Alesis DM5

I just purchased the DM5 prokit Monday. I devoured the manual, which I found extremely easy & began reprogramming each drum sound to my own liking. My snare arm kept coming out of the arm & today, the whole kit frame decided to fall apart. Not to worry, I'd already decided (for the price) to make a few minor adjustments. I picked up PVC tubing, black plastic glossy paint, & headed home. I cut the tubing into a 3 ft frame and connected it in front. I purchased enough pvc doo dads to brace that sonofagun better than a gymnastic pole. I ordered a second kick trigger bcuz my dbl bass pedal wasn't cuttin it, Illl use a Y connection wire for the 2 kicks. I ordered the dual sound snare for more oomph. I'm a pro-touring musician & I am very handy so I intend to rock this puppy as best I can with no faux pas cuz I said so! :D

I'm a classically trained pianist/percussionist & I'm ligtning quick. I tweeked every sound this module had to create what I liked & have gotten wonderful results, thus far. Its a new instrument, so time will tell.

I love practicing to this. The cymbals crashes, etc are very expressive. Face it, it was cheap & it's so much fun to play.

I don't know if I'd trust it to a gig YET.

I called c.s. the same day I got it & they were outstanding. T'day, I spoke to Chris in Fla & he was helpful, personable & had many good tips.

This dm5 needs a metronome & it needs a better built prokit hardware. I KNOW those lug nuts are going to strip, so I'm buying more. My trusty drill & I took care of everything that thougt it was going to have a mind of its own.

Falls apart for no apparent reason. THis is the most maddening pile of garbage I have ever been stupid enough to waste 4 bills on.

Glitchy and unreliable. Beyond bad. When the brain isn't screwing up, the hardware is failing and falling apart. Wow. What an Idiot I was for buying this royal pile of crap.

Triggers fall apart and fail. I cannot keep up with the parts I have to replace. It is going in the trash. Really. I wouldn't wish this incredible piece of junk on my WORST enemy.

You cannot depend on this worthless pile of crap. This is the worst designed drum set in the world, and I was stupid enough to buy it. My bad.

The worst in the world. Seriously. The worst. Random emails returned from people who won't help. I have sold all my Alesis products now, in protest. Rack gear, drum machines, the works. They have my unending scorn.

Bought this 5 months ago. Drum sounds are superior for this price range, however that is damped by poorly designed hardware. Example: Look at the component that holds the trigger. There is only one boss to ensure the pad stays in place when tightened. These strip off quickly, and soon the pads hang limp. Have had to modify entire kit with large washers and larger threaded fasteners to ensure pads do not flop during use. The kit was put together by the pros at the store. If I had done it, perhaps I would have realized the issues that would emerge.
DM 5 module can be glitchy and unreliable. During a gig one output insert broke off during upload: They are plastic and very fragile. The rack is also poorly made. The arms will work their way out of the sockets with the most gentle of use. Support has been in the forms of email and and begging the store where purchased. Indications from the company that they will replace parts that break. The process has been so painful, between bugging the store and emailing many different people at Alesis that I have now given up, and will buy another kit, armed with my knowledge of what to look for in a substandard kit. Unfortunately those words do nothing to help in the middle of a gig or session. The problem is there is nothing they can do for this unit, save a complete pad and rack redesign and/or replacement which of course they are unwilling to do.

Basic rack with polymer connections and hardware. Easy to build but difficult to change if desired. Low flexibility with the rack. Unstable connections throughout

Sounds are excellent for this price range. Good selection of drum sounds and all are very close to realistic. Most people are not aware of the electronic nature of this kit until they look at it. Cymbals are hard to bring up out of the mix without some heavy equalization, but able to get adequate sound.

Bought this 5 months ago. Drum sounds are superior for this price range, however that is damped by poorly designed hardware. Example: Inspect the component that holds the trigger pad. There is only one boss to ensure the pad stays in place when tightened. These strip off quickly, and soon the pads hang limp. Have had to modify entire kit with large washers and larger threaded fasteners to ensure pads do not flop during use. The pads have been shedding parts and pieces almost daily, and requires tremendous effort to ensure reliable operation. DM 5 model can be glitchy and unreliable. Ex: Kick will suddenly become a tom, and you loose your low end for no particular reason. Display show correctly. Power down and up a couple times clears issue. The rack is also poorly made. The arms will work their way out of the sockets and fall to the ground with the most gentle of use.

Warranty is only as good as people make it. This seems on par with delay and ensure that you finally just give up.
Support has been in the forms of email and and begging the store where purchased. Indications from the company that they will replace parts that break. Unfortunately those words do nothing to help in the middle of a gig or session. The problem is there is nothing they can do for this unit, save a complete pad and rack redesign and/or replacement which of course they are unwilling to do.

