Alesis `DM5 Drum Kit - College of Fine Arts

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Alesis 'DM5 Drum Kit
ELECTRONIC BARGAIN BANGING
NORMAN WEINBERG
year ago, if you wanted to get a
new electronic drum kit on the
cheap, you had ro drop nearly a
grand . For some folks - and I count my­
self in this group - a thousand bucks is se­
rious green. Then, allof a sudden , A1esis
entered the market with a low-cost elec­
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tronic set (around $500 on the street), and
lots of jaws hit the floor. So before you
read on, pm a hand under your face.
You've been warned.
OUT OF THE BOX
As you no doubt expected, the centerpiece
of the OM5 kit is Alesis' OM5 brain . This
machine has been around for a while and
is generally considered to be a good , solid
module with fast trigger inputs. The set it­
self contains five drum pads - a kick,
snare, hi-hat, and two roms. For cymbals,
the kit comes with rwo pads that function
as a ride and a crash. It also includes a kick
drum pedal, a hi-hat pedal, a rack stand,
no tes ro be cut of f b efo re th ey are fin ­
ished sound ing. Wh ile it m ight seem tha t
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FEATUREFOCUS
Th e DM5 use s 18- bit sam ples recor de d
at 48k Hz . Th at 's a littl e bet ter th an w ha t
you hea r o n a typ ical com pa ct d isc (I 6­
b it file s at 4 4 . l kH z), a nd is p rett y h igh ­
end stuff fo r a low- co st k it. Th e audio
po lypho ny for th e u n it, howeve r, is o n ly
16 n o tes, w hich m ean s that pl aying m or e
th an 16 n otes at a ti me wi ll cause som e
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ALESIS
so und ro be played or ed ited. It 's a snap ro
assign a new soun d ro eithe r a pad o r a
M ID I no te num ber.
TUNE.Tu ni ng can be adjusted from +3
ro -4 half steps in one -ce nt in crem ent s.
Milt T h is determin es the voice's volume
and stereo pos it ion. T here are on ly seven
poss ible stereo positi on s, bu t th at sh ou ld
d o th e tr ick for all but th e m ost dem and ­
ing applications .
OUTPUT.A re yo u loo ki ng for m ain o u t­
puts o r aux iliary o ut puts? Make yo u r selec­
tio n here.
DRUMSET.Th is butto n selects o ne o f
th e 21 possible kits.
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If you want ro use your DM5 as an ex­
ternal sound mod u le for a software se­
.
all rhe necessary cables ro hook every rhing
to get her, a nd even a pai r of st icks' In fact ,
th e D M 5 kit is so co mplete tha t the o n ly
thing you'll need ro stan p layin g straig h t
away is some thing ro sit o n.
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EXTERNAL
TRIGGER.All exte rn al trigger
par am eters are ad ju sted inside this fu nc-
'.").,w'
no te s ro be cut of f b efo re th ey are fin­
ished sou nd ing. Wh ile it m ight seem that
p lay ing 16 n ote s at th e sa me tim e is a
pretty rare occ urr en ce, when yo u're firin g
lo ng so u nd s lik e tom s and cym ba ls, it's
no t all tha t h ard ro h it yo ur head aga ins t
that ceil ing. H app ily, the DM 5 ho lds a
tota l of2 J d ifferen t kits in me mo ry at
o ne ti me , w h ich is no t a h ug e nu mbe r of
in d e pen d e n t kit s, b u t is certai n ly en ou gh
fo r mos t g igs and nea tly any p racti ce sit­
ua tio n .
Th e D M5 also bo asts a pr etty com plete
set of so u nds . T he re are 94 kicks, 116
sna res, 70 roms , 33 hi-h a ts, 35 cymba ls,
113 pe rcu ssio n so un ds, 64 effects, and 15
"ran do m" so unds . Th e ra ndom so u nds
need a littl e bit of expl ana tio n . W he n o ne
o f the th em is selec ted , a dif ferent samp le
of the same vo ice type (sna re, h i-ha t, per ­
cussio n , erc.) will tri gge r eac h tim e the
pad is p layed.
