Side by Side Comparison of: Yamaha vs Alesis

This drum set it great! I used to play the drums when I was in High School and have wanted to get back in to screwing around on them. Unfortunately I live in a townhouse and I don't think my neighbors would appreciate a non-electric kit.My wife decided to get my this for my birthday and it has been a blast playing on them! All of the kits sounds pretty realistic and the drum heads have a great feel to them. I have also been able to hook this up to my surround sound system for when I really want to rock out!The few complaints that I have:- Can not download the app for the drum set because it is only available on iPhones.- Pedal for the bass drum seems to travel forward when I am playing for a while.- I wish I could do rim clicks on the snare drum, but apparently that is available on the next model up.

Perfect set for a novice or a drummer that lives in an apt/close quarters. I've been playing for years but currently live in the city and can't play my actual drums. This set is a tremendous value. Easy to set up, and they take up minimal space. The drums react very nicely to contact. Just make sure to really tighten them as playing hard with thicker sticks can cause them to move slightly. Again, with the throne and headphones coming with the set, you really can't go wrong at this price.

As for the issue of snare drum pad, I just reverse the installation that is, the longer part of the pad is away from me (or the drummer)bisecting it from d fulcrum (tube where drum pad is connected), so now it don't move while I'm drumming, its Physics' principle being applied here, Archimedes' lever (",) The longer d lever, the greater d force is magnified when applied to it. Now d force of drumming is being applied mosty on shorter part of d drum(lever). 5 stars because, sound quality is great enough for me. Hope these help.

I really love this set up. It comes with everything you need! I was very impressed with the quality. I like the adjustable nature of this set up. I still enjoy playing and I can turn around and set it up for my ten year old. I will eventually get a double base pedal and pad, but the pedals that come with it respond quite well. Great kit!!

I bought it to practice during the night and rehearse with my mates. The product quality is good, especially because you can confidently beat it hard. As for the 10 kits that has within they are great, you can still configure your own drum kit by programming it at your will, which I think is awesome, for instance you can set a sound to each pad, set velocity, reverb among other stuff.On the other hand, I plugged it into my PC to use it as a MIDI source, I use Ableton and it recognized it without any issue, you assign sounds to the pads and do crazy stuff using it as MIDI and still adjust sensitivity.The package arrived perfectly fine, well packaged and this bundle is a bargain, headphones are pretty decent and the drum throne is pure quality.For those who complain about its volume, I plug it into my amp and connect the headphones in there if you really would like to get volume increased, or, plug it into an audio interface that goes to my PC use Ableton Live and sound comes out from my Home Theater.Overall, it deserves 5 stars, I found no complaints whatsoever, buy it!

bought this for my 5 yr old prodigy grandson;his mom setup everything in less than an hour and he hasn.t taken off the headset since;his mom ,however,has taken her earmuffs off;this is not a toy though;i weigh over 200 lbs and i sit comfortably and secure on the study drummer's seat;this is the third yamaha musical instrument i have purchased for my talented grands and they all appear to be quality and reliable learning tools;highly recommened

I bought it for 650, lucky timing I guess. For the price you can't beat it! I am an experienced drummer and it is frustrating when first playing. It took forever to set up and YOU HAVE TO ADJUST YOU TRIGGER SETTINGS. Because the default settings are there to make you mad. The sound quality is great and there are plenty of sound modules. The snare is set up on a piece with no support so it falls out of place after 1 song MAYBE. Terrible design. I bought a snare stand for 30 bucks and have been happy ever since. The hi-hat control is not the best. If you are looking to play intricate hi-hat rhythms this is not for you. I have gotten better with practice, but its not the same as a real set and that's a common theme throughout all of it. As for the actual sound of hitting the drum set, your neighbors will not hear it, but you'll piss of your mom in the next room because the bass pedal is pretty loud.Pros: Inexpensive, DM10 module is complex and should be great for recording/ live shows even., looks great. Adjustable cymbals and toms, somewhat quietCons: Frustrating to set up, snare holder falls down, hi-hat control is hard to use.

Went together quickly. I was playing within an hour right out of the box. After a rather quick scan of the manual I was able to save a custom setup and modify rimshot effects for each drum. I'm very pleased with the quality and performance after playing with it for two weeks.The only issue is that I expected a usb. Well there is a usb for attaching a computer (big square printer style usb ) but not a usb for using a thumb drive. It certainly would be nice to play along with music from a thumbdrive. I setup a small tablet and use a 1.8mm stereo jack to rca adaptor cable for music input. The dm10 has rca stereo input jacks on the back for the music input so an adaptor cable is required. Don't know how it is to hammer on non mesh edrums, as i've only had traditional drums till now, but I'm glad I opted for the mesh kit. The feel is great and very responsive.please read my follow up with ongoing technical difficulties......and the company

first impression, this kit feels great,looks great, and function very well right from the start.few small things to consider:If it's your first electronic drum set, there will need to be some small adjustment to make it fit your style of playing.those are mostly trigger sensitivity and instrument settings - very easy to do.the sounds out of the module are just ok....i played on this kit for a week while testing professional drums plug ins (vst) before i got bfd3 (freaking amazing).once your connected, this kit is one of the best in terms of feeling and sensitivity there is out there !!!!.out of the box the kit is very easy to assemble and the manual is very straight forward for any question you might have.i would recommend this kit from this seller any day 100%.

