Author Topic: DM6 vs DM5 Pro  (Read 13182 times)

DM6 vs DM5 Pro
« on: April 22, 2010, 09:26:45 PM »
Considering both sets, here's where I'm at:

DM6

- Comes with kick pedal
- Mix-in jack
- Cheaper

DM5 Pro

- Real drum heads
- More adjustability (cross-talk, sensitivity, etc)
- Larger kick pad (better for double pedals?)
- Expandable, but unlikely I would add to it
- Better/more realistic drum sounds?


I'm new to drums, so I want something that I can learn on and eventually I'd like to buy an acoustic set.  A friend suggested the DM5 Pro because the real drum heads would be better to learn on if I plan to move to acoustic.  I've also read comments from some saying that the DM6 kick drum pad doesn't play nice with double pedals, contrary to what Alesis advertises.

Bottom line -- I'm a total beginner.  The DM6 looks perfectly suited to my needs, but I'd like to know that I can use a double pedal setup.  Any comments from those with experience with either set would be appreciated.

Offline Guinness

Re: DM6 vs DM5 Pro
« Reply #1 on: April 23, 2010, 12:21:11 AM »
rubber pads (DM6) are fine to learn on.  Yes, the mylar pads feel more realistic, but as a beginner, you may be just focused on timing.  Again, rubber pads are fine...  think 'practice pad':  those are rubber.
 
I'm not sure if you can fit two beaters on the DM6's kick; but you can on the DM5.
 
DM5 voices (sounds) are dated, and you'll find the DM6 sounds better.  But that can be remedied by using the DM5 + a PC program like BFD2.
 
DM5 is expandable, where as the DM6 is limited.   How much does a DM6 cost nowadays?  You might like a DM10 Studio kit instead.
 
I like the DM5 for set up and expandability, but I got rid of mine because the voices are dated.  DM6 has more current and realistic sounding drum voices.
 
others may have differing opinions.
 
Btw... welcome to the forum.

Re: DM6 vs DM5 Pro
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2010, 03:00:38 AM »
The DM5 rack and mounting hardware is superior (larger and curved main tube, extra supports, main tube height is adjustable).

The DM5 module is an actual Alesis engineered module. It's very reliable. Voices and controls are well done, but it lacks a lot of the 'stand-alone'/all-in-one features of other drum modules (inputs, built in metronome, sequencer, etc). It is just a midi sound source with a trigger-to-midi interface stuck to it. No bells* and whistles.

The DM6 module is a re-brand. Everything on the DM6 is re-branded. The DM-6 module lacks trigger control features (cross-talk, senstivity, gain, velocity curve, decay etc) and a lot of sound module features (proper outputs, aux outputs, midi in).

DM5's electronic drum voices are very high quality, but the acoustic voices aren't great and there is a very limited selection of acoustic sounding sounds.

I've seen new DM5 pro kits on clearance for less than DM6 kits.


I'm pretty much a beginner too (at drum smashing anyhow):
- Positive: I like the DM5 module voices (but I'm more into electronic music, especially from the era that the DM5 was made in).
- Postive: I bought the version with Surge cymbals and I'm very satisfied with the look, feel and triggering. I will be adding a couple more Surge/Smarttrigger cymbals.
- Neutral: The 8" Real-head pads are fine for now. I know I will be replacing them, but they are good enough so that I'm not in a rush. 8" pads are too small, but I guess they will help with stick control.
- Negative: I also had to buy a bass pedal, throne, metronome and small mixer. That was $600 more on to the price. Not a big deal, and if you don't insist upon getting the best available, these needed add-ons would cost alot less.


*Actually it has 3 ride bell voices, but that's not the type of bell I was referring too  :D

Re: DM6 vs DM5 Pro
« Reply #3 on: April 23, 2010, 06:32:30 PM »
Thank you both for the great comments and suggestions.  I'm starting to lean towards the DM5 Pro simply because it seems like it has more flexibility and more options for the future.

It really sucks that the DM5 module doesn't have any type of aux input for an ipod or such.  Is there an inexpensive mixer that can take just the output from the DM5 and an 1/8" headphone input then output to headphone?  I've seen the Alesis JamDock that they are offering free w/ rebate when you buy the drum set, but I don't own an iPod.

Also -- I've heard that the hi-hat pedal is not very good on the DM5.  What are people swapping these out with?

Offline Guinness

Re: DM6 vs DM5 Pro
« Reply #4 on: April 23, 2010, 06:39:03 PM »
It's not the "pedal" per se, but rather the voices the DM5 produces for hi-hat are not variable.  So, it's open and closed.
 
This was a pain in my rear for some time.
 
I bought a 2-channel mixer, but it never seemed to work quite right.  But that's how I got my ipod and dm5 running through the same headphones.

Re: DM6 vs DM5 Pro
« Reply #5 on: April 24, 2010, 01:35:11 AM »
Oh yeah...
- Negative: The hi-hit pedal feels cheap. It closes near full depression but not quite, so it's very wonky to control the sounds. I will be replacing this for sure and soon.
- Negative: The hi-hit functionality also just switch-based so it only allows for open, closed and foot sounds. This limitation isn't a big deal when sequencing a drum machine, but it's really annoying for drummin'. I will be trying to fix this with a DMPro (and if that doesn't make me happy, IO and a VST, and if that doesn't work out, a real hi hat).

I don't know that the DM6 is any better (it also uses a switch pedal).

