Alesis DM10 Studio Kit Professional Six-Piece Electronic Drum Set Review

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(More customer reviews)For some crazy reason, I decided to start drums. I have a small home studio and play some guitar and getting drum tracks into the music I create has always been a problem. I know I could have gotten a (better?) acoustic kit for the same price, but by the time you add mics to get it recorded, it ends up being more expensive. And with Electronic drums you have an endless array of sounds available and the ability to edit your performance after the fact. So anyhow, for my purposes, this kit seems very good.
I read a couple of posts on the internet and expected it to take between 45 minutes to an hour to set up. 4 hours later I had a roughly organized initial setup. I had never played drums before and had no idea where I wanted things to be. I ended up having to reverse some mounts to get the drums in the position I think they should be. There is a curved bar for the front top - it was unclear in the very limited setup directions which way this bar should be mounted. I have no idea if I have it correct or not, and it would take another hour to change it if it is wrong. The setup directions need to be a lot better. The supplied wiring seems short in places. If the supplied wiring can only be attached one way, then the directions should show you that one way, and they don't. The hihat pedal is also not as responsive as I would expect. I have read that the Roland hihat pedal will work with this kit and is a better choice so I probably will get one and use it.
The other electronic aspect I have not been able to solve yet is that the kit is supposed to be able to use the USB connection to transmit and receive midi. I have yet to get that working on a PC, but I have heard that it works on a mac. Perhaps Alesis is just behind in getting proper PC drivers out for it.
Other than that, the brains (DM-10) has very good sounds and very good adjust-ability for sensitivity and response.
The drums themselves play fine. The good news is that there are instruction for mods on the internet that will allow you to convert these to much better drums, for about $12 each. At that point, for $999 + ($12 x5) = $1060 you have the equivalent of some $2500+ electronic kits. As I get a little better with my playing, I plan on making those mods.
Alesis should really consider splitting package into 2 separate boxes to make shipping easier (via common UPS etc). The problem is a single box weighs 75lbs and that exceeds the UPS limit. Freight shipping was a nightmare. It went through at least 3 different companies, the final which refused to deliver to a residential area with their large trucks. I ended up having to go pick these up myself after paying $160 for shipping. No store within 3 hours drive plans on stocking a kit like this, so shipping was the only option. I still feel ripped off to pay that much for delivery and have to go pick it up myself at the shipping companies convenience.
Bottom line - Great kit. Good feel, excellent potential. Perfect for my small studio.

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Yamaha DD65 Digital Drum Pad (with Survival Kit) Review

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(More customer reviews)I am an experienced guitarist, and I purchased this product as my second step into drumming (my first step was an acoustic snare). I am very happy with the results. The key benefits are:
1) The small footprint - it will take up minimal space in your practice room
2) The sound variety - many preset kits and custom sounds
3) Built in metronome - no need to buy a separate one and amplify it
4) Ability to practice quietly with headphones - run your MP3 though it and play along.
When I first started with garage bands, drumming meant that a lot of space was required and a practicing would be VERY LOUD. That is no longer the case in the electric drum era. I would recommend getting the real Yamaha foot pedals for the kick and high hat - sold separately.

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Yamaha DTXPLORER Electronic Drum Kit Review

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(More customer reviews)First off, the previous review from July 2010 sounds like a person unaware of what they were getting into. This is an entry level e-kit, but has features and stability of a higher end kit. Pads have great rebound for being rubber (not hard plastic). The kit sounds are great and the adjustability and sensitivity of the pads are well beyond what I had expected. You can get very good ghost notes out of these as well as good powerful strokes due to the velocity sensitive pads. The pads that come with it are all single zone, but the snare can be upgraded to a 3 zone pad for about $70.00 and the cymbals can be upgraded to two zone pads for about $60.00. You also have the option of adding another pad (single zone) for an extra cymbal or tom. DONT expect this to replace an acoustic kit or be as good as a higher end roland, but do expect you get Yamaha quality in this kit, which is outstanding. Check out Musicians Friend and Guitar Center for nearly 100 reviews on this product. People love it and so do I!

