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Parents looking to invest in starter electronic drums for their kids should definitely look at this kit. The sheer portability of the DM Lite means that it might suit a drummer with no transport. The hi-hat on the DM Lite is a freestanding pedal much like the bass drum pedal. Acousitc and some electronic hi-hats have cymbals, a stand and a pedal at the base on which to play with. But the DM Lite has no bulky stand, just the pedal and cymbal pad. The hi-hat controller is connected to the drum module by a cable and can be positioned wherever best fits your foot.
Roland offer the TD-1K which is their bottom of the line electronic kit and has similar qualities to the DM Lite. It’s equally lightweight and has the same configuration of drums, including freestanding hi-hat and bass drum pedals. It’s more expensive than the DM Lite but has some cool features such as the ability to record your playing.DO NOT waste time and money on Roland pads--I own them. Yamaha DD-55 is just as good and has MIDI too for all you programming freaks. I remix Depeche Mode (so I need lots of cool sounds) and had no problem with the DD-55 Mine came with the drum pedals, the drum pedal I inserted into a custom made base, so mine doesnt go anywhere when I am playing. Designed to provide you with everything you need to get started. Includes a Yamaha Power Adaptor, 2-year extended warranty, Stereo Headphones, Yamaha Survival Kit CD-ROM.
The sample quality of the sounds on the DM Lite are pretty basic, limited dynamically, but better than most sounds that come with a kit of this price. You could spend twice the price on a ‘better’ kit and find the sounds are no better. Surprisingly, this unit blew away both the Roland SPD-6 and even the SPD-20. Pad response and feel was superior to Rolands. The round pads are more intuitive than Rolands. The sounds blew out the SPD-6, and were just as good as the SPD-20. Very high quality samples-fun and easy to use. If you want a pad setup no need to go with a Roland SPD. If you want the VDRUM sounds but dont want to buy the entire VDRUM kit, get the Yamaha DD55--has all those popular sounds in it. Also, fits on a snare stand!
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The volume levels are about right, and they can be changed seperately if needed (according to the manual)
The Yamaha DD-55 marks a transition to a more professional and versatile digital-drumming instrument. New stereo-sampled voices, a bass boost system and digital stereo processing give the DD-55 an irresistible, thundering beat. And with the addition of adjustable pad sensitivity, you can pound out a spicy Latin rhythm with your hands. With its powerful features, this is no mere toy, although anyone can enjoy it. Intgr Speakers and headphone output (the quality is not top of HP, and must be plugged into a stereo amp or guitar to fully enjoy the richness of the sounds included) The pads on the DM Lite are basic enough in that they really only have a surface trigger. You won’t find any ‘multi-zoned’ pads here. Likewise, you can’t play and get different sounds from the drum rims as there are no built-in triggers there. What the DM Lite does have though is built-in lights on each drum and cymbal pad. The MIDI controller functionality is nearly nonfunctional: the pads are supposed to be independently programmable for MIDI note output, and to have a memory that saves the one allowed custom drum kit. Neither of these functions appears to work. The DD55's onboard interface is very poor, the onboard MIDI note programming info does not correspond to its output, the method for searching MIDI motes is poor and time-consuming, programming one pad alters the programming of other programmed pads for some reason, and the memory does not consistently maintain your settings. The DD55's MIDI wouldn't send or receive at all on a fully-functioning SBLive soundcard, even though both the SBLive and the DD55 worked with other MIDI instruments and modules, some of which worked with both the SBLive and the DD55. I was not able to find the source of this problem, but the DD55 does transmit and receive on an Audiophile 2496 card. Out of the box it performs like a nice attempt at making a digital toy into pro equipment. It has the same bugs in it, Yamaha can't think of a way of improving the play surface and that's the toy side and what makes these things end up as dust collectors. It is no funUnfortunately the light-up feature of the DM Lite cannot be disabled so that might not be to every drummers preference. The light-up pads do resemble more of a childish feature and liken the kit to a musical toy. It’s perhaps an oversight on Alesis’ part to not allow the lights to be diabled.
The DD55 works well as a stand-alone unit. The drum pad sensitivity is fairly expressive, perhaps a bit too much so. The pads are very sensitive to not only velocity, but also how centered your hits are. The small onboard speakers sound rather disappointing, but the unit sounds much better played through good headphones or an external amp and big speakers. A complete digital drum kit at an incredible price, the DD55 makes a great compact drum kit for players of all levels. It can also be used as a MIDI controller for recording drum parts much more realistically than you could ever do with a keyboard. Features include new stereo drum samples, 174 total sounds, digital reverb, chorus & DSP, and GM compatibility. Its stereo speakers and headphone output let you play or rehearse with other musicians or privately. Another thing that might be a negative point is the size of the pads themselves, as they are a bit on the small side, which may be good for accuracy training, but does mean it feels a bit like you’re playing on a Drum Hero toy as opposed to a full instrument. Other Kits You Might Consider Instead Pedals like this won’t suit all experienced drummers because certain foot techniques are difficult, or even impossible, to fully pull off. That said, for beginner drummers and heel-down players, pedals like this are perfectly functional.
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The DM Lite lets you modify existing drum kits to create your own hybrid kit creations. This is a welcome addition as the 10 onboard drum set selection is not a huge number to play with. Insensitive to strike VLOC low (<20/120 in the afternoon) because of its compact configuration: it should not be a strike on a pad dclenche another. But that's not the teachers and buzz rolls easily even when pass (although a bit on the end attenus) Stable, can take lots of punishment and manical drumming (Keith Moon style). Very compact I mean compact no kidding, my house is tiny and there's stil space for it. Quality is good, well built. The feel of the pads as well eg. the floor tom pad is bouncier than the snare.
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