We use this gig in a practice space, and gig in areas where sound pressures are required to be low. It has been problematic and difficult. The plastic inserts on the back of the DM5 module have broken off during gigs (someone pulled on one of the output cables, and the insert failed at the plastic nut). Delayed the gig last night by hanging up and refusing to put out kick sounds (reboot until glitch clears)
I should have checked out the details on this kit out more closely. Not ever owning an electronic kit, It was difficult to know what to look for, other than price. I have learned a 459 dollar lesson in electronic drum evaluation. So I have that.

Bought it in Sep. '08 so the software version is the one that it came with. It is very easy to use, mostly because there are only about 4 parameters you can edit to begin with. It's easy to see what your editing and what you've got going on because the display shows you all pertinenet information if your playing or editing. Editing is easy (not much you can edit anyway), and the manual is farily simplistic.

This is where it starts to go bad. 16 note polyphony just won't cut it for a drum set. I come from a background in both DCI and set drumming and not being able to play a roll that sounds like a roll is disappointing. When playing on the ride and open hi-hat at the same time the sounds will get cut off as soon as you play anything faster than a 16th note. This set has 0 built in effects. The velocity curves 1-7 are really more like 3.7-4.3. There's simply no range. The effect of the curves just aren't pronouced much at all. You'll barely notice a difference. The gain also doesn't do much from about 50-99, because the triggers just aren't that sensitive. Alesis is known for matching all program notes to midi notes which is why every pad you connect has the standard notation of a keyboard and is then assigned a particular sound. Just imagine what it sounds like when you switch from a factory program sound on a keyboard/workstation to a midi sound on a keyboard/workstation. With this kit, the features are set up so that really all you're getting is glorified midi sounds. Of course you may be able to upgrade an sample but out of the box it's way too midi-ish, but every Alesis instrument I've ever played is. There is no sequencer or loop program with this kit. One good feature is the ability to tune the sound in pitch up or down but not by very much just a little. You can't ajust ambience, reverb, attack, decay, susdecay, release, or any of that stuff. About the only thing you can do is make it louder or softer. Also, the hi-hat pedal that it comes with uses an on-off trigger which means that if you push softly or loudly the hi-hat foot sound is the same loudness. It doesn't care how hard you push it, only that you did push it. It also means that as you play the hi-hat and gradually open the foot pedal, there will be no change in sound until all of a sudden its an open hi-hat sound. So after you've finished a song and everyone is quiet and you go to push the foot pedal back down quietly to get ready for the next song, you're going to hear a loud hi-hat foot pedal sound because it doesn't matter how hard you push it. Also, the hi-hat cymbal trigger will not receive two inputs too close together. For example, if you play a flam on the hi-hat that's a really tight flam, no sounds will come out. The major problem with the cymbals in the kit is that the sound doesn't change depending on if you hit it harder or softer. The volume will be louder or softer but the sound doesn't actually change. For example, if I barely tap that crash cymbol, instead of sounding like a ride, it sounds like a big crash but really far away (it's quiet). So whatever the software is, its not designed to compensate for sound type when you play harder or softer. It's volume controlled only.

Again since Alesis is known for midi-sounding sounds the quality of sounds are so-so. There are maybe 20 sounds for each category )i.e. snare, bass, toms, cymbals). But this is very dissapointing because many of the sounds are industrial, or techno, or rap etc. There are maybe 4 sounds of each category that actually attempt to mimic a realy drumset and since you can't edit the sounds except for volume and pitch and the set doesn't change the sound when you play harder or softer you fell more like its a toy. A realistic module would probably have around 5 sounds all grouped together for just one particular voice so that as you transition from player softer to harder, it maintains the realistic sound instead of just getting louder. There is 1 hi-hat sound that's realistic, 2 ride sounds, and 3 crash sounds that are realistic.

One of the big problems with this set is the "real" drum heads and "real" looking cymbals you play on. True they are real drumheads, but they're smaller about 8" and sound like plastic when you play them unless the volume on your speakers is loud enough so you don't notice, which is pretty high. The fact that the ride and the crash cymbals are metal (sort of) does make them sound more realistic becuase you get the high frequency pitches of the stick hitting the metal that a pad wouldn't do. HOWEVER, on the hi-hat, there's just simply no way of getting around the fact that when you hit the hi-hat you will get the high hat sound through the speakers but you will also get an overbearing stick click sound from hitting the metal. The produces an effect that makes it seem lie you are playing to a click track when playing rock grooves. If all you wanted to do was play as hard and lound as you could for every note, this set would sound ok but since there's no transition between loud playing sounds to soft playing sounds, I wouldn't not recommend this set for anyone not a headbanger.

No problems so far here, and all of my other Alesis stuff is holding up well too.

