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I bought an Alesis DM8 Pro a while ago to teach myself drums, and have since left it in a big pile of cords as the drumming was really not enjoyable. For those who drum, there's a reason why real drummers don't like electronic drumming; it's like playing guitar with gloves and earplugs on. The tactile feedback from eDrums are usually horrible as they're just rubber pucks with piezos cast into them.
That's why I bought the Realdrum kit. These drums are supposedly very similar to actual drums that players play, but I found that the springy liveliness that an actual drum has was totally missing from the experience.
The problem is that the sensor is a metal plate with a piezo attached under a thin layer of foam and backed by a bunch more foam. It's the stinging feedback of striking metal with a stick, with the ballistic deadening of a sofa. Horrible.
So...I've been studying online. There's a few different companies that offer mesh conversion kits for the Alesis Realdrum, but being poor I didn't want to invest $100 into something I didn't know would work. That's why I went with plan B.
A roll of dog-proof screen door mesh, a roll of mason line, a box cutter and an upholstery needle.
I took the head off of the 8in drum, ostensibly known as the worst of the bunch as far as rebound and sensor quality. I cut out enough for two layers of mesh, sliced the mylar head off of the rim of the old head and sanded the edge until smooth, and started doing a whip stitch (then switched to a blanket stitch when my wife taught me what to do) to get the mesh onto the hoop.
I then took the piezo plate and moved it a bit, pulled out the foam underneath it and replaced it in a different order, wedged the improved frankenhead onto the wooden frame and tightened everything down.
Holy moley, what an improvement. Beforehand I tried to stay on the best playing of the stock drums, the 12" ones. This 8" one plays WAY better than the 12"s. Lively as heck.
I'm gonna post some pics of the process on this process over the next couple of weeks I think. It's worthwhile to repeat what I've seen online.
That's why I bought the Realdrum kit. These drums are supposedly very similar to actual drums that players play, but I found that the springy liveliness that an actual drum has was totally missing from the experience.
The problem is that the sensor is a metal plate with a piezo attached under a thin layer of foam and backed by a bunch more foam. It's the stinging feedback of striking metal with a stick, with the ballistic deadening of a sofa. Horrible.
So...I've been studying online. There's a few different companies that offer mesh conversion kits for the Alesis Realdrum, but being poor I didn't want to invest $100 into something I didn't know would work. That's why I went with plan B.
A roll of dog-proof screen door mesh, a roll of mason line, a box cutter and an upholstery needle.
I took the head off of the 8in drum, ostensibly known as the worst of the bunch as far as rebound and sensor quality. I cut out enough for two layers of mesh, sliced the mylar head off of the rim of the old head and sanded the edge until smooth, and started doing a whip stitch (then switched to a blanket stitch when my wife taught me what to do) to get the mesh onto the hoop.
I then took the piezo plate and moved it a bit, pulled out the foam underneath it and replaced it in a different order, wedged the improved frankenhead onto the wooden frame and tightened everything down.
Holy moley, what an improvement. Beforehand I tried to stay on the best playing of the stock drums, the 12" ones. This 8" one plays WAY better than the 12"s. Lively as heck.
I'm gonna post some pics of the process on this process over the next couple of weeks I think. It's worthwhile to repeat what I've seen online.
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