I read the reviews about Roland and Yamaha and what those reviews said about Alesis, which were not favorable, anyway for the money and I have a friend that has an older Alesis set and I played his and I thought they were great. I made the purchase for the DM10X Premium and I liked them right after they were all set up and working, however there was only one issue and that issue is when I struck the crash simultaneously with the bass/kick there would be NO crash sound or for that matter any trigger/drum/cymbal when striking the bass/kick would simply mute it, you only hear the bass drum/kick. I went to a forum online and there was an update for that issue posted by an Alesis employee, thank goodness for that, (UPDATE: 9/22/2014) long story short the update fixed the issue 100%, please follow the update instructions EXACTLY how they tell you to install into the DM10 module and you'll also need a printer type cable for the USB hook up to the module. I love this set, it is truly like playing the real thing simply amazing.

I still have cross talk issues to this day. But for the money, it's really a great kit! I live on a third floor apartment so to be able to throw on the headphones and jam, it's tough to beat.And the amount of kits and the quality and different effects or other instruments that you can mix with the voices is a lot of fun. When I show off for my friends I will usually just play 4-5 random kits from around the world. The African kit with the voices is always fun to show off with. Same with the electric guitar kits.I also bought a used keyboard amp from craiglsist that is very powerful. These drums were amazing when I had jam sessions with co-workers. Everybody was very impressed.I was thinking that I would have the ability to choke the symbols, but unfortunately I haven't been able to make this work if it really is an option with this set. It's a tiny complaint, but with this being my first electric kit, I found myself trying to choke the cymbals many times during our jam sessions.I have played drums since high school, and while nothing is quit the feel of real drums, the versatility of this kit and ability to record give this electric kit some big advantages.

I have been a drummer for over 25 years (on and off). I had a pretty nice kit that I kept in the basement and drove the family crazy with the noise. Plus, it was hard to keep the kit decently tuned when in the basement. I sold the set and went without for about five years and was really getting the itch to play again. I started looking at electronic sets and was stunned at the cost of a decent Roland set. I had decided to start looking for used Roland kits but had no luck. I was on Amazon one day and typed in electronic drums into the search and the Alesis kits showed up. They looked really nice, so I read all the reviews and it seemed like a good kit for the money. I ordered the DM10 first and then the next day (Black Friday) the prices dropped significantly. I canceled the DM10 kit and ordered the DM10X kit instead. With the discounted prices, discount for signing up for an Amazon Credit card, discount for signing up for Amazon Prime, and the $300 rebate from Alesis I ended up paying $680 for this kit.The kit arrived in two days (Prime advantage) and I hauled it into the basement to set it up. It took a good hour to set up, but was not hard. I took my time and just made sure it was right. After set up I powered it up and started playing. This is a really nice set. It sounds great out of the box and sounds even better after some tuning. I am still learning how to do all the tuning and saving my own kits, but it is pretty easy after some playing around.The kit is not silent when playing. If you live in an apartment you will not want to play this at night or you may have neighbors complaining. If you live in a house, no problem. My wife and kids can hear me play in the basement, but it is not real bad.The feel is pretty good. I would say pretty close to a natural kit. The sound is very good. probably better than my old kit because I could not keep it tuned. Plus, with this kit I can have over 100 kits tuned just the way I want.The only negative I have for the kit is the cymbal placement for one cymbal. It is too far to the right and is sort of awkward. I plan to get a cymbal stand for that cymbal and that will fix that. All in all, I love this Alesis kit!

I'm not a drummer so I don't really know what is a very good quality for a drumset but for me this is awesome for starters.

Generally good looking set, as discribed on pictures...It lacks a sound quality though....And the unattached base-pedal jumps all over the place.... Still more a toy than drum....