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Akai XR20 Beat Production Station Drum Machine Review

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(More customer reviews)I sent my XR20 midiclock, balanced its levels with some other gear, and voila! Amazing results. Funky, groovy, sounds awesome through my Korg KP3 Kaoss pad. Cool modes on this machine, too: it plays bass and synth. And one-shot FX. And there's tons and tons of samples--and you can switch drum kits on the fly. And you can switch patterns on measure boundaries only! Which keeps live jams with it from running out of control. And it does fills. And it sounds great. AND it has a microphone input, which means that I can send my voice into it! And it looks awesome. And the user interface is really well designed. And it's small. And it runs on batteries. And and and and and...

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Create beats wherever you roam with the Akai XR20 Beat Production Station, perfect for making hip-hop and R&B wherever and whenever inspiration strikes. The XR20 features sounds of standard and electronic drums, single (one-shot) hits, bass and synth sounds to easily create the maximum mix in minimal time.
More than 700 pre-loaded sounds cover a range of drums, percussion, effects and instrument samples, while an integrated effects engine includes Reverb, EQ and Compression, enabling users to make complete backing tracks. Plug in a microphone and mix vocals with your beats. In Pattern Play mode, you can trigger different patterns from each pad, so you can tailor the beats to flow with the energy on-stage. Bright blue pads light with the beat to illuminate your performances as you light up the club. The XR20 runs on wall or battery power, so it's flexible and portable.
Key Features
Over 700 sounds produced by Chronic Music
99 preset patterns and 99 user patterns
Backlit LCD
Bright, glowing, backlit pads that follow the beat
Microphone input and headphone output
Pattern Play Mode -- different patterns can be triggered from individual pads
Drum Roll / Note Repeat feature for realism and expression
Battery power capability and AC adapter

Specifications
Inputs:
One 1/4-inch mic
Two 1/4-inch footswitch
One MIDI

Outputs:
One 1/4-inch stereo pair (main)
One 1/4-inch stereo (aux)
One 1/4-inch stereo headphones
One MIDI

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Alesis DM6 Kit Performance Electronic Drumset Review

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(More customer reviews)I've had my Alesis DM6 drumset up and running for a couple days and I must say I am pleasantly surprised. Up until now any electronic drumset in the $500 range was nothing more than a toy. Because I know that Alesis knows how to make great electronic drumsets I was hoping that their experience making higher end kits would trickle down to this brand new DM6 line. It did. This drumset is fabulous when you consider the price point and, in fact, has no real competition that I could find.
Pros:
- Everything is included. I've looked at a lot of drumsets and many don't include everything you need like bass drum pedals and more. This has everything you need to play right our of the box, even a pair of drum sticks. OK, a couple things not included you will need and that's a set of headphones and a throne (chair) to sit on.
- Sturdy, well made components. The natural rubber drum heads are quiet but have a very good feel and rebound to them. The rubber cymbals are not as quiet as the drum heads but do what they are supposed to do very nicely. All metal hi-hat and bass pedals. Wide diameter aluminum frame rails and compoents.
- Very realistic sounding drum samples.
- Dual zone snare. You can make the snare sound like a rimshot when you hit the rim. Or program it for a cowbell when you play "Don't Fear the Reaper". Or make it sound like any of the other drum sounds included.
- Ability to interface with your computer via USB. This opens up a world of options including MIDI and recording your performances on your favorite recording software. I don't know of any sub $500 kit of this quality that does that.
- MY FAVORITE THING is I just plug in my iPod into the DM6 module and I can play right along to my favorite songs.
- You can buy an ION Drum Rocker module (I was able to get one on eBay, not sold by Alesis) and use this kit for your Rockband drumset. You'll need 8 new cables too, so while there is extra expense, it's possible
Cons:
- Some kits, including mine, were delivered with firmware that was less than perfect. I, and others I have heard, would sometimes have problems with the snare drum triggering properly. I had to hit it harder than I thought I should to get it to trigger. A quick and easy firmware update totally fixed this problem but I know some people have problems updating thgings like this.
The Botton Line:
- Everything I've said in this review is under the caviat, "...for the price." If you are new to drumming this would be a great first set. But if you are and experienced drummer on a tight budget you will not be disappointed as long as you aren't expecting the DM6 to be a Roland Pro high end drum kit. The bottom line is this is the best $500 (street price) electronic drumset ever made.


