Alesis DMPro

I have the exact same problem as another reviewer " I constantly have problems with the unit locking up for a few seconds then resuming or leaving out a hit once and a while since day one."

DMPro: v2.00
Trigger: v2.00

Presets sounds are awesome. It is great fun simply playing already tracked parts through the various kits. That has helped with some inspiration on how to use the patches as well!

Patch editing is a little weird, I am using MidiQuest 9 XL and it seems to cause problems with the unit. Maybe a change in the system exclusive implementation? Is MQ expecting v1 and v2 is different?

The manual is as all Alesis manuals. Great coverage of the unit. Not quite as thourough as some of the Roland manuals, but it will tell you what you need to know.

64 voice polyphony. Having 5 different drum modules alone I have no issues with polyphony. I have not maxed out the voices yet.

Have not twiddled with the effects as of yet, they sound great on the presets though.

Card slot for which I have no cards :-\

More complex than the D4 or SR-16, acts more like my S4Plus, so more of a drum synthesizer than straight-up drum module. For that I love it!

Great sounds, I have used it for Jazz Rock and ethnic music. The DMPro always comes through for me.

So far so good!

I seem to be relegated to using the Librarian aspects of MidiQuest for it, but having that, sure I would gig with it.

I would definately not lose it and go to great lengths to ensure it is not stolen but, in either eventuality I would replace the unit! Far and above the other drum modules I have owned through the years!

Intuitive interface for most features. Important things like pan and trigger volume are buried too deep.

minimal effects, great trigger response, midi is plug-n-pray

for a drum machine, the variety is good, but some of the sounds are just plain useless

yup - no problems here

they suck - Alesis has been offloaded and no longer supports this model

I'm in the process of expanding my practice set....I wanted to add another DM-Pro but now I'm considering the Roland TD-20 - more inputs, better response, better tech support

Firstly, this is a follow-up from a few years ago when I reviewed. Learned a lot since then.
Ease of use. It is still not the easiest thing in the world to program, but once you learn it it does get easier. But my Lexicon and Midiverb IV are the same way. Takes patience to get into and fine tune all of the available parameters. Gave a nine because relatively speaking, it is about as difficult as other devices I am using.

It has a plethora of features. I don't use the internal effects because I assign different drums to the six outputs, send to my board, and assign effects from my processors there. It is expandable via the card slot, but I'm not sure if these are still being manufactured. Gave it a nine because the Roland units have the shell size, mufflers, etc that are nice, but they are more of a synthesizer and this is more a machine of very tweakable samples.

This is what I wanted to change from my original review. A lot of very cool, but unusable to me, sounds in that box. Now I have spent hours tweaking the samples and building acoustic kits, and have some great ones now. I checked out Roland TD-12, TD-6, Yamaha DTXpress 2 controller, and I choose the DM Pro CLEARLY above these units. I messed around with them for hours to see what they do and besides the TD-6, they do a lot. But the sound is still not convincing. My DM PRO kits are. If you want to hear the kit on a clip, I used it on a song called Wild-Eyed Jim's at soundclick.com Type in artist Dale O'Brien. That was recorded to a 488 MKII 8 track cassette. I have a 16 track reel I'm working with now, and have modified the settings extensively since, but the clip will give you an idea of how it can sound.

Well, I hear some complaints here and yeah my display is a little faded on the left side of the screen. So far nothing major and I hope that doesn't change. Not sure what the "watch battery" is the reviewer below mentioned, but I guess I need to find out, as maybe that is the cause. Anyway, I can still see everything on the display, just wanted to note it.

Haven't dealt with them.

I love this thing now that I have learned how to use it. I would try and find a used one or get it repaired if something bad happened. I don't think I would buy the DM5, though, and haven't heard anything convincing enough to lead me to Roland or Yamaha, though in fairness I haven't heard the TD-20. If the TD-12 is representative of the sounds, though, I would have to pass.
Awesome machine, just takes some work to build some kits. Presets are NOT impressive IMO.

Version 2.0. Manufactured in 2000. Bought on Ebay. Mainly using presets. Will customize only a certain trigger for a needed sound. I'm not messing with decays, reverb depth, etc. So, to change a sound to a trigger and save is a breeze.