EDIT 8/2/15:Overall, the set works great. My 9 year old nephew enjoys it and practices at home. However, the kick pedal's spring mechanism started to malfunction after a little less than a month of daily use. I had bought the SquareTrade warranty so I contacted them but they referred me to YAMAHA to resolve this specific issue since I was still under manufacture warranty. I contacted YAMAHA and promptly received a free kick pedal replacement in the mail via UPS. I am planning to eventually upgrade to the 2-piece kick pedal which mimics the real ones that drummers use. Those look like they will last longer.Regarding SquareTrade's warranty. This is from their website, "SquareTrade protects new items from the day they’re purchased. However, most new items also come with a manufacturer’s warranty that covers defects due to parts or workmanship for the the first year of ownership. If there’s an issue with your item that is normally covered by the manufacturer's warranty during that time, we’ll refer you to the manufacturer so they can resolve it. That way, you can save your SquareTrade plan for when you really need it – after the manufacturer’s warranty expires. Your SquareTrade plan may also cover accidental damage such as drops and spills, which is not covered by a manufacturer’s warranty. In these cases, SquareTrade has you covered from day one."

We bought this for our 12-year-old son who is a beginning drum student. It is perfect for his needs. He can play with headphones or through an amp and he can also play along with drumless music tracks that he plays through the amp either with or without the headphones. It sounds suprisingly good when he uses the amp.The biggest issues are that the bass drum needs to be louder, we can barely hear it and that it doesn't have the "feel" of playing real drums. However, until he shows he is committed to continue playing, it was the perfect kit to start with. The price seems justified for the product.

I purchased the Yamaha DTX 4000 for our second home. It is a great practice set and worth the cost. My set was supposed to come with Vic Firth drum sticks, unfortunately they were not included. The cymbals slip around regardless of how tight I fasten them. The toms are too close together compared to my regular set. The set sounds great in the head phones, however when I run it through a yamaha sound board, they sound distorted. I have run other sets through the same board and don't get the same distortion. I think it is in the programming of the bass drum. The toms and snare sound fine.I didn't think I would like the bass drum pedal not actually sticking something, but so far I love it. However the HH does not respond well in the open position.I give the set a solid B. Great option for beginners. Probably not a good option for the more experienced drummer. I use it as a practice option that doesn't keep the family awake when I feel like playing late night.

Ideal for beginners. I'm looking for a Midi player to change the original musics.

I'm yet another former acoustic drummer who switched to an electronic set. I've been using this kit for a couple of months, and this is my impression.So I assembled the whole kit without reading the manual... Not the easiest task in the world, but not too difficult either. But I just didn't find the manual when I opened the box, although it was there.First time playing I thought it was a horrible kit. Several strokes were missed, and lots of cross-triggering. During the three first days, I wanted to just pack everything and return. Only when I started reading the manual of the module (which is not clearly written), updating the firmware (is a must) and dialing my configuration, things started to look better.So if you want a starting point for your configurations, here are mine:Toms/snare: sensitivity~40, threshold ~3 (threshold should be the minimum that does not give you cross-triggering)Cymbals: sensitivity ~70, threshold ~10 (in my case, less than this would cause humming)Bass drum: I can't remember, but is somewhere between these above.Another thing, I've read a complaint about the bass drum progressively getting lower and more distorted. I had this problem too. Interesting, it only happens through the headphones. Meaning that I plugged my drumset to a recording interface (in my case, an Akai EIE) and the headphones to it. This works very fine, but require extra hardware to work. Anyway, after months with this setup, I tried to use the module's headphone output again, and all was working fine. Go figure.All in all, is a good kit, but requires some time to configure properly. Default configurations are useless to me.

I bought this kit because I have had an Alesis Nitro for a couple of years and I loved it. I thought this kit would be a great upgrade. So far it has been hit and miss. The mesh heads are really nice and give a slightly more realistic feel than the rubber pads on the Nitro. The quality of the drums and hardware is outstanding for a kit at this price point. The module can be a little cumbersome to navigate, but it's not horrible. Just takes some patience. It did have the known issue of ghost notes out if the box, but updating the firmware seemed to solve that. That said, I have noticed that there are still some triggering problems after the update (mostly when striking two toms similtaneously). It's not a deal breaker for me and I have yet to reach out to the support folks. Maybe they have a fix for it. All in all, it's a nice kit and I really like it. You can't beat it for the price, but because of the lingering trigger issues, I can't give it 5 stars.

Had more crosstalk than normal sounds at first. Was told that I needed to update the firmware and I have to have Microsoft or Apple software to do it. There were no software requirements listed so that was not good to hear. Tech support referred me to a video that shows a guy playing only one drum, LOL! I dug into the settings and turned the rim sounds all the way down, now the main pads work like a regular kit would. Sounds great, plays great, and that's what really matters. I would not recommend this as a gift or for someone who wants something that works correctly straight out of the box. I do not regret this purchase. Just be prepared to learn and tweak some deep settings as soon as you get it.

