Members Nightsynth Posted February 18, 2008 Members Share Posted February 18, 2008 I was thinking it might be handy to have a hardware drum module around. I use my Akai S5000 to handle most of my drum needs, but a dedicated drum module might be nice. Anyway, I wondered if this thing reads .wav files via it's PCMCIA slot. I read that you can load your own samples into it, but it didn't specify if you can just drag your .wav samples to the card and the DM Pro will read it. If it can do this, that would cool as hell! I assume with over 1,000 onboard sounds, there's bound to be a handful of useable ones, but I gotta have my custom sounds and classic drum machine sounds (Linn LM-1, etc) availiable too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dave Bryce Posted February 18, 2008 Members Share Posted February 18, 2008 The DM Pro's engine is basically the same as the QS synths, so you can in fact put 8 MB of your own samples on a flash card using Alesis' SoundBridge software. Now here's where it becomes a drag.... First of all, you have to find a compatible card. The technology is going on ten years old, so good luck with that. IIRC, you can use PCMCIA cards, but that's kind of a waste of a more expensive card (the flash used to be much cheaper - don't know if it still is). Secondly, after burning the samples on the card, you have to write instruments/kits that use those samples. That can be a bit convoluted - the DM Pro's interface is a bit fiddly. Here's something you may not be taking into account/the good news - the DM Pro has 16MB (!) of onboard wave ROM. That's a ton of drums/percussion (including a whole bunch of older vintage drum machine samples). It also have a fully programmable four layer architecture with a full effects processor and 64 voices of polyphony. You may not need the extra samples. I've been using a DM Pro for almost all of my drum needs for years. I love it to bits. I think it's one of the best things Alesis' synth division came up with, and I was always surprised that it wasn't more of a hit. As far as I know, no one really made anything like it. Sure there were other drum modules, but I'm not sure any had that amount of wave ROM/polyphony/programming power. dB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Audacity Works Posted February 18, 2008 Members Share Posted February 18, 2008 IIRC, Nine Inch Nails used a DM-Pro (with custom samples) for their live drum rig for years. I used to have a DM-5 back in the day. It was okay. The DM-Pro was worlds better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lewey Posted February 18, 2008 Members Share Posted February 18, 2008 What kind of sounds does it have? Purely acoustic? Slightly processed acoustic? Highly processed acoustics? Synthetic? TR-style? Any werido percussion sounds? This is one piece of kit I haven't made my mind about. I have about a gig of drum samples, thousands and thousands of all kinds of percussion, but they're a pain to navigate and a lot of crap there... I want something with high-end sounds that is easy to use... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dave Bryce Posted February 18, 2008 Members Share Posted February 18, 2008 What kind of sounds does it have? Purely acoustic? Slightly processed acoustic? Highly processed acoustics? Synthetic? TR-style? Any werido percussion sounds? Somewhere around 1700 samples (if memory serves) comprising everything the design team could think of at the time, no, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. There's just a ton of stuff in there - the thing even has samples from the old Roland CR78 and (IIRC) some really rare ones from the GX1. Plus, with the fully programmable four layer engine and (basically) built in Q2 fx processor, you can get really creative. Like I said, I'm not sure anybody made anything quite like it. Alesis discontinued it because it was the only product they made that used those two 8MB ROM chips, and (at the time) chip foundry setup charges didn't necessarily make sense for small runs. The DG8 piano and QCards suffered a similar fate.... dB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nightsynth Posted February 21, 2008 Author Members Share Posted February 21, 2008 Thanks for the info guys! I want one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members J3RK Posted February 21, 2008 Members Share Posted February 21, 2008 I had a DM-5 as well. I really liked it, but it had some converter noise on the release phase. This was easily fixed on the D-4 as there was a trimpot, but there wasn't one on my DM-5, so I got rid of it. That was my only complaint though. Playing around with the trigger inputs is fun too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lewey Posted February 21, 2008 Members Share Posted February 21, 2008 Somewhere around 1700 samples (if memory serves) comprising everything the design team could think of at the time, no, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.There's just a ton of stuff in there - the thing even has samples from the old Roland CR78 and (IIRC) some really rare ones from the GX1. Plus, with the fully programmable four layer engine and (basically) built in Q2 fx processor, you can get really creative.Like I said, I'm not sure anybody made anything quite like it. Alesis discontinued it because it was the only product they made that used those two 8MB ROM chips, and (at the time) chip foundry setup charges didn't necessarily make sense for small runs. The DG8 piano and QCards suffered a similar fate....dB Thanks, nice info. I definitely want it now... I only wish there were some mp3 demos of it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Neural Disorder Posted February 24, 2008 Members Share Posted February 24, 2008 I've had a DM Pro for a little over five years. Up until a year ago I used it as the brain for my electric drum kit. The variety of drum sounds is way better than any module I've ever used, though a fair ammount of them sound a little dated IMHO (not in a good/vintage way either). There are still plenty of other samples to choose from, especially if you're not looking for something that sounds realistic or acoustic. The effects section is lacking, but that's not really an important feature anyway. The only technical problem I've had with it involves the trigger-to-MIDI converters. For some reason they totally crapped out on me about a year ago. Everything