Alesis DM10 Drum Module 

Comments about Alesis DM10 Drum Module:

I have this module along with the alesis dm10 studio electric drum kit. All of this is very good for practicing, but the module sounds are very mechanical and sound extremely unrealistic. I would never play live with the internal sounds of this module, ever. I do like it alot for practicing tho because everything is really punchy and cuts through songs when you play along. You can easily pair this module with something like superior drummer to get a good drum sound, or pads and midi a bass drop or what ever easily with this.

Comments about Alesis DM10 Drum Module:

I've had the DM10 Pro kit for a few years now. Having come from a Roland kit that I foolishly sold I was looking for something inexpensive to replace it. The DM10 kit does the job but has many setbacks that a buyer should be aware of. I say this because I figure most want a one time buy and be done with it. The DM10 makes promises and fails to deliver. Sound expansions?? There is only *ONE*, that's it in all these years. They promised BFD and Toontrack expansions and it never happened. It only has 128megs of memory anyway! They also never update their firmware, hasn't been a new update all the years I've owned the kit and on my kit I can't trigger two different sounds (bow/edge) on cymbals. The problem was confirmed by an Alesis tech that tested on their house kit. But no fix yet!!

The rubber rings on the pads rim wear down lighting fast as it's soft rubber, not like Roland's indestructible rubber. The pads are very loud to hit and the RealTrigger cymbals even louder - disturbs everyone in the house. The rack however is very nice and sturdy but it would be nice to have rubber lining in the clamps to prevent the oh so common slippage of plastic gripping smooth chrome - again was never a problem on the Roland kit. Lastly, while some internal sounds are good there are very few that are good enough to consider usable. This unit is best for controlling VST drum modules like Superior Drummer. For that it works very well, but is still very loud.

Overall if I could do it again I would even prefer a Roland rubber pad kit.

Comments about Alesis DM10 Drum Module:

I have owned pretty much every drum module on the market, including the Roland TD-20. All of them had pluses and minuses that you have to work around. With samples that ranged from just okay to amazing. The Alesis DM 10 basically takes what was offered in the TD 20 and expands on it in unlimited ways.

One, USB. Quick connection to any computer, which also allows for upgrades and add-ons to the unit itself. Not to mention quick midi.

Two, Unlimited samples. The unit can be loaded with both first party and third-party samples from some of the biggest companies known to the drum market. Companies such as: BFD and Toontrack. Samples that sound as good as or better than any sample in the Roland TD 20. Which can only be expanded with other drums sampled by Roland itself. The thousand plus sounds in the unit off-the-shelf, are very well done and sound as good as any acoustic or electric drum out there.

Three, 12 TRS ins that can be expanded to 24 by using a splitter on each of the inputs. Therefore by connecting 24 pads, you can have 24 different sounds assigned to 24 different pads... Or you can just use the inputs as they were intended by connecting 12 pads, each with multi zone recognition. For me, this configuration was absolutely necessary in my studio. Allowing musicians the flexibility of having every drum sound they could ever need, right in front of them, assigned to each of my 24 pads. Imagine having three different 8 piece drum sets playing through one unit at the same time, You can do it with the DM10.

Four, Uncompressed samples. Which means full dynamic range without compromise.

So then, you ask what doesn't this unit do that the TD 20 does? You cannot change the drum size or the room size and shape. You can choose different drum sizes in the menu system, but you can't change the size for each drum manually. The room size and shape isn't all that important to most people, so it really is an unnecessary feature even in the TD 20. Other than them two features, there isn't anything that this can't do that the TD20 can.

Five, price. The TD20 can be had for around a grand on eBay. The TD30 will cost 2x that. With this unit offering more functionality than those units... it's hard to pay for the name. Sure, there are things that you can do with that unit that this cant do. There are things you can do with this unit that the TD20/30 cant do. Though it's not $1200 or more worth of functionality. It is settings that arent all that important in the real world to most people. Settings that can be replicated off board cheap.

Six, a great onboard sequencer that allows for uncompromised control over your recordings. Simply record your live playing, go back and fix any offkilter beats in the on-board editor... Then record your masterpiece directly to your DAW... or simply drag-and-drop from/to your computer.

Overall, I recommend this unit over the TD 20 and TD 30. The ability to load and save sounds from third-party manufacturers allows for an endless supply of drum sets from some of the greatest drum manufacturers around the world in uncompressed, uncompromised quality. What you save in money, could be used for extra drum pads or other studio equipment.

Comments about Alesis DM10 Drum Module:

Three in 9 month period.
First DM10 module malfunctioned (new; out-of-box).
Second (new; replacement) died within 9 months.
Third (new DM10X module) malfunctioned (with-in two days (at least that's when I noticed).

Comments about Alesis DM10 Drum Module:

I thought making the transition to electronics would be difficult, I have been a purist for 40+ years. I own several kits and wanted a module with enough inputs that could handle a variety of different scenarios without a lot of re-programming on the fly and the DM10 fit the bill perfectly. I use either a five piece or a nine piece kit depending on venue with acoustic cymbals. Plenty of inputs and with the ability to custom create 200 different kits this is the module to own. It took a while to figure out the layered programming but once you grasp it you can create virtually any sound you desire. Upgrading and adding additional sounds is a piece of cake. Being sort of a "newbie" to triggering I was very tempted to purchase a lower priced unit to test the waters with but I'm glad I didn't. I have tried this unit with several different brands of triggers without a problem. This module will deliver the sound quality and has the options of units costing two and three times as much... definitely worth it!

Comments about Alesis DM10 Drum Module:

I just recently purchased this module as an upgrade to my Roland TD-4. Out of the box I am quite impressed. The sounds are excellent and the roland triggers work well. I was really looking for a module that had more than 8 trigger inputs and this one delivers.