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Noob here. Just waiting on delivery of the 10 unit!

What a journey. I've been a guitar player gigging for about 30 years, and after a friend brought his old-ass cheap Roland kit (purchased at a garage sale) to my place and left it here, I got hooked. That was a year ago, and I could barely do a 4/4 beat, but the ability to play along with music and not annoy the neighbourhood was a game-changer. Especially during Covid.

Thankfully, he wouldn't sell it to me so I started deep-diving what I could get for what I could afford and landed on the Alesis Surge kit. This was great for a little while but as I improved I could no longer tolerate the harsh tones and inflexibility of the control unit. I kind of knew this would likely happen going in, but that's why I wanted to make sure the pads were decent enough at least that I could build on it.

I soon realized that there was amazing software out there that were arguably much better sounding and flexible than even top-of-the-line control heads, like Superior Drummer and Addictive Drums, so I went down that route and haven't looked back. I settled on Addictive Drums, at least for now, but that will be a different rabbit hole for later. I bought a micro-PC that's decent enough to run my studio setup without a lot of noise. This could even just attach to the kit if I wanted to port it somewhere since it's about the same size as the edrummin10...but I digress.

From there I started adding a pad or two, another cymbal, and picked up a double-kick pedal. Since then I've worn out (broke the main piezo) in the Alesis snare and bought the larger version to replace it. For a while I just cranked up the rim piezo and used the old snare as a floor tom but then I ordered in some piezos and replaced the faulty one so it works great now (still a floor tom) but with differentiation.

And then...

I started bumping up against the limits of this Alesis control unit. Even with the flexibility of ADD2 I can't control the extreme hotspot in the centre of the snare without sacrificing response curves moving out from it. There are a few other things as well, and I realized that I don't need a control unit with built in shit sounding samples, all I need is a decent low-latency interface to the computer.

So I ended up here, and once I seen the flexibility of the software I was sold despite the arguably premium price. The software certainly is the key here and certainly makes the package worth it when taking everything into consideration.

Sorry for the long gush, but if anyone has advice or things to watch out for going in, I'd appreciate the tips!

Hi LooseSends,

those journeys are aresome.
Originally I started with buying a low priced ekit as a toy for the kids.
Now I have 3 eDRUMin devices here (4, 4, 10).

I think if you understand the trigger settings of other brands modules, you will make it.
Watch Robs videos, read the technical support section ... perform a search here.
We will help you!

Enjoy!

Thanks for the welcome.

I think I'll be ok as I already have good understanding of velocity curves and general recording as well as midi. I already checked out a video or two to get an idea of the software interface so I should be good to go, and it will be great having the kind of control I'm missing right now.

I can already see me ordering a supplementary 4 unit for a few more inputs, but one thing at a time.

That’s a very similar story to mine however I started a few years ago on an acoustic kit then went to prison. And sold it when I got out. Then last year I remembered e drums were such a thing lol
The edrumin is awesome. I have a 4 and am awaiting a 10 and I started on an alesis kit. A just sold the DM10 module actually. I’m so glad I discovered vsts with it tho!

The Eagle has landed...!

Hey man, I’m just curious what made you decide to buy another alesis pad after the last one broke on you?
Also was it obvious by looking at the broken pad, which piezo was broken and why? I ask because I just broke my alesis 16” DM series ride cymbal. I opened it up and although I know it’s the main piezo that’s broken due to where it triggers and doesn’t trigger, when I open it up to look at it, it doesn’t look like anything is wrong. Obviously I know it is because it doesn’t work but the choke still triggers something.
I already bought a new ride but have been planning to use the 16” as a crash so wouldn’t mind fixing it for now. Was going to just whip out the old piezo and solder then glue gun it in place.
Although as I wrote this I kind of just realised the placement of the piezo leads me to think it’s the bell trigger that’s gone and maybe the wiring means if the bell goes the other zones won’t trigger. S**t, I dunno! Maybe I’ll just buy a set of low volume cymbals and convert.
Anyway was it obvious to you u which wires had come undone?

Also you mentioned you think it’s an arguably premium price for the edrumin. Is that wot You meant? I kind of disagree really as it’s a fraction the cost of a flagship Roland module for a small % of the cost. I was surprised at how affordable it was lol. Funny how different people think about it differently.
Also I don’t know why but I find myself curious about the genre or genre’s of music you like to play on your drums and guitar?

I find the price reasonable given the amount of direct support you get from Rob and the continuous improvements you get for free. Even in the grand scheme of things you can still build a full module cheaper (you still need a computer, VST and an interface) than buying a flag ship module.

My biggest fear is that someone is going to offer Rob an offer he can’t refuse and our little bundle of joy will be ruined by some large, lumbering corporation.