If I want to get more into it, I'd probably get MidiQuest software, but don't see the need. Even for recording, the presets work fine (and the other 1,600 sounds).

Meets my needs for worship team and tons of fun at home.

Put your creative juices to work here - I've found uses for some of the more unusual sounds in some of the presets. What's also makes a difference - try triggering your acoustics and play BOTH at the same time (don't muffle or restrain the acoustic sound at all - drums and cymbals). You can achieve some very effective "effects".

At first, no, but now YES!! I had the same problems many of you are mentioning here. Just called Alesis - There is a watch battery that needs replacing about every 5 years. Replaced and now everything is fine. Battery holds the RAM when unplugged. Without juice, no memory!

Take off the cover and you'll see it. Support told me it may be soldered in, and, it was. No big deal to get out though.

Called at 9:30 am EST, was on hold for 10 seconds, had answer in 15 seconds (after my lengthy explanation!).

Remember to replace watch battery every 5 years and I think you've got a winner here!

I'm using Version 2.0. It seems straightforward to me, but then again I have another alesis product, so I'm used to the interface. It gets tedious editing too much... so I pretty much stick to the presets.

It seems to do everything I need... if it worked properly - we'll get to that later.

I use the module mainly for drums, and some of the sounds are better than others. I expected more for the price of this item. If you're making house/electronic mixes, then it's great. But for a nice real sounding kit, I just feel there's room for improvement. Maybe the next model...

Okay, here's the kicker (no pun inteded): this thing just can't be relied upon. Maybe yours works, in which case I envy you because it seems to have a lot of potential, but my experience isn't great. First of all the LCD brightness level goes in and out when I'm not even touching the thing. If I wiggle around the headphone jack it gets even worse, so there's clearly something loose or a bad pot/resistor in there. Also the volume pot is scratchy... again cheap parts. The difference in a good and bad pot is like what, maybe a dollar? I don't think this is too much to ask.

Now onto the worst problem. It just stopped working the other day and I did a hard reset. Wow, to my amazement it magically started working. I slept like a baby only to wake up the next day and find the same thing. Only this time the hard reset does nothing for me. The device is clearly receiving midi input, because the trace works in the drum edit mode, but all the kits are set to USR sounds (which all seem to be empty) and I have to go in and edit each individual drum to an actual sound, but I still can only get the drums to sound through the "preview" button, and not my midi keyboard. *sigh*

Well, this is next... since the item has been discontinued (while the DM5 lives on) it's obvious that Alesis really screwed up on this one, and they know it. If yours works, just wait, problems will surface.

I would probably buy a DM5, or just wait for DM6, or whatever will be out next. There's a lot of potential here. I like alesis. My keyboard was $2K and worth every penny. I've never had a problem with it. It's rock solid. They did the right thing in discontinueing this product, because from the looks of the other feedback it's blemishing their name. I will definitely expect more from Alesis in the future. Very disappointed here.

Ver 2.0, good kits, editing not too easy. Decent manual.

64 note polyphony, midi in, out, thru, etc.

haven't used it with a trigger kit, just playing sequences from pc. good kits though

disappointed here. must do a hard reset on every start up and one bar of LCD display has already gone bad even though it's had very little use in studio only, no road/gig work with it yet.

ok, but not stellar, they emailed me and faxed me on how to do the hard reset

Got it from Full Compass who always seems to have the best prices. Other reviews dinged it for reliability and that has been my experience too, unfortunately. Does sound good though with tons of features for a good price

This is a quick follow-up to my submission below. Although I stated the preset "real" drum sounds are limited and mediocre, I did run the DM Pro through a Joe Meek MQ3 and the "natural" drums sound GREAT. This little compression/EQ device made them sound more like they should...a good set of microphoned acoustic drums. I still strongly feel that Alesis should expand their "natural acoustic" sounds, or better yet, release a Q card containing such. On another note (no intended pun), the snare trigger has occasionally not been firing (internal, not the pad). Turn the DM Pro off and back on one or two times and it seems to cure the problem(mine was a demo unit, though). FYI. In lieu of new sounds through the MQ3, overall is a 9.

