# NDD - Alesis DM6 USB



## rekab (May 20, 2011)

So I've been recently feeling a bit uninterested in my guitars. I play every day but haven't felt the urge to learn anything new or really do more than just fiddle around with some riffs and even though I'm not that great of a player I feel bored. Then when it comes to recording and writing anything I have to go through a few hours of fiddling with a screen full of little dots on a graph that turn into a drum pattern. This hinders my "want" to be creative. As much as I enjoy the end product, programming drums can take so much time that I get all A.D.D. and lose the entire idea I had in the first place just fiddling with different sounds/etc.
Skip forward to this past Sunday: I have a coupon code for a percent off an order from zzounds (sign up for the emails, it will pay off when you get one of the nice 15-20+% off coupons). I call up and say eff it, send me one of these USB kits and a cheap throne. 
4 days later here it is:







And set up:






So far it's a pretty cool kit. Comes with everything but a throne and setup takes about 30 minutes. I'm still tweaking to get it more comfortable/ergonomic, but its a pretty solid kit overall. Has plenty of sounds and I'll be trying it with SD2.0 later today when I find time to run get an extra usb cord. 
I'm not a drummer and really can barely hold a beat, but it has at least captured my attention fully. It's an entirely new instrument and I hope to become proficient enough to pound out some simple beats for my recording ideas. Back in grade school I played the snare drum and in high school I played in some bands with friends that let me screw around with thier sets so I have played drums, but I have all but forgotten how to get my feet and hands doing different things lol.


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## Adari (May 20, 2011)

Looks great. I've just got into drumming, after nearly nine years of playing guitar. Problem is that, being an adolescent, playing on the kit is quite an annoyance for my family. 

How loud would you say this kit is (as in the volume of the sticks hitting the pads)?


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## rekab (May 20, 2011)

I would compare it to drumming on the bottom of a pair of sneakers lol. The rubber against sticks is somewhat loud but if in the next room you wouldn't bother them much Id think. It's not super quiet though for sure.


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## MikeH (May 21, 2011)

Really need to get one of these. I'm the same way when it comes to programming drums, which is why I don't have a full song done yet.  Congrats, man.


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## rekab (May 21, 2011)

So it works amazingly with Superior Drummer. It automatically maps itself and then if you want different sounds on each pad just click 'learn' on SD and which sound then smack the pad that you want to make that sound. AWESOME
Now if only I could buy the talent needed to play these... lol


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## JacobShredder (May 21, 2011)

I think im gonna pick one of these up also 
I've been wanting to do some recording for songs but the whole ordeal of mapping out drums is such a pain that i dont do it. Plus its something new to learn.


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## Maniacal (May 22, 2011)

I had one of these kits, they are great value. 

The only thing that annoyed me was sometimes when I hit the snare and the hi hat at exactly the same time, the hi hat would not trigger.


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## Fiction (May 22, 2011)

I was looking at getting one of these when I save up enough to just binge on studio equipment, how does the thing trigger? I've played a Roland one before and it was alright, but had some issues triggering with faster things and I've also played a cheap legacy kit which sounded like ass, and triggered also like ass.. it was ass.

But this kit seems pretty awesome on youtube clips, but haven't seen any hooked up to SD2.0 yet, so should be interesting in looking at getting it


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## rekab (May 22, 2011)

Maniacal said:


> I had one of these kits, they are great value.
> 
> The only thing that annoyed me was sometimes when I hit the snare and the hi hat at exactly the same time, the hi hat would not trigger.



I've tried specifically to get this to happen but it doesn't on mine. I read reviews both ways so it sounds like some folks have an issue and some don't. Maybe newer models have updates?

As far as triggers it seems to work exactly as you'd expect it to. The sensitivity of the cymbals could be a bit better because it's a very fine line between to soft so it doesn't trigger at all and hitting to hard so you trigger the second sound on accident. This is mainly the ride cymbal. If u tap it nice and light it plays a typical ride sound and if you hit hard it gets the bell sound. Hope that makes sense since I'm not a drummer lol. Otherwise soft to hard hits are registered and get quieter and louder as I'd expect as well as the snare and kick reacting properly to soft/hard hits. I'm pleased with it but I bet a seasoned drummer would prefer the dm10 for a more realistic feel. The rubber on these is better than some super old kits I've played but does not feel and bounce(again not a drummer so I mean the way it sort of "bounces" the drum stick back at you on a real set) like a real drum head so rolls are harder but not terrible. For triggering SD, ezdrummer, or others, it is exactly what I was looking for.


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## TheSilentWater (May 22, 2011)

You have officially given me GAS for one of these.


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## JP Universe (May 27, 2011)

I got the DM5 studio and it's great!


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## JP Universe (May 27, 2011)

DM10*


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## rekab (May 27, 2011)

JP Universe said:


> I got the DM10 studio and it's great!


 Cool, I thought about the 10, but I'm a beginner with drums and the price was a bit much for me. I hear it's pretty great though. 

I added a little something to mine today 
Pearl P902 on sale at GC this wekeend so I picked one up


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## Adari (May 28, 2011)

rekab said:


> Cool, I thought about the 10, but I'm a beginner with drums and the price was a bit much for me. I hear it's pretty great though.
> 
> I added a little something to mine today
> Pearl P902 on sale at GC this wekeend so I picked one up



I'm considering buying them, but the market is quite saturated with alternatives. What's your opinion on the Pearl pedals, and did you try any others?


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## Metalus (May 28, 2011)

How well does the kit respond with SD2.0? I eventually wanna get an electronic kit so i can start recording some local bands. Roland's are the best of the best when it comes to electronic kits as far as I've heard.


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## rekab (May 28, 2011)

As far as the pedals go.. I'm no drummer lol
I talked with se friends who drum and one likes these the other likes iron cobra jr (for the price range). I've played plenty of pedals but not being a drummer I didn't really notice a huge difference unless it was the ultra cheap sets that are rough and weird feeling. These are super smooth to me. These were 140 at GC so I picked them up. I can't use them for more than accents and triplets right now so I'm not a good person to ask for any kind of review. 

The drums work flawlessly with sd2.0 for me. The only thing I wish it had was expandability and maybe a bigger bass drum head because the center is more sensitive than the sides but with a double pedal it's on the sides a bit(doesn't seem to affect anything and it triggers fine, just something I've noticed). With this drum kit you can assign any sound to any pad from sd but if you want more than the 2 cymbals and hats you are out of luck as there are no extra inputs.


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## youheardme (May 30, 2011)

Nice kit man! put some time into it and you'll be rockin in no time


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