Rabidreject wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 26, 2022 11:04 am

Hey man, I’m just curious what made you decide to buy another alesis pad after the last one broke on you?
Also was it obvious by looking at the broken pad, which piezo was broken and why? I ask because I just broke my alesis 16” DM series ride cymbal. I opened it up and although I know it’s the main piezo that’s broken due to where it triggers and doesn’t trigger, when I open it up to look at it, it doesn’t look like anything is wrong. Obviously I know it is because it doesn’t work but the choke still triggers something.
I already bought a new ride but have been planning to use the 16” as a crash so wouldn’t mind fixing it for now. Was going to just whip out the old piezo and solder then glue gun it in place.
Although as I wrote this I kind of just realised the placement of the piezo leads me to think it’s the bell trigger that’s gone and maybe the wiring means if the bell goes the other zones won’t trigger. S**t, I dunno! Maybe I’ll just buy a set of low volume cymbals and convert.
Anyway was it obvious to you u which wires had come undone?

Also you mentioned you think it’s an arguably premium price for the edrumin. Is that wot You meant? I kind of disagree really as it’s a fraction the cost of a flagship Roland module for a small % of the cost. I was surprised at how affordable it was lol. Funny how different people think about it differently.
Also I don’t know why but I find myself curious about the genre or genre’s of music you like to play on your drums and guitar?

Ok, so the center piezo went in the snare which was pretty easy to determine because one of the wires was loose. My soldering skills are trash (and the break was so close to the weld) so I tried to fix it 3 times but it was too awkward to get a good connection and each time it lasted about an hour before failing.

At that point I ordered a Crimson II snare because it was a great price at the time and a worthy replacement, especially when I can move the snare over as a floor tom.

I also ordered a bunch of piezos (with lots of lead wire to solder easily) and the replacement was a snap. Glue gun as well to hold the wire in place better.

Your issue with getting only a faint trigger is likely because one of the piezos is picking up a fainter signal from what the "broken" piezo is supposed to pick up. Check closer to see if there's a bum connection, maybe with a meter to check, but I'm not familiar with that ride (yet because I want one). Still, I think the piezos would be wired in parallel not series. Too bad you can't get at that bell piezo.

As for the genre's of playing I'm into, I have to admit it's been mostly classic hard rock/metal being a boomer and all, but I've also played in country bands, the occasional tribute act, and a couple years with a female singer B circuit band. The last two decades were with a rock cover band opening for bigger acts, festivals, that kind of thing, but since my last gig in 2019 it seems all my bandmates have either died, dealing with cancer, or just too frikkin' old at this point and lost their drive.

We were a good band but hardly anything special. And now, I'm probably going to finally work on original stuff in my home studio before getting out there again with a younger band. I seem to age slower than my peers.

This was the main reason I caught the drum bug. I didn't want to have to rely on other people to be able to do something so now I can play all the instruments well enough to lay sh1t down, and if anything seems worthwhile I can call in some specialists to do parts better.

Ok, sorry for the novella. I gotta start figuring out what the best way to go about getting the software to map my Alesis pads. There must be some shortcut presets or something to get started with? Guess I'll slog through the PDF manual first.

Mylo wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 26, 2022 1:57 pm

I find the price reasonable given the amount of direct support you get from Rob and the continuous improvements you get for free. Even in the grand scheme of things you can still build a full module cheaper (you still need a computer, VST and an interface) than buying a flag ship module.

My biggest fear is that someone is going to offer Rob an offer he can’t refuse and our little bundle of joy will be ruined by some large, lumbering corporation.

You make a great point. Now that I have it in hand and played around a bit with the software, I have to agree that this unit is well worth it compared to the alternatives.

My initial impression was, "Hey, it's just a cheap little midi interface, where's the value?" until I realized that it's the software and tight integration, low latency, and continual support this unit seems to get from the creator. I mean, not having to invest in a high-end thousand plus dollar control unit that half-asses stuff is a huge bonus for guys like me who want the deep-dive control to really tune-in tones and response curves.

There really is a gold-mine of work put into the whole system which is amazing, and pretty rare among the corporate offerings.

Rabidreject wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 25, 2022 10:00 pm

That’s a very similar story to mine however I started a few years ago on an acoustic kit then went to prison. And sold it when I got out. Then last year I remembered e drums were such a thing lol
The edrumin is awesome. I have a 4 and am awaiting a 10 and I started on an alesis kit. A just sold the DM10 module actually. I’m so glad I discovered vsts with it tho!

I haven't even got this stuff set up and working yet and I'm already hovering over the "Buy Now" button for another 4 unit. The 10 covers exactly the inputs I need for my current setup if I split one of the inputs, but I still may want to add...just...a...couple...more...

And yeah, you never think you'd need VST's until you actually hear the difference between the crap samples in your module and what something like ADD2 has to offer. There is simply NO GOING BACK!