First off, don't expect to be able to set this up and start playing. You must first update the firmware which can take about an hour. You will also spend a little while tweaking your settings to avoid unwanted crosstalk.Pros:Easy set up, cables are labeled and instructions are easy to followLot's of customization available including sound upgrades from alesis (blue jay)cymbal are well built and responsiveCons:Bass pad is extremely noisy-sounds and feels like hitting woodIt is tricky to get the three zone ride to work properly.module should arrive set up to the kitI would also recommend converting the heads to mesh. Still ends up cheaper than buying the dm10x mesh kit

It took me a very long time to decide on a kit... I did get some help from the question section here but I would like to write the review I wish I would have read before buying this kit.I was back and forth about drum sets - especially buying one on amazon. I was looking to buy a drum set that didn't take up a lot of space, had all the features I needed, and that I could plug into my audio interface and record to my computer.This kit has met all of my expectations and needs so far.I have been drumming for about 15 years. Always on an acoustic set. Let me start out by saying if you are looking for the feel exactly of an acoustic set. Buy an acoustic set. This feels like you're playing on pads... as it should... because you are. They have an upgraded kit with mesh - I don't know what it is like but I do plan on buying the upgrade at some point. When I do I will rewrite this.Putting it together took about an hour and a few glasses of Captain Morgan. It is not difficult. But the directions are not very great. Make sure you have everything set up comfortably before you start plugging everything in. Think logically too.The stand construction is very sturdy. I have no issues with it moving around or drums losing position.The pads are... well, they are just pads. They are loud. They are hard and they do dent. I have one or two in them now but that hasn't effected my playing at all. I sometimes forget I don't need to hit as hard to get a louder sound as I would when playing an acoustic kit. It is tough to get used to the rebound from them - especially the cymbals and hi hats.The layout can be altered. I like to play with my ride cymbal low as do many drummers. I got it very low with a little manipulation and I will post a photo below to show you. This is not as low as I usually like it but I really wanted all of my toms on the rack. I think in the future I may buy another stand for a tom.The biggest issue with buying an electric kit was getting the sounds I wanted out of the drums. I have never owned another electric kit, before but this is pretty easy to do. They have 100 built-in kits. Some are awesome. Some are fun. Some you wonder who was on drugs and why were they allowed to add that kit. But everything you need is there.It also has 100 user kits which I have been going crazy with. Personalizing a kit is pretty easy. From what I had read before I bought, you were only able to use effects from other kits and copy them to a new kit. Not actually true. What you can do is go into the module and edit each drum. For example - I want a loud deep bass drum. I can edit the bass drum, pick from - I don't know - maybe 15-20 different kicks, then adjust levels on it, make it louder, put reverb, adjust sensitivity, tone, and a few other options too. And you can do this with all the drums. It is very useful and a lot easier (than what i thought I was going to have to do) than going through each kit and picking out a drum I liked and copying it to a new set. This makes making your own sounds very easy, especially if you like your drums to sound a certain way for different songs.Also you can adjust levels of each instrument on the module. This is very handy to use if you are playing and find one thing to be louder than another. You can also adjust the levels when you edit the kit but you may find that during a song, for example you want less cowbell. Which would be next to impossible. :)You can plug in an iPod or mp3 player with an aux cord which is very useful for practicing.I have yet to use the "accompaniment" feature. Which really I thought was a waste of space anyways.There are some downfalls.I do wish I had more rack space.The plug ins for the second crash and 4th tom are labeled under percussion which tends to be difficult when trying to remember what levels to adjust.The pads do not rebound like drums but more like hitting a hardwood floor - but this is to be expected.I do really wish there was a button you could push and get to a track. Maybe a number pad like "I know I want my drum kit #122 so take me there now" button would be nice.But the pros for me outweigh the cons.Sturdy frame - great effects - easily customized - and it sounds great.I have played these through my headphones and through a small Simmons amp I bought on amazon as well. Both sound qualities are great. Be cautious not to max out your levels on the control panel but instead increase the level of the amp or headphone levels.This kit is not a $4k Roland. Nor does it claim to be. But this is an exceptional kit and for a thousand bucks you really can't go wrong. It does what I need it to and I am very pleased with my purchase.

