Established in 1980, Alesis was founded on innovative technology and award-winning industrial designs that allowed entry-level musicians and recording artists access to professional-quality studio recording products that were never affordable before. Alesis continues this tradition with their impressive range of electronic drum kits, designed to fill the needs of players at all levels.
When Alesis released the original Strike Pro Kit a few years ago, it shook up the electronic drumming world with an unprecedented combination of sound, feel, features, and presentation for its price point. Now, Alesis is back with Strike Pro SE, a sharp-looking kit that at first glance may appear to offer just a few cosmetic enhancements. However, upon further inspection, it becomes clear that it delivers a number of compelling feature upgrades and improvements as well. Let's dive in and take a look at what makes Strike Pro SE special.
After years of leading the charge in "traditional" electronic drum sets, Roland has stepped into the realm of acoustic drum set-based electronic kits with the V-Drums Acoustic Design series. Although previous entries in the category of electronic drum sets built around acoustic drums exist, such as Pearl's ePro series, and Roland has previously hinted at this direction with their full-size kick drum-equipped TD-50KVX and TD-25KVX kits, this is the first time we've seen a complete Roland electronic kit using actual acoustic drum shells and hardware.
The percussion family is one of the oldest groups of musical instruments in the world. The concept is simple: you hit something (usually with a stick, mallet, hands, or any other form of beater) in some sort of rhythm or pattern, and BANG! You have a percussion instrument. Drums are accessible, energetic, and provide the base for a lot of music. The drum set as we know it today has only been around for about 100 years, but in that time it has undergone some serious changes.
The original Alesis Nitro Kit proved to be incredibly popular, hitting the right balance between features and price while offering electronic drum performance that surpassed its affordability. Now, Nitro is back with mesh heads for a more realistic drumming experience.
As e-drum enthusiasts, we at Kraft Music always get excited when something new is announced. This year has already seen Roland release a variety of new and updated kits, in addition to the great configurations and color options you can now find on our site for the TD50KV. Alesis and Yamaha also released kits at Summer NAMM. In most years, a new kit or two is all we ever hope for. Thankfully, this year is not like most years.
The opportunity to play a new electronic drum kit before it's released is always fun. Having the chance to play Roland's new V-Drums kit is exciting! Today I was able to play the new TD-17KVX, the latest offering by Roland to the V-Drums line. Here are some of my first impressions…
Musicians have been asking for samples through real analog filters for a long time,' says Dave Smith, and as we take a look at the newly-announced Sequential Prophet X it's worth discussing first and foremost how it fulfills that request.
