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I just slapped some mesh heads onto my kit, since I can't wail on them anymore. I don't want to spend the money on an expensive digital kit, and since I love the feel of the drums I have with these heads, I figure I'd pick up a drum brain and trigger my kit. I'd hopefully like to do this for under 400$. Anyone have experience using this kind of setup?

if you're not planning on using the brain for anything beyond practice, get yourself a used alesis d4. they are ridiculously cheap and ridiculously easy to setup.

The reviews I've read have been pretty solid, and they're going for less than 150$ wherever I look. Thanks!

Ghost Dad wrote:The reviews I've read have been pretty solid, and they're going for less than 150$ wherever I look. Thanks!

I used to on an Alesis d4 and didn't like it at all. The Alesis dm5 has slightly better drum sounds. I've had a Roland SPD 20 for about 10 years and it's good for practice puposes and the drum sounds are pretty good. It's an all in one unit w/ 8 dual layered pads, meaning you can have up to 16 instruments per programmed patch (up to 99 patches). It also has 4 trigger outs and works well w/ acoustic triggers. Sam Ash online has them on sale for $394.95, but you find it cheaper used.

Ah, the problem with the Roland, despite superior quality and instrument range, is the only having 4 trigger outs. I'd rather have no pads, with more resources poured into trigger availability. Ideally I'd like a module from the V series, but I won't be getting one of those too cheap...

the dm5 does sound more natural. but the d4 is a rock solid piece of equipment. if you're buying used, i would go for the one that is probably going to keep on trucking after you buy it despite the 20+ years of smoke-filled club gigging before you found it.

but yeah, the DM5 certainly has slightly less "drum machine" sounding sounds.