I spent a good deal of time researching electronic kits and ended up looking at both the Roland V-Drum series and the Alesis DM series. Not having a few thousand dollars to spend on a kit I had to go with the best value for the money I did have. The DM-10 X ended up being the one to get. For me I wanted good feeling drums to trigger outside kits as well as good quality sounds internally. I use the Roland V-Drums as the bases for comparison as they are pretty much the Cadillac of electronic drums, and they come in various flavors to suit different budgets. The closest V-Drum that compares in price is the TK-9 series. So how does it measure up?Drum Feel: V-Drums - There is no getting around it. The Roland V-Drum series is the best feeling electronic drums you can find today. They are also one of the most expensive. The mesh heads can't be beat, that's for sure. Now Alesis' RealHead pads have gotten a pretty tough time trying to compete what with the original ones feeling better than a rubber pad, but were more rigid than a natural drum. The DM-10 X... improves on this.Still not close to V-Drum quality and still can get a bit stiff feeling in certain situations, however I compared these pads to the DM-10 Pro kit and I do feel an improvement. These new pads are also thinner than previous drums. If you modify the RealHead drums with a mesh head conversion (DMDrummer has instructions) you get a LOT closer to the right feel, but the V-Drum still inches out ahead. [NOTE: If any of you are planning on getting this kit with the mesh upgrade in mind please note that due to the drum pads different design you will have to use a mod specific to the DM-10 X. I will update when I do the upgrade myself.]All the issues you maybe have heard about the DM-10 having horrible crosstalk between triggers is a thing of the past. No crosstalk between pads. There is even zero crosstalk between the heads and rim triggers. Right out of the box you will be playing the kit with very little hiccups. Okay all of your acoustic live drummers our there listen, because I want you to set your expectations accordingly: NO ELECTRONIC KIT WILL MATCH THE FEEL OF REAL DRUMS. Electronic kits can only do the best they can to get close as they can. Not even the most expensive $5K+ V-Drums will completely feel like the real thing.Cymbal Feel: Tie (sorta) - Roland's VH-11 HiHat feels more genuine, but Alesis' DMPad 12" HiHat is no slouch. If you like getting a HiHat bell sound then the Roland pushes ahead as the VH-11 is a dual zone trigger with the DMPad 12" being single zone. The crash cymbals on the other are pretty much on par with each other with the Alesis getting points for offering larger cymbals, which really does help with the feel of them.I originally wanted to go with the DM-10 Pro kit with the Surge cymbals to get the most realistic feel, however every Pro kit I tried the cymbals had triggering issues (they seemed to like a small sweet spot and not trigger anywhere else on the cymbals). These cymbal pads do have a nice feel to them for being rubber triggers. I have had a little issue with the choke on the crashes having a narrow sweet spot, but this could come from me not doing any fine tuning (will update when I get off my butt and actually tweak my kit).Kit Layout: DM-10 X - No comparison. When it comes to drum size and amount the best TK-9 kit will always come up short to the DM-10 X. The TK-9 sports a single 10" snare and three 8" toms while the DM-10 X has two 10" toms and three 12" (one snare and two toms) drum pads. The DM-10 X offers larger cymbals at two 14" crashes and a 16" ride as opposed to the TK-9's 13" ride and single 12" crash (both Alesis and Roland offer three zone rides).I have been trying out various electronic kits in the 8" and 10" sizes thinking that I would be okay with that, but when this baby came to the house and I started playing on the 10" and 12" heads I was glad I went for this kit. While the larger pads make it trickier to adjust your set the way you like it (due to the pads taking up more space) it's a small price to pay.Hardware: Tie - Both have rugged metal bars with fast locking fasteners. It's pretty easy to make adjustments with wingscrews for no-tool adjustments. Both also have the same limitations like the cymbal stands not being adjustable in regards to their location on the rack. BTW his isn't as big a deal as it sounds. If you get creative with the boom adjustments you can cover a lot of variations in cymbal placement.Sounds: DM-10 X - If sounds are your focus the Alesis DM-10 knocks the ball out of the park. I have played through both the Roland TD-9 drum module and the Alesis DM-10 and I notice a definite difference in the sound quality of the instruments played. The DM-10 sports over 1000 16-bit uncompressed instrument samples as opposed to the TD-9's paltry 552 instrument samples (in compressed mp3 and WAV format at that). The instruments on the DM-10 also sport Dynamic Articulation, which means they have been multi-sampled for variances in timbre based on how hard you hit the instrument.The editing parameters on both sound modules are roughly on par with the TD-9 focusing on drum pitch, muffling and cymbal size and the DM-10 focusing on pitch, decay levels, coarse/fine tuning and pitch based on velocity. The DM-10 gets a sizeable edge in the effects department. The TD-9 mostly focuses on ambient parameters for room size and mic placement along with a 2 band equalizer. The DM-10 does the same for room size and equalization, but also adds compression along with it. On top of that you also have additional effects you can add like chorus, flanger, various delays and more.I still haven't played with all the options on this thing like creating drum kits (I'm looking forward to trying the layered drum options) or editing sounds. Heck I haven't even calibrated the drums yet. I will update as I get more into the DM-10 X. If you want a really good feeling electronic drum kit with some great features at a decent price this is the kit to get.

This is the second electronic set I got.Everything works good except the default setting on the ride cymbal and hi-hat are too low in volume.I can barely hear the ride cymbal.I tried to set the pad volume on it using the parameter adjustments several times.Read how to set parameters carefully.Still no go.The instructions have omissions or the module is defective out of the box.Other buyers may of had luck.I didn't.Refund will follow if problem not resolved

volume is really low.. I have to put it on max. I'm newbee and because of that it's just killed my motivation to kept on practice.

