Ultimate Studio Drums II: The Sequel - GB Discussion Thread

[standalone]

you remembered.....you'd better be female

It was a 50/50 bet............................bad luck!.

well....offers are limited, so, i can keep a secret if you can

(Close the browser......switch off the router.......run antivirus).

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

you remembered.....you'd better be female

It was a 50/50 bet............................bad luck!.

well....offers are limited, so, i can keep a secret if you can

(Close the browser......switch off the router.......run antivirus).

[jarrydee]

I have been playing the drums from the first GB on my new Alesis USB Pro kit, these are great E-drums, I could not justify buying rolands, every piece of the kit has 2 way triggers, the ride is real cool how you can go from rim to bell!


I have been playing the drums from the first GB on my new Alesis[/quote]

Ok, cool. Well, here are my dumb questions. First, my setup is Logic Pro 8 with a Motu 8-Pre analogue/digital converter that also handles the midi data, all going in via a firewire port.

This is the thing you have right?

http://www.alesis.com/usbprodrumkit

Is the only output from it a USB output, or does it also take midi-cables? Is going from the alesis via midi cables into the Motu, and from the Motu via the firewire connection into the Mac going to be a faster route for response time, i.e., less lag while playing, or will the USB port be better and work just fine?

How much Ram do I need to have on my computer to make the Alesis triggering work smoothly?

The dual zone snares, etc., I think I understand how that works: basically one part of the surface of the snares triggers what would be, e.g., a D2 on the keyboard (one kind of snare articulation) and the other triggers an E2 (a different snare sample). Is this correct? And all of the kit pieces have this feature? When you play your Alesis, do you use the vdrum mapping in the group buy, or the general midi setting, or does it not make a difference?

Did you have to upload any new software to get the drumset to sync with/communicate with your computer, or is basically plug and play? By purchasing in to groupbuy2 I'm starting to get low on hard-drive space, and all ready have a lot of programs running along with Logic so don't necessarily want to gunk up the computer more if I don't have to. Is the bundled software any good, and do you use it?

Did you purchase it from a particular place that you would recommend, or basically the cheapest on the web is where I should go?

Ok, lots of questions, but Reverend Rythym said it was ok. And so I am obeying. He is a Reverend after all.

Thanks again!!!!




[/quote]

Yup, thats the kit. I have 2 gigs of ram running xp, and an old AMD athalon 64 x2 5200 CPU. So I don't really have a lot going on under the hood. The duel zone snare is cool, what I did was have the regular snare hit on the pad, and them on the rim I put the rim=snare crack, ya know like on a real kit when you hit the rim and the snare just right to get that TWAK...it is really cool when doing a snare roll, as you hit the diferent parts of the snare it just sounds so real. Now for the TOM's..In the first GB there are tom+rim hits, so thats what I use the rim for on the toms!

I bought them on ebay from "novamusik" They sent me a whole box of extra free stuff..the box had ..T-shirt, drum thrown, 2 pair of sticks, brand new AT headphones..very cool of them..plus NO MUSIC store on line has/had them in stock until like the end of may and,I wanted them BAD...

The Bundled software is "BFD LITE" and I really don't care for it...no other software is needed, you can either hook up USB or with MIDI, I go MIDI out into my M-audio 610..I have the 1st. GB's kits and SSD, Addicted drums, and ez drummer, and they all work great with this..THERE ARE NO SOUNDS WITH THIS KIT...it is made to play software drums!!

As far as running it..right now I am typing this, I have music playing, am ripping a DVD and also have KONTAKT open with a DM2 kit on it so I can just start jamming if I want to and my sh*t computer is running fine!!


SORRY this is a big mess, I keep forgetting to answer questions...as far as your set up, it is pretty much like mine..I run MIDI out from the kit into the MIDI in of my 610 then firwire out into my PC..I use Pro Tools MP, but I also just jam and practice a lot using KONTAKT in stand alone mode..Trust me, if you get this GB and this KIT you will be very happy..I would be disappointed if all I had was SSD, they sound good but are very polished..the drums from the GB sound REAL..like you are sitting at a real kit playing!..

They are not loud at all, the surge/brass cymbals are as loud as any PAD, they have a coating on them so you are not really hitting brass, it's like hitting plastic!! AND..these are the most expensive ones, the other kit doesn't have the surge cymbals, they are called the alesis "STUDIO KIT" Mine are the "USB PRO KIT"..the white heads are the same as the black, just a different color ..as far as I know you can replace the heads with any 8in drum head!
They also come with a drum key, you can addjust the heads to get the feel and rebound you like, just like the real thing!! It took me about an hour to put it all togeather. I shut the studio door and my wife can not hear the kit at all, unless I have my monitors cranked playing the perdy/bonham shuffle..now that is fun to play on this kit, the snare ghost notes just sound so real!!

I almost bought the cheaper "Studio KIT" because the cymbals really didn't matter to me but even the "Studio kit" was not available until next month, so when I found these, I got them..it takes a lot of time to set them up just right, the sensitivity, velocity,gain, re-trigger, cross talk..ECT. but once you get them just right, they feel real, I mean they are E-drums but hey, what more do you want for $600.00, I could not be happier...I really like the hardware, real metal booms for the cymbals and the hat!

OK, I hope I answered all your questions, if not..just ask and I will help you the best I can!!

PS. you are correct about the duel zone, every piece is duel zone except the kick drum and hat, but the way the volocity works is great!