No problems

This is set is like a toy piano you would give to a 3 year old and sounds like one. It's definately not worth the money becuase even though it looks cool with the metal cymbals and real drumheads you could get a much better quality product for just a little more from Roland. For quality sounds and transition go with roland V-drums. I've been playing for 10 years on both real and electronic sets. I've tried Alesis, roland, and yamaha. I also play guitar and keyboard and have played yamaha, alesis, roland, and kurzweil keyboard for 15 years.

I love the looks of this set but hate the sound quality. You should have seen the way everyone looked at me when I first started playing this set in rehearsal. They're were like what is that loud clicking noise coming from the hi-hat.

For this set to be good it needs the following.
1. 10 times the amount of sounds (don't be fooled by the voices. It may have 1000 voices but if they're all based off the same 40 sounds they're going to sound the same ( and Alesis is king of this, my alesis keyboard boasts 700 voices but it only has about 64 sounds)
2. A hi-hat pedal that is pressure sensitive so if i close it gently you barely hear a little sizzle and if I close it hard you hear a loud pop
3. A piece of foam rubber on the hi-hat so it doesn't sound like a stick click every time i hit it.
4. Parameters to adjust like attack, decay, release, susdecay, delay, ambience, etc.
5. More sensitive triggers so that if i play softly on the snare it actually outputs a sound.
6. Atleast 3 times the polyphony so when I play a quick buzz shot on the snare it actually sounds like a buzz instead of a few random strokes

Hi, I just finished a tour of Nevada casinos using my DM5 as my only drum source and I loved every second of it. The DM5 is built to tweek and it took me a few months of fooling with the parameters to get what I wanted, but like any instrument, you need to learn to play it. 60 songs a night, 6 nights a week and NO PROBLEMS. Every time I open the manual on this thing the better my sounds get. I use all 12 inputs for my mesh head and Alesis cymbal kit. I also use 3 Roland foot pedals (bass drum is daisy chained for double bass) and a Yamaha BP-80 double tube trigger. ONCE YOU LEARN how to tweek and maintain the unit it is totally reliable. For the beginer, you can be up and running in an hour and for the pro, you can creat a great kit. I use 10 different kit settings on stage and change them inbetween songs on the fly. Our band has zero dead time on stage, so I have 3 to 10 seconds to lock in my next kit setting. I could not do that if it were hard. Another thing that is important to me is being rack mounted. I have a 4 space rack with my DM5, stereo EQ, Data disk, and effects next to my hi-hat. Before you say those items should be included in the module, remeber what most guitar players show up with.

I purchased my DM5 used and it is a 1.0 software version. The 16 note polyphony could be better as it needs serious tweeking to obtain 32nd note rolls (but it can be done). For live sound, the stereo out is killer. I run stereo through the mixing board, add a little chorus and reverb at the board and adjust my outboard EQ mix to adapt to the room and BAM, killer stage ambience. I'll let someone else describe all the features. I like the easy to read disply. I do not have to interpet a bunch of blinking lights on stage. My kits are named by me and tell me what I need to know when I'm working.

The touch and feel of any drum module is half drum trigger and half the module. I built great mesh head triggers and the response from the DM5 is great. WITH TWEEKING the cross talk is minimal and the dynamic range is the best I've tried. My band does rock, disco, country and light jazz and my DM5 is good for all of it. The effects on the DM5 are all built into the sounds, I would like to have reverb built in, but adding it post is no problem if you understand the connection between EQ and reverb for live performance. I'm sure you studio guys have a different opinion of this, but I am a live stage proffessional with 40 years of drumming.

A lot of people complain about the DM5's reliability. I almost sold mine until I re-read the manual and started soving problems instead of complaining. Every instrument has issues and here are some tips for the DM5. 1) when you turn it on, rotate the selection wheel back and forth before you touch any pads or triggers. I don't know why, it is a program bug, but that solves most reliability issues. 2) do not plug straight into the wall. It is a computer and you should be using a floor model power supply strip. Get a good one that filters the electric signal. 3) the manual says it is designed to be backed up by a midi storage device. I was lucky enough to find an old Alesis DATA DISK unit on ebay. It backs up all my hours of tweeking to a floppy disk. Once, on stage, my bass drum beater came out and I unplugged the pedal to put it back in. I forgot to turn off the DM5 and reconnected it-wipng out my programming in the process. I turned on the DATA DISK and had all my kits back in 15 seconds.

I fix my own stuff so I have no opinion, however all Alesis manuals are available for free on the net.

