Electronic Drums

Alesis DM10 Studio Kit Electronic Drum Set

"Stop looking. This is THE kit!"

Feature:
I took advantage of the free JAMDOCK offer so I can play along with the music on my Ipod. JAMDOCK sends the Ipod tunage to the drum module so you can practice to your favorite tunes. For the price range of this set, the features you get are more than adequate.

Quality:
I purchased this kit for my home studio and I am very pleased with what I received. Keeping that in mind, I think I will get many years of use out of the DM10 kit. For those of you thinking about hauling this kit around to shows / practice etc. as long as you take care of your kit it should meet your expectations. The gloss black rack is well made and very sturdy once it's set up. All the pad mounts are made of hard plastic, look sturdy but they are not metal. Those moving this kit around alot might invest in some metal clamps that are on the market. The rack tubing at 1-1/2" thick will except aftermarket metal clamps. For home / studio use this kit will last many years as is. The kit looks very professional set up. Very nice to just sit and look at much less play.

Value:
Price of the DM10 Studio Kit was 1/3 of the selling points that sold me on buying it. Does much more than other brands at less the price.

Desirability:
Folks the catalog pictures only hint at the value for the buck. Glossy jet black rack, drum triggers, heads, rubber rims and cymbals against the silver cymbal mounts and silver drum hoops and the white ALESIS trademark lettering are very classy. Everyone who has seen the kit set up in my studio ooohs and ahhhs. If it cooked and cleaned I'd ask it to marry me;)

Sound:
The "Zzounds" of this drum set are very realistic. Only pads that really needed calibration were the hihat and 3 zone ride cymbal out of the box. Drums and cymbals are sensitive to your stick impact velocity. Hit them soft and the sound produced is soft, hit them hard and the sound produced is louder. Suttle differences can be heard from soft to loud and everywhere inbetween. I am able to get most sounds I want from this kit by just using the preset kit I dial in. Preset kits, percusion and synth crazyness provide enough options to accomidate most any style of music. Playing kit thru the headphone jack is very nice. Close your eyes and you wouldn't know from the sound that this is an eletronic kit. Have run my set thru a mixer along with a guitar and the results were very satifiying.

Ease of Use:
Most preset kits are ready to use as is. Depending on you playing style you may want to adjust parameters of kit to suite your own taste. Lots of parameters to play with so everyone should be able to get what they want out of this kit. Now days most musicians have been exposed to computer interfaces thru digital effects products. I was able to easily navigate to different presets, add a sequence ( accompanyment ), mute the drum sequence and play along with the remaiing accompanyment sounds with the drum kit without reading the manual. Manual is easy to understand and walks you thru each process without confusion. Most active accoustic drummers will have to become accustomed to the trigger pads. There is a slightly different feel to playing the components of this electronic kit compared to an acoustic kit but this goes for any electronic kit as well. New drummers just learning how to play won't be prejudiced from playing an accoustic set and will not experience a difference compared to an accoustic sets response. The real head drum heads were a selling point for me although they are padded under the head ( due to the trigger mechinsm inside I suppose )so the stick response is not as responsive as an accoustic kit but easily overcome the more you use the kit. I didn't see much difference in response compared to the other electronic head options ( Mesh and Rubber ) on the market.

Support:
Have not had the opportunity to deal with Alesis direct. Will say that the Alesis name was a selling point as I have used and currently depend on many of their products in my recording studio. Alesis has been a leader in digital music technology for many years and I have several of their products still in use 15 years later. I say this with my fingers crossed as I did not elect to take an extended warrenty;)I could have purchased this set with a free extended warrenty thru another of Zzounds competitors but I have had great success with products I have purchased thru Zzounds.

Overall:
I expect with a little care to have this kit for many years to come. Have not regretted my purchase as it has met or exceeded my expectations. Compared to other brands on the market ( in or around the price of this kit ) this kit has more bang for the buck. Can hook up to a computer and download new sounds to keep the kit fresh and up to date as well as use this kit to trigger sounds from several drum software manufacturers. The real head drum heads allow me to replace the heads with any brand I choose but I think I will replace with the great looking Alesis heads. This set intergrates well with my mixing console. Would be hard to lose this kit its too big to lose. If it were stolen I would dedecate the rest of my life to aprehending the culprit and meeting out a just punishment.

