Alesis D4 Drum Module

i own 2 alesis d4 drum modules that i bought for the same price. they are both running 1.04 version. i use these modules only for kick, snare and tom sounds - which in my opinion are sound second to none. kicks are fat and tight, snare and toms are sweet. unlike a lot of yamaha and roland modules, and for it's sheer value - i find this modules presets to be way more usable than those companies. lets face it, it ain't a ddrum module. editing patches is super easy to do and works logically - no need for any patch editors. i have a manual, or you can download it and print it up. manual is easy, but it is so easy to use you don't really need one - unless your a spaz.

16 polyphonies, i have two plus i don't think i will be doing 16 triggers at once any time soon - therefore i have no issues, great. this module is a plug and play triggering action machine. velocity is easy set 1 - 7 and works a treat. you can tune and pitch trigger sounds. all triggering is very responsive. works perfect for my use, especially for kicks, snare and toms.

the samples don't sound realistic and i don't want them too. if i wanted a realistic sound/sample i would just record drums with mics. all i wanted if for was for the impeccable kick sounds. the snare and tom sounds i use more as a reference. these modules work perfect for death metal and industrial music. this module is practically made for those genres as the samples sound tight, and make an impact with a hint of process tone - but much better sounding samples than the dm5 module

if you look after anything, don't let idiots set up your gear, this module will do you much proud - as it has done more me. this is alesis guaran-damn-teed reliable hardware in my opinion. plus look after your gear. i have 2 modules so reliability is not an issue.

i have never dealt with alesis, and i hope i never have to as these items are quite rare these days. one of my so-called friends blew up my 1st one by plugging a distortion pedal psu in it. don't let spazzes touch it, ever.

for the price and surprising availability of an item which is discontinued, you cannot ever get a better module of the price and tone of this one - i don't care what anyone says. it is limited capability by todays standard but that is the beauty of this device, it works easy and fine - toss free, guaranteed. if someone stole it, i would hunt them down and put them in the graveyard - and then get my module back of them.

1.01 but will update to 1.04 the next days...

As there is no longer a support except the manual - poor...

But there are the Yahoo groups and Route66:

If you have no eprommer you can buy the OS 1.04 update from Route 66:


But there are 2 Yahoo groups:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DMdrums/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmdrums2/

The first one has the binary eprom image of the OS 1.04
in the file section!!!
Load it and burn you an eprom!

I have no idea what software version it is..how can you tell? The presets are pretty good, though I mainly use the jazz/fusion setting as it seems the most real to me. Editing patches isn't that hard, just hit the external trigger button and select the one you want to edit, and then go to voice and turn the knob..simple. The manual is fairly straight forward though I haven't looked at it much since I read it when I first got it to set up my triggers.

It has midi output and 500 on-board sounds. So if you want more sounds, you can just download some soundfonts, I haven't tried this yet but I believe that's how it works.

There's a mix of some good and bad sounds, but chances are you'll find one you like. This module is mostly suited for rock, though there is a nice little preset for a dance/rap kinda thing. As for the guy who said that crosstalk is a pain, just edit the triggers...it takes some time but I got mine to work flawlessly and I'm using the $6.00 cheapie triggers from musiciansfriend. It is velocity sensitive, to a degree. I'm using mesh heads with this for silent practice/recording and I've found I have to mess with the head tension to get a decent balance between responce and sensitivity, but for what I paid I'm happy.

It was made in 1991 and still ticking, I have no reason to believe it will fail.

Haven't dealt with them.

I love this thing, I converted my rhythm traveler to electric for $250.00 ( I had the mesh heads and the cymbal pads which I triggered) If you're looking for a cheap way to get decent sounding recordings and practice in almost silence without disturbing the peace...I highly recommend an alesis d4 and some mesh heads. Then just buys some cymbal pads and trigger them.

At first it was a little weird, but after i got to playing with it it is a peice of cake to move around in the machine.

not bad, could be better

For being an older module it is not bad, but compared to some of the new ones, it could be a lot better.

Of course you can depend on this thing it is immortale

I have messed with them a little and they were very helpful

I like the module a whole lot, i would say i would try the newest version the dm5 to see if it had a lot more selections on it and if it was more realistic sounding.

OS is 1.01 I WANT the latest OS which is 1.04 if anyone can burn me a copy of the OS eprom I would pay you :o)
SOUNDS: The sounds are not too bad... bit of reverb or other effects and they're ok... plus I can trigger my sampler...
EDITING: well you can edit the patches but not really the sounds... different drum setup - dead easy
MANUAL: OK

stock sounds ok... all the polyphony you need. no effects. no expansion - midi capabilities basic. no sequencer but I wouldn't want one in it.

AGAIN please contact me if you can get me a copy of OS 1.04 eprom that's on expansion I would like.

Cross talk between pads can be a bit of a pain.

sounds are ok velocity sensitive and in a mix no to shabby. and I can trigger my 808 and 909 and other sounds off the sampler.

oh yeah...

no bakcup needed - damn near bullet proof

Alesis Rhode Island says they have discontinued support for this device so you cannot update your OS unless you have a friend burn you a copy of the 1.04 EPROM. now a flashable eprom would have been more useful.

If I lost it I would probably buy the newer version.

triggers very well...

I don't know what software version I'm using. What I do know is that the D4 has great hihat sounds and tom sounds. The kick drum sounds could be good if you could tell me how to get more low end 50hz out of them. Snares sound a bit dated, but if I could edit them it would be good, Help!!!!!

Yeah ALL OF THE ABOVE. I know that it doesn't have an onboard sequencer.