It's a good drum for a beginner like me. But unfortunately the kick pedal it's not working properly, it looks like the spring in it got loose and I just have some days with the drum.

No review. Wound up buying another brand.

be ready to work this set. it's a real chore to set up, the snare 'arm' has never held in place it was even replaced by alesis, as was the kick... triggers are iffy! i enjoy playing this kit, but i suffer each time. over time all the triggers start to fail, but that's that's why it's a reasonably priced kit.and when you can't play a regular kit because of the noise what else are you going to do...?the feel is fine, the mylar was not a problem and i have both mesh and mylar. i would never trust this in a paid setting... the triggering is too temperamental, maybe i need more time to make a custom kit just right, but so far no luck. out of 20 strokes maybe 5 miss...Alesis customer service is really good, they addressed my issues and offered quick replacements (when they were in stock!!)

I love the drum kit. However I was very disappointed that the power supply was a UK style power supply. A 9VAC power supply was impossible to find locally so I'm left ordering one. Also Alesis is closed on the weekends so I'm out of luck for now. I was really stoked to record some drums this weekend as my days off are few and far between. Bummed.

Please note, I'm only giving this 3 stars instead of less because the sounds itself are excellent quality, when and *if* it works.I came into this purchase with the absolute highest hopes, considering the great reviews it has. I anxiously waited 5 days (even though I selected 2 day shipping) and when it arrived, I spent about an hour setting it up. A friend of mine helped me set it up (he's a drum specialist from Guitar Center). I plugged everything in, turned it on, and immediately it fails to calibrate. No matter what I did, it would not calibrate. After about an hour of looking into it, I found that someone was able to solve this by putting the cymbals into the wrong input (plugging cymbal 1 into 2, and 2 into 1). Already off to a rough start, considering how much I paid for this thing to fail right out of the box. I still had high hopes and figured I can deal with it. I plug in some music, and start playing. I noticed my snare wasn't triggering unless I hit it on the rim. Well, it turns out that if I hit the dead middle of the snare, it fails to trigger at all. I try the toms, same problem. On top of the toms not triggering, it started triggering the secondary (rim) sounds instead. I can understand 1 pad being defective, but literally every single one? Very, very frustrating.This kit sounds great when it works, and if you're okay with it working 50% of the time, this kit is for you. I hope this doesn't happen to anyone else, but judging by other reviews, it has. I'm incredibly disappointed, because I was very excited to get this.

I have honestly had a blast in the 4 months that I have had this kit. Wanting to get back into playing, and as a bit of stress relief, I researched through the multitude of offerings and bet on this kit for the perceived bang for the buck. Once set up the kit is responsive and allows for a wide array of kit styles. The ugly head arose when one of the Tom triggers checked out. I tried everything they would ask if I tried Before I attempted to make contact with Alesis. I contacted Amazon first and was advised to contact Alesis to see if the problem could be rectified directly through them. This has proven to be a challenge and after being ignored by Alesis (No Reply....at all), I returned to Amazon for help. The Kit gets 3 stars as long as it stays up and running, Alesis gets 0 stars for being non-existent and Amazon gets 5 stars for supporting me over a non-existent company that is pushing product and leaving them hanging. Bottom line, spend more and have Amazon deliver a Roland to your door!

Get the mesh heads or upgrade these to mesh... very noisy hard to find out how to get good sound ... Logitech z623 computer 2.1 speakers work well or 1 monitor good one and sub using aux output works great ... module has lots of areas to play but not just plug n play be prepared to spend some time setting up everything and note rack system not as stable as one might think use level & measure your placement of rack poles. Needs to be on carpet or something like that or it will move around. Module I can not get to work either midi or USB midi to update upgrade on Linux, win 10 , win 8, win 7 ult., all 64 bit, even loaded xp with service pack 3, win 7 and at 32 bit on machine I had in corner still not success I'm not lacking knowledge but can't seem to figure it out. Some stuff was not in box when arrived and I purchased seperatly to use while waiting 4 replacementioned Amazon #1 customer satisfaction I will say did great job at fixing my situation. The adjustments made my misfortunes my buy fair even tho I had to purchase the missing modules separate.

