Alesis DM5 Pro Kit Electronic Drum Kit

Not actually being a drummer I didn't want to spend a large sum on a kit but I did want something that I could learn on that would sound good and was built well - for the money this kit is excellent value for money. It is well built and comes with a nice chunky control module which looks and feels professional rather than cheap and plasticy like some others. The range of sounds is excellent although some of the pre-programmed kits are a bit "weird" for normal use! The toms are particularly good and the snare is dual zone so you can set up a rimshot or any other sound for the rim of the pad. Ok, so it doesn't have the feel or quite have the sound quality of a Roland kit but the entry level Roland isn't as good in my view and the TD4 is well over twice the price! My one little issue is that the hi-hat doesn't seem to like really fast playing and the sound processor seems to get a bit confused and cutoff the previous note - this may be something I can adjust but haven't had chance to play with the settings - Andertons? :-)

Overall a great bit of kit and I'd certainly recommend for the home musician - I'm loving it!

Packing was excellent, everything was easy to find and instructions were very clear and easy to understand. Setting up took about 1 hour - this is the first drum kit I've personally owned or set up so even for the inexperienced it's not a problem. It's quite compact; I was worried about space when I bought it but rest assured it fits in my small room with space to spare. Total size while set up facing the wall is about 1.5m across by 2m from the wall.

Playability is good; doesn't feel exactly like playing an acoustic set but for the money it is excellent. Drum rolls, drags and complex work on the toms come naturally and rebound is great for an electric kit, even with the included 'skins' - they aren't really skins, just white plastic, but work well.

The module is great - samples included are fairly decent (to quote a family member - "well, they sound like drums") and exceptionally easy to use. It really came into its own once I hooked the MIDI out into my PC and ran it through FXpansion BFD. As soon as I started using real samples, I couldn't put the sticks down.

The most noteworthy disappointment is the cymbals; they have decent enough rebound but as is normal fare with e-drums, they don't feel right at all. They also seem to double trigger sometimes with my playing style, so playing in 16ths on the hihat sometimes sounds very odd and echoed, as if I'm throwing in the odd 32nd note here and there.

With open hi hats I find that sometimes the accidental note that triggers can have very low velocity and acts as a mute, so some of my hihats suddenly stop. Not good.. however it's a common problem with these cheaper kits, and if you're planning to hook it up to a decent drum sampler by MIDI as I have it's not a big deal as they seem to subvert the problem. You can also tweak the settings on the module to alleviate it at the cost of sensitivity.

Overall, I'd say it's fantastic value for the money, even more so if you plan on using it for a home project sudio. Don't listen to the people who say 'it's not as good as roland', or if you do, bear in mind that a Roland kit will cost 3-5 times the amount.

Pros: Looks really nice, Feels good to play, Easy to set up, Relatively compact, Low cost

Cons: Poor cymbals, can be hard to position the snare (or any drum) exactly where you want it

I recently purchase an Alesis DM5 Pro Kit from Andertons after searching on the internet for around three weeks for a competative price. I saved approximately 25% on any other retailers and took delivery on the next working day as promised along with receiving regular email notifications regarding the status of my order. Overall my buying experience was absolutely spot on and If you are considering buying online from Andertons then based on my experience, I would strongly recommend them.

Summary

I feel young again thanks to this kit!

Great fun. My kids are interested in music suddenly (never been interested in guitars or synths)! Drum response feels good, kit feels sturdy -- dont over tighten the plastic wing clamps!. A bit of voice readjustment necessary, ignore assembly manual (great you tube series ... [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZcnKpKtTDc]] patiently watch them all to avoid time consuming mistakes).

Some "crosstalk" adjustment necessary. Works seamlessly with my Zoom R16 (audio) or Cubase (midi/audio). Cubase has drum maps for most of the kits (dont forget to rename the rim shot!) and if you enable program change/ctrl mode then you can change kits from DAW too.

Sounds are good (the DM5 is old!) ... sound great "dry" recorded on R16. But then of course on can add effects on that too (or in Cubase). Being MIDI, there are loads of VSTs with different sampled kits to choose from if you get bored with the kits / voices on DM5 -- you can just use the pads are a better real-time midi input. Best of all worlds. I just got fed up with entering drums via keys, finger pads or drum edit. Infact discovering how difficult it is (for me) to drum has helped me to at least enter more realistic beats, and it sure is fun trying to emulate real drummers on you tube!

8" target makes it a bit harder for novices like me. but this kit makes my studio virtually complete .. and the kids are beginning to share my hobby now too. Quality time.

Excellent value for money and fun.