else works fine, you can still trigger sounds via MIDI just fine. I get the feeling that this is the way most people use them anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members idiotboy Posted February 24, 2008 Members Share Posted February 24, 2008 @ Neural: LOVE the avatar Oh, and just to stay somewhat on-topic, I had a D4, way back in the day. It was aiiight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Real MC Posted February 28, 2008 Members Share Posted February 28, 2008 Another happy DM-Pro owner here. It is a seriously tweakable box, although the interface can be confusing. You really need to be intimately familiar with the buss routing to best exploit the built-in FX. Used to own a DM-5, bought the -Pro for the better acoustic sounds (esp cymbals) and the built-in FX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChromaLord Posted February 28, 2008 Members Share Posted February 28, 2008 Erstwhile DM-PRO owner. Ive never been a fan of anything by Alesis but this was as close as it got for me. The unit works and triggers well, its built a lot better than the D4 or D5. When you consider the quality of virtual drums libraries for the computer these days,Id only recommend the DM if you are going to install user sounds and you use it live, because by todays standard the samples arent very resolute.Everything sounds a little dark and distant to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dave Bryce Posted February 28, 2008 Members Share Posted February 28, 2008 When you consider the quality of virtual drums libraries for the computer these days,Id only recommend the DM if you are going to install user sounds and you use it live, because by todays standard the samples arent very resolute. Not sure you're right about that...IIRC, the DM Pro's drums are all 16 bit 44.1kHz samples running through 20 bit converters...and at the end of the day, they're single shot drum samples - how resolute do they have to be? I wonder how many people can tell the difference between a 16 bit, 20 or 24 bit snare sample? Everything sounds a little dark and distant to me. Doubt it's the quality of the samples. Sounds to me more like you just didn't dig the overall sound of the electronics. That'll happen... Like I said, at the time (and, I think, since), there wasn't anything like it...and since I really never dug either the D4 or D5, I was happy to put this product out (yeah, I admit it - making this sucker was my idea...so it's no surprise I'm a fanboi). I still use mine all the time - I even have dedicated inputs on my console for it. dB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ChromaLord Posted February 28, 2008 Members Share Posted February 28, 2008 DAVE BRYCE16 bit/44.1 means absolutely NOTHING if its not processed correctly, has bad: op amps, filters, logic chips,and converters and has been improperly companded.I have many units in my arsenal that are"16 bit linear" and they all have different presence. Example, the stock piano in my XV5080 isn't as clear as the as JV series piano which isn't as clear as the SRX series piano which isn't as clear as the Piano sample in my S770 which isn't as clear as the EX1 piano in the Oasys- AND ALL ARE 16 BIT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lewey Posted February 28, 2008 Members Share Posted February 28, 2008 not to mention how the samples were sampled and how processed before put into the unit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dave Bryce Posted February 29, 2008 Members Share Posted February 29, 2008 @lewey and Chromalord: Yes, I know. I like to think the Alesis synth team did a good job on the samples. As far as I can remember, the process was handled pretty professionally, and/or the samples were purchased from the best sound designers in the industry...and all the samples are absolutely linear. As far as the electronics, I've never heard anyone complain about them before, so I'm not aware of any issues; however, since ChromaLord's original comment was towards the overall sound of the box being "a little dark and distant", that kinda suggests to me that it's the electronics he doesn't like, as mentioned in my previous post. Of course, in the end, sound quality is amazingly relative, so there's no point in really debating it. I remember being really proud when Dennis Chambers started using one, though...and Elton John's percussionist John Mahon had one for a while as well, as did King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto. Kinda nice to see toys you helped design being put to use by musicians whose work you really like. dB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nightsynth Posted February 29, 2008 Author Members Share Posted February 29, 2008 Thanks for all the info. And the insider scoop, dB! Is the PCMCIA interface limited to only recognizing 8MB cards, or is it just limited to only recognizing 8MBs? In other words, I have a 512MB PCMCIA card. Will the DM Pro be able (theoretically, of course) to see the card and just recognize 8MB of it, or does it have to be an 8MB card? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dave Bryce Posted February 29, 2008 Members Share Posted February 29, 2008 Thanks for all the info. And the insider scoop, dB! Is the PCMCIA interface limited to only recognizing 8MB cards, or is it just limited to only recognizing 8MBs? No, it'll read different value cards. 2, 4 and 8...even 16 if memory serves, but the SoundBridge software that transfers the samples formats it as an 8MB card, I think. In other words, I have a 512MB PCMCIA card. Will the DM Pro be able (theoretically, of course) to see the card and just recognize 8MB of it, or does it have to be an 8MB card? Probably not. The DM Pro (and the QS synths) were very picky about which cards worked with them. There were only a few, and that was around ten years ago... Plus, I don't even wanna think about the last time SoundBridge was updated. I wonder if there's even an XP or OSX version? Probably not... dB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Real MC Posted February 29, 2008 Members Share Posted February 29, 2008 I have the WIN32 version, should work under XP. I don't think it uses any fancy drivers like audio, should work under WIN9x/2K/XP. I'm not even counting on Windows {censored}sta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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