Alesis DM6 USB Electronic Drum Set

This is the first drum kit I have ever used and it's a pretty good. After 2 years of use, it does not respond as quickly as it did in the beginning.

I got this drum set as a Christmas gift recently and I've greatly enjoyed practicing my drumming on it ever since. It has a plethora of sounds to choose from, making it very easy to create your own personalized kit or use one of the pre-made kits that comes with it. It's relatively easy to set up and plug into a computer via USB connection, and it's also super fun to plug an iPod or other MP3 device into the auxiliary jack and play along to your favorite songs. These drums can take a beating too, I've played along to many a Rage Against the Machine song in my time using them. This set is also designed to conserve as much space as possible, so you can fit it in small corners with ease, unlike other larger electronic drum sets. While there are other sets out there that have more pieces and more features, this set is great for beginners and professionals alike, and it comes at an unbeatable price.

in box brain sucks, swapped out for one with midi. works like a champ.

I bought this drum kit to act as a MIDI controller for Steven Slate Drums. The onboard sounds are laughable at best: they are synthesized and not sample-based. So if you hit the snare lightly, it will be the same sound, just louder if you hit the snare harder. Sample-based drum brains have short sniplets of a real drumkit recorded with ultra high end studio equipment. This is why I use this drumkit with SSD, which is not completely sample-based, but sounds way more realistic than any (most) drum brain sounds. Same for Superior Drummer.

For the task I wanted it to do, the brain was pretty simple to connect to my PC through USB and map everything quickly. Well, not everything. I can't seem to be able to map the dual-zone ride cymbal. Anyway, that is not my main gripe.

Some parts of this drumkit are solid and well made, but most of it is flaky. The tubing and plastic clips are horrible to adjust, the hit-hat stand gave up on me after just a couple of hours, and the worst thing is this drumkit has just one crash cymbal, and no input for any other pad you could want to buy and connect directly to the DM6. There are ways around it: you could get an Alesis Trigger I|O and connect up to 10 pads/cymbals more. But having just one crash is just not enough even for basic drum duties. Your beats soon become redundant. One could say you should be creative and create more with less... That's right, but when you need a studio tool, it needs to have a basic set of features, and 2 crash cymbals (at least, mappable-crash-style-cymbals) are a must.

So unless you plan on buying other gear just to be able to mimic a basic drumkit, this is not for you. Have a look at the DM8 or DM10.

Now here's why I think it's a bad idea to buy this drumkit unless it's for a 12 y.o. or less: when you're learning drums, you play harder than you usually would. That's a totally normal behaviour in learning: it's hard at first to get a grip of playing different beats with your arms and feet, so you hit hard as it helps you keep the beat. As you progress, you will be more precise, and will be playing more smoothly since you won't have to hit as hard to tell your brain "the measure starts now". Following this idea, a solid drumkit is a must when you start learning, if not you will trash it.

What was I waiting for from an entry-level drumkit? I don't know... a little better I guess. At least 2 extra pad inputs (one for an extra crash, and the other one for that cowbell, of course ;)), a more decent hi-hat that wouldn't give up on me because I play funk, rock or punk. I felt the quality beforehand, I knew I had to watch my hits and it still happened.

For all those reasons, this drum kit is PERFECT for a kid to start learning the ropes. Nothing else though.