I just about love these but I'm one of the unfortunate ones who has some issues. I've spent many many hours trying to configure everything, I've updated all the firmware and experimented with every xtalk and sensitivity setting there is, but sadly the only way I avoid triggers triggering that weren't meant to trigger is to turn sensitivities to an almost unplayable amount. A lot of the problem seems to be in the frame and that it can shake quite a bit. This might be exacerbated by the thick carpet I have it on, so I may try it on a more solid surface at some point. I've also read that filling the frame with foam can help.With that said, it's so close to being fantastic. The kick, snare, and high-hat work without problems (it's just the rack toms and cymbals with issues) so sticking to those is a lot of fun. I plug the module into my computer via usb and run a program called Addictive Drums for even more realistic drum sounds than the module offers. It's easy to close my eyes and forget they're electric, and the best part is I can play very loud without upsetting pets and neighbors. I'm certain I'll get those trigger issues solved eventually too, and it might be as simple as moving it to a solid surface.Edit, almost a year later: I largely resolved the crosstalk issues recently by simply loosening the nuts holding the cymbals on! Still not perfect but way way better. The other update I have is I never received the mail-in rebate money, which was hundreds of dollars... so not too happy about that.

If you're an experienced drummer, know that this drum set is inadequate. It inaccurately measures the magnitude of drum-hits, and has weak bass/highat pedals. This drum set is only acceptable for beginners (first-learners).

The snare and the kick dont work

I purchased this from amazon, after 2 weeks snare cable started having some issues. Every time I have to plug it out and plug it in again. And the structure of drum kit is not stable as well. I almost thigh it up all the connections every 2 weeks. Save you rmoney get a real professional one, or waste your money. It is up to you!

Tom's drum heads are two small. Its too easy to hit the rims which gives you a different sound. One tom is not even configured to be used with this head. The mylar drum heads are ridiculous and have no bounce back unless struck hard.Overall - I wouldn't recommend this kit or any electronic kit given that it takes so much money to get a normal sounding drum kit. I chose the electronic kit because I didn't want to irritate my neighbors but now I would gladly take a wood drum kit over an electronic one.

It's less expensive than some other brands, but be prepared to pay the difference in downtime, shipping, and frustration.It's a good kit when it's working. It would be better if they used QA testing and provided good support.The unit I received had a UK power supply and a broken drum module. Alesis support took a month to get the right power supply to me and then wanted me to send the drum module back to them for a 6 week repair.If you buy it, use your 30 day Amazon return window more wisely than I did and don't mess with manufacturer support.Update: Three drums and a two cymbals broke within 45 days. This is going to be an expensive mistake.

PLUG IN THE MODULE before you set the whole thing up!!We set up the whole kit before seeing if it actually works and the module turns on, but the screen stays blank. The sad part is they can't just swap out the module with a working one... we have to take apart the whole thing and send it back..... BUMMER TOWN Dude....p.s. The mesh isn't any more quiet than the regular material.

Well packed, all expected items arrived. Sounds great when it works, and plays great.After a few weeks the controller started to simply not play any sounds - it recognizes triggers and the display works and the sequencer light flashes when on but no sounds come out. A little later I come back and it works fine. This is experienced via the headset as well, so it's not the external amp.Next, the snare started to fail around August. It barely works. Now, in 2017, Tom 2 is doing the same thing. I must make the Tom2 rim and head sounds the same or it won't play.Too late to return it so I am stuck with an intermittent drum kit. This is what I get for buying used.

It had problems from the moment I opened it. A difficult user menu to control the sound. It made some kind of ambient noise, sounding like stactic. The computer was registering contact on one of the drum pads, even if it's not being touched. It is difficult to callibrate the sensitivity. Too low and it won't register the struck note, too high and it gets overlap from near by drum pads. 800 bucks is a good deal, spend more.

This set is made to compete with the Roland TD30 for thousands less in price. It almost does but there are some important differences that may not make this professional quality. The design of the bass drum trigger is suspect. Mine broke quickly and I had to wait weeks for a replacement - the replacement broke minutes out of the box! I actually have to pay for shipping to have it replaced again. The set looks great and when working sounds good with plenty of features. Customer service was as helpful as Alesis policies allow them to be i.e. they would not take a return and expect the customer to pay for shipping for defective product. Also you will need to update your kit right away with firmware (a bit of a process) and the hi hat calibration can be tricky and take quite some time. The customer service rep was responsive and sent me a different bass drum trigger and pedal - its small ugly and won't accommodate a double bass pedal - but it works. The mylar pads are very loud for an e-kit and you may want to spend some more on some mesh heads or a 6820DrumS upgrade for $125. It is not a set that you can play in an apartment with headphones unlike the best Roland sets.In short be prepared to find an additional bass drum trigger that is dependable and well designed - If Alesis takes some time to work out the design flaws then this kit though not equivalent to a Roland TD30 would certainly be an alternate consideration given the price. I own both and I never would have gone for the Roland if the DM10X was a "professional" musical instrument in terms of design, build quality, and willingness to allow the return of a set that never worked quite right from the start.

not working

Sold as a bundle with drum sticks and earphones. But the drum sticks and earphones did not arrive. Great way to disappoint a 13-year-old boy. Sure, we can buy replacements ourselves, but what's up with this? Sloppy and shameful. We were originally going to buy another brand but carefully researched for sit-down-and-play bundle and this looked good. Not.

