Not long ago I had some spare cash and bought the Alesis DM5 Pro electronic, MIDI enabled drum kit. I played the drums for a few years when I was at school but ended up selling my Perl acoustic kit when I had no real passion for music and needed money for tescos cider. Not long after a mate let me listen to a walkman with an oldskool tape of Nicky Blackmarket. Instantly I had a new found love for jungle Drum n Bass! Just as quickly I wished I'd never sold my drum kit. With the love for Drum n Bass came the desire to produce it. After a few years I got to the level where I wanted to start recording my own drumming in my music productions and micing up an acoustic kit wouldn't of worked for me. I knew there was an easier digital solution and an electric kit was the only way to go.
After much research, the Alesis DM5 Pro looked like the best quality kit for the price. It has a sound module containing 100s of drum hits which make up 20 different kits. Each hit can be tuned to taste. Its also fully midi enabled so every pad triggered sends MIDI information to your computer. That enables me to trigger samples in software like ToonTrack EZ Drummer. You can really make this kit come to life with EZ Drummer!!! I had my reservations about how good an electric kit would be to play but trust me, its just like the real thing. This kit has opened up a new world of midi triggering madness.. Well worth the money. If you want to step it up a notch then check the next model up - Alesis DM5 Pro Electronic Drum Kit with Surge Cymbals.
Here is the kit in action using the built in sound module. This video is from the 1st day I got the kit. I'm pretty rusty but can still smack out a beat. Must of been a good 7 years since i've been on a drum kit. I recorded this through a crappy camera phone so the quality isn't great. I'm planning on uploading samples & breaks from this kit to the site so watch this space.
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