Features:

  • Premium Response, Natural Feel - Alesis patented Mesh drum heads for a quiet authentic response; perfect for practice and honing drum skills
  • Eight-Piece Configuration - 8" dual-zone snare pad, (3) 8" tom pads, (3) 10” cymbals: ride cymbal, hi-hat, crash w/choke, 8" kick drum, Kick Pedal, HiHat Pedal
  • Performance Ready - 4-post collapsible aluminum rack; super solid for stability and packs down rapidly for ultra-convenient storage; Requirements - Mac: OS X 10.9 or later, PC: Windows 7 or later
  • Nitro Module Included - 60 built-in play along tracks, sequencer, metronome and performance recorder; CD/MP3 aux input to play along with your own songs
  • Everything You Need - Connection cables, drum sticks, drum key, and power supply included for immediate creative potential right out the box
Great kit to learn on

I've been a guitar player since I was 13 but have had a lifelong desire to play drums, so at 54 I broke out and purchased this kit. It's a great kit that doesn't take up too much room and, since there's a headphone jack, I can play without bothering anyone else. It also has outputs to run through a PA for playing with others or if you want to hear yourself aurally outside of the privacy of the phones. Pretty easy to put together, but give yourself about an hour just to make sure. Once you've put the stand together everything else is just plug n play. There's also a line in for external audio if you want to play along to songs. I've run both my iPod and laptop directly in. The kit sits pretty low, so if you're tall you may need to fashion some sort of elevation for the stand and yourself, otherwise it's really easy to get used to. If there's a con, I would say the hi-hat is pretty basic with no way to feather the pedal for subtlety. The sound is either open or closed with no in between based on your pedal movements. But for beginners it's a perfect way to get your game going in preparation for bigger and better things.

Love this set

I'm a keyboardist, not a drummer, but a drummer friend of mine was in the studio and helped set the thing up as a drummer would want it. Highly adjustable, great learning tool, some really good internal sound generators, lots of features. The mesh heads are what makes this set infinitely more usable in the studio than say an Octapad. Only thing I wish for would be the availability of an additional cymbal and mount....at a reasonable price. I found the mfg's add on unit, but the cost is almost $200 ....for one cymbal and short mount!!! The whole set is only $350. Dumb Alesis....just dumb.

Great if your needs match its strengths

I read a ton of reviews and questions/answers before buying this set, and I have to say I think the crowd-sourcing was pretty accurate. Here is what I would say: - This is a great set to play/practice with headphones. It takes up a relatively small space, and you can generally have the experience of playing a basic kit. I am learning, and it has been a lot of fun to play this kit. The click track feature is really great (it also tells you if you are on time, early or late, and the tempo, signature, etc. are all adjustable). I haven't tried playing along with a song yet. This set meet my needs perfectly: Learn to play in an apartment setting where you can't play real drums. - This is not an ideal set if you are looking to use it as an electronic set you want to play out loud. There isn't much power. You pretty much have to crank the volume to the max just to hear the sounds in your headphones. Even cranked, you can barely here the kick drum. If you live in a place where it doesn't matter if you make noise, or if you want to use the drums to play with others or play for people, you are better off getting a real drum kit. One other note: The assembly was a bit harder than I expected. It took me a couple of hours, I was confused at times, and I really had to work to screw some of the pieces in. The paper instructions really were not helpful at all. Luckily, the company has a video tutorial on its website. The video is a bit too short, as it rushes through steps, even skipping some, but it was enough for me to be able to complete the assembly. It's not a big deal, just be aware. Again, though, for the right purpose, this is a great set.

Great starter kit, super quiet.

I bought this kit two months ago. The kit is a lot of fun to use and is super quiet my family sleeps through even with no insulation in the walls. I use ear buds and when no one‘s around I use a ddrum DDA50 amplifier which sounds awesome. All the voices in the kit let me tune it to where it sounds like the acoustic kit my instructor uses. The mesh pads can also be adjusted so you can change the feel of the drum head. I can send the output to my computer and record it with audacity so I can make multiple tracks for practicing duets. I definitely recommend this as a starter kit when you don’t have a place to practice such as an apartment or a house completely filled with tile ;-) The two complaints I have are the snare pad is only 8 inches I wish it was 14 inches, but there’s a 12” upgrade available for another $129. Second, the manual is weak. Thanks to the support forum and various blogs I found a much better manual for this kit at www dot mecldata dot com /download/manual/aw_DD512_G11_110928.pdf Support has been fantastic! I emailed in about one issue and within hours they shipped me a replacement cymbal pad!