I also considered Roland and Yamaha DT Explorer. It didnt take long to realize I dont have the talent for a Roland. The DT Explorer has more features (metronome, tempo trainer, can use iPod on aux input) but mixing desk / Cubase takes care of this. I dont drum, so cheap but not nasty was the determining factor.

I would have got Yamaha except I saw Miniak was being "dissed" and hence had taken big price drop. When I asked my Mrs if I could have both Drum Kit AND synth surprisingly she said yes --- anyone would have thought it was Christmas. There again the feel of the DM5 pads is more drum like (to me) than the Yamaha.

Having to much fun with my additional toys that I almost forgot I have to finish installing the bathroom ... anyone got DIY SOS's number?

Just got to convince the brother in law to give less ... he is a hardened acoustic drummer.

Regards

Steve H

Absolutely brilliant service, very quick, and efficiant. the drum kit and accessories easy to assembly and would definately buy from here again.

I bought this alesis dm5 kit about 3 months ago. In the scheme of things the kit was incredibly cheap AND benefited from andertons addition of a bassdrum pedal, stick, stool and headphones included free! I wanted the kit principally to input drums with a bit more of a human feel into a computer based music production setup (via midi), but also to blast about on a bit.

The kit was neatly packaged and the assembly of the frame was fairly straightforward. Everything clamps together well enough and, after plugging all of the pads into the module, I was away. As a beginner with the drums it's satisfying to get powerful sounds from the module straight off and tweaking the sounds and kits setups is achieved easily enough with aid of the decent dm5 manual. As you'd expect from alesis, the available sounds range from the sumblime to the pretty odd, with various clanks and pings triggerable if you like that sort of thing. There are though a fair sprinkling of realistic sounding snares, toms and cymbals to choose from too though, with big rock tones, studio room, country and jazz sets all in there. The midi out works well too and I can 'record' into my music production software via midi just fine.

Moving on to the playability of the kit, big plus points for the bass drum pad which, with a bit of carpet under the kit, feels solid and stable. The pedal supplied (free remember) is sound too. The drum pads are 8inch with a rim holding a replaceable skin to the (?) foam pad beneath. These seem solid enough and do give something of the look and feel of hitting a drum, though the raised rim and small target means accuracy is key; it also means that it's difficult to get any shuffle effects from the snare, because there isn't the space to draw the stick back across the small surface area. The cymbal pads again are fine; with a bit of clouting they loosen a bit but there are nice big keys to retighten when necessary.

The feature of the kit I'm least happy with though, is the hi hat pedal, which is a triple switched affair. The hat is either open (when your foot is completely off the pedal), closed, (when any pressure at all is applied) or there's a foot splash sound set, triggerable by tapping your foot on the pedal. The sounds are ok but the foot pedal doesn't allow any variability and there's just not much feel there in my opinion.

Considering its price, this kit is pretty good really and is a great way of having fun and developing a bit of technique too. It's never going to be a substitute for an acoustic kit, but the volume can be turned down! Personally though I wonder whether I'd have been better waiting (ages) til I could afford something with a better, more feely hi hat.

I found the DM5 Pro Kit to be very easy to setup and found the module to be quite easy to get to grips with. The frame is sturdy, and has presented no problems to me so far, (and I have not always been gentle with it!) It took only a couple of days before I felt comfortable with the module. It is packed with a variety of sounds, and you can configure a set from the custom sounds or play straight off the bat with one of the well balanced presets.

The kit itself has relatively realistic feeling heads. They are no substitute for real skins, but for that in an electronic kit you would be looking at several thousand pounds, so for the price they are excellent.

Furthermore, they have a response accuracy I had never anticipated, and it can be adjusted to suit your play style. You can also adjust the decay, pitch and volume of each trigger.

The dual-zone snare is a significant bonus, which I have had programmed as a ride bell, a snare rim, or a second crash. The ability to choose greatly expands the possibilities with this kit, and the module allows for 3 more trigger systems to be hooked up.

The one grief I do have with this kit, is that the sound of the stick hitting the surfaces is quite loud, particularly on the dual-zone pad which when played aggressively makes a sound of wood hitting hard plastic. However, this is by no means a big problem, just something to bear in mind if you had planned to play them at night but didn't want to annoy the neighbours. They are still, of course, significantly quieter should you wish them to be, than their acoustic counterparts.

I would recommend this kit over others in a similar bracket due to the possiblity of expansion that this particular kit allows. A friend of mine purchased the Traps E450 kit, and he experienced problems with double triggering, and found that the kit wasn't very resilient at all.

Ultimately, my only grievance with the kit is one that is easily resolved. If you like playing your drums at some volume, your probably won't even notice. If you play your drums with headphones on, you probably won't notice. The value for money is incredible, and for those not wishing to spend £1000+, I believe this is the best choice.