Alesis DM8 Pro Electronic Drum Set 

Comments about Alesis DM8 Pro Electronic Drum Set:

This is a great product that looks good, sounds great, but was a event to assemble.

Comments about Alesis DM8 Pro Electronic Drum Set:

I'm sure there is nothing better you can get for that money although the Hi Hat Pedal is not very responsive as it sends midi Foot Control orders to a computer o midi recorder and it usually doesn't do what I played (or tried to); plus I think that Bass Drum trigger is too noisy so you better get good isolated headphones to record. Drum heads feel more than close to acoustic drum sets and obviously there's got to be something else that Alesis and other brands can do about the cymbal pads which are not cymbal like when it comes to play but they're still pretty comfortable. I use it with Addictive Drums and it sound amazing!

Comments about Alesis DM8 Pro Electronic Drum Set:

warranty service is bad!!! first of all my kick trigger went bad after 6 months of use, covered under warranty but YOU will have to pay to ship it to Alesis my PO bill $18.14 these items are heavy! and now I have to wait 4 weeks to get it back. BS
and try calling them and waiting for 30 min or more for human contact

Comments about Alesis DM8 Pro Electronic Drum Set:

Overall, I am more than pleased with this kit. I pretty much have it as a 'practice' kit as my acoustics are too loud, and I dont play out much anymore. It has all of the features (and more) that I would expect from an e-kit (for quite a bit less than its competitors)

Best of all are some of the 'modifications' that can be done to this kit (quite easily) to make it that much MORE enjoyable to play. All in all - I dont regret my purchase one bit!
Out of the box, this kit rocks. There are many features and tweaks that I still have to learn about, but just out of the box this kit is really really fun. The inputs are a bit limited if you plan to expand, but for a simple 'all around' kit this thing rocks.
Quality wise, this kit is very solid. Sure the clamps are made from (very hardened) plastic, but they work quite well - just be wise to not over adjust them and you should have no issues whatsoever.
For the price, you cant go wrong here. This kit is very solid and the 'real heads' are a nice touch for those accustomed to an acoustic kit. My only complaint is they are a little bit 'less forgiving' than an acoustic kit, but this is minor. Your selection of voices is pretty diverse and can always be added to at your discression.

Comments about Alesis DM8 Pro Electronic Drum Set:

I would have had it at 10 but for the lack of a real high hat setup. But over all I love it the sound is great the 100 kits have everything you could ask for setup was easy took me maybe 1 and 1/2 hours before i was up and playing. The rack is setup good nice and sturdy looks cool. If your looking for a nice setup for quite practice this is the kit for you. What i like the best is the real size of the snare and toms 8" 10" 12" toms and 12" snare and 3 zone ride chokable crash as well. Great set for the price I love it.
Has everything you need exept high hat stand but I'm getting used to the pedal.
So far very nice have had to spend some time getting the settings right but that's with all makes and models. very cool sounds and more than you will need the kits are great. The feel is great.
You can't get a better kit for this price.

Comments about Alesis DM8 Pro Electronic Drum Set:

The real head bass drum trigger is junk, and they could have gone with rubber pads. I like the size of the pads and cymbals but the real head design does nothing for the rebound and feel of the kit. Rubber would probably be more durable and even provide more give than the heads that are on there. Gigging musicians want stuff that's not going to break.
There are lots of toys to play with and it's pretty easy to use after you spend a little time learning how the module works.
I use this kit on gigs just about every weekend, it fits in my car easily and it's easy to plug in and play. The tension screws come loose sometimes and the Bass Drum Pad stopped working, I switched it out with a Roland and am going to try to get it replaced. The roland rubber bass trigger works much better. The frame, module, and other triggers work fine.
It's a good kit for the money.

Comments about Alesis DM8 Pro Electronic Drum Set:

If your looking for a great kit that won't break the bank and easy to use and program or tweak to your own use or way of playing,this is the one.I have had it about a week and play on it all the time,Its a great deal and i would't hesitate to buy it again
With 750 sounds and so many choices right out of the box,this is great ekit that i found pretty easy to adapt to.Bring an acoustic drummer for many many years and having owned 2 electronic kits previously,i researched all of the options for my price point before deciding on the Dm8 pro.The kit has a dual zone snare,which actually all of the drum pads are dual zone,but the module only uses this capability out of the snare.You could really use any of the pads included for the snare,so your not limited to the 12 inch size,if you prefer the 12 as a tom,you could use either the 8 or 10 and still have dual zone.
The Pads are well built and sturdy,fairly heavy and not cheap looking or feeling.The cymbals are also quite heavy and durable rubber where the triggers and chokes are.The bass drum stand is heavy and the hi hat controller pedal is also metal,no plastic parts,unlike those of the simmons.The rack is also metal,The tom holder brackets are plastic but not flimsy.All of the tensioners are adjusted with an included drum key,they also include some cable tie downs to make the wiring neat.

The cymbal stands are both metal,as well as the hi hat holder.The two cymbal stands are mini booms so you can position them about anywhere you like ,

Playability wise,the settings are ok out of the box,but i immeadeatly messed with the sensitivity and cross talk features as well as curve settings.This will be different for each person,as to how you hit and play the drums.The usb out is a great feature to record to the computer and it does include a free drum program you can download.Very limited in the free program but this module will work with about any vst software such as toontracks solo or ez drummer.
For this price point,i was more then happy with the sturdiness and quality of the product,much more then any other comparable kit.

