How To Set Up Alesis Nitro Drum Kit

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If you're reading this right now, you almost likely already know that the Alesis Nitro is one of the cheapest electronic pulsate sets bachelor.

The visitor has made a remarkable impact on the electronic drumming globe, creating many lines of different kits for all budgets and skill levels of drummers.

Alesis Nitro Mesh Review at a Glance

Alesis is no stranger when it comes to making affordable electronic instruments. The Nitro Mesh is a perfect introductory kit for beginners and intermediate players.

Alesis Nitro Mesh

A keen introductory electronic kit for beginners

The Alesis Nitro Mesh is perfect for new drummers—it'due south affordable and fun to play.

Great brand name
Affordable
Mesh heads

Sounds aren't the greatest
No loading custom sounds or samples

The options a new drummer has for e kits today are staggering, especially being that they are and then affordable.

I retrieve the first kit I bought, my Yamaha DTX, being then expensive. I just needed a kit to play in my higher apartment. That was almost ten years ago and my accept things changed.

That being said, the lower-end of kits on the market place is flooded with unlike options, mostly from Alesis.

There'southward the Nitro, Surge, Command, Crimson, Burst, Forge, DM10, and others. How can you choose when they all look so similar?

We will help you figure that one out. Today we'll be breaking down the Alesis Nitro Mesh (Sweetwater) kit, giving the pros and cons of all features.

Alesis Nitro Front — Alesis Nitro Mesh (image courtesy of Alesis)

From start glance, the Alesis Nitro looks to be an impressive kit.

You get the Nitro module, four tunable drum pads, a pocket-size kick pad, three cymbal pads, a hullo-chapeau controller pedal, and a kick pedal.

1 thing to notation is that this is a cheaper electronic kit. Information technology's not going to take all the advanced features that a top-of-the-line kit may have.

The added do good, however, is that you lot won't take to pay thousands of dollars for your kit.

At that place aren't too many differences between this kit and the Alesis Surge Mesh. The Surge includes a bigger kick pad, a bigger snare drum, and dual-zone tom pads. This might not be a big deal if y'all're simply using this kit for practice.

Visual reaction

The all-black design looks awesome. The build quality isn't terrible either. Ane would expect the kit to exist made with poor materials, merely Alesis has washed a corking job making quality affordable.

1 thing to note: the Nitro Mesh is an upgrade of the original Nitro kit. The older kit featured prophylactic pads exclusively.

They seem to be phasing out the original model, as I can't observe information technology for sale anywhere anymore.

Pros

Mesh heads
Great price
Crawly for a beginner
Decent pulsate module

Cons

Pads are relatively pocket-sized
Sounds aren't the greatest
Kick pad is pocket-size

Notable features of the Nitro Mesh

The Nitro Mesh shares a common design and look to other drum kits in Alesis's catalog. Let's take a await at some of the best features.

Eight playable surfaces to drum your centre out

The Nitro kit features your standard five-slice pulsate setup, consummate with four drums, a kicking pad, and three cymbals.

Dual-zone snare

The included snare pulsate is in fact a dual-zone pad, allowing you to get a different audio from both the mesh pad and the outer rim.

Unfortunately, the tom drums are just unmarried zoned.

Iii cymbals

Included with the kit are three cymbal pads: a ride cymbal, hullo-hat, and a crash that is chokable. All iii cymbals are 10″ in diameter.

Mesh drum heads that are tunable

A huge upgrade for this kit is obviously the heads. The original Nitro shipped with regular rubber pads, which are less than platonic in today'southward marketplace. I for 1 am happy these relics volition finally be put to death!

The Nitro Mesh ships with, as the name implies, mesh drum pads. I'thousand sure you've seen or felt them before. They are mostly reserved for higher-terminate kits from brands like Roland.

What are mesh heads?

Simply put, mesh pulsate heads are a blazon of playing surface for kits, both electronic and acoustic, that are made from strands of nylon woven together at a 90 degree angle.

The heads are designed to be extremely quiet and are surprisingly durable.

Boisterous drum heads

Mesh drum heads are superior to condom pads in that they feel better to play on, in my opinion. However, they practice place a false sense of realism on your playing.

Mesh pulsate heads act as a trampoline does.

When switching dorsum to an audio-visual kit, you may accept a harder time playing than normal.

The dissonance of the pads

First off, despite what I said earlier about electronic pulsate kits being quiet, the truth is, they may still be loud.

Eastward drums may in fact be significantly quieter than real drums, but they tin pose a problem even so.

I recall beingness in my get-go apartment and having my next door neighbour quite upset with me playing my kit after a certain time.

Rubber pads are going to be much louder than mesh pads.

That doesn't mean that mesh heads volition be the winner of the quietest playing surface.

Yamaha makes an electronic drum kit with Textured Cellular Silicone that is far quieter than mesh drum heads. Take a mind to the noise comparing beneath.

With all this being said, if noise a concern, you may desire to cheque out 1 of Yamaha's DTX kits with TCS.

Overall thoughts on sound

The Alesis Nitro Mesh is a very entry-level kit. The sounds you get included are not the greatest. In fact, I think they sound pretty poor.

But as I've mentioned before, it is a slap-up entry-level kit that serves a need for many beginning drummers or those needing a reliable drum kit to practise quietly with.

The size of the kit

The Alesis Nitro is a modest kit.

The superlative of the kit alone tin exist a big problem if you're tall, say over v pes 10 inches. That being said, how loftier you sit on your throne can as well have an impact here.

If you're having an event with drum heights, you should be able to notice a DIY solution to raise the entire rack upwardly off the floor.

Pads are very shut together

Being that the kit is so small, y'all will have to get used to playing with a tighter, more compact setup.

When you return to your audio-visual kit, you lot may find the setup to vary drastically from what yous've been used to.

Setting the Kit Up

The instruction transmission provided for the Alesis Nitro isn't the most intuitive, so be prepared to spend a little time setting up your kit.

Yous should be able to go up and running in a half-hour to an hr if yous're a seasoned drummer. If you lot're a parent of a footling drummer, setup time may be a bit more.

Don't simply accept my word for information technology. Be sure to read some owner's reviews at Amazon before you lot decide to purchase.

Alesis Nitro vs. Turbo?

Some other option yous may be considering is the Alesis Turbo Mesh. While similar, it doesn't have every bit many features as the Nitro. In particular, the Turbo doesn't feature a boot tower.

Instead, you get a kicking pedal – 1 that's not as realistic equally using a kick belfry. The module is also a flake more limited on the Turbo. Some nutrient for idea.

So, if you're thinking of picking upwardly the Nitro, or any other electronic kit, I highly propose shopping with Sweetwater, and non Amazon. Their customer service is far better and you'll frequently times notice better deals or bundles.

Plus, you'll be supporting an crawly music retailer and not Jeff Bezos, who grew his net worth $24bn in the midst of the 2022 pandemic. Food for idea.

Alesis Nitro Mesh Drum Kit

Blueprint
Functionality
Compatibility
Sounds
Value

Summary

I tin can't get plenty of Alesis these days. They have done a remarkable job bringing electronic drums to a wider range demographic. Those who could never afford an electronic drum gear up now may have a chance. Drumming in an flat isn't as tough as it used to be. The Nitro Mesh is super affordable and is perfect for beginners and pros who demand a tranquility kit to practise on.

View Price at Sweetwater

Practise you own an electronic drum kit? What practise y'all think of the Alesis Nitro Mesh? We would love to hear your feedback! Thanks for reading.

Images courtesy of Alesis.com