It'll be interesting to me to see how well these newer Alesis modules stand up compared to my legacy DM10.
I've experimented with using VST and just don't have a desire to go that route in my live setup. I can't count how many times I've been rained on, or have been setting up in a hurry, or tearing down when I'm too exhausted to think.
I have a king-size black sheet that I use as a dust cover for my kit. I also bring a tarp for outdoor gigs. Since getting my DM10X Mesh kit, I've been lucky enough to cover in time. But that kit is really quite the durable thing. Swinging around tarps in the rain doesn't seem to me like a good spot for a laptop! But I digress on that subject.
My DM10 came absolutely Loaded with sounds. With so many customers asking about VST usability, I can see how that is quickly becoming more important than including a high number of obscure, percussion-related sounds - sounds that we can't dream of getting in any of the drummer VST I've seen.
On the other hand, loading in custom samples is also a craze. Strike and Sample Pad Pro (and others) allow for custom sample importing. But this makes the whole module slow to switch from one kit to the next. That's the reason Roland gave for Not including these features earlier in their game.
Slow can be fine, if you really need that custom sound. Personally, if I need a particular sound that badly, I'd likely wish for a special extra bit of kit for that - not my main drum module.
I guess I'll find out eventually as time goes on. For now, I'm more interested in getting a second DM10 module in mint shape to keep on hand in case something happens to mine. I love this thing!
How do the sounds sound? "Amazing!" is what sound engineers have been saying to me. So easy for them to mix in and incredibly easy to EQ into a thundering kit. I've been asking musician audience members what they think and the response has been unanimous.
I have a new 1,100 Watt (15" woofer with horn) powered PA speaker on its way, so I'll be able to better hear what the audience hears as well. My Singer set me up with one of the new JBL Eon 15" powered monitors at practice the other day, and it sounded awesome! He said the one he ordered for me should sound quite a bit better.
As for the new Alesis kits, I'm not sure I'd like not having that extra support bar on the rack. I love how stable and easy-to-setup/take down my DM10X rack is.
I do really like what I'm hearing about the Strike series. Yeah, it takes a while to change kits... not sure I'll like that much - unless I keep my DM10 on hand for the crazy sounds and just change that, and keep the Strike as a main kit type of thing. I must say that, having the bigger wooden shells doesn't appeal to me much... so I'd likely just try and find the module. I love how durable and compact my DM10X Mesh pads are. They fill out the kit nicely yet pack up like a breeze - no matter how tired I might be.
Both DM10 MKII kit offerings look like something I'd enjoy. Looks a LOT like my DM10 pads and cymbals, which I really like a lot. The modules both seem to have a lot less sounds, but I look forward to hearing them.
What really excites me as a current DM10 owner is the new Command Mesh. Smaller 8" mesh pads along with a 10" mesh pad and the same (at least it looks the same) 8" mesh bass drum tower; Smaller cymbal pads; Nice rack; and then the Command module - but let's not forget that this baby also includes (even if it might not be top-of-the-line) a bass drum pedal.
Yeah, I'm still dreaming of getting one of these to add to my DM10X kit to build a small monster. I'm not entirely sure if the newer mesh pads are as solid and tough as the ones that came with my kit. They look the same. I'm not a fan of the proprietary cable snake, but I could live with that. It has the seemingly same style of using custom sound samples as the SamplePad Pro. If I like the sounds it (the module) comes with, I'll likely just use those - mostly. Otherwise I'll midi everything over to my DM10 module and use those amazing sounds.
Funny. With my acoustic kit I slimmed waaay down. I haven't gigged with a monster kit since I was fairly young. Too much to haul, setup, and take down. But acoustic drums are so different from e-drums. The same head on the same drum can make so many more tones just by how we hit it.
With e-drums, I find it amazing how easy it is to transport and use. I love the dynamics after dialing in the settings over a little more than a year so far, and I really love how happy it makes my sound people. I also really love how many different and obscure sounds I have access to, which is what really scares me about the apparent future of e-drum modules.
Anyway, so now I want to build a Monster e-kit. Buying a Command Mesh will give me a good deal of new pieces for my rack setup. It looks like they should fit my rack tubes (?). All those little (3) 10" cymbals will be just right! The three little 8" mesh pads on a rack tube over the hi hat cymbal pad, the 10" replacing the first 12" on my kit, which will then be mounted up above the SamplePad Pro on the right. A dedicated, floating rack tube can house both modules and two more of the rack tubes will add the second horizontal stabilizer, like the front of my current kit.
Adding the second bass drum pad might tempt some to do away with the double pedal, but I'll be using mine as a foot-operated non-bass drum sample trigger. Likely a snare so I can play simple beats with just my feet.
I haven't got a solid (any, actually) answer from Alesis yet as to whether or not the new Surge Mesh module allows for each trigger to change the midi note to a custom setting. They did say that this works for the Command module. If it works for the Surge Mesh, that would be an inexpensive alternative that I'd love to jump on very soon. It would just mean that I'd never even think about using custom samples with it. big deal. The rack is different, but would still help me get done what I want to get done. Whenever I see the Nitro/Surge module though... It always make me want to look at something else. But if I can change the midi notes to the free notes on the DM10 module, I wouldn't really care. Well... unless it wasn't so good for dialing in dynamics. Maybe I'll keep saving for the Command or DM10 MKII