The realhead pads are a little loud but feel responsive and have good attack.No its not the same as an acoustic kit but it is very close.Some have swapped these out for mesh heads,something i will do soon.I have to admit the kick drum pad is real loud,its probably the worst feeling pad on the drum set and loudest.Good response just louder then the rest of the drum pads on contact.I have owned a roland kit and find these way easier to program and play then the rolands were.

Comments about Alesis DM8 Pro Electronic Drum Set:

worth every penny and it will keep my neighbor from shutting down the band, we might even take it to some smaller gigs since it looks sharp and will be easy to mix levels. I have also used this set for recording and sounds are very realistic and natural on snare not as much on toms but good, if you were not an experienced engineer you would have no idea they were synthetic
More features than I will probably use and it will take some time to get into as with any new tech there is a learning curve. most important thing is changing velocity curve to match personal playing style but not difficult to do with instructions provided. not sure if I can upload to it via USB but that would be nice, I will have to keep reading but I dont think it does that. so I give it a 9
I have only had the unit for one week but seems solid and little to no cross talk like my yamaha dtx set. only reason I give it an 8 is have not owned it long enough or had to move it yet. I will probably replace heads that come with it for mesh as soon as I can for better rebound
best on the market and I spent 6 months researching it and other sets. there are no drums in its class with dynamic articulation for this price.

Comments about Alesis DM8 Pro Electronic Drum Set:

I got this drumset over a long time of researching for drumsets. I live in a duplex so I needed something that wouldn't disturb my neighbors. It is a lot less loud than an acoustic set (even with the RealHead Pads). It has 100 kits built into it that are fun to mess around with, including 100 kits you can customize and make your own. This is my first ever drumset and overall I am very pleased. I have played on an acoustic set before and the "RealHead" pads feel almost like the real deal. Overall if you're looking for a drumset that won't disturb the neighbors and it very compact in size, then this is the drumset for you!

Comments about Alesis DM8 Pro Electronic Drum Set:

Alesis DM8 Pro Drum Set.

I will focus my comments on the aspect of the Alesis drum set that most differentiates it from other manufacturers' sets, the drum pads. The Alesis sets use what they call "RealHead" pads. These are controllers that use actual drum head skins as part of their pads. Implied in their usage is the possibility that the heads will feel more authentic compared to substitutes such as rubber, mesh, etc, because they use the real thing. Unfortunately, this possibility is unrealized.

The Alesis pads do not feel like real drum heads at all, and the pads are hobbled by their design. The bass drum pad feels as if your beater is striking a board. The other pads lack the soft bounce that you feel with real drums.

The worrisome aspect of the Alesis pads is the potential for damage they could cause your hands. The impact sensor of the pad is a metal plate underneath the drum head. The only thing between this plate and the drum head is a thin layer of foam. When you strike the drum head with decent force using a stick, the foam bottoms out, and you are essentially rebounding off the metal. This results in feeling the unpleasant physical impact of hitting a hard object. This could harm your hands over extended usage. My teacher noticed this about the Alesis pads immediately when I showed one to him. An actual drum head has a soft rebound response to your strikes. The Alesis pads have a hard rebound response to your stronger strikes. It doesn't require wailing unreasonably hard on the pads in order to feel this, only forceful strikes that are not out of the norm. I found this to be the case with the larger pads - the 12" snare and tom - not so much the smaller toms.

Having the foam positioned in direct contact with the drum skin has the unfortunate effect of dampening the response of the pad. It feels like playing on a rubber pad. You do not get the bounce of a real drum head. Although Alesis trumpets the pads as being constructed with rims like real drums, no amount of tightening the heads will give you the bounce response of a real drum head. I tightened them until the frames started to warp from the tension, but couldn't get anything near authentic response. Doing a vertical stick bounce - where you hold a drum stick vertically above the pad about the elevation of the length of a drum stick, and let it drop - gives you an indication of comparative response. There's little rebound from the stick bounce off of the Alesis pad head. You might get 3 inches of bounce - nothing near a real drum head bounce. On an actual snare the stick will bounce more than twice that. I would describe the difference as a "dead bounce" versus a "live bounce".

The strike sensor, which has a denser foam covering, only extends partially under an inner circle of the pad. The outer circle surrounding that sensor has a ring of less dense foam. This means that the response, and audible feedback from stick impact on the inner pad is different from the response on the outer pad. It lacks consistency of feel across the pad.

The pads are noisy. This makes sense, since the pads use real drum skins. It would be a worthwhile trade-off to have the noise of real heads if the pads had authentic feel. But they don't, so you're left with the worst of both worlds.

For me, the Alesis pads are a disappointment. I really wanted to like them - the concept of using actual drum heads for pads is very appealing. Some very expensive electronic kits do this. There really is nothing like the feel of an actual drum head. Alesis seemingly offers the feature at a very attractive price. However, it has executed the concept in a way that undermines the hypothetical realness. Sadly, Alesis' "RealHeads" do not have the feel of real heads.