Alesis DM10 Studio Review
4.5
Electric Drum Set Reviews
Alesis DM10 RealHead Drum Pads Many people would speculate that electronic drum sets don’t even come close to the real thing. I disagree. First
Alesis DM10 RealHead Drum Pads
Many people would speculate that electronic drum sets don’t even come close to the real thing. I disagree. First of all the Alesis DM10 features RealHead technology that gives the user the same feel as an acoustic drum set. Using real mylar drum heads that are tension adjustable with a standard drum key lets you customise the feel. If you wear them out then you can replace the drum heads with ones from different manufactures.
With the Alesis DM10 you get four RealHead 8 inch toms and a RealHead 10 inch 
snare, all of these have the dual-zone feature. This dual-zone feature allows the player to perform rimshots and rim clicks. Both the toms and snare can mount on 10.5mm standard L-rods with low-slip, knurled mounting surfaces. Also with the studio set you get the RealHead kick pad, this triggered pad can be attached to virtually any single or double bass drum pedal. Optionally you can split the Alesis DM10′s kick input with a Y splitter cable and connect a second kick pad. Also, the RealHead Kick pads integrated stand has adjustable spikes helps maintain its position on an even surface.
Alesis DM10 Cymbals
The Alesis DM10 studio set comprises of four cymbals. It has two 12 inch crash cymbals, a 14 inch ride cymbal and a 12 inch hit-hat. All these cymbals have a rubber playing surface which reduces the stick on pad sound and subsequently the feel of the cymbal making it feel more natural. The one crash and the ride cymbal feature large choke triggers on the undersides for a more realistic cymbal control. The ride cymbal also features triple zone triggering on the bell,face and edge. The hi-hat cymbal and RealHat pedal gives you the ability to continuously vary the control from wide open to tightly closed.
Alesis DM10 Drum Module
With all the great features that come with the Alesis DM10 the DM10 module is probably the best part of the kit. First thing you will notice is the outstanding sound quality. There are over a thousand uncompressed samples of classic studio drums and prized cymbals on the drum module enough to kept you going for a long time. But in the event you do want new sounds, the Alesis DM10 module is the first drum sound module to allow the user to load new sounds by USB from your PC or Mac.
Dynamic Articulation which is exclusive to Alesis is a great feature adding more realism to when you play. The sound is made up of a series of dynamic-level samples and articulations so if you play harder or softer the drum or cymbals change its timbre not just the volume. So with the RealHead technology giving you the feel of an acoustic drum set, we now have the sound of an acoustic drum set using Dynamic Articulation.
As the drummer you can choose if you want to play with or without reverb giving you different room sounds. Also enjoy a wide variety of rim clicks, rimshots and different stick placement sounds on the cymbals. As an example, a hi-hats sound depends on a number of different factors: how open or closed the pedal is, how hard the hi-hat is struck and a number of other variables. This results in 40 different sounds, plus foot chick and heel splash.
The DM10 sound module has 12 trigger inputs, 10 of them can be split giving you up to 22 single zone pads into the DM10. You get MIDI in and out for working with traditional gear and also comes with the USB jack, which will send MIDI to your PC or MAC. This enables you to use the trigger to midi interface allowing you to use software drum modules on your computer. For easy managing there is a top-panel mixer, which allows you to change the levels in real-time without having to dig through menus.
It is possible to play along to your favourite music with the DM10 module, using the stereo auxiliary input you can connect an iPod or MP3 player. There is also a headphone output so you can drum away to yourself without disturbing other people which also has its own volume knob.
Alesis DM10 Stage Rack
When rocking out on the Alesis DM10 Studio Kit you want to assured that its not going to fall apart. Alesis do a good job about that by supplying the DM10 Kit with the StageRack. The StageRack made from aluminium consists of four sturdy posts that are the industry standard at 1 ½ inch tubing all the other tubing is also 1 ½ inches and compatible with most manufactures rack hardware. There is a stabilization bar in the middle to help with the sturdiness. All the StageRacks mounts, clamps and integrated boom cymbal arms are fully adjustable. Two small issues that have come up with the StageRack are that even if you do have the options to fully adjust the drums and cymbals you are limited to the length of the cables, which is quite short. Also the other issue is that the clamps are made of plastic and are easily broken so do take care when adjusting these.
Where can I find the best price?
As always we want our readers to get the best deal and after a extensive research we found that Amazon was the place to buy. Currently at the moment they have the Alesis DM10 Studio Kit with up to 30% off the RRP. Not only are they the cheapest on the Internet they also provide free shipping. Check out this deal here.