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An excellent choice in electronic drum sets for price-conscious drummers and aspiring players, this Alesis DM6 Kit combines the compact DM6 drum-sound module with an electronic drum set with extremely realistic playing surfaces and rugged rack system. The DM6 drum module features a completely new sound-set with 108 quality drum, cymbal, and percussion instruments as well as a sequencer with play-along tracks, metronome, recorder, mix-in jack for playing along with your iPod, and more.

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Roland HD-1 V-Drums Lite Electronic Drums Review

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(More customer reviews)This kit is near-to-perfect for someone who finds their acoustic kit has become too loud, too big, too difficult to transport, and too time-consuming to set up.
If you are looking for something that is small with a small footprint that is light, portable, and that sounds good, this kit will fill the bill. I haven't been able to put the sticks down (geeze, now I know why I got away from playing for 15 years - it's as additive as crack cocaine).
The other reviews voice criticism and they are justified, depending on what you are looking for. Unlike the higher-end kits, you cannot select individual drums. The drums for any of the pre-programed ten kits, and the volume of those individual drums are "global," meaning you can turn the whole kit up or down, but not adjust the tune or volume of one drum vs. another.
The voices are sampled and really sound incredible, but if I could "have it my way," I would have the snare be a bit more sensitive (you can set the sensitivity, but again, it's "global" for all the drums in the kit), and would make the snare and cymbal louder in relation to the toms and kick.
The peddle system is ingenious, and works well. It took a little while to find a the sweet spot to allow me to do "Banham doubles," and it still is not as easy to do as it is with a true peddle, but it's close.
The other thing that I have seen on the more expensive kits that the HD1 does not have is the ability to be able to choke out cymbals with your hand.
If these thing are important to you, you might want to look at a more expensive kit. But those kits are bigger, heavier, and more time-consuming to set up. If the reason you wanted is primarily for portability (the greatest kit in the world that you won't take to friends' house to jam with will do you no good, right?) - or what this thing is, for how tiny it is, and for what it weighs (32 lbs), you can't beat it with a stick - well, actually you can, and I have been, a lot.
More information: Kit 1 has a nice acoustic sound, like a kit in an intimate setting. Kit 1A is a "jazz kit," the snare sound of which I like the best. The crash is a bit more splashy, and the ride sounds like it has rivets. The hat is really crisp and clean. The second tom becomes a cross-stick on a rim. Kit 2 sounds just like drums in a big empty hall. Kit 2A sounds the same as 2, but the hat peddle becomes a second kick (open hat) and the second tom become a cowbell. Kit 3 is a snare, crash, ride, hat, and three "island drums." Kit 3A is a snare, crash, ride, hat, and three percussion instruments of some kind or another. Forget about Kits 4 & 5 and their Alternates, unless you like Devo and dance music from the 80s.

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A New All-In-One Drum Kit for the MassesRoland's V-Drums are the most popular electronic drums in the world, but not everyone has the room or budget for a full V-Drums kit. Introducing the new Roland HD-1. It's forged from the same technology as its predecessors, but it's much simpler to use. It's also incredibly quiet, thanks to the newly designed kick beater, cushioned tom pads, and snare head. The HD-1 is also conveniently compact and stylish - perfect for every home, school, studio, etc. - and it's priced for the masses. Most of the HD-1's components are mounted on one stand for easy setup and transport, and for a clean look. Just take it out of the box and play.

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