Alesis Nitro Mesh E-Kit

91
WWW.MUSICRADAR.COM/RHYTHM NOVEMBER 2018 |
PRICES
£339.99
CONFIGURATION
Rubber kick tower;
4x 8" mesh pads;
3x 10" single-zone
cymbal pads
(choke-able crash);
Hi-hat control pedal;
Single bass drum pedal;
Nitro Mesh module;
Four-post aluminium
rack
FINISH
Black
MESH HEADS
Yes
KEY FEATURES
385 individual sounds;
40 kits (24 preset and
16 user);
60 play-along songs;
USB/MIDI;
5-pin MIDI in/out;
Aux in (mini-jack);
Headphone out
(mini-jack);
L&R master outputs
(jack);
2x additional trigger
inputs (1x TRS, 1x TS)
CONTACT
Alesis
www.alesis.com
www.inmusicbrands.
com
Essential spec
VERDICT: This compact Nitro Mesh is
absolutely ideal for younger drummers
or even as a basic practice kit for more
established players. It’s perfect for
beginners and we’re blown away to see
a mesh kit at this price.
BUILD QUALITY
PLAYABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
RATING
rather than vertically, once the snare and toms
are in place there is no noticeable hardware
on display.
The small curved module plays host to 40
kits, which break down into 24 factory presets
and 16 empty slots. There are 385 individual
samples onboard including those that can be
used to alter existing kits or create brand new
user kits. There are also 60 built-in MIDI
IN THE ZONE
All pads are single-zone except
for the dual-zone snare pad
SMALL FOOTPRINT
Compact and ideal for squeezing
into tight practice spots
ALL IN
The kit comes with everything
you need to get started
sequenced playalong tracks which, although a
little cheesy, span many genres from rock and
funk to Latin and jazz – useful for budding
drummers. The module also has a simple
layout and sports some basic coaching
functionality as part of the inbuilt metronome.
Hands On
Building the kit from scratch takes very little
time and we’re delighted with how compact
the kit is once the mini four-post rack is
erected and pads are placed. This kit is as
easily adjusted to suit a small child as it is for
accommodating an adult. The supplied cable
loom is also a great time saver when it comes
to connecting the pads.
The kit presets are on the basic side but
this is to be expected for an entry-range kit.
From a comparative price point, the inbuilt
samples are above average. With a wide
range of styles and a mixture of acoustic,
electronic and percussion-based kits, the
Nitro Mesh is ideal for someone starting on
their drumming path or as a basic practice kit
for players a bit further down the line.
With this type of drummer in mind, the
dynamic range is more than adequate.
Multiple velocity layers allow ghost notes and
accents, plus of course rim shots on the snare
drum. More simplistic patterns are perfectly
gratifying whilst more advanced phrases and
intricate ghost note patterns do not
translate so well.
The dual-zone snare pad offers
rimshot and cross-stick capabilities
by striking the rim. A gentle tap will
play the cross-stick while a more
forceful hit will trigger the rimshot
sound. Unfortunately, this can be
tricky to keep consistent and
resulted in unwanted triggering. For
this reason, we preferred the kits
without any cross-stick sound. It
became apparent whilst using the
plastic rims that they’re quite noisy in
comparison with the more common
rubber, however, the mesh heads
themselves are actually relatively quiet.
The inbuilt songs aren’t of the best
quality, but playing along to your own
music is easy via the aux input. MIDI
capabilities also make it possible to
rig up with software like Superior
Drummer should you outgrow the
inbuilt kit sounds.
Experimenting with the extra trigger
inputs we were able to set up a second
crash and fourth tom, which makes for
some enjoyable practice time. We used
our own hardware to mount the additional
pads as it looks like it would be a tight
squeeze to fi t them onto the existing rack,
particularly the extra fl oor tom.
RHY287.gear_alesis.indd 91 10/8/18 4:54 PM