Looking for a drum module (budget $450)

[JonathanRay]

I'm interested in triggering my acoustic drums (mainly the kick and snare), for recording purposes. I've got about $450 to spend. Which module should I go with? I looking for something that sounds as natural and real as possible. What about the Alesis DM5? Thanks!

[Creamyapples1]

I believe the DM5 is a product of Alesis. I've not yet been able to test this unit, but I do have a whole DM5 kit on pre-order, available in May. That's about all I know.

[JonathanRay]

Oops, typo. Thanks for the reply.

[petermiller]

the DM5 is a good unit. how are you planning to use this (computer,daw,analog) are you using outboard gear and a mixer. If your using a computer just track the drums in on seperate tracks and use drumagog. If you are using a mixer + outboard, get the DM5 as it can be configured to give you 4 seperate outs via panning and using the main out and aux out. Then I would post trigger the sounds off of the original drumtracs and blend the snare up underneath the original track and maybey just replace the kick with the new sample. the DM5 gives you random samples on the snare so its probably the best used for this purpose in this pricerange.

[JonathanRay]

I'm recording with a mixer which connects to my computer via firewire. I'd like to trigger the snare and kick, and mix the mic'd drums with the triggered sounds.

[petermiller]

then what you want is the DM5. here is what you do. Take a direct out of the original track on the mixer. thensend that to trigger input 1 on the DM5 (if you do not have direct out- use the insert point (one click in for send only) on TS cable.)
then assign the output to main out. go into the mix feature and pan this all the way left. that way the kick is on its own track. Do the same with the snare (in 2) main out all the way right. Adjust your triggering gains v curve crosstalk. Now take the two outs from the DM5 and put them into seperate channels on the mixer. treat them like they were regular inputs coming in. now you can mix/eq along with origibal sounds. you now still have 2 extra outs on the DM5 (toms maybe) for a total of four seperate tracks
works like a charm

[JonathanRay]

Wow thanks for the reply! So can I use my snare and kick mics as triggers?

[petermiller]

absolutly you can. The kick is easy scince the scource is usually well isolated enough. There would be no problem w/ blead from other drums false triggering. the snare can be a little tricky sometimes. You might have to run an eq infront of the input to the module in order to isolate a triggering frequency. or gate the signal before it goes into the module. I do this all the time live. and in studio. It takes some getting used to but the results are worth it. I am assuming that you are not pre recording tracks then sending them back out to mix. This is all on the way in if I got you right. It is a lot easier in post to do this.

[JonathanRay]

Yeah, that's exactly what I need. Thanks a lot man, I really appreciate the help!

Oh yeah, what type of cable should I use to run from my mixer to the DM5? Just a mono cable, like a guitar cable? Thanks.

[Synkrotron]

Originally Posted by JonathanRay

what type of cable should I use to run from my mixer to the DM5? Just a mono cable, like a guitar cable? Thanks.

yep


interesting... I didn't know you could use a mic as a trigger... I've been using piezo transducers to trigger my DM5