New member here. Hello fellow drummers!
My name is
Solipstix and this is my first electric drum set.
I started learning to play when I was 14. I had just started going to a "Full Gospel" church that had a beautiful TAMA drum set.
The worship-team drummer didn't have time to give me lessons, but he told me I could practice on the set every Wednesday night between 5-7pm when nothing else was scheduled to be happening in the sanctuary.
He gave me a few tips every now and then, but for the most part (and to my detriment) I am self-taught.
I am a left-handed person. The kit I learned on was set-up for a right-handed drummer. I made it work, using an open-handed approach. It probably wasn't the best way to learn... but here I am 35 years later, still playing open-handed.
I was able to get a nice little Gretch Blackhawk set when I was 17, and became the drummer for the "house band" of a local tavern for a couple years.
I have lived in an apartment (or other restricted living spaces) for most of my life. After the house-band thing fizzled away, I put my Gretch kit in storage and 30 years kinda slipped through my fingers without laying a finger on a drumstick.
About 4 months ago, I saw an Alesis Turbo set up for sale on my local FB marketplace. The seller was trying to sell a 2 yr old kit for just under the retail amount he originally paid for the set. Of course, I did not buy the kit, but that ad re-ignited a spark inside me that used to burn so bright when I was a young man. Playing music used to mean so much to me.
I began researching electronic drums and was delighted to find that intermediate kits have become much more affordable over the past 30 years. Of course, I wanted to buy an Alesis Crimson set, or something nice like that, but after a long and honest assessment of my playing abilities (and my budget options), I decided that the most practical purchase for me would be the
Nitro Mesh kit.
Although the 8" toms/snare seem a bit small to me... and the entire kit sits too low for my 6' 3" body... with some adjustments, I suspected that I could make it work.
I purchased the Alesis Nitro Kit on January 3rd (just a few weeks ago).
A few 4" furniture risers quickly took care of the low-height issues... and the more I get used to the pad-placement(s) the less of an issue the 8" toms are. The more I play, the fewer
unintentional rim strikes occur.
I am falling in love with playing the drums again!
After owning this set for a week, I found a great deal on a 2-pack of Nitro toms on Amazon. I have read that ALL of the tom-inputs on the Nitro/Surge modules support dual-zone pads, so I planned on splitting a couple of the tom-inputs with a "Y-splitter" cable to accommodate the 2 new toms, but for now... I'm just using the "tom #4" input and the extra cymbal input to accommodate the 2 new pads.
This Nitro kit fits my skill-level perfectly! I am glad that I chose this kit. If I continue to embrace the long, lost drummer inside of me, I can always upgrade to a more "professional" set-up in the future.
For now... I couldn't be happier with my purchase!
I look forward to meeting other like-minded people here and sharing tips, tricks, stories from others who own this kit.
Happy to be here!