Author Topic: 12" tom failure #5 (or so, I stopped counting)  (Read 1600 times)

Offline VandalX

12" tom failure #5 (or so, I stopped counting)
« on: March 30, 2018, 05:13:50 PM »
Yup. I'm on my second full DM10 MKII Pro kit, and fifth failure of the wiring to the trigger. They all fail the same way. The wires either break in the middle of the run from the glue "solder" to the PCB, or fall off underneath the glue. This latest one was a full pullout from under the glue. Clean break. This equipment is horribly manufactured. I could understand perhaps one giving out, but five across two different sets... unacceptable. I'm still going to keep these things and fix them myself, but what a hassle. I have contacted Alesis for a second time in hopes that they might offer me some satisfaction, but I'm not hopeful in that regard. The first time I had a failure I did all the warranty stuff on their support page, and heard nothing back. Luckily, Amazon Prime just shipped me a whole new kit to replace the faulty equipment. Now two of these 12" pads from that kit have failed.

Despite my unhappiness with the build quality, I am having fun with the kit as a whole, and getting back into drumming again. But I will never again buy an Alesis drum product that gets hit with something. Their quality control is a complete failure, at least in my case. Too bad: their price point and feature sets could unseat the Roland/Yamaha grip on solidly built e-drums. But the cheap electronics and points of failure are shameful.



Alesis DM 10 MKII Pro (with Tama Iron Cobra double). Pearl Export acoustic. Fostex VF160EX Digital multitrack (16). Fostex monitors. Roland TR-626 drum machine. Roland Juno 106 Poly synth. Aria Knight Warrior. Peavy Fury. Digitech GNX3000. Digitech RP360. Tascam Porta 05 four track. MacBook Air.

Re: 12" tom failure #5 (or so, I stopped counting)
« Reply #1 on: March 30, 2018, 07:28:37 PM »
My newest failure was the trigger on the foot bass.  It was my own fault this time; I had lowered the beater to maybe get a little more speed, not realizing I was then hitting directly onto the trigger.  Only took 2 playings of Communication Breakdown for it to start dying.
Simple does not equal easy.

Offline VandalX

Re: 12" tom failure #5 (or so, I stopped counting)
« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2018, 11:56:00 PM »
That's the interesting part of this issue. I'm pretty sure the bass drum takes a walloping, but so far it hasn't failed like the 12" snare. Likewise with the cymbals. I'm sure they will eventually break. I'm on my second restoration using Goedrum triggers that are slightly bigger. Works great.
Alesis DM 10 MKII Pro (with Tama Iron Cobra double). Pearl Export acoustic. Fostex VF160EX Digital multitrack (16). Fostex monitors. Roland TR-626 drum machine. Roland Juno 106 Poly synth. Aria Knight Warrior. Peavy Fury. Digitech GNX3000. Digitech RP360. Tascam Porta 05 four track. MacBook Air.

Re: 12" tom failure #5 (or so, I stopped counting)
« Reply #3 on: March 31, 2018, 12:58:27 PM »
As long as the beater is hitting center on the pad, you shouldn't have any issues.  There is a tall, foam column in the center but the trigger is mounted at the bottom of the pad.
Simple does not equal easy.

Offline VandalX

Re: 12" tom failure #5 (or so, I stopped counting)
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2018, 11:37:05 AM »
Just an update as to the Alesis Warranty service. I contacted them again to explain the issues I'm having. They were quite responsive this time around, so that's progress. The first time this happened, I didn't hear from them, but Inmusic sent me two 12" pads, unsolicited (but quite welcome). This time I received an email from them and an offer to send me two more pads as replacements. I went into detail about the issues I'm experiencing, and asked some questions about repairing them myself or if there was anything I could do differently. Basically, they said they just send out new ones and don't have defective units returned for repair. Here's the quoted text from our discussion:

"There is no information on how to service theses pads which is why we replace them and don’t often request that customers send them back to us. If they go, they need to be replaced. If you wish to try to fix them by all means go for it, but it isn’t something we recommend trying to do. I’m submitting a replacement for 2 x 12” pads that should be arriving in the next 5 – 7 business days. Hopefully these aren’t defective since as you can see, the other drum pads work just fine."

Okay. It's a weird business model, but at least it's skewed towards the consumer. Since I've delved into trying to make a more robust system, this benefits me by having a bunch of 12" carcasses for experimentation. Eventually I'll have a set that will require an expansion module for all the (hopefully) working pads!

While this is in not the most ideal way to enter the world of Alesis and e-drums, I'll take it. Eventually I'll have some sort of system in place to retrofit Alesis mesh pads with a trigger system that can withstand repeated hits.

So, all in all, jelly-side up. My time and labor has been a bit of an issue, but I feel that in the end I'll have a better grasp of these systems.

Oh, and I inquired about how the Strike pads were built, and if they had similar problems. He couldn't answer that, but did offer to sell me individual pads as replacements. I'm guessing the trigger components are all similar (as are almost all of them), so it would be a matter of how they are mounted and if they are subjected to the same forces that plague my DM10 MKII Pro pads. For those keeping score, that's six pads that have had broken wires/solder joints (over two separate kits). I'm pretty sure that's a design flaw on this particular pad model, as I don't hear about any of the other DM10 family having these issues with such frequency.
Alesis DM 10 MKII Pro (with Tama Iron Cobra double). Pearl Export acoustic. Fostex VF160EX Digital multitrack (16). Fostex monitors. Roland TR-626 drum machine. Roland Juno 106 Poly synth. Aria Knight Warrior. Peavy Fury. Digitech GNX3000. Digitech RP360. Tascam Porta 05 four track. MacBook Air.