Usual Price: $999

Manufacturer: Alesis | Categories: Electronic Drum Sets

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Roland TD-9KX2 V-Tour Electronic Drum Kit

"Love it!!! You should get one too!"

Sound:
This electronic drum set is amazing!! I already feel like it is helping my skill level improve due to all the special features like the click and being able to play with all the songs and mute the drums parts. Being able to record what I play and play it back, has really helped me to hear how on or off beat I am and the "scope" feature helps you to visually see your accuracy. It is really nice to be able to adjust all the sound/volume levels on each drum or cymbol according to what you are playing. I was also pleasantly surprised when I recieved the set it came with a high hat stand, a bass drum pedal and a very nice drum throne--all things I wasn't expecting and thought I would have to order seperately. This set is exactly what I wanted and needed and the sounds quality is very crisp and the realness of it makes it a lot easier to transition back to a real drum kit. I have the VDRUMS monitor (sounds ok) but it definitely sounds better throuh the Vic Firth headphones I bought. I am very pleased with it and am glad I bought through this company, very fast, easy to work with and no damaged products!

Usual Price: $2699

Manufacturer: Roland | Categories: Electronic Drum Sets

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Alesis DM6 USB Kit Electronic Drum Set

"Good product at a good price."

Feature:
You pretty much get all the accessories you need with this kit to play right off the bat, including all the parts for the frame and cable for the module. You also get all you need for the frame which is easy to setup and well made for the most part.

Quality:
Again, I would say the product is made for the most part well. The frame is very sturdy and I really love the fact how you can custom setup all the pads and cymbals and module pretty much how ever you like as far as height goes, the kit is well made for height adjustment. All the parts fit tight and seem like good quality not cheap plastic or something like that. Even the drum pedal that comes with the kit is of ok quality. However, most people I hear would probably want to upgrade this eventually. I don't expect my kit to come apart any time soon or cease to work but then I have only had for around a month at this point.

Value:
Definitely worth the price I paid. Only wish you could expand on the kit so as to say add more cymbals and or more pads so if you plan on working with a kit you can expand on then get something else. But for a basic kit to learn on and move forward on and that will keep you playing and having fun then it is for you.

Desirability:
Overall the appearence is pretty nice, kind of wish the snare had a better look to it, more like a snare look. But the other pads and drum pad and cymbals are fine adn ofcourse the rack looks good.

Sound:
Sound Quality is over all pretty good and responsive to the drum sticks and foot pedals. For someone who is wanting to learn to novice or intermmediate players you can benefit from this set. Just like having a real basic five piece from which to learn on and greatly improve on your playing. I mostly play with my headphones on because I live in an area where i need to be quite (reason why I got it, wanted to be able to hear drum sounds and not just some practice set where you only here rubber being hit) so i mostly use headphones; however, I have plugged in some speakers to the module and well the kit sounded great. So I imagine live it would sound good. Although, I am sure one would use a real drum kit.

Ease of Use:
You pretty much can get all the sounds you need for a basic five piece set including crash and ride. You can change voices for all the pads and cymbals as well as the kick drum. So say you want to have two crash rides cause a song uses two of them instead of a ride cymbol well you can change that around, for the pads as well. This came in handy for a while because one of my pads didnt sound right, it was kind of dull so I sent it back and while I was waiting used my cymbol and changed its voice to a tom sound till I recieved a new replacement pad. The manuel for the drum set is pretty self explanatory, and for some good drum software that will help you say with drum notation I recommend Cakewalk. I do wish that Alesis had like Roland and there HD-lite kit a special software that worked with the module for learning the drum kit and say rudiments but well they don't, oh well......again cakewalk helps and is pretty good. You can play along with say midi songs and wavs and mp3s and all.

Support:
In the area of customer service, zzounds is pretty good and fast on the response. Alesis (the manufactuer and company that warranties your product for up to a year) takes a while to get through on the phone; however, once you reach them they are are good about helping you with your problem and will even call you back if say they are really busy. Like I mentioned earlier, I had a pad that didnt work and/or sound to good compared to the rest so I was able to get an RMA and Alesis emailed me the free shipping label at there cost to ship it out and get the replacement. This is a good; however, I really didnt like the wait time (any where from two to four weeks) considering I had just got the kit in and had to send the pad back but oh well at least they fixed it for free and/or gave me a replacement at no cost to me.

