Alesis DM 10 Studio

I am a long time drummer and will always prefer acoustic drums; however, edrums do provide excellent practice and recording opportunities. Having a wife and young son and being busy with work and life, I usually only get a chance to practice late at night. For years I just couldn't practice on the kit but then I got into edrums (note, I still gig on acoustic kits). I started with a Pintech kit that had a module from Pintech (EZ)- I moved to an Alesis D4, then a Yamaha DTX2.0 and then a Roland TD6V- the kit was nice for practice, but I was never satisfied with the way ghost notes were expressed (etiher no sound at all or way too loud even when striking very softly). I also found the mesh head too boncey to use for a practice kit, but that is my personal opion- many people love mesh heads (they are quieter, feel good, and can be much easier to play faster). Since I use an ekit to practice I really don't want it to be easier to play faster - I don't want to try to execute something on a gig (while I'm playing acoustics) and find that I can't really do it on a straight up kit.
I had a lot of experience with Alesis' D4 and DM5 modules and knew that they were solid (there are still guys using D4 with acoustic triggers- they really are solid units). WHen the DM10 came out I was very interested- especially given the price.
I needed to replace some components on my ekit (frankenkit) and decided that it was time to move to a new kit altogether. When Aleis came out with the DM10 Studio 2011 (four leg rack) I new it was time to pull the trigger- then when it went on sale a couple weeks ago (down to an incredible $799) there was no way I could NOT buy it (the module itself is $699, which I think is a great price for what you get).
I see people griping about needed to tweak it- the thing is almost every edrum kit needs tweaks before it feels and plays the way you want it too. For me, the DM10 was actually the fastest/easiest to tweak. Of course, I always used the Pintech kit with other manufactures modules and I never had the top of the line modules, but it always took significantly longer to get the other modules dialed in.
I don't think it makes since to look at acoustic and electric drums as either/or- I don't believe you can ever replace the feel of a great acoustic kit- but it is often not possible to play an acoustic kit. Also, edrums open up worlds of sound that would cost a fortune to access via acoustic instruments. Add to that recording benefits (no need to buy mics, get a good room, etc.) and edrums are a wonderful tool to have in the tool box. One drawback is that edrums do go out of date or obsolete relatively quickly (consider that I gig with acoustic kits from 1968, the 1980's, 1990s as well as from the present). AN ekit is likely obsolete in less than a decade. With this in mind I just can't justify spending the 5-7K for Yamaha and Roland's top end kits. Yes, they are excellent kits, but I don't see paying almost ten times what I gave for the DM10. Yes, I agree that you get what you pay for; however, every once in a while you do get a whole lot more- that is the case here. If you are a frustrated drummer looking for a way to practice late at night you really need to check out this kit, I couldn't be happier with it.

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.

I looked forward for the DM10 Studio Kit to become available for months, and even downloaded the manual from Alesis when it became availble so I could hit the ground running when I made my purchase. When the unit showed up on my door step I grabbed the hand truck and axiously moved it to its new home. I opened the box and everything was neatly packed and protected. I began unpacking all of the individual boxes and frame peices and spread them around the room. I located the installation instructions. The instructions for putting the entire unit together was on an 8x11 peice of paper in 4 different languages with the diagrams and printing so small it was difficult to read. I immediately went to the Alesis website and down loaded the instructions so I could easily zoom in on my laptop. Problem 1 solved. The frame was fairly easy to put together and rigid enough to support all drums and accesseries. All of the clamps that hold the frame, cymbal and drums to the frame are plastic and I accidently cracked one by hand tightning. Would have been better to have aluminum clamps. There are no ball joints like you would find on an acoustic set for ajusting the tom drums,as it is an L rod that allows side to side ajustment. The clamp attached to the frame will allow up and down movement but can be tricky to get at once the tom is mounted. I mounted the sound module to the frame with the included clamp and proceded to run the cables to the triggers on the drums and cymbals. All cables were clearly marked as well as the back of the sound module. There were two cables in which the desciption did not match what was written on the back of the sound module, I just plugged them into the next available spaces. The cables are pre-cut to length so you cannot vary the placements of the drums and cymbals. Even when placed like the instructions show there is not a sufficient amount of cable to neatly attach to the frame. I actually had to move the sound module to under the hihat cymbal as to not stress the wires on the back of the sound module.
The one major design flaw seem to be the base drum module. It is very top heavy and has no support legs on the sides. It wobbles alot while playing, especially on carpet as it actually tipped over. Be careful that you retract the spikes before putting it on hardwood, vinyl or ceramic tile floors. I also could not get much sound out of the base drum pedal. I think it may have been defective as no matter what I did the volume would not increase like I could get the rest of the triggers to do. The hihat pedal felt nothing like a "real hihat pedal" even though thats what Alesis calls it. I could not get it to calibrate and perform as advertised. Do not buy this unit thinking that when you are done putting it together that it is ready to play. This unit needs alot of calibration and adjustment. Plan on spending a couple of hours doing this. The sounds that the module produces are good and the menues are easy to navigate. As far as the drum heads are concerned, Alesis claims in their advertising it is just like playing acoustic drums and no need to change your playing technique. It could not be farther from the truth. The drum heads themselves may be real but thats about it. I do not know what the material directly underneath the head is but it is a hard spongy type material and fairly noisy. I was impressed with the cymbals as they seemed high quality like you would find on a Roland or Yamaha set.
Like I mentioned earlier I had problems with calibration and getting sound out of the base drum pad. I called Alesis waiting on hold 45 to 60 minutes at a time and giving up. I should not have to wait that long. Just being curious I called Roland and Yamahas customer service departments and had a rep within minutes. After that little experiment, I re-packaged the entire unit and sent it back for a refund. I am now saving up for a Roland or Yamaha unit.