Alesis DM6 USB Kit Review
Over the past few weeks I have been busy building my home studio up, replacing or purchasing some key elements that have been missing. One thing that has always been somewhat of a barrier is how to get an authentic drum recording without spending thousands of pounds and annoying the neighbours. It had been a long time since I had investigated electronic drum kits but it was time to take the plunge again. What could you get for less than £500?
A couple of names instantly came to mind, Roland and Yamaha. Roland probably the industry standard for edrums, and Yamaha have emerged as a viable contender to most. Both offer great solutions but nothing really suitable within budget. After a little Googling I was interested in what Alesis had to offer. I have used a number of Alesis products over the years, mainly their MultiMix Firewire products and have always been impressed by their ability to produce high quality products at reasonable prices. A few years ago I would have put Behringer into the same category, but after numerous disappointments due to durability and reliability I probably will never buy another Behringer product. Alesis on the other hand? Well I’ve seen a Alesis MultiMix16 Firewire get hammered in the studio 3-4 a week, every week since release. It’s been dropped, drowned in lager and generally abused and is still ticking and sounding great! Could their edrums match up to my high expectations?
The Range
Alesis have a number of offerings all based on 3 different drum modules. The DM6 at the bottom of the range, the DM8 in the middle and the DM10 at their top end. It is worth mentioning that all of these kits come in under £1000 which is surprising. All the kits feature 2 distinct types of drum heads and cymbals. The realistic feeling Surge Cymbals and RealHead drums and the standard rubber versions. I’ll go into more detail later. However for me a few things limited my decision.
- I live in an apartment, the kit needed to be as quiet as possible!
- I had just bought a digital piano the same week so had seriously limited my budget! More on that piano in another review!
I managed to find an ex-display DM6 Usb Kit for the bargain price of £275, so after many hours on reviews and YouTube I bit the bullet and ordered. There are 2 DM6 kits, the DM6 USB Kit and the DM6 USB Express Kit. The major difference between the 2 being the number of pads you get. The USB comes with the full set, whilst the Express as you would expect is a cut down version.
What you get
Firstly, it was a big box. Opening it up I was presented with a tightly packed box of individually boxed pieces. All well packed, after removing all the pieces the hardest part was trying to get all the smaller boxes back into the large box. Think Tetris with cardboard boxes and you might get the idea.
Inside the box:
- 1 x DM6 drum sound module
- 1 x DMPad Kick Pad with stand
- 1 x DMPedal single kick pedal
- 1 x DMHat Pedal hi-hat pedal
- 1 x DMPad 8” Dual-Zone Pad
- 3 x DMPad 8” Single-Zone Pads
- 3 x DMPad 12” Cymbals
- 1 x ProRack complete with mounting hardware
- 1 x DM6 Kit cable snake
- 1 x Drum key
- 2 x Drumsticks
- 1 x Assembly instructions/quick start guide
The setup
Initially it’s all a bit scary, the setup instructions are a little bit basic, they are basically a few pictures of the different stages. It doesn’t make it particularly clear which piece is which especially on the frame and hardware mounts after a little head scratching it did start to make sense though.
The frame is heavy-duty aluminium 1 1/2” tubing, from what I understand is the standard for all Alesis hardware and mounts as well as other manufacturers. Once I had got it set how I wanted it was fairly steady and haven’t had any problems with the frame since putting it up despite having moved it 2-3 times. The cymbal stands and drum pads all attach to the frame easily and give you just enough flexibility in their positioning to find your sweet spot. Mine looks a little weird, but it’s how I want it.
Each of the pads has a 1/4” TRS Jack input which matches up to a labeled jack on their “Cable Snake”. This is essentially a proprietary connection into the drum module with a weird old school connection on one end (looks like an old Parallel cable connector) into that go all the other cables of varying lengths with the TRS jacks on the end. Stick in the correct jack into the correct pad, connect to the module and your away.
The module
The module itself is fairly basic. It includes a collection of what Alesis call:
Top-notch drum, cymbal and percussion sound that will blow you away…
That may be a little bit of an overstatement. Whilst the sounds are good, I wasn’t blown away. For practicing and playing along with stuff they are perfectly fine, for anything more than that and you can definitely tell. The DM6 has both a headphone out and a stereo out, both of which are stereo mini-jacks for connection to headphones or an amp. It also features a stereo input for connecting your iPod or MP3 player so you can play along. The volume on the module itself can be a little quiet at times when playing along with an iPod. The biggest asset to the module is the USB out. This allows you to connect to your Mac or PC and outputs a fully class compliant MIDI signal. This essentially turns the DM6 into a trigger to MIDI interface allowing you to trigger sounds in any DAW such as GarageBand, Logic, Cubase etc and to make use of some of the great drum sound libraries out there like Reason, Addictive Drums and Toontrack. This is personally what I have found myself doing all the time, more on this later.
The DM6 gives you 10 preset kits of various styles (see the official YouTube video above for a sample) as well as 5 user presets. This is basically a way of going in and creating your own custom sound set from the available samples, I did have some success in setting up my own kits. You can change the sound on a pad completely, I found myself setting up one kit preset which replaced a Tom sound with an additional crash cymbal. Despite being a basic module it is still easy to use and quick to get the sound you want.
It also features a couple of handy practice tools. It has a built in sequencer with 40 preset music tracks you can play along with, with an option to add a metronome and mute the songs drum track so you only hear your own drumming.
The Pads
The drum pads are a surprising realistic feeling rubber surface. They manage to keep noise to a minimum (think Guitar Hero or Rock Band Drum Kits) whilst actually giving you a real sense of response. The Cymbals are all 12” with a semi realistic swing motion, they don’t move a great deal, but if you give them a good crack they do have a little give. The Pads are all velocity sensitive and the snare features dual trigger zones. This means you can have a standard snare sound on the inside trigger and the rim trigger can be customised to be a rimshot or sidestick. The Toms are all single trigger pads but respond well. The kick is sturdy and feels good, perhaps a little too much bounce but I am guessing with a little tweaking of the pedal I can get it right. The Hi-Hat pedal is nice if a little sticky sometimes, it could probably do with some kind of calibration option. Something I don’t think the DM6 module has. Overall it feels good a nice to play, it’s not a real kit, however playing it doesn’t feel un-natural and the dynamic range you can get from the snare and toms is impressive.
Taking it Further
My own personal application has really brought it to a new level for me. By hooking the DM6 up to Logic Pro 9 and using Toon Tracks Superior Drummer 2 I have been able to really appreciate the kit. By simply using the DM6 as a trigger interface I can get much more realistic sounds and have already recorded a couple of tracks. I personally really can’t tell the difference in the final mix. I’ll review Superior Drummer in more detail later.
It would be nice if you could upgrade the DM6 further, but the use of a cable snake and there not being any additional inputs does mean you are limited without buying a new module. That being said, for the money you can’t really complain. You get a great starter kit and trigger interface. Even if you do decide to upgrade your module the pads and frame will work with the new brain, and not just Alesis. As a starter investment whilst upgrading may seem like a bit of a mission you are certainly not wasting any money. Whether you are a new drummer or an experienced amateur I’m sure you won’t be disappointed with the DM6.
Pros
- Cheap, nothing else really compares
- Sturdy, realistic feel
- Quiet
- USB port really takes this to the next level
Cons
- The instructions could be a little better especially for those new to drumming
- No upgrade options, the lack of upgrade options on the DM6 module could put some people off
- Module output can be quiet when playing with louder track
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