Overall:
I pretty much plan on using this set for a good while before moving on to say another set that I can expand on. I would love to be able to expand on this set if it was possible so then I probably wouldnt need to purchase another but again you really cant expand on it much as far as I know, is your five peice set. I bought this set because of the price for what you get and the quality you get with it. It does the job well. Also for the quiteness. I beleive this set will help me in my goals as to improving my drum performance.

Usual Price: $485

Manufacturer: Alesis | Categories: Electronic Drum Sets

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Ion Audio IED12 Pro Session Electronic Drum Kit

"I'll let you be the judge. I'm just learning and don't want to sound too ignorant."

Feature:
I am happy with the features included. I would like to have had the option to add more inputs but was aware of what I purchased and feel it is excellent for the price I paid.

Quality:
I'm rating this at 7 (for now) as I have only had it about a month. It is difficult to say how long it will last. At this time, it appears to be very sturdy and is taking a beating (haha). It is easy to adjust the parts and from what I have done, should probably be rated higher. I just don't really know yet on it's durability as (like I said) it's only been a month.

Value:
As far as I know, it is a great value. I have not looked elsewhere for a comparison, and I'm satisfied with what I paid.

Desirability:
I want it to learn (or at least to try to learn) some drum basics. I did not purchase it for its aesthetics. If I wanted looks, I would have purchased a traditional set.

Sound:
I'm rating the sound at a 7 as it sounds good in headphones, but the volume must be cranked up on a sound system to hear it. I can really rate it to other products as this is the first "drum set" I have ever owned. I do like the ability to save different set-ups, but I would like to have more control on the volume of individual drums. The bass drum is overwhelming in my opinion, and some of the snare choices are awkward to maintain at a consistent level (but that may be my inexperience as I have only been learning for a month now: my only previous experience is a few years playing a Djembe).

Ease of Use:
I have found this set, and the interface, to be extremely easy to use. I have not tried out all the features yet, but when I do investigate something new, the manual is very easy to follow and the steps are usually so few in number that it only takes a couple of times before I have them memorized.

Support:
this is not applicable at this time for me.

Overall:
I believe this product will serve me for at least a year or more. I will probably need at least that much time just to be comfortable with basics. However, even though I consider myself a fast learner, I may have it much longer before looking for an upgrade. For me, I am very satisfied with it currently, and that is what I wanted.

Usual Price: $280

Manufacturer: Ion Audio | Categories: Electronic Drum Sets

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Roland TD-12KXS V-Stage Electronic Drum Kit

"Roland TD-12KXS V-Stage Electronic Drums: nothing beats it!"

Feature:
This kit came with all the necessary accessories: drummers throne, hi-hat stand and bass drum pedal all for one relatively low price.

Quality:
Not only is this kit superior in craftsmanship, the design has taken into consideration cable placement which are harnessed inside the heavy-duty stand.

Value:
The best price for the set and accessories I've found anywhere.

Desirability:
The design is practical and aesthetically this kit surpasses all of the competition in its' elegance.

Sound:
The sound quality is superb. From a percussionists perspective, every sampled sound couldn't be better. The response of the pads makes for easy playing. I've worked with a number of the Roland drumkits and this is by far the best Roland has done in an affordable price-range.

Ease of Use:
The patches are easy to create and the programming is intuitive making it fun to create and store new kits.

Support:
Roland is not an easy company to reach out to for support, however the Internet provides much of what you're probably looking for. There are also music stores that provide servicing of parts.

Overall:
I've done two years of research on this product and during that time many of the competitors have tried to emulate this kit and failed. The sounds are absolutely the best, the set up is professional and durable and the fact is I would buy this set all over again in a heartbeat!

Usual Price: $3999

Manufacturer: Roland | Categories: Electronic Drum Sets

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To buy one CLICK HERE!

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Electronic Drums

Alesis DM10 Studio Kit Electronic Drum Set

Roland TD-9KX2 V-Tour Electronic Drum Kit

Alesis DM6 USB Kit Electronic Drum Set

Ion Audio IED12 Pro Session Electronic Drum Kit

Roland TD-12KXS V-Stage Electronic Drum Kit

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