Author Topic: Hi there! + Any recommended module kit setups?  (Read 2672 times)

Hi there! + Any recommended module kit setups?
« on: November 20, 2016, 08:46:29 PM »
First of all, I would like to say hello, and express how incredibly impressed I am of this fan-made community. I joined today simply because I was looking for some online forum site that could appeal to my drumming, and I've certainly found a great one!

Almost two years ago now, I bought my first drumset, the Alesis DM10X Professional Studio kit with the DM10 Module. Ever since I purchased this beautiful kit, I've been craving a better sounding experience to match the music that I drum to. The module's interface is fairly decent, but it does get in its own way if you are quite unfamiliar with e-kits, like I am. Some of the pre-configured kits sound okay, but none of them sound like a natural drum kit to my ears. Are there any configured kits that you have made that sound more natural and not so artificial?

I guess that something of note is that I like listening to 1970s and 1980s rock, particularly progressive rock from the 1970s, and so an acoustic kit sound is crucial to sounding authentic when hammering away.

I know of programs such as Addictive Drums, but I'd really like to avoid spending more money than I'd need to.

Thanks in advance to anyone who responds!  ;D

Online AlanK

Re: Hi there! + Any recommended module kit setups?
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2016, 10:09:55 PM »
hey S2N, welcome to the forum and awesome to hear you've taken the jump into drumming!

I've been using Addicitve Drums 2 a lot, I bought in when it went on a half price sale and only buy additional kit paks when theyr'e 50% off.. but yes, it does add up to an extra expense (but the sounds are amazing).

As for the module kits, I recall number 77 (to me) sounds a bit like it's got that progressive rock sound.. the tight concert toms sound, the snare is snappy. Other favourites of mine are 54, 63, 97 and the Wood kit (it's like 6 or 7) is pretty tight. I've spent some time creating a few of my own.. if you go into program mode (if you haven't yet) you can choose some incredible sounding snares and kicks in the Instrument programming section and you can layer a second sound over top.

What I'd suggest is go through the first 100 kits quickly, hitting each of your pads/cymbals.. when you find ones you really like go into Instrument mode and say you like that snare, do a Save or Copy Instrument to Kit 100. Do that for any other sounds you like from the kit you're on.. then go to the next kit and so on.. each one as you go through find the pads or cymbals etc you really like and save/copy them to kit 100 (or any other open kit past 100). Try to stick with a similar feel (as in find a snare, kick, toms etc from various kits that strike you as awesome that will sound good together in a kit you're building of your own). If you find a snare that is awesome for progressive save it to kit 100.. if you find one that's an 80s sound, save it to 101, and keep going through the first 100 pre-sets. You can probably put together 5 o 6 user defined kits that have parts you really like.

Or just go through the instruments in a user defined kit and build it yourself.. some amazing snares and kicks for sure. After you can toy with room qualities and effects, reverb etc.. get a compressed sound or small room sound, hall with echo and so on
DM10X with Addictive Drums 2, Pro X hi-hat, 4 crashes, foam cone conversion w Roland mesh heads, Laurin Drums snare and kick, Mapex P710W double kick pedal, Mapex 2 legged hi-hat, Behringer 8 channel USB mixer, Tascam 144MK AI, Samson Expedition Escape powered speakers

Offline rhysT

Re: Hi there! + Any recommended module kit setups?
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2016, 01:58:46 AM »
Almost two years ago now, I bought my first drumset, the Alesis DM10X Professional Studio kit with the DM10 Module. Ever since I purchased this beautiful kit, I've been craving a better sounding experience to match the music that I drum to. The module's interface is fairly decent, but it does get in its own way if you are quite unfamiliar with e-kits, like I am. Some of the pre-configured kits sound okay, but none of them sound like a natural drum kit to my ears. Are there any configured kits that you have made that sound more natural and not so artificial?

Unfortunately Alesis didn't make it easy to share single DM10 kits, so you can either create your own or load someone else's Sysex kits file which replaces all of your user kits. Another option is using DMEditor but that requires each kit's instrument settings to be entered manually.
If you want to try my revised kits that are tweaked to sound fairly natural, check out this topic for more details: http://www.alesisdrummer.com/index.php?topic=4240.msg45952#msg45952
« Last Edit: November 21, 2016, 06:08:43 AM by rhysT »