I use a 4-channel Mackie 402-VLZ3 mixer. DM5 in channels 1/2, metronome in channels 3/4, iPod into Tape In. It works pretty well and can act as a pretty good personal monitor mixer in the future I'd think. There are a lot of  sub $100 mixers out there that will do the job (or get the free Jamdock and spend the $100 on an iPod  ;D ).

Edit: I've also now passed the 10 post mark, so I'll have to post a pic of my set up tomorrow...

« Last Edit: April 24, 2010, 01:37:14 AM by perfesser »

Offline Guinness

Re: DM6 vs DM5 Pro
« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2010, 02:17:18 AM »

Edit: I've also now passed the 10 post mark, so I'll have to post a pic of my set up tomorrow...

Woot!!!   ;D

Re: DM6 vs DM5 Pro
« Reply #7 on: April 25, 2010, 12:29:08 PM »
Thanks for the additional info.  I ended up ordering the USB Pro kit - very excited!  I had planned on hooking the kit up to the PC anyway since I had played with Addictive Drums before and really liked it, and I found the USB Pro kit for $600 online.

Real drum heads, surge symbals, dual zone snare and toms, dual zone ride cymbal, crash and ride have choke, continuous variable hi-hat pedal... the feature list is a mile long.  All the expandability I could want and it looks really cool!

Now I'm just hoping my system is fast enough.  It is a Dual Core 1.66 GHz w/ 2 GB of RAM on Windows 7 x64.  I plan on running Addictive Drums through the free VSTHost program which is very light weight to keep CPU/memory usage to a minimum.  I'm going to give ASIO4ALL a try and if my machine still can't cut it I'll try an external audio interface like the Presonus Firebox.

I'm really hoping I don't have to buy the Firebox... anyone have experience running e-drums on a PC with similar specs?

Offline eugenecp

Re: DM6 vs DM5 Pro
« Reply #8 on: April 25, 2010, 02:33:57 PM »
your computer setup should be enough.  what's more critical is the speed of ur hard disk.  if u just use asio4all, ur problem will be the quality of ur monitoring. if it's just via the earphone jack and the sound card is on-board, u might hear a lot of noise.  if that is the case, u might want to go with a USB audio interface or a dedicated soundcard with ASIO drivers.  i just bought a tascam US-122 off ebay for around $60 and the difference is significant, no noise at all.

« Last Edit: April 26, 2010, 12:25:27 PM by eugenecp »
DM10 Pro Kit, Tama Iron Cobra Jr Double Bass Pedal, Tama 1st Chair HT530E5, Tascam US-122 Audio/MIDI interface

Re: DM6 vs DM5 Pro
« Reply #9 on: April 26, 2010, 12:45:45 AM »
Thanks eugenecp.  I have a 7200 RPM hard disk, so I think that should be ok.  Hopefully the audio quality of my sound card is adequate, but I'm not getting my hopes up :-)

I found an article on optimizing your system that some might find interesting: http://www.alesis.com/tipsnov08

Offline eugenecp

Re: DM6 vs DM5 Pro
« Reply #10 on: April 26, 2010, 12:31:10 PM »
those are really good tips.  maybe just add more RAM :).
DM10 Pro Kit, Tama Iron Cobra Jr Double Bass Pedal, Tama 1st Chair HT530E5, Tascam US-122 Audio/MIDI interface

Re: DM6 vs DM5 Pro
« Reply #11 on: April 26, 2010, 01:49:05 PM »
One part from the tips that I found interesting read "The human ear cannot distinguish delays lower than 20-30ms."

Out of curiosity, what are your system specs?  And what type of software are you using with your drums?

Offline eugenecp

Re: DM6 vs DM5 Pro
« Reply #12 on: April 26, 2010, 04:22:55 PM »
i have a dell inspiron 1521 laptop with 1.6GHz AMD X2 processor, 2GB memory, 160GB 5400rpm disk running Windows 7 64bit with the DM10.  i was just testing it using a demo version of BFD and it was triggering ok.  without ASIO4ALL, the sounds camein stuttered.  I installed ASIO4ALL and the delay was not noticeable, however, the output from the sound card via headphone/line out was generating some noise.  this is true even with just regular sound output.  so i ended up getting a used tascam 122 off ebay.  i believe any sound card or usb/firewire audio interface with ASIO drivers should be able to minimize the delays to withing 20-30ms max.  you can also look at the alesis multimix 4 usb http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MultiMix4USB/.
DM10 Pro Kit, Tama Iron Cobra Jr Double Bass Pedal, Tama 1st Chair HT530E5, Tascam US-122 Audio/MIDI interface

Re: DM6 vs DM5 Pro
« Reply #13 on: May 13, 2010, 04:25:03 PM »
I just wanted to comment that the ASIO4ALL seems to be working fine on my laptop.  I believe I have it configured for 128 samples for the buffer size and generally it seems like my machine is keeping up with it.

I'm curious how much better the sound would be with a dedicated audio interface, so I'm sure I'll end up buying one when my checking account has fully recovered.

Offline eugenecp

Re: DM6 vs DM5 Pro
« Reply #14 on: May 13, 2010, 04:45:34 PM »
are you having noise issues? the only reason i went with a dedicated audio interface was because of the noise.
DM10 Pro Kit, Tama Iron Cobra Jr Double Bass Pedal, Tama 1st Chair HT530E5, Tascam US-122 Audio/MIDI interface

Re: DM6 vs DM5 Pro
« Reply #15 on: May 13, 2010, 05:32:09 PM »
I don't get any kind of background hiss.  It seems to sound pretty good to me, but occasionally I've heard it cut out (at least I think so).  I'd really like to try an external audio interface to see if it actually improves the sound or not.