Th e front o f th e o ne- rack-space u nit
incl ud es a headp ho ne jack, m ast er vo lu me
knob , and a LCD d isplay. A la rge k no b is
used to cha ng e th e value of the vario us
par am ete rs, and nea rly every fu nctio n has
its own d ed icat ed bu rton to en ter in to
ed iti ng m od e. T he back of th e brai n co n­
ta ins an input fo r th e pow er bri ck, a
foors wi rch jack , M IDI -In , MIDI
O ur/ Th ru, 12 mo n o tr igger inp ut s, and
fo ur aud io o u tp uts. Ha vin g fo ur ou tp ut s
incr eases th e po te nti al for live per for­
m a nce and st udi o use.
G ert ing arou nd rh e inte rface is really
q u ite simp le and o ne of rhe best featu res of
th e u ni t. T he re's a sepa rate butt on for each
of the fo llowin g funct ions :
VOICE.T h is bu rton is used ro selec t the
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DETAILS
MODEL
AlesisDM5ElectronicDrumKit
PRICE
$699
540 sounds recorded at
48kHz in 18-bitstereo , 21 drum kits, 16-note
polyphony, 12 trigger inputs, MIDIIn, MIDI
OutfThru, two pairs of stereo outputs,
headphone output, note-chase feature
BRAIN FEATURES
KIT FEATURES Fivedrum pads , two cymbal
pads , rack stand , hi-hatpedal, bass drum
pedal, connecting cables, drum sticks
CONTACT Alesis, 200 Sc enic View Dr.,
Cumberland, RI 02864 . 401 -658-5760.
alesis .com
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EXTERNAL
TRIGGER.All exte rn al trigger
para me ters are adju sted inside this fu nc­
tion . Th e)' are covere d in de tail in th e next
section .
GROUP, T his bu rton d ete rm ines how a
voic e w ill soun d wh en a n u m ber of str ok es
are p layed in q uic k success ion .
MIDI.H ere you can edit th e D M 5's
M IDI param ete rs: the roo t no te, t he MI D I
ch annel , th e MI DI O ut /Th ru selection ,
th e loc al con trol onloff, the progra m
ch an ge ena ble, the cont ro ller enab le, and
th e pro gra m change table.
TRIGGERTALK
All the trigger inp u ts o n th e DM 5 are
m on o. Th is wo rks just fine fo r th e kit , as
all the dru m and cymbal pa d s are sing le­
tri gger pads . You can't p rogra m a sepa rat e
so u nd for a rim stro ke o r str iki ng th e bell
of a cym ba l pad . You cou ld , how ever, ad d
a du al -tri gger pad to the ki t (pe rha ps for
th e snare) and use two inpu ts o n the
DM5. Sinc e th e kit ha s seve n pa ds and th e
brai n has 12 in pu ts, there 's room for fu­
tur e expa nsio n .
As for p rogr ammin g the pad s, the
D M5 let s yo u se t th e ga in , th e veloc ity
c urve (e igh t di fferent cu rves are ava il­
ab le), cross ta lk be tw een th e pa ds, d ecay,
an d no ise. In Ales is-speak , d ecay is not
t he len gt h of th e so u nd but th e a mo u nt
of ti me befor e a no th er stroke ca n be rec ­
og ni zed from th e same pa d. Whe n ad­
ju st ed co rrec tly, thi s p ara m eter he lps to
avoi d do ubl e trigge rs. Th e "no ise" va lue
serve s as a noi se flo o r t ha t mu st be m et
o r excee de d be for e the dr u m wi ll fire .
T his hel p s pre ven t fa lse trigge ri ng from
ex te rn al vibra tio ns .
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If yo u wa nt ro use your DM 5 as an ex­
te rnal soun d mo d u le fo r a so ftware se­
qu ence r, yo u ca n access 6 1 no tes at a tim e
(from M ID I note numb ers 36 ro 96 ). You
can also shift th e roo t-note ra nge to any
M IDI note n umb er. Using thi s system ,
yo u co uld have yo ur seque ncer rrigger per­
cussion so u nds w hi le you play d rums alon g
w ith it fo r pr act ice. Keep in mi nd, howev­
er, th at you 'll be limit ed to l S-n oce
polyph on y for th e enti re mac hi ne.
PERFORMANCEREVIEW
Putt ing the kit rogethe r was actua lly qui ck­
er th an I thou gh t it wou ld be. Fro m op en ­
in g t he box ro playin g th e first note rook
me abou t 4 5 m inu tes. T he rack co me s in a
numbe r o f p ieces, but th e instru ctions
we re clear and relat ively easy to follow. As
m ight be expe cte d for a kit at this price
p oint , everyth ing is pret ty ligh t-du ty. T he
cla mps and co llars are all plasti c, b ut the
bars a re m ad e of m et al. Since the rack has
th ree crossbars, it's sur p rising ly stur dy. In ­
stead o f usin g a dr u m key to m ake adjus t­
me nts , all partS o n the rack and pad s are
ad justed w ith th e include d he x-wre nch .
