Author Topic: Zero to show in 1 week - My experience with the DM10 Pro Kit.  (Read 4678 times)

Offline DeeDubs

    Hey all,

    Behold the tale of my first experiences with the DM10 Pro Kit:

    I am currently playing with a local 'unplugged' type acoustic band and had been playing a roland handsonic 10, but as we took on more kit oriented songs, I upgraded to the DM10. This was a first for me, since I never actually had the chance to play the kit in person, and this leap of faith was in large part due to the input from folks on this forum.

    My DM10 pro kit arrived at the house exactly one week before our first gig, and everyone was a bit apprehensive about throwing new gear into the mix (two of the members had never played out before). I was a bit worried myself, since I hadn't played set in some time and had spent a few months playing the handsonic. I unpacked the set Friday after work and had it all set up and kicking by dinner even after having clamp issues (I needed to RTFM for the best L-Rod position and do any torquing with the drum key). By Sunday, I was able to stumble through our 3 12 song sets. Next step was trying to duplicate some custom sounds and kits that I had. Thankfully the programming on the DM10 was pretty easy, and the only stumbling block I had was tweaking the eq and compression settings.

    Now for the gig - Some things I expected, and some I didn't:

    Expected:
    • Setup and teardown are on par with an acoustic drum kit
    • I needed headphones, and will need to look into a drum monitor for on stage
    • There would be kit tweaking required on the fly
    • Rim sounds would need to be adjusted (I don't think I'll keep the side stick sound on the snare rim)
    • Someone would ask me about the kit (several inquiries including having to correct someone that thought I was 'rocking acoustic cymbals')
    • There was no volume war on stage, and there were several comments on how great the whole band sounded
    • A second crash as a last minute add on helped a lot (thank you alesis for having the input (perc2) default to a crash sound)

    Unexpected:
    • The band performance was much improved - partially due to better kit sounds, and I have been told that visual cues (cymbal strikes) helped. I think it was also much more comfortable to play
    • Within a week, I actually got a decent feel for kit (in particular the Hi-hat controller, cymbal triggers, and pad rims)
    • I would have to reboot the DM10 several times during the gig, due to the screen 'whiteout.' Thankfully this wasn't a showstopper, and it was the posts on the forum here that kept me from having a heart attack. This will need to be looked into but I have to wonder: The bass was rattling and causing a lot of false triggering (think snare noise) - I wonder if you could have a buffer overflow that affects the display?

    Now that the pressure's off (for a bit). I'll be dialing in my sounds and settings. Here's to an insane week that turned out well - I hope this helps!

    ~D~
« Last Edit: April 04, 2010, 04:58:32 PM by DeeDubs »
Bashing away on: Alesis DM10 Pro Kit w/ Bluejay soundset, Yamaha DTXM12, Addictive Drums, Gibraltar Cage & old skool Ludwig Maple Kit.


Check out my silly mug with "So What" at http://www.sowhatct.com

Offline Pier

Re: Zero to show in 1 week - My experience with the DM10 Pro Kit.
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2010, 05:10:59 PM »
Thanks for posting this thread!
I found it very inspiring and helpful -- now what I miss is just a DM10 Studio Kit...

Just an idea on the spur of the moment: what about trying to put the drum module alone on a separate stand? This should reduce the vibrations coming at it from the rack (or maybe help to locate the blanking display problem)

Cheers

Offline eugenecp

Re: Zero to show in 1 week - My experience with the DM10 Pro Kit.
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2010, 08:38:15 PM »
congrats on ur gig!
DM10 Pro Kit, Tama Iron Cobra Jr Double Bass Pedal, Tama 1st Chair HT530E5, Tascam US-122 Audio/MIDI interface

Offline Guinness

Re: Zero to show in 1 week - My experience with the DM10 Pro Kit.
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2010, 02:03:11 AM »
Way to go DeeDubs!
 
i'm very curious about the screen whiting out.  Had that happened to you before?  Or was this the first time?
 
where was the show?  big crowd?
any videos of the gig?
 
Bass was causing the snare to trigger.  Hmmm.  There's gotta be a way to isolate that...  stuff old t-shirts in all the tubes perhaps?  Get your bassist to point his cab away from you? 
 
What song did you open with, and what did you close with?  Which kit did you use?
 
Anyways, great feedback!
 
 

Online Hellfire

Re: Zero to show in 1 week - My experience with the DM10 Pro Kit.
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2010, 09:41:23 AM »
Good job DeeDubs,

Great feedback on the DM10 kit at a real gig. Thanks. When are you going to post some pictures? ;)

Offline DeeDubs

Re: Zero to show in 1 week - My experience with the DM10 Pro Kit.
« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2010, 12:28:34 PM »
Thanks for the comments!

There are some pics and videos posted on Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Twisted-Nut/336788445522

The sound on the video didn't come out so well - the camcorder mic couldn't hang with any of the low end - Next time I'll try to get something run out of the board. In person the drums were nice & punchy without overpowering the rest of the band. Depending on what songs Greg threw up online, you may hear the false rim triggering in spots. I'll be moving some things around to take care of this..
 
All in all, a good show, especially considering that half the band never played out before.. ;) The place, while not a huge venue, was packed, and fun was had by all.

