Alesis Nitro Mesh Kit

MY EXPERIENCE
Using this drum set for about a month now for jamming with my band and as an intermediate drummer I am very pleased with its overall quality. The rack and pads seem durable and of good quality. In a point of time was thinking about upgrading the drum set with a dual zone ride cymbal, since I was missing the ride bell in some beats I was playing, but after a while I noticed that if you hit the existing ride cymbal a bit harder/flat, in some preset kits it gives out the ride bell sound. This was a very satisfying discovery, since playing ride bell is quite common for intermediate drummers. I don't know why it's newer mentioned.

COMPARED TO OTHER DRUMS
Prior Alesis Nitro Mesh drum set, for a short period of time I had an E-Drum set from DDrum, which didn't feel quite right. Because of that I was a bit skeptical about buying another one, therefore was doing plenty of research until finally landing on Alesis Nitro Mesh kit, and if I would have to compare those two - it is like day to night, with all the good sounding preset kits, extremely quiet mesh heads and I can't describe how much I like the dual zone snare! I also enjoy the play along tracks in the module, they are very decent as well.

SOME CONS AND AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT
The only thing I don't like in terms of built quality is the Velcro strip glued on the bottom of the kick drum, which does not seem to hold the kick drum in place. I am thinking about making my own mounting from Velcro which will wrap around the post of the kick drum where the original Velcro was glued to.

I like the metronome feature which tells you whether you play slow / good (in time) / fast, but I think it would be even more valuable if it would give feedback in terms of percentage during particular session so you could follow your progress from session to session.

SHIPPING
The delivery was unexpectedly fast. From Germany to Latvia, it came within a week after I made the purchase. Tracking number provided.

Overall - a great drum kit even for intermediate drummers! Highly recommend.

steps, of drumming, in Nov of 2018, so no comparison.
After a little bit of research, I've considered this the best starter kit for me( being a beginner) and best price/value.
I've considered the Midi USB interface as a must(for later recording purpose), althought didn't tried yet.

Pros:
- mesh heads are really quiet
- very compact and easily foldeable, an advantage if you live in a small flat
- good sounding drum samples, and recently discovered the sample tracks you can play along, or jam
- smart metronome, u may specify the accents on certain beats
- has auxiliary jack input
- has additional 2 instrument, so you can plug an additional crash, tom etc..

Cons:
- cymbals are really loud and plastic layer looks pretty used after a few months
- rims shots are really unpleasant to the hear (alhough I play with headset)
- bass drum pad very loud -> I use a towel sometimes over it
- bass drum pad hardly can accomodate double pedals -> ok there is a way if you setup beaters very close to one another, but you always have to adjust, missing triggers
-> I bought a Roland KD10 pad address this, which is even louder :) but no more missing triggers, at least
- I cannot accomodate the hihat pedal, is kinda joke, very loud, moves, no real feel at all
- metronome click sound is not customizable

Overall good impression, quality product.
If I knew abot the annoying hihat pedal, and small bass drum, I would go with bit more expensive kit, e.g: Millenium MPS-850, which has a real hihat stand !

Advice: don't by with that Millenium drum throne and T-Bone headset.
After a few months both are broken.
Headset frame broken on sides.
Drum throne was too short for me(can reach mostly 90 degrees with muy legs), and after a while started to wobble badly( plastic inside the frame broke), so stopped using it.
(I'm an average, 1,83cm, 86kg person)

I have bought this kit as an alternative for the Tama classic drum set wich are too noisy in my rehearsal room.Spending some money for noise isolator blocking walls I considered that would be more expensive than buying another electronic kit...so I have bought this one after long searches and comparing trough different models, and I think I made the best choice .
Pros : You can setup each element of the drum to sound like you want (volume, pitch, pan,reverb, eq).
You can assign and change in between each element from all the preset kits and voices you have inside (for ex: you can put the snare from kit 1, the hi-hat from kit 12, the crash fom kit 3 ,etc in one user wich you can save)
You can make for example the tom1 to sound like the ride,or assign any other sounds you have inside ,on each element of the drums.
The kick drum pedal feels like real one ,it is not an electric contact like on other electronic drums.
You have the rim on the snare drum too wich you can assign as you wish.
You can put the pedal of your hi-hat in any comfortable position for your foot.
You can stop the crash sound with the hand.
You can add 2 more extra trigger elements on yoir kit You have 2 extra inputs.
Cons: The stand rack is a little bit too small in my opinion.They could make it a little bit higher or adjustable in height and maybe 10-20 cm wider.It looks like a kids drum rack kit.
The processor position of the kit stands somewhere behind the hi-hat (due to the small sizes of the bars of the rack). They could add at least 15-20 cm at each thick bar of the stand.

Conclusion: for the money you pay for it you have a very nice and versatile drum kit. I recommend it !

My first edrum kit after having only played on acoustic my whole life.
Starting off the build is OK for the money. You get what you pay for.
The pads do not go very high off the rack so you can't easily build an acoustic spaced set out of the box. The rack also moves slightly when played, but this is really not bad enough to be a problem. I put my kit on memory foam yoga mats, up against the wall. This way it dampens the noises into the wood floor nicely and the kick does not slide. No need for expensive isolated drum mats. The kick pedal itself feels fine but the kick tower feels like hitting a wall! I would rather they skip the hardware pedal if it means a mesh kick tower. The hi-hat pedal feels like air, but it does the job. Not as annoying feeling as the kick into a hard rubber.

The mesh heads are excellent and tunable to tightness. Feels real enough to me! I have been playing daily since it arrived. The drawback is the head rims are rather tall, so you have to angle the pads more to use a natural stroke while not hitting that rim. I've also used a separate snare stand to help with positioning, because the big-rim-small-pad problem is worst on the snare. I feel like I will upgrade to something 10" on the snare very soon. The cymbals are very basic, and the pinch-mute does not really work unless you get the exact spot. It all does the job. I also wish for a 2nd crash cymbal.

On the drum module.
I did some playing along with external music, the built-in demo jam songs, I created some custom kits, once you read the manual everything is easy to find and the buttons on the interface feel surprisingly good. I'm very satisfied with the features, external input works great. The headphone amp could use a little more juice, so I'm using a separate amp for the headphones. The sound of the kit is nice, not too artificial and you can customize all the sounds pretty well.

Concluding. Yes, this is the cheapest kit with mesh heads and a kick tower I could buy. Yes, it works great and you can tune everything with a little bit of patience. I highly recommend this for drummers like me who have experience playing, and just need something to practice in their apartment. For completely new drummers, it should be great too.

My biggest disappointment is the Alesis after-market / upgrade service. There seem to be no individual pads or cymbals available for sale, only the upgrade kit. I will not use a 2nd floor tom so this is wasted on me. Also any other cymbal clamps will not fit on these tubes from what I read, so the only option for more cymbals is the upgrade set or nothing.