Usually I won't mad like this to write a review. Yamaha drum set Touch App (Drum software download) is not supported Android cell phones or tablets. It's only able download from Apple cell phone or tablets. That is ridiculous spend $500.00 drum but not support Android based system. I confirmed this info with Yamaha support.

Terrible. Hi-hat didn't work, customer service was a huge pain in the ass. I'm so disappointed, as this was a gift.

This is the cheapest set up I've ever seen. Maybe Yamaha thinks $500 is small cash for the average man. Yamaha has a documented problem with the snare not staying in place with little pressure. It literally rolls around the tube and facing down. Despite this, Yamaha engineering provided a fix. A wing nut for better torking down the snare clamp. I can tell you the wing nut doesn't work and is a very cheap inefficient fix by Yamaha. The mechanics of the kit shows a brace bar is needed. Or possible a special clamp casing. But the impression that I received from Yamaha this set isn't just cheaply put together and unstable, but their snare drum "wing nut" patch fix shows their lack of commitment to get the job right for the customer. It was clearly incompetent and deliberate like it comes down to spending as little money as possible. Instead of respecting the customer buying a $500 set that doesn't work. I thought Yamaha was quality. But I will never buy a product with Yamaha's brand name on it again. This product should never have come to market until it was fixed properly. It's only right and fair. That's good faith principled business.

I live in Costa Rica and flew back to the US to pick up this drum kit. I carefully packaged this kit up in multiple suit cases and brought it home with me. When I arrived home I set up the kit, only to find out that the power adapter was a European model that did not fit our standard outlets and the power outage was incorrect for the drum module. I purchased a new power adapter a the local hardware store. Now with the proper power, the drum kit turned on, but there was no sound what so ever. I have been back and fourth with the customer service department and they are not offering any reasonable solution to fix the problem. It seems that I am out $1,100 now because this kit is just sitting here taking up space because it doesn't work and there is no way to fix it without purchasing a new drum module. Since the problem arose, I have read multiple similar situations from other people with the same problem. Total BS. I do not recommend purchasing this drum kit.

Listen to the other 1 star reviews, get the dtx 522k better for the money. Alesis is garbage.the drum brains headphone jack didn't work, the hi hat control didn't work, triggers didn't work properly.it takes a long time to return things. goto guitar center and get a yamaha dtx 522k pay the extra money, it is worth it. don't even consider it.Also the pads are just loud, like the volume of a stick hitting a wooden table, not the same feel though.It felt like a soft wooden table.The pedal pad is super loud, its like taking the pedal and setting it up against a wall.The plastic clamps feel like the cheap kind of plastic that seems like if you tighten it enough to be useful, it would break.Take pics of the box as you open it up so when you goto return it it doesn't take an hour to figure out where empty box a goes.

This was a huge disappointment. We were going to use this set in a Church. However, our drummer found the set to be unresponsive to various strike forces and that drums hit did not always register a sound. At times, a tom would make a random sound, like a cowbell. In addition, one cymbal and one tom only worked about 30% of the time. After fighting with it for a week, we boxed it back up and sent it back.

We are disappointed with this set. It came with several parts missing. We still can't mount the snare, one of the toms, or the module. The parts needed to mount these did not come with it. The only option presented for missing items is to mail the whole thing back. Can't find customer service. If you are considering this set, please proceed with caution.

I've had this set forjust under 11 months now, and have had two of the drum pads quit working.I returned one (which I had to pay shipping to send it in), it got replaced, and they sent back the wrong size pad. Between everything with the first pad going defective, it took around 2 months to replace. That's way too long, if you ask me. In addition, I feel a customer should not have to pay to ship a defective item to the manufacture for a repair/replacement.Now another lad has go e out (right after I got the first defective pad situation all straightened out), and I have to go through the whole process again.I will be asking for a refund through Alesis, seeing as I hardly play the set, and it's gone down on me twice now. If they won't provide one, I will absolutely be selling this set.I will never buy another Alesis product again!Product quality is mediocre, customer service representatives are good, but the return process is ridiculous!

The kit I got had a defective ride and bass pedal. Even so I can't believe they charge this much for something like this. The benefits of e-kits are extraordinary, but when it all comes down to it this kit felt like a toy. The heads still felt pretty lame, (i'm sure they're better than lot of kits). I found this kit uninspiring and managed to knock it over twice. I'd hate to think this is their top of the line hardware. I'm no brute with my gear, I'm just bigger than most people which led me to believe this kit is probably better for those of a smaller stature. I sent it back and amazon refunded my money. I'm going to buy an acoustic kit and put practice pads on it. I may try another e-kit down the road but there's no way this one is going to work for me. Also, the stock sounds are abysmal. I don't think this is practical without using Ezdrummer or Steven Slate drums, which is an added cost.