As for the 'white screen of snowblindness,' on stage was the first time I had experienced this. It didn't affect the gig, with the minor exception of extended times to change kit sounds between songs (rebooting the drums, hehe). I'm looking into getting the DM10 off the rack as a workaround, but this really should be addressed by Alesis - so far it's the ONLY real issue I've had any problems with. Otherwise, the kit was quite comfortable to play out on, and I'd recommend it to anyone.
Bashing away on: Alesis DM10 Pro Kit w/ Bluejay soundset, Yamaha DTXM12, Addictive Drums, Gibraltar Cage & old skool Ludwig Maple Kit.


Check out my silly mug with "So What" at http://www.sowhatct.com

Offline DeeDubs

Re: Zero to show in 1 week - My experience with the DM10 Pro Kit.
« Reply #6 on: April 05, 2010, 01:17:01 PM »

What song did you open with, and what did you close with?  Which kit did you use?


Guinness,

We opened with 'Slide' from Goo Goo Dolls, and ended with 'Ants Marching' from the Dave Matthews Band. Mostly pop rock, and quite a change of pace from my other band, Nerve Twofiveeight.

I have a few pics stuck in my phone - One of which was a Black & Tan for ya..

As far as kits go I used mostly the 'Shiny' or 'Shiny2' kit. The 'No Excuses' kit covered DMB, Pearl Jam's alive, and (of course) No Excuses by Alice in Chains. The BeDay (80's) kit was for U2's Beautiful Day, but also covered for Tears for fears' everybody wants to rule the world (the tamb sound needs a fixin). The 'Daze o' new' kit was for touch, peel, stand, and the 'new drive' kit was for Incubus' Drive. I used the 'craptastic' kit as an intro for Shinedown's If you only knew.

Lastly I gave G'n'R's patience a swift kick in the ass with the Bonzo kit.. Really changes the dynamics of that one. I came in right before the guitar solo.. :)

Hope this gives some method to my madness.... ;)
Bashing away on: Alesis DM10 Pro Kit w/ Bluejay soundset, Yamaha DTXM12, Addictive Drums, Gibraltar Cage & old skool Ludwig Maple Kit.


Check out my silly mug with "So What" at http://www.sowhatct.com

Offline Guinness

Re: Zero to show in 1 week - My experience with the DM10 Pro Kit.
« Reply #7 on: April 05, 2010, 01:45:17 PM »
Sounds like a good mix of tunes.  I'll check out the facebook later.
 
mmm...  black n tan.   
 
No Irish Car Bombs?   ???
 

Alesis

  • Guest
Re: Zero to show in 1 week - My experience with the DM10 Pro Kit.
« Reply #8 on: April 05, 2010, 04:19:27 PM »
Great report. I love your enthusiasm and the positive energy. The videos were great! I am looking into the issue that caused reboot with our engineering team.

Offline DeeDubs

Re: Zero to show in 1 week - My experience with the DM10 Pro Kit.
« Reply #9 on: April 05, 2010, 06:25:33 PM »
Great report. I love your enthusiasm and the positive energy. The videos were great! I am looking into the issue that caused reboot with our engineering team.

Thanks.. for the record, the unit never rebooted on its own. The display would turn to all white (no text or graphics) and would return to normal after I cycled the power (hence the reboot comment). This only affected the display, and the unit sounded fine throughout the show.

If there's any other info that I can provide to help troubleshoot this, drop me a message.

Good (bug) hunting..

~D~
Bashing away on: Alesis DM10 Pro Kit w/ Bluejay soundset, Yamaha DTXM12, Addictive Drums, Gibraltar Cage & old skool Ludwig Maple Kit.


Check out my silly mug with "So What" at http://www.sowhatct.com

Offline Guinness

Re: Zero to show in 1 week - My experience with the DM10 Pro Kit.
« Reply #10 on: April 05, 2010, 07:13:41 PM »
Dan... err, I mean, DeeDubs...
 
Tell your lead singer to get out of the way.  I'm trying to watch the drummer! 
 
<I'm watching the videos atm>
 
The snare on Signs sounds fantastic! 
 
Thanks for sharing.  Very cool.

Offline eugenecp

Re: Zero to show in 1 week - My experience with the DM10 Pro Kit.
« Reply #11 on: April 05, 2010, 09:03:05 PM »
i noticed the same thing, ur singer was blocking you! we can't get a good look of how beautiful your kit was!
DM10 Pro Kit, Tama Iron Cobra Jr Double Bass Pedal, Tama 1st Chair HT530E5, Tascam US-122 Audio/MIDI interface

Offline DeeDubs

Re: Zero to show in 1 week - My experience with the DM10 Pro Kit.
« Reply #12 on: April 05, 2010, 09:12:03 PM »
Ok guys.. I'll make sure to bring my own camcorder to the next gig, which looks to be May 7th... :P

I should have some new kits tuned in by then..
Bashing away on: Alesis DM10 Pro Kit w/ Bluejay soundset, Yamaha DTXM12, Addictive Drums, Gibraltar Cage & old skool Ludwig Maple Kit.


Check out my silly mug with "So What" at http://www.sowhatct.com