Alesis Crimson opinions

susbemol

Hey guys,

I'm looking for an electronic drum kit and the Alesis Crimson seems to be one of the better options for affordable(ish) all-mesh kits out there. Has anyone here got any personal experience with it? If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts, good or bad. 

It's mainly for the kids to learn but I play a bit of drums too so I'll be looking to use it for recording triggering plugins as well.

Thanks a lot! 

Legionreturns

I was making the same decision a year or so back, but came to the conclusion that the Roland kits, by which I mean both the modules and the pads, are just better! 

Ended up getting a TDK1 DMK, which is their entry level full mesh kit, then upgrading the brain to an older TD9, before adding a VH11 proper hi-hat and a bigger snare pad.

susbemol

That's definitely another option, isn't it... I had actually been considering the TD-1DMK but didn't realise the hihat might need upgrading. To be honest, I hadn't thought much about the option of upgrading the brain and other kits a-la-carte but that's definitely a good shout.

Did you play the Crimson kit to compare to the Roland? I have played the more expensive Roland kits quite a bit but I haven't had a chance to try the TD-1DMK yet.

WiresDreamDisasters

We have a Strike Pro at the office. It's better than the Roland TD-20 we used to use. I don't know much about the Crimson, but Alesis make half decent products.

Legionreturns

WiresDreamDisasters said:

We have a Strike Pro at the office. It's better than the Roland TD-20 we used to use. I don't know much about the Crimson, but Alesis make half decent products.

When you get to the higher level kits, mostly it's about sampling using Superior Drummer or something like that. If you're using stock sounds it's pretty hard to beat the Roland stuff. 

I played the Alesis kits within the same price bracket and found the pads less responsive to variable velocity strikes and really didn't like the stock sounds. 

As always though, personal preference is key. 

I changed the hihat for the feel and playability of an actual moving hi-hat, rather than for soubd reasons. The samples are pretty similar I just get better response.

mrkb

The Roland vh11 hihat has a much better feel and makes transitioning to an acoustic kit much easier. Anything with a fixed cymbal and separate pedal is much trickier to get a good hihat technique on.