Author Topic: Alesis DM10 PRO vs Yamaha vs Roland  (Read 18285 times)

Offline hve

Alesis DM10 PRO vs Yamaha vs Roland
« on: August 18, 2010, 05:25:09 AM »
Hi guys,

My name's Hans Van Even, I'm merely a guitar play and need an edrum for recording drummers at my home for my upcoming project (I use Toontrack SD2 for all my drum sounds, so the edrum is used as a trigger). That said, I'm not new to edrums, a few years ago I had the Roland TD6KX set, which was cool, but I wasn't 100% satisfied with it (pads too small, hard to get rim shots done, same for bells on the cymbals etc) so sold it. Now I really need a new setup and have some questions on the new Alesis DM10PRO.

1. How does it compares to other edrums like Roland and Yamaha ? I'm also interested in the Yamaha DTXplorer iV special or the discontinued DTXtreme III ... do the pads trigger well, no delays, no latency ?

2. Is the rack solid enough to welcome one additional pad and cymbal

3. How do the rims work on the snare, is the pad large enough for this ?

4. Is it a problem for a drummer to have this type of HH or is a real pedal type HH like on the Roland or Yamaha drums better ?

Thanks so much for the input!

Cheers,

Hans
www.hansvaneven.com

Offline Hellfire

Re: Alesis DM10 PRO vs Yamaha vs Roland
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2010, 07:30:54 AM »
Hi guys,

My name's Hans Van Even, I'm merely a guitar play and need an edrum for recording drummers at my home for my upcoming project (I use Toontrack SD2 for all my drum sounds, so the edrum is used as a trigger). That said, I'm not new to edrums, a few years ago I had the Roland TD6KX set, which was cool, but I wasn't 100% satisfied with it (pads too small, hard to get rim shots done, same for bells on the cymbals etc) so sold it. Now I really need a new setup and have some questions on the new Alesis DM10PRO.

1. How does it compares to other edrums like Roland and Yamaha ? I'm also interested in the Yamaha DTXplorer iV special or the discontinued DTXtreme III ... do the pads trigger well, no delays, no latency ?

2. Is the rack solid enough to welcome one additional pad and cymbal

3. How do the rims work on the snare, is the pad large enough for this ?

4. Is it a problem for a drummer to have this type of HH or is a real pedal type HH like on the Roland or Yamaha drums better ?

Thanks so much for the input!

Cheers,

Hans
www.hansvaneven.com
I will try to answer your questions in order.

1) Very hard to answer because a lot of that has to do with personal taste. DMdrummer.com to a very Alesis brand geared site so keep that in mind. I don't think the DM10 is in the same class as a Roland TD-20 or Yamaha DTXtreme III. Those are much higher end set-ups. That is comparing apples and oranges. Comparing the Roland TD-9 or TD-12 is a much better comparison. The Roland does support aftertouch choking on cymbals (Alesis uses note off) and the Roland can handle dual zone with choke a little easier. With alesis you either have dual zone no choke or single zone with choke except for the ride. On the DM10 you do have a three zone ride with choke and one crash that is single zone with choke. You can have more crash cymbals but you will not have a choke (Unless you DIY your own choke set-ups).

2) I use the DM10 Pro kit and the rack is super solid. No problems there and yes it can handle additional pads and cymbals.

3) rims works great. 100% velocity sensitive on the rims and can be easily adjusted to work the way you want them to.

4) That depends on the drummer. I don't have a problem, but some purist will.

I hope the helps. Again, Welcome to the forum.

Offline hve

Re: Alesis DM10 PRO vs Yamaha vs Roland
« Reply #2 on: August 18, 2010, 07:48:31 AM »
Thanks so much for taking all the time to answer my newby questions Hellfire, much appreciated!  ;)

I also read some other forums so think I have an objective idea now of the kits, sure I wanted to compare to the more mid range kits from Roland and Yamaha, so that sounds cool.

1. I see what you mean with the chokes, as I'm merely going to use this setup with Superior Drummer 2 I think this should be just fine ...

For the rest, only thing I can think of for now is the HH which has only one zone, but then I think I can do with it ...