On ce all the pads and cla mp s were
tigh tened dow n , ever yth ing p ret ty m uc h
stay ed p ut. You'd have to b e a really heavy
p laye r to ge t th e pad s to slide o r mov e
from posi tion . I was also impr essed at ho w
easy it was to get the pa ds int o a p layab le
position aro und th e rack. It mi gh t not fit
everyo ne's ph ysical layout, bu t it sho u ld
wo rk fo r th e vast ma jo rity of players.
T he d rum pad s are a sh aped a littl e like
a shield an d a re abo u t 7, 5" w ide and abou t
7.75" fro nt to back. Fo r d rum pad s, they're
on th e sma ll side . I don 't mind havin g a
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VERDICT
Even when you're offering an electronic kit at this price point, you 've still got to bring
enough to the table: For the cash involved, Alesis spreads out a banquet The OM5
provides seven pads with a high-quality brain and everything you need to start playing as
soon as you get it home. If you're looking for a kit to put in a state-of-the-art studio or to
take on the road with a busy band, you won't be happy with the OM5. If you're a beginner
or intermediate player looking for an inexpensive way to pract ice at home without driving
your family or house mates crazy, this kit could be for you. And if you're comfortable with
acoustic drums and want to get your feet wet in the world of electronic drums , the OM5 will
definitely do it. Right now, you won't find a better electronic kit for the money .
tiny targe t (I've got a pretry focused
stroke), but they're so sma JJ tha t it feels like
I'm playin g o n a kit mad e o ut of bon gos.
Wh en played , the pad s m ake a distinctiv e
click sound , not unlike hittin g a plastic
tableto p cove red by a th ick sheet of rubb er.
Th ey're certainly not as loud as playin g real
drum s, but the y're loud er th an mesh -head
pad s and even most rubb er pads.
Th e cym ba l pads are 11" in diameter
and are also made of plast ic with a rubb er
playin g su rface . There 's a little bit of play
th at gives th e cymbal so me mo vement on
the sta nd, and you ca n adjust the sprin g
tension to make the cymba l move mot e o r
less, dep ending on your likin g. While th e
pad itself do es not have a tilt ing me cha­
nism , th ere's o ne built int o the rack arm s
that hold th e cym bal.
Both th e drum pads an d th e cymba l
pads track ed ju st fine, and the re was a
good deal of d yn amic contr ast between
soft and lou d st rok es. Whil e not as sensi­
tive as so me o f the bett er pads o n the mar ­
ket , for most play ing , th ey wo rked fine.
LET'S FACE IT
If yo u're go ing to bring an electron ic kit in
at thi s pri ce point , yo u've gOt to make
so me sac rifices. H ere are a few thing s th at
matter , as well as a few min or issues . Th e
hi-hat ped al, for exampl e, is vety light­
weigh t and flimsy. Because of so me strate­
gically placed rubber button s, it didn 't
slide around o n me toO mu ch , but yo u'll
be happier bu ying a bette r electr oni c hi­
hat controll er to go with thi s kit. T h e bass
d ru m pedal is fun ctional but certa inly not
p rofessional grad e. I was abl e to get it ad­
ju sted to my playin g sty le, bu t it didn 't in­
sp ire confid en ce. The includ ed drum
sticks were terribl e - unbal an ced , un­
ma tch ed , and way too short. D on 't even
tr y to use th em .
The D M 5 brain will let yo u set an
o pe n and closed h i-h at and even a foo t
strok e. But you wo n't be ab le to p rogr am
a foot splash . MIDI and on-b o ard so und
layering or alte rna t io n is not p ossible.
On e pad equ als one so u nd. Whil e the
br ain doe s have a large numb er of so u nds,
I've been spo iled lately by th e amaz ing
quality of recent drum sof tw are p ack ages
such as BFD , Drums From H ell , and oth ­
ers. The so u nds o n the DM 5 are good ,
but the y're not killer. And too bad that
th e unit do esn't h ave an audio input so
th at you ca n play alo ng w it h your favo rite
tunes on you r iPod .•
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