 cymbal pads as shown in the video below. The idea is to upgrade little by little until you get to the perfect kit for you. There are a lot of used Roland pads for cheap in EBay. I had bought 5 pads from a TD30 kit right before I found my current kit so I combined them with my TD27 my TD11 module and even my old Pintech cymbals for a kit that now has 5 toms, and 8 cymbals plus still room for another 10 pads if I wanted to (and had rack space). I made my own mesh heads because at the time Roland owned the patent and nobody could sell mesh heads in the US and Roland heads were too expensive for my then limited budget.
Video with the TD11:
video with current kit:
Video with the TD11:
video with current kit:
Doraemon
Well-known Member
I agree with many of your points above.
As for the OP, they never logged in again to read any of our replies... I bet they were shopping on Amazon for drums, $498 is certainly not a good deal for a $399 kit, lol. It often goes on sale for $359, at which price it can be a good value for beginners.