I have owned 11 different brands of electronic drums going back to the Simmons and Tama kits from the 80's. I try out everything new set I see in the stores. The Rolands are nice but way over priced and carry a lot stuff I do not need. I am the happiest with my DM5. I am a working musician not a rich guy with a home studio. For the price of a DM5, you cannot even come close to the goodies you get with any other brand. It makes me my living and I am going to buy a new DM5 soon. This is a fine instument that needs to be learned just any fine instument. If you want instant gratification, you will never be a good musician.

it very easy to use once its set up, but it did take 2 hours to put the kit together. I got this insted of the ion- and having played both, id pay the extra hundred fot this. Id definatley recomend it.

the pre made kit are ok although i think some are a waste of space as they are guitars, etc. There is midi i hant used this yet. There are a lot of sound there, most of which i havnt used.

the sounds are all pretty realistic, althoughif you hit a pad really hard, the vibration somties sets of other pads, althogh this wont be an issue if you tighten everything up.

it hasnt fallen apart yet

never had to call

Overall this is a good buy. The only other problem iv had is that when you play without headphones, the stick on the pads make a lot of noise, but i get round this by putting rubber bands on the sticks

Very Easy to Use. Note Chase Feature Makes editing drums a snap.
The Guy after me does not know what he is talking about.
Note Chase on: Automatically selects the "Note" when you are selecting Voices (Drum sounds).
Note Chase off: It is off, it blinks... Big whipdy doo...

Works with just about any brand of triggers.
12 Trigger Inputs.
I really love the Note Chase feature when editing Drum sets.

The Sounds are Pretty good. I had to edit the Drum sets because as you know, every opinion is subjective.
I love the Piccolo Snare, so I put it in just about every Preset Drum Kit. Tweaked each set to the way I like it.
My only complaint is that I am not crazy about too many of the Tom Sounds.

So far I have had zero problems my first few months with the DM5-Kit.

Never had to call

The Drum kits take some editing to get to your taste, but that is to be expected.
Overall for a DM5-Kit that I paid under $500 for, well you can't get much better for a complete drum set.
Plus with Spare Inputs you can add extra cymbals and pads as desired.

Love it.Running V1 SOFTWARE,Clean Samples,so simple to edit and if you need to use the manual,then thats simple also!

As stated earlier,no FX but once i've converted the parts into Cubase,the Possibilities are endless.I run this in conjuntion with Other drum software so I have endless options.With 4 outputs its flexible in the studio and live.

With a bit of tweaking you'll get every style of rythem you want.

The only Part that lets it down is the power supply.It's a bit weedy and the protective sheath breaks up over time.I can't see that being a problem in a studio Rack.

I've had Quadrasynths and S4's etc and never had to repair anything and I still have them running alongside the latest gear!

I would look carefully as some retailers charge far too much for Alesis Gear.

V 1.0 Set factory presets sound sorry. Have to make your own personal selections but when unit fails, and it will, then you got to reset all your personal setting.

"Value" selection dial will not follow normal progression of items for selection. It jumps forward, backward, misses items. It is really sorry for the money you pay.

Note Chase button will blink whether you select it or not!

Most sounds are good but most is trash relating to good sound.

BEWARE! Almost every time I turn mine on it will not work right. Most of the time I have to "Reinitalize" it back to factory setting then change each set back to my selections. Not dependable for paid contract gigs or studio work. It will cost you money, time, and a lot of embarassment!

BEWARE! My unit messed up just before warranty was out, was directed to service center, paid $100 plus to be told they could find no problem. Which now that service center is not recomended. But still have the problem 2 out 5 times I turn it on and other issues starting to happen making unit worst. Have contacted the manufacture get the "Sorry for the problem" excuse with same advice to sent it to another service center.
My advice is to NOT BUY this piece of undependable junk. It will cost you more than the purchase price in the end!

If stolden the thief would bring it back to you! Because it is worthless relating to dependability and will cause additional repair cost, and headaches.
Contact me if you want the whole story.

Softwareversion 1.02

The presets are nice startingpoints, but need serious tweeking for being usefull. Editting patches is simple as could be, and the manual is crisp and clear. Reading the manual and spending 15 minutes on the machine, and it's all clear!!!

16 notes polyphony, no FX's, not expandable, no sequencer, midi in - out/thru.

This is a drummodule only, not multitimbral.

It has 12 trigger inputs, but I don't use them only the midi side of things. I use it my composerstudio in my spare bedroom LOL.

It is a drummachine, not a real drummer, but some of sounds are really good. It covers the range of popular muisic styles well, and is usefull in a midisetup in a studio like mine.

It has NO fx's at all, but is responsive to playing - and no it hasn't got aftertouch.

It would never gig with me, it stays in the studio. I heard a lot of glitches and resetting - but mine worked for hours without any problems so far.

Never dealt with them, so I would not know....

I love the sounds that it offers, and would buy it again. I'm no drummer, but program drums in Cubase SX 2.2.

I own a fully equipted studio based around a Roland VS 2480CD - a 24 track recorder. Beside that I'm a bassplayer owning several amps and basses, and then some guitars and synths. Oh what fun we had with all these toys LOL. Yhe DM-5 helps me with it good sounds to produce my drums in my recordings, and does it simple and effective.