Cheap E-Drumkits ... Alesis DM 5 or Trigger I/O?

[decoys]

Hey guys,
been wondering what your opinion is on this one:
I want to buy some (cheap but usable) e-drumkit for recording purposes. my choice so far would be an alesis kit. in order to capture the performance as best as possible, would i be better off with the good old dm-5 or the set with the trigger i/o?

 

[erasetheclouds]

I use the Trigger I/O and it works just fine and it's pretty tweekable to get it to trigger as you see fit. On the other hand, you could just get a MIDI/USB cable like this

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/CablesToBuy-Cable-Converter-Keyboard-Window/dp/B001HPL8B2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1273692789&sr=8-3[/ame]

and run that from the DM5 to your PC. Either way has been plug and play in my experiences.

The advantage of the DM5 would obviously be that you could use it as a standalone unit for practice/live settings without a PC.

 

[decoys]

cool. you mean there is no difference in triggering or midi-note accurancy between the two?

 

[erasetheclouds]

The standalone drum module I used with the MIDI/USB cable was not the DM5, so I can't say for sure, but as long as you can control the re-trigger timing and velocity curves and such within the DM5, I would assume that that information is passed on through MIDI.

 

[006]

Yeah when I was using DM5 (with MIDI->USB converter from Edirol) with triggers on acoustic kits the MIDI reflected what you heard from the module, the accuracy I mean.

 

[laszlozsolt82]

i got the trigger io .If you plan to use just for recording porposes I recomend the IO , it performs wery well for me recording Midi signals , but i know somebody who use it live with his laptop and VST plugs. Simple and efficient tool and the good thing is that it is cheap also
Regarding the kit, Thomann sales the Millenium kits they are good for the price, and they got bundles with the millenium kit plus trigger io, or you can build yours if you want, it is not so hard, especialy if you have an acoustik kit at home

 

[updog]

Thomann sales the Millenium kits they are good for the price

TBH, those are horrible. Besides sucking, the heads are also too loud (most of the Milleniums have real heads instead of mesh ones).

I never recommend them to anyone, but then again, I always recommend an entry-level Roland kit, no less.

 

[jangoux]

I am thinking of buying the Alesis DM5 to route the signal from the triggers to my daw. Cant it do midi thru and send the triggers signals to its midi out and then to my fireface midi in ? Why the need for the midi usb cable?

 

[updog]

I am thinking of buying the Alesis DM5 to route the signal from the triggers to my daw. Cant it do midi thru and send the triggers signals to its midi out and then to my fireface midi in ? Why the need for the midi usb cable?

In that case, there is no need for a midi usb cable. A midi usb cable is a last resort, really; only when an audio interface with midi connections is not available.

edit. I'm not sure what you mean by midi thru... It simply works by sending midi from its out to your interface's midi in.

 

[lolzgreg]

Don't get an Alesis DM5 kit OR the module. They suck, have miserable crosstalk, even when tweaked, and have poor sensitivity. I owned the kit and sold it the day after I played a cheaper (sub $1400) Roland kit.

 

[006]

The module is fine... used it for a very long time to convert triggers to MIDI before it ever hit my interface and always had clean MIDI tracks except the inevitable mis-trigger here or there occasionally. It's all in how you set it.

 

[decoys]

thanks so far guys. it's a matter of taste again i guess unfortunately, i am no drummer myself.
a roland kit would sure be nice, but i don't have the bucks to go for it.
what about the yamaha dtxpress, which is the smallest yamaha module?

 

[fabz]

I have the DTXplorer Set. I replaced all the rubber pads with real shells (mesh heads) and use the pads as Cymbals which works great. I use a DM5. Sure, it still doesn't feel like a real kit but it's really cool for demoing stuff and even rehearsal...

 

[decoys]

thanks. i think i will just order one set (alesis or yamaha) and test it!

oh one question left: anyone knows those surge cymbals of the alesis kits? are they any good or should i go for rubber pads instead?

 

[updog]

Yamahas aren't as good as Rolands, but they're still better than Milleniums, cheap Alesis or such. DM5 module is fine though, nothing amazing but it's widely used for live applications.

oh one question left: anyone knows those surge cymbals of the alesis kits? are they any good or should i go for rubber pads instead?

I'd say get a Roland kit instead of buying a Yamaha kit and those things. Rubber pads for cymbals work well enough. Besides, I've seen a lot of people selling them lately, which to me is somewhat saying that they aren't as good as they seem.

 

[decoys]

got it. that was the reason i didnt dare to buy a kit till now, cause i cant judge its quality enough. so i will take some time to watch for a used roland kit i guess.

 

[xFkx]

Don't get an Alesis DM5 kit OR the module. They suck, have miserable crosstalk, even when tweaked, and have poor sensitivity. I owned the kit and sold it the day after I played a cheaper (sub $1400) Roland kit.

Yeah, but the roland is completely useless, no settings for gate, decay etc.

 

[updog]

Yeah, but the roland is completely useless, no settings for gate, decay etc.

Please specify. Most entry-level Rolands I've seen have these functions. Are you talking about ones like TD-3 or HD-1?

 

[laszlozsolt82]

TBH, those are horrible. Besides sucking, the heads are also too loud (most of the Milleniums have real heads instead of mesh ones).

I never recommend them to anyone, but then again, I always recommend an entry-level Roland kit, no less.

In my opinion they do the job well and converting to mesh heads was easy as hell to ,so i recomend them

 

[kev]

Nice thread. I've been thinking of getting a second hand TD-6 jobby at some stage, they seem really good.