Alesis Nitro - Electric Drum Kit with Quiet Mesh Pads, USB MIDI, Kick Pedal and Rubber Kick Drum, 40 Kits, 385 Sounds, Drum Lessons

Back in the day, people used to say that something fun was "the most fun you can have with your clothes on". It was a bit of a naff saying but it did the rounds for a long time.Well, drumming might just be that fully-dressed frolic that works for me! I laugh out aloud whether I'm getting something right or hilariously wrong, and its invigorating and rewarding at the same time.This kit covers just about all that I want to achieve. I was getting it to replace the old Octapad II that I still have. That was getting a bit unreliable and I just wanted to trigger drum sounds elsewhere, but to my surprise, actually playing and learning new tricks has proven to be pretty engaging and exciting.It's hard to assemble, and heavy too once it starts coming together (well, it has to be). The instructions are okay, but not overwhelming. We really need another picture for a little Ikea-man lying on the floor throwing a tantrum when putting one of these together. It's kinda exciting to see it taking shape, though.The instructions are a bit fuzzy on things like orientation of parts - is this crossbar the right way up, or upside down? Getting the kit assembled is partly instruction and partly inspiration.Once it is set up, the fun begins. The module (brain) controls everything except your playing, and has a bunch of demo tune for playing along to, with drum parts that can be switched on or off as required. You can also choose other kits (sounds) to play or concoct your own kit from the various sampled sounds, mixing bass drum with snare from another kit, and cymbals from yet another one, and so on.There are practice functions to improve your timing and accuracy in other regards as well, and switching on the metronome while playing along to a demo tune will also invoke the function that watches your timing. You can even play music from your phone or some other device and drum along to that. I record music and have made drumless versions of my own music to play along to. It might also be possible to find such tunes online, by bigger rockstars than me!You can also play drums into a DAW (USB-midi) and assign the hits to different drum sounds, meaning that you can add your own playing to any demo tracks you are recording and also change the sounds as you go.It's a beginner kit in many ways. The drums are all single-zone but for the snare, which has two. This means that the sounds are less changeable by techniques such as where you strike the drum, although they are obviously velocity-sensitive and you get a lot of nuance that way. You have to move up to another kit to get that feature.You can add another tomtom and another cymbal to this kit using the two spare inputs on the brain module. I've not become an expert with this one yet, but who knows, one day I might do a whole-bar fill that goes around the kit and miss that final drum and cymbal. It's comprehensive enough for a long time musician getting into drumming, there's a lot to learn.Build quality is "sturdy". It needs to be! It's heavy as a large boulder but things like the bass drum pedal, while fantastic and just like a proper one, are so light that they will creep across the floor as you play the bass drum, eventually ending up out of reach! So you really need to look at getting a backstop for wandering pedals. The hi-hat pedal doesnt have the same wanderlust. It's not so bad.Playing acoustically is hilarious, just a collection of weird bumps and binks and bops as you hit the pieces, so headphones or an external amp are the way to go. I've used a guitar combo to good effect, although you really have to do some serious equalising of the sound to get something acceptable. Headphones is great too, and with other people in the house perhaps it's the only polite option. Playig upstairs on a wooden floor would be antisocial either way, so use a good drum mat or something to deaden the bumps if you are in that situation.As a 60-something just getting started, this is great fun, and with great fun comes great progress. I'm now confident that I could amaze someone with my drumming (unless they were also a drummer) and was at that level after about 2 months of playing an hour or so each day. I've come to a plateau in my progress and now need to look into specific things, most importantly trying to get my right foot (bass drum) to stop following my right hand (hi-hat cymbal) when I change the rhythm on one or the other. This "rewiring" of the brain is a common obstable that is only overcome with practice, and this kit provides more than enough fun to keep me going while I figure that de-coupling skill out.It's not for everybody. If you're easily discouraged then it really doesn't matter how great a drumkit is, you probably wouldn't stick with it anyway, but if you're even moderately ambitious and open about having to learn and improve, this is a real blast. I doubt I'll ever regret buying this kit and using it to "upskill" myself in music. There's also nothing quite as satisfying as now having demo tracks on which I really did play every last instrument myself! No drum machines, no pre-recorded tracks slipped in, just my own work.Enjoy!

I love this kit! It takes a while to get setup properly, with all the cables in all the right places, and - if you're like me, the wiring nice and tidy, and there are a lot of wires!It works seamlessly on it's own, best to get a cheapo headphone amplifier if you plan to use it outside of the PC. I have it hooked up via MIDI to my PC and it maps to Rock Band and Guitar Hero without any problem, (look it up on t'internet). I also have it mapped into GarageBand on iOS via MIDI.While there are 3 toms as standard, with only 1 input, all are dual input capable if you do a bit of rewiring of the cable harness - which effectively gives you an additional 3 inputs that you can rig to anything you like - extra cymbals, a cowbell etc.... even claps - there are hundreds of sounds built in that you can map to any input.It's a hugely versatile kit, got me into drumming, there is plenty of free software out there like Clone Hero and Pardiddle - it even works with some Oculus Quest games and work with it out of the box, just plug in the MIDI cable, map the drums and you are away to everything from Eye of the Tiger to We Will Rock You and Iron Maiden!It's so addictive being able to drum along with your favourite songs, I lose hours on it, it has mesh pads that are pretty quiet unless you are in the same room! But the only real noise you'll make to annoy the neighbours, (if you have headphones on) is you screaming along to AC/DC!Highly recommended for any music fan - I also play Bass, Guitar and a bit of keyboards, and this is my favourite bit of kit :-) A good workout too - when did you last see a fat drummer?T

This is my first electronic kit (having had my acoustic kit in storage for the last decade). It is excellent for the price. It feels good quality and the kit sounds are ok / decent enough for a practice kit (and for the price).Bearing in mind that I'm a big, tall bloke and I can play it quite hard, it stands up to punishment really well.The response of the pads is excellent. They pick up soft and hard strikes well, and they equally pick up fast rolls on both the drum and cymbal pads.My only criticisms at this time are:1. At 6'3" tall this is right on the limit for size that I can play (ie it's a little bit low at it's maximum height setting). It's not ideal, however, I have found I can adapt to that ok.2. The bass drum pad is deceptive in that it appears that you can use a double pedal with it, however you cannot; as the part of the pad that actually activates the sound is only large enough for a single beater. It doesn't extend to the whole pad and that is a bit disappointing.Otherwise, it's a sturdy enough kit with a reasonable range of sounds and functions. I'd say it's perfect for a beginner and fine for someone like me who uses it to mess around on and doesn't want to spend shedloads.At the price it is an absolute bargain. I'm really pleased with it and would highly recommend.