Easy to use, as soundmodule as anything else

No built in effects, but many drums sampled with effects. A built in effect with ability to mix the efeects internal should be great

Clean sound, but not enought attitude. Nice crispy cymbals. Lack of technomashine sounds

The backlight has bean broken, but the rest of the mashine works well

No idea

Nice with many drumsounds, and special 12 triginputs

Please visit my D4 page on www.soundofmusic.se

Unit is a little hard to use in a sense that you need to find the right balance between many of the settings in order for it to trigger just right. Often moving a setting by one or two places can be the difference between mis-triggering and triggering perfectly. I am using this unit with acoustic drums, which makes things a little more difficult. With an dedicated electronic kit it would be less hard to work out.

This unit is handy in a sense that you are able to use it to trigger other midi devices, such as samplers, or midi in a computer. This means that if you want more sounds or want to experiment a bit the option is there. Unfortunately there is no way to add sounds to this unit, however you can change each sounds' pitch over 8 different pitches. Often you can get something that may sound a bit dodgy to sound pretty good just by changing the pitch, which is handy to have. There is no reverb or anything built in, some of the sounds have reverb in them already, and some of them sound pretty decent, although there is no way to add reverb to any other sounds unless you ahve a dedicated reverb unit.

the bass drum sounds rock! i've recently done some recordings using the kick trigger and my D4 and it sounds great, really phat beefy kick sounds. I'd recommend this unit even if you only want to trigger the kick. I will only be using it to trigger my kick, i paid $400AUD for it but it's money well spent. I never want to use kick drum mics ever again, no D112's for me, no showing up to gigs or recordings and having the sound guy shove the mic on the front of my kick and getting a sloppy kick sound, triggering allows me to get the massive heavy metal kick sound i want. To trigger my kick i use an old radio shack type microphone, held on tight by various pieces of string to the inside of my kick drum, pointed directly at the skin where the beaters hit, about 2 centimeters off the skin (so that the skin doesn't hit the mic). This triggers beautifully, doesn't miss a beat, this works much better than any piezo.
Snare sounds aren't too bad, only reason i don't trigger my snare much is because it's hard to trigger an acoustic snare without picking up on other noises (such as toms). There is a function to eliminate this issue, however i haven't experimented with it yet. Some snare sounds are ok, hooked up to reverb they don't sound too bad, there are some decent cymbal and percussion sounds.
When first researching this unit before i bought it, i tried to find any of the sounds online to see what they were like. needless to say it was very hard. I'm thinking of actually getting a bunch of the sounds together and putting them online for people to listen to... not sure if this is legal... hmm

pretty reliable unit, except it's possible for the adaptor to fall out of the back of the unit. So just tape it on there and you'll be fine. Other than that, unit is tough, wouldn't be easy to break.

never tried, so can't comment

Good price, drum modules are a bit hard to find, but if you find one of these scoop it up. Even if you only use it for the kick drum sounds, it's worth it. You'd easily spend that much money on a microphone for your kick drum, and even then you are not guaranteed a good kick sound, with this you can fine tune the sound to a "T". It's useful for any style, hip hop, rock, ballads, heavy metal, pop, 80's stuff, whatever, it does it all.

Very easy to use. Presets sound very good. Manual was very helpful. Editing patches is fairly simple, just remember to turn off your sequencer before you edit an individual sound because it will always show the sound that is being played at that moment regardless of whether or not you editing another one. You may end up changing the sound of the snare instead of the kick.

No polyphony problems. Beyond changing pitch, assignment or V-curve there isn't much you can do the sounds internally. No expansion.
Here is the cool part: 16 note polyphony! At best I can get 8 notes going at once using "tip $ butt" method with the sticks, simultaniously pedaling the kicks (I use 2) and hihats (once again, I use 2). This sounded like crap but it was an intersting experiment. One big bang with a decaying sizzle.

Heh, heh. These modules are standard for a reason. For rock, metal, and electronic music, this is it.

I haven't had any problems and have had it for several years.

Never dealt with them on this piece, but I work for an Alesis dealer and it has, ever since their financial woes, been very hard to deal with them, before it was very easy. Hopefully now that they have new ownership, they will be more responsive to customer needs.

Great piece. I would definitley replace it or get a DM5, which ever was easier to get.

An excellent buy used from $150-$200. Keyboard Magazine did a test on midi response by drum boxes and the DR and SR16 came in tops with one of the Boss units coming in last! If you need just a piezo transducer to midi box look for old KAT MidiKITIs. I own two and wouldn't part but sometimes they show up like Yamaha TX802s and Roland MKS-20s. PAiA has something they call the Drum Brain which I am set to explore. It would enable you to keep your cherished drum machine and not have to buy a D5 which I would not recommend. Some bothersome bugs in that unit.

As stated above-Keyboard Mag found the D4 had the quickest response to piezo transducers. Radio Shack sells them for $1.79!

I have D4s at two schools and the sounds are very useful-not super cutting edge electronica but most drummers want fairly standard sounds. I prefer the drums in the D4 over most drum machines. I own a Boss DR770 triggered by two MidiKITIs for a total of 18 triggers. I use no more than 13.

I have taken units apart to "tighten" up the front controls. I also upgraded a first generation D4 with a $20 upgrade from Alesis which was very simple.

Hopefully Alesis will have some autonomy but that seems iffy with Numark now in control. Time will tell. In a year maybe Alesis will be reduced to DJ oriented stuff.

If you see a D4 buy it! Hold on to it. Pass on the D5.