Offline rhysT

Re: 12" tom failure #5 (or so, I stopped counting)
« Reply #5 on: April 08, 2018, 04:59:06 AM »
..... I inquired about how the Strike pads were built, and if they had similar problems. He couldn't answer that, but did offer to sell me individual pads as replacements. I'm guessing the trigger components are all similar (as are almost all of them), so it would be a matter of how they are mounted and if they are subjected to the same forces that plague my DM10 MKII Pro pads. For those keeping score, that's six pads that have had broken wires/solder joints (over two separate kits). I'm pretty sure that's a design flaw on this particular pad model, as I don't hear about any of the other DM10 family having these issues with such frequency.

For evidence of similar symptoms in Strike pads just refer to this related topic: http://community.alesis.com/alesis/topics/strike-pro-kit-poor-build-quality and maybe its title has been changed from what appears in the link to try minimizing any negative PR.

So far my original DM10 mesh pads have survived regular sessions of moderate hitting so I'm feeling kinda lucky to not have the 'MkII Pro' trigger sensor extras.
« Last Edit: April 08, 2018, 05:26:19 AM by rhysT »

Offline VandalX

Re: 12" tom failure #5 (or so, I stopped counting)
« Reply #6 on: April 08, 2018, 12:13:18 PM »
Thanks, rhysT! I'm starting to realize that it doesn't matter what particular model of Alesis pad I have, it seems like a bit of hit-or-miss when it comes to trigger failure. Or perhaps, hit, hit...then miss. It seems to be a weak point across all model lines. From my perspective, the piezo mounted to the center of the pad takes more impact force that the various solder/epoxy/wire insulation can handle in some instances. For some of us (the Strike user in your linked thread included) this problem is not only recurrent, but Alesis can't seem to address the issue with an engineering fix. It's a simple matter of building a more robust trigger mounting system with a higher grade of wiring. I've endeavored to take this on as a personal project, and I'm sure many others have come up with their own fixes.

I'd be interested to learn how other manufacturers have addressed this issue, particularly the top end Roland and Yamaha lines. Aside from external trigger rigs that have a different positional mount (and a case), it seems like the piezo trigger disc is going to be innately weak no matter what pad it's mounted in. Since piezo triggers are so inexpensive and probably made by the same couple of factories, I'm designing a quick connect system that can be easily removed once a solder joint fails. This is easier than having to re-solder to the disc- eventually the heat and fumbly fingers will make that trigger fail anyway. So, I'm taking one of my myriad extra pads and playing with those connections. I've ordered a bunch of triggers- most are disc and a couple are polymer tab-type, along with foam style replacement triggers from external trigger systems. I have all the connectors and new wiring, though the Goedrum triggers have a thicker gauged wire. Of course, that didn't help when the solder popped off after a few hours of playing on a new Goedrum trigger, mounted in the same place as the failed Alesis trigger. I'm thinking of putting my endoscope in the drum to see how the force is transferred to the center resonant board/trigger so I can look for alternatives or places I can bulk up my kit. This would be entertaining if it didn't take away from my playing time!
Alesis DM 10 MKII Pro (with Tama Iron Cobra double). Pearl Export acoustic. Fostex VF160EX Digital multitrack (16). Fostex monitors. Roland TR-626 drum machine. Roland Juno 106 Poly synth. Aria Knight Warrior. Peavy Fury. Digitech GNX3000. Digitech RP360. Tascam Porta 05 four track. MacBook Air.

Offline VandalX

Re: 12" tom failure #5 (or so, I stopped counting)
« Reply #7 on: April 08, 2018, 12:27:25 PM »
And this little bit of history illustrate how long the issue has been known to Alesis, and it seems they have absolutely no interest in coming up with a proper fix. If the new Strike Pro pads are failing in the same way, this represents a total failure of industrial design and innovation. I love their price point considering the alternatives, but really, this shouldn't be a difficult problem to address from a company that MAKES ELECTRONIC DRUMS.

Here's a nice little link (http://community.alesis.com/alesis/topics/dm10-x-mesh-kit-tom-pad-failure) that indicates Alesis knows about the problem, doesn't acknowledge that it's widespread, and can only send out replacements as a "fix." While I appreciate their willingness to ship me new pads when they fail, this isn't a sustainable condition. I already told them I was going to fix one myself (and I knew it would void my warranty), and they replied that they didn't recommend that, but to go ahead anyway. And they'd send out two new pads. I will have a Neil Peart kit eventually. I shall call it "The Boneyard" and it will be capable of withstanding all incoming fire, and will consist of at least 5 extra 12" toms, and likely, about six pounds of solder/tape/glue. Lemons: lemonade.
Alesis DM 10 MKII Pro (with Tama Iron Cobra double). Pearl Export acoustic. Fostex VF160EX Digital multitrack (16). Fostex monitors. Roland TR-626 drum machine. Roland Juno 106 Poly synth. Aria Knight Warrior. Peavy Fury. Digitech GNX3000. Digitech RP360. Tascam Porta 05 four track. MacBook Air.