DM10 Mesh Studio snare suddenly only plays soft or loud sounds, nothing in betwe

[philwells]

This has been happening for several months now and I've gotten no love from InMusic support. It's as if it no longer has a linear pressure-to-volume transfer curve. Not under warranty but like new. Looked inside for physical failures and found none. The +/- knob on the side doesn't help (does that adjust sensitivity?). There is SOME crosstalk from rim to head but not always and not 100%. It's not the controller input channel, as I have tried the snare head with 2 different channels. Am using a Tom for the snare right now. But snare still plays wrong, no matter where I plug it in.

I did the suggested trigger, etc calibrations (from the video on their we site). I also tested with factory default kits that I have not edited.

Tried to send it to both LA authorized repair companies - one said they weren't taking any new repairs for a couple months, the other didn't reply after 2 emails

Just today, while playing, Tom-2 started to act similarly.  Hitting the mesh at 1/2 second intervals, sometimes I hear the Tom sound, sometimes I hear the Rim sound, occasionally both. Using the drum on another input with another cable, it still fails, and another drum on the Tom-2 input works fine.

So now I have TWO of these DM10 Mesh that don't operate properly. You'll have to take my word for it - I don't thrash around REALLY hard. I don't gig. I am a beginner and am just playing along with songs. I don't even use the Toms all that much.

What kind of recourse do I have, if any, with this being used, bought from Amazon's refurb facility in May 2016?  If this is a known problem, then it could be a manufacturing defect.

Also, my controller fails if the room gets a little warm or if I turn it off then back on. I can see the trigger indications on the display, and everything seems right, but no sound comes out.  If I turn it off for an hour and come back, it works.  And recently, my 2 crash cymbals wont trigger if I hit the snare at the exact same time.   Of course, I will post this in the Controller area, too.

Thanks in advance for any help that can be rendered to a frustrated rookie.

[Hovis Bap]

Hi Phil,

I would recommend going to the Alesis help forum - http://community.alesis.com/alesis

they would probably be able to give you an idea of what the issue is.

Regards

Steve

[philwells]

Hi Steve, and Thanks,

I already tried the "Get Satisfaction" forums.  All I got was:

"Sorry to hear you're still having problems. Please call support by logging onto http://www.alesis.com/contact.  Currently, this is support’s busiest time of the year.  You'll get quicker response time by calling support."

And before that I called them for help and all they told me was to send it to a repair center and neither LA repair center was helpful.

I can't help but think SOMEONE must have run across this problem, and now it's "spread" to a second head. What are the chances of having the same problem on 2 different heads?

I also notice that the frame of my snare is much more sensitive than the rim.Isn't the rim isolated, as least to some degree, from the frame? I barely touch the frame and it makes a loud rimshot.

I really dont want to have to replace two heads and a controller - at some point, I might as well get a new kit with warranty.

[miroslav]

Phil,

While reading your post, I initially thought that the problem was in curve settings, but since the problem is following your tom as you change inputs, the module is OK, and the culprit is the tom.

From the electrical point of view, the tom is really simple - just two piezos connected to the connector (some have also two resistors to limit the voltage going into module). So, the problem is most probably in the connections (solder joints), break in the wires, or perhaps the piezo is broken. The most expensive thing to fix is the piezo which is only a couple of dollars (or less the a dollar, depending on where you get them). Be careful when soldering the piezo, you have to work quickly. There are tutorials here on the forum and elsewhere on the web (try to find mesh conversion posts). Your tom might be a bit different in design, but the general principle of operation is the same.

Good luck!

[AlanK]

I would have thought you may have the triggers using one of the Spline Curve settings which picks up soft and hard hits but not as much the in betweens.

The second thought is could they have sold it with the wrong power adapter? It has to be DC/DC and the correct voltage/amperage or all sorts of weirdness could happen.. check to make sure the adapter is correct.

I would also try to isolate the Tom problem by taking the cables from the 1st and/or 2nd tom and trying them in the lower tom(s) on the right..see if you get the cross talk there as well

I have a non-Alesis snare and I also found that if I tapped the side of the drum it sounded the rim voicings super loud, and the rim itself was not so sensitive. It was likely the placing of the second piezo. I toyed with various sensitivities and other settings and got it to work better but it still always picks up louder if I hit the side of the drum (which I'd never do in general). I've also removed the rubber rim protector and rim shots and cross sticking works so much better, but the ambient noise of course is louder in the room..and it's harder on the sticks but it looks more "real" so pros and cons huh?

[AlanK]

Correction, it's an AC/AC power supply, my bad (thanks RhysT!)  don't try plugging in a DC/DC one