[Chester Desmond]

Thought I'd post a link to a spreadsheet I made that lists the pieces from each Drum Masters kit from both group buys. I made it for a quick reference and so that I could easily find a certain size\brand of kit piece when creating hybrid kits. Makes it quite easy to find which kit that 21" ride is hiding in.

It is split (by colour) into Group Buy 1 and Group Buy 2 so it is still useful for those who don't have both (and\or might bait you into getting both ) Things like second snare, 3rd and 4th crash etc are in the 'misc' rows\columns.
At the bottom of the screen you can switch between viewing the kits in columns or rows. At some point I hope to be able to add the extra snare info from some of the hybrid kits Squids made for the last GB (ie Nirvana etc).
Dowloading to HTML (File>Download As)seems to give a nice sized list for reference wihtout so many scrollbars. Feel free to download it and customize it as you like and\or give suggestions of things that would be useful.

There is no Ocean Way Drums info included because I couldn't find any breakdown of the hardware used for those kits.
Also all info comes from the individual MT kit pages on the e-soundz site. Hopefully I'm not incorrect in assuming it also applies to the STm kits.

and now, the link:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key= ... yMUE&hl=en

[gmontano]

nice job on teh spreadsheet! Squids should market the products like this so people see what they are getting. I think the point gets across much better with this chart than saying 20 kits.

[MountainKing]

Feel free to visit this referral thread and choose one of the members that you can refer at esoundz check out:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=217796

Note that referrals will work for ANY (download) purchase at esoundz (not only for Group Buys)!






esoundz: MountainKing

[Chester Desmond]

nice job on teh spreadsheet! Squids should market the products like this so people see what they are getting. I think the point gets across much better with this chart than saying 20 kits.

Thanks! I agree; while doing the sheet I was pleasantly surprised by the large variety of different kit pieces you actually get in these bundles.

[Scir]

nice job on teh spreadsheet!

+1

I agree -- Thank you very much Chester!

[bharris22]

nice job on teh spreadsheet! Squids should market the products like this so people see what they are getting. I think the point gets across much better with this chart than saying 20 kits.

Does this list all the kits? It looks to me like there's more listed here: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=4181 than are on the spreadsheet, unless I'm not understanding something.

[Chester Desmond]

Does this list all the kits? It looks to me like there's more listed here: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=4181 than are on the spreadsheet, unless I'm not understanding something.

As far as I know, some of them are new (or previously unreleased) for this GB and as such don't have info pages on esoundz that I could find.
Some are also hybrids I'd imagine.

Taking into account the extra kits you've pointed out and the Ocean Way stuff from the first GB, this spreadsheet doesn't nearly address all the GB content (nor is it intended to).

[Squids]

Does this list all the kits? It looks to me like there's more listed here: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=4181 than are on the spreadsheet, unless I'm not understanding something.

As far as I know, some of them are new (or previously unreleased) for this GB and as such don't have info pages on esoundz that I could find.
Some are also hybrids I'd imagine.

Good job and I agree. We have a brand new design for product pages for both SR and eSoundz web sites that will give you a lot of information. But you're right that with such variety of kit pieces like that we are selling ourselves short by not showing just what it REALLY is... and the other kits/kit pieces not mentioned in this are not just hybrids. There's even MORE. Again, the big POWER deal in both Ultimate Studio Drums Bundles is the mix and match kit pieces between it all. That to me makes it a must-have... but of course we're the ones selling it so of course we'd say that! However, with the help of Chester (who deserves some epointz don't you guys think?) you can see for yourself what an amazing deal this really is - the price for what you get is fantastic.

Just remember though that in less than 2 weeks BOTH bundles as they are and at that price will no longer be available. So this is it! The final stretch. GOOD LUCK! http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=4229

[Squids]

By the way, you can use the USDDMP coupon now with the new "Kits Only" Drum Masters 2 Platinum pre-order here: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=4234 Saves you $100 off if you were in either Group Buy (USD1 or USD2).

[Chester Desmond]

Thanks Dave (and other guys), I appreciate it!

and the other kits/kit pieces not mentioned in this are not just hybrids. There's even MORE. Again, the big POWER deal in both Ultimate Studio Drums Bundles is the mix and match kit pieces between it all.

This is the kind of info I would eventually like to add to this sheet. Like I mentioned, I only had the MT pages to go by so any additional info (or links I might have missed) would be cool to know.
Being able to quickly look to see which kits have a splash or a bigger china or a deeper floor tom etc is invaluable to me when putting together custom sets. I'd love to be able to add in the info for OWD too at some point.

[jarrydee]

Hey Squids, I was woundering if you have any kind of list of the MIDI not numbers for the 1st GB, and this one? Thanks!!

[zedd]

By the way, you can use the USDDMP coupon now with the new "Kits Only" Drum Masters 2 Platinum pre-order here: http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=4234 Saves you $100 off if you were in either Group Buy (USD1 or USD2).

I'm still awaiting the upgrade pricing for DM1 users.

DM1 Gold to DM2 Gold plus fee for additional material (signature kits) > upgrade pricing?

DM1 Gold to DM2 Platinum (kits only) > upgrade pricing?

Hey Squids, I was woundering if you have any kind of list of the MIDI not numbers for the 1st GB, and this one? Thanks!!

Huh? I'm afraid the meaning of this question seems unclear.