Selecting an alesis drum module

[Maximus8423]

Hi everyone,
I've been on this site doing a lot of research on converting my 8 piece Rockstar in a diy manner. I've found the answers I was looking for, now I need suggestions and help choosing an alesis module to start with. I'm working on a budget, and have decided between the dm5, and the dm pro series 2.0. Can someone please give me some advice? I've come to realize I have a lot more questions than answers at this point. Thank you for any help I receive here. I'm a noob to this site btw, so please go easy on me lol. Thanks again, and have a good day.

Thaddeus

[perceval]

Hello Thaddeus,

I think you will find people with more experience about Alesis modules at Hellfire drums website.

http://www.hellfiredrums.com/

But, may I suggest maybe a small upgrade from the DM5 or DM Pro modules?
Yamaha's DTX500 module might be nice as well, I've seen one at $180 on ebay.
And about the same price for a Roland TD4.

Both of which have a stronger following...
which also means that it will be easier to sell again later, should you want to upgrade.

[Maximus8423]

Thanks for the suggestions, but the only reason I'm asking about the dm5, or dm pro, is I need at least 12 input channels. Do you know of any other decent starter modules with that many inputs?

[DougM]

I had the original Alesis D4 back in the day. The DM5 evolved from it a few years later but IMO it really wasn't a significant upgrade other than some newer (but not necessarily better) sounds. The DM Pro suffered from a lot of bugs that for the most part frustrated its users. You should be able to readily find an inexpensive D4 or DM5. I actually liked the D4 a lot when it first came out. Like the DM5 it has 12 individual inputs and is rack mountable. The one serious drawback were the cymbals. The decay was so short that the ride cymbals were pretty much useless. The hi-hat samples were either open or closed so it was difficult to get a realistic sounding hi-hat through a foot pedal. If you need at least 12 inputs, you don't have many options on a tight budget. There are plenty of other modules to consider if you can live with 10 (or fewer) inputs.

[Maximus8423]

Thank you, I'll take a look around and do some research on the 4.

[DJ_Zombot]

Both are very terribly dated. The DM5 was a workhorse at least. It was released an upgrade to the D4, which I actually thought had more character in it's older sounds. The DM5 triggers well, but the sounds are dated and kinda meh. The Pro sounded INCREDIBLE if you jumped through the hoops to load your own samples or use the sound building blocks provided deep in the OS. Problem is, you'd be hard pressed to find a card and computer to run the software these days to load samples. A 1MB (yes, that's Megabyte, not gig) card ran $75 and the prices kept going up with age, not down. Even if, while the 2.0 firmware might have helped a little, the DM Pro had too many glitches. It was brilliantly conceived but something went wrong in production. I went through 2 and had non-stop problems. My favorite was when it would freeze up momentarily and then run with a trigger latency of about half a second until you restarted. Sad really. My advice, get one of the newer Alesis modules or The Yamaha 500 or 700. You're much better off.

[electrodrummer]

On a tight budget and want 12 inputs? *(and 1,000+ sounds, full MIDI etc)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Yama...oAAOSwPhdVSSJa

...although I have seen them go for much less....this one was sold for $102 and included a bunch of pads!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yamaha-DTX-v...sAAOSwf-VWXzVr

[perceval]

$180 for that ancient DTX module???? Wow... just wow...

[Peter Warren]

I think you can split the tom inputs on the dtx502 if that helps.

[electrodrummer]

$180 for that ancient DTX module???? Wow... just wow...