This is a great forum, thanks so much :)

Offline Guinness

Re: Alesis DM10 PRO vs Yamaha vs Roland
« Reply #3 on: August 18, 2010, 01:01:56 PM »
If you're using with Superior Drummer, then wouldn't Alesis' Trigger|iO work best?  Perhaps get the USB Pro kit.
 
FYI, for recording, the Surge cymbals are accoustically louder than rubber cymbals.   Maybe you're sending all to computer for mixing, inwhich case you won't hear the tic, tic, tic of Surge cymbals.

Offline Rev2010

Re: Alesis DM10 PRO vs Yamaha vs Roland
« Reply #4 on: August 18, 2010, 04:16:22 PM »
1. There's always latency, but no you won't notice it any more than on Roland kits, etc. The pads and cymbals trigger fine but personally I've found a slightly better response on my last Roland kit using all mesh pads and CY cymbals.

2. The rack is very solid and can handle extra pads and cymbals fine. I have an extra cymbal and extra 10" low Tom and it's holding fine. The plastic mounts however slip easily on the chrome hardware so you have to tighten each insanely!. Been thinking of trying to use a thin sheet of rubber or something in between. The rack does sway a little when playing but not enough to cause any issues.

3.The rims work fine, pretty much almost the same as the Roland's, basically they both need to be hit a bit hard. If they didn't crosstalk would be very problematic so it's normal to have to hit them a bit harder.

4. The Alesis HH controller I find to be superior to the FD-8 and so does my drummer. That was always his main complaint with my Roland kit. Not anymore of an issue with the Alesis kit. You don't need a "real hat" control interface but of course it's a nice extra.


Rev.

Offline ungoliant

Re: Alesis DM10 PRO vs Yamaha vs Roland
« Reply #5 on: August 19, 2010, 04:26:19 AM »
Weird, i have aded recently some pd8 roland pads and the cy-5 hihat with the FD-8 pedal on my PRO KIT, and i found Roland pedal more effective than the alesis pedal. I just have to push a little harder to get a closed sound, but i no more struggle to have a half-closed sound. It always was a PITA with the Alesis pedal.   :-[

Offline hve

Re: Alesis DM10 PRO vs Yamaha vs Roland
« Reply #6 on: August 19, 2010, 07:31:41 AM »
Thanks Guinness, yes I'm only using the Superior Drums 2 for the sounds, so noise isn't a real problem for me. It really seems to be a mather of feel and each drummer seems to prefer another setup. While I'd prefer to have the money to buy a TD20 set, I wish I could test a few drum sets including the Alesis here in Bordeaux, unfortunately most of the stores have a few months of delay with new gear :(

Cheers,

Hans

Offline hve

Re: Alesis DM10 PRO vs Yamaha vs Roland
« Reply #7 on: August 19, 2010, 07:38:31 AM »
Thanks Rev for the detailed input! :)

@ ungoliant, that's what I said in my previous post, seems like there isn't a best, all people seem to have different approaches, so best would be if I could test one ... that said, I can always return a kit (in 7 days) if it doesn't match my needs but ....

Hard hard hard, wish I had the money to buy a higher end set ,

BTW has anyone tested the 2BOX sets here ? Some compare them to the high end Roland and Yamaha kits.

Cheers,

Hans

Offline Rev2010

Re: Alesis DM10 PRO vs Yamaha vs Roland
« Reply #8 on: August 19, 2010, 10:13:36 AM »
i found Roland pedal more effective than the alesis pedal. I just have to push a little harder to get a closed sound, but i no more struggle to have a half-closed sound. It always was a PITA with the Alesis pedal.   :-[

Well I only used the FD-8 on my Roland kit. But let me ask, have you tried adjusting the Alesis pedal with the drum key? To get perfect comfortable response in travel I had to adjust it. Of course, I had to do the same with the Roland but it never worked 100%. I even opened up the FD-8 and moved the sensor ribbon a bit as it seemed the rubber "tongue" wasn't getting full travel on the sensor, but nope... still didn't fix it.


Rev.