greatest thing since sliced bread !!

at 70yrs old i figured why not .. haven't played drums since high school .. the grandkids and i are having a time . my wife still has a couplea years of Third shift to go and a regular set of skins was outta the picture, noise wise, but with these ......i spend hours honing my skills and she never hears a thing, with my headphones on. several of the reviews stated problems with pick-ups not working on snare an tom-toms... after about 3 hours of use i too noticed some strikes weren't registering, i thought great probably have to send them back....but after tightening the mesh heads a half turn on each lug with the supplied key ..alls well an no further issues. i couldn't be happier , spending 2 ta 3 hours a day on them myself .. most fun i've had with my clothes on in 25 years!!! Thanks Alesis for a great quality product..

Great little set for a family of beginners

My family decided to get these for ourselves for Christmas. We all had interest in learning to play so it seemed perfect. One parent decided he was just not coordinated and would never make any progress. One kid enjoys just fooling around with no particular rhyme or reason. Another kid is already a musician and puts in some time here & there. But, this parent has actually started online lessons and can play a couple of beats! I don't really have anything to compare to, but I really like this set. I'm struggling a bit with the positioning of the snare. I'd like to raise it but can't figure out how. But I may have not tried hard enough and someone else put it together. For the price, this does everything I could possibly need and more, at least as a beginner. It seems sturdy and quality enough that I'm not afraid to really wail on it. I had no idea playing the drums was so fun, especially after you can make a couple beats. You can do this in only a day or two! I already managed to impress a friend. Just one, but it still counts.

Comparable to 1000 dollar kits

Awesome set for 350 bucks. Definitely recommend the nitro mesh instead of rubber, it feels much more realistic. This kit is as good as my buddy's 1100 dollar yamahas, except for the amount of sounds on the drum module which CAN be swapped for something like the alesis forge module

Great product great value!!

This set is great for beginners and veterans alike. Before i got this set i hadnt played drums in about 10 years, it was amazing how close the mesh is to the real thing. So I needed to fill in for our regular drummer on a gig and got this set. I played for 2 weeks in my apt using the preset songs and i could even connect aux and head phones and play everything through output head phones which was super cool to me. Needless to say i didnt embarrass myself on that gig and owe it all to this set! Downside is I had to return it because it was in my 2yr old’s room and he didnt have space for his toys. Will be getting another one soon when money and space allow!!

Good beginner e-kit.

I bought this to add to my existing e-kit (a different Alesis kit), as I like more 'voices' than a standard 5-piece e-kit setup can provide. If you're a beginner drummer, or new to e-kits, this one will do the trick. While the sounds available in the 'brain' are not as high quality as you would find in the higher-end e-kits, they still give you a decent sound library to play with, and you can adjust them a bit. The training features are also good, even for more experienced drummers.

Well made for the price.

I’ve had it for about a month and play it every day, sometimes for hours. I haven’t noticed any problems of any kind. It’s nicely made and even though some don’t like the foot pedal, I think it’s my favorite part of the entire kit. Two things that do bug me is that: 1) with all the sounds this thing can make, there is no tambourine voice (and I will probably find other percussion sounds missing as I go along). You may say ‘who cares’ but they used up eight voices of a guy just saying ‘one’, ‘two’ all the way to eight, but no tambourine. If you play 60’s music, you may miss not having it. And: 2) The cables that connect the drum module to the triggers are not discrete cables. They all come together into a single DB-25 (parallel port style) connector and each cable is cut to length to reach each of the triggers. This is fine unless you want the drum module to be on the right (where it should be) instead of on the left which is where it has to go. Also note that the audio output is not extremely powerful. It is sufficient and you won’t have any problem driving an amp but you need just about full volume to drive your headphones to a robust level. These are some of the things I learned while assembling it: 1) The instructions are pretty lame. 2) Be sure to hammer the rubber feet all the way on to the legs before assembling it. They are only pushed on hand tight from the factory and end up not having uniform lengths which make balancing it tough otherwise. 3) You may want to swap the position of the High Hat support and the drum module. I put the High Hat out on the far left end of the bar (and the snare on the extreme end of its bar too) to open up the size of the kit somewhat, otherwise, it’s kind of cramped unless you’re a kid. 4) You can turn the floor tom bracket upside down to lower its height a bit (to be a little more ‘real’), and also move it all the way out to the end of the right bar (again, to expand the size some). 5) It comes with 5 Velcro strips for cable management but that is nowhere near enough. You can cut them lengthwise to make 10 which goes a long way to organizing the cables.

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