Any other Uses for an Alesis DM5 Drum Module

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:46 pm

Hey guys. i have an alesis DM5 and i no longer need it. i Could just sell it but i noticed it has an midi in and output. Anyway i could possibly assign these sounds to a Midi controller or something?

im jus trying to see if i could use it in any ither way before selling it,

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:57 pm

Sure you could use it as a MIDI drum module triggered by a MIDI sequence.

You could use it as a trigger for other things.

Out of curiosity, you've never used it in a MIDI setting before? Did you just program stuff in, and then play along to it?

It could have other uses. You could replace (or mix'n'match) a badly recorded drum sound in a recording. How? If you have, for instance, a real snare you recorded but it just doesn't sound right, you could try to place a MIDI note in a new MIDI track in the same place where the original snare hits on the audio track, and try either replacing, or just use it as enhancement. That all depends on if you even like the module's sounds, though. And, it's unlikely to actually sound completely real, but you could do some MIDI editing with parameters to liven it up a bit.

Just some thoughts.

Kapt.Krunch

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:21 pm

Quote from Airplane:
The office guy says to Johnny, "what do you make of this?" as he hands him a weather report.
"This? Well I can make a hat, a brooch, a pterodactyl..."

Get creative, take it apart and sell the bits, make a drum stew out of them...
See if the laws of physics apply to it, if it accelerates at 9.8m/sec squared or what.

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 10:12 pm

nope never used it is midi before. It came with my first Kit. it was a horrible acoustic set that had electronic triggers so i just to the main outs into a PA system. never used it with my computer at all. should i give it a try?

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 11:03 pm

The beauty of that unit and others like it is the triggers.

Each trigger can be assigned a specific MIDI note which can be transmitted to any MIDI device, samplers, synths, computer, etc. This gives you the ability to control MIDI controllable things with a drum pad.

In a recording situation, that ain't that awe inspiring but for a live show, it's can make something really boring pretty cool. Using a stick and drum pad to trigger a loop or sample is way better looking than pressing a key on a keyboard.

Now, If that ain't your bag and you don't like/use it as a sound module, then you might just want to rid of it. But if you use VSTi's and MIDI it can be a pretty handy tool.

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 11:04 pm

OH...and even if you don't like the sound in it, you can still use the triggers on it to transmit MIDI data to a sound module or VSTi in a computer with drum sounds that you DO like.

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2008 3:58 pm

I'll fess up again. I've owned one (DM5) for 6 or 7 years. I mostly use it for a Pintech studio elite set (along with a Roland trigger to midi unit and midi sound module for the dual zone pads) that I keep around for lazy drummers who don't want to pack their kits over. I've got to say it's
beginning to be quite a bit of a bore in it's sound set and many times I've lusted for something affordable that could juice it up. It's fatal flaw I guess is the inability to add new sounds without using it's midi out feature.

I'm getting an acoustic set right after I win the lottery.

gb

Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 1:54 pm

guitarbill wrote:

It's fatal flaw I guess is the inability to add new sounds without using it's midi out feature.

I wouldn't say that it's a fatal flaw but more of a handy dandy feature. Sure, you can't put the sounds in the unit but it's MIDI out gives you access to any other drum sounds you can think of via samplers, drum sound libraries, things like BFD, etc.

You have to remember, this thing came out way back in the mid '90s and it's really just an update to the D4 which came out in 1990 I think. The fact that it's still around is a testament to how useful it is.

Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:40 pm

I still use my D4

I consider the internal sounds only as hardware monitoring for the midi data being recorded.
Often the turn-around layency for the soft drums is too long to play to

so the internal sounds go to the ears along with what is currently in the song being overdubed

I do check for ALL latencies when setting up a record session
I'll record the D4 snare (sound and midi) then also record a mic on top of the snare mesh head
then compare that to the grid on the DAW

then I can get a grip of ALL the latencies
INCLUDING the way the drummer interacts with the click or groove track

don't like straight clicks and feel that a groove is a better bet

Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:20 pm

I agree with pr0gr4m. I'd use it mixed with an acoustic kit in live situations to trigger weird sound effects. Like electronic stabs or weird dancy popcorn snare sounds. If you haven't used MIDI out into the computer or another module, you really don't know what you're missing. I have a couple of different keyboard controllers and I even use my JP-8000 as a controller sometimes... world of possibilities. You could probably even trigger real time effects like delays and pitch shifting.

For recording tho, I can only think of using a trigger as a remote for start and stop if you don't have one already. Or maybe tempo map time signature changes. But if none of those things sound appealing to you, sell it and buy a new mic or something. Smile

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