Depends on how far you go. For me, a simple songwriter who programs "real" sounding kits for recording, it is quite simple to operate. However, to edit the actual drum sounds, whoa!! You need to know what you are doing. That's the only reason it got an 8 and not a 10. I am not satisfied with factory drum sounds, and programming new ones is way over my head. I don't have the kind of time it would take to learn, nor do I wish to do so. That's why I paid money for a product, to get those sounds.

What DOESN'T it do? If you are familiar with programming/operating and stuff like envelopes and amplitudes and whatever other terminology I've heard and read, this unit must be a wet dream! It definitely is loaded with flexibility and features, just not all user friendly(for the average Joe, that is). I took a point off for velocity(could be a bit more sensitive)and the fact that I don't believe there is a "master eq" for the unit, without getting into the effects end of it and then it is for each individual drum.

As with previous reviews, Alesis needs some real sounds in here. I like a couple of the snares, more of the kicks and cymbals, but the toms suck. Even the best toms (only a couple of "real" sounding ones) are papery. To avoid the "cannon" sounds of the lower ones, I have to use a high tom sound for all three and tune it accordingly. Maybe if Alesis comes out with an expansion card of "Real" drums (PLEASE!!!!), instead of more hip hop, orchestra and whatever other expansion cards besides real drums they have, I will be able to keep this thing and be happy. I love the feel, operation, etc. and WANT to keep it...just need some decents drum sounds, that's all.

I have had NO problems with my unit. I am not a drummer, but if I were, and did gig with one, I would feel confident without a backup. My unit is like clockwork.

I did e-mail with a question and never received a response. Maybe this will change soon in lieu of the still "settling in" management/ownership.

If Alesis offers an expansion card for the expandable slot with "real" sounding drums, I would replace it in a heartbeat. That is really the only problem, but a big one. Everything else I love...even non-operational things such as that cool lime green display! Kit part (Hart Dynamics) is awesome, no complaints. If any PROGRAMMING GURUS out there have made "real" drum sounds that can be put on a DMPRO expansion card, drop me a line and we'll talk. I would be very interested in getting some if the terms were reasonable.

Very easy to use with my sequencer. All the drum hits names are sent by midi to the sequencer so when I call up a kit all the names are there so I know what sound I use. This is very helpful. It has a chase button which calls up the drum hit when played which is also very useful. Editing is a little more complex but still ver logical.

Loads of samples which is the main reason I bought it. Good effects and loads of editing capabilities which I havent fully explored yet.

The sounds in here are the dogs bollocks. If you cannot make a good groove with these sounds then give up. Before this I spent a long time messing around with samples and cheaper drum machines but this to me beats them all. I normally start with a groove I like and then edit the sounds and get it how I want and then record it and put it through a compressor and it truly sounds great. The sound really is pristine. Every time I am searching for 'that' sound that I want I can find it. I also come across many sounds I didn't think of and it really inspires you into making really fresh beats. My music has definately improved with this module. For a wide range of sounds from electric to beat box to ethnic it has them all. People have complained on this site about the sounds not being very real but with some processing and carefull sequencing they sound fine to me. No module will ever completely replace real drums so if you are going to be that anal learn the drums for real.

I bought it second hand and when I first had it the unit seemed to freeze between changing kits and sometimes got stuck on the same kit. It was very cold when I had it though and I just put this down to condensation inside or something. After a couple of days it was fine and no problems ever since. Had it about 6 months now.

No need to deal with Alesis. Was a bit worried late last year about them going out of business but they seem back on track .

If it was stolen I would definately want something similar. I would maybe check out the Nord ddrum or the Roland Vdrums but I'm not sure they have such a diverse sound set as the DM-PRO. I don't like to think it is what you have rather than what you do with it that makes great music, but with a bit of know how and this machine you can come up with something really special. I would have given it a 10 if it wasn't for the fact of the drum kit sticking when I got it, and I really hope this won't put people of buying one. I have seen the comments of other users who have had problems with bugs but as I said, since after I first had it everything has been fine.