Alesis Strike Kit Electronic Drum Kit

A killer value on a stage-ready e-drum set, the Strike Kit offers wood shells, mesh heads, and the Strike module with a color screen and individual outputs.

Overall User Ratings (based on 6 ratings)
  • Overall:
    3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Sound:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Features:
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Ease of Use:
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Quality:
    3.5 out of 5 stars
  • Value:
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Manufacturer Support:
    4 out of 5 stars
  • The Wow Factor:
    3.5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars
(6) (see rating details)
Submitted April 14, 2017 by Matthew B in Waco, TX

"Alesis moves up again!"

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
This review is after having my kit for a little over a week. This is my third alesis kit (DM8, DM10X, and now Alesis Strike). I'm very limited for space atm so I opted for the smaller package. The smaller Strike set is identical to the larger "Pro" set minus 2 cymbals and a tom - the brain/rack/etc seem to be identical. The Rack: Far superior to the (honestly) junk rack that came with my DM10X. The fittings are pretty cheap but they have been quite sturdy so far. It's not to the level of stability of a good Gibraltar rack with cast fittings but I am pretty hard on drums and have not had a single fitting/rack arm move.Drum Triggers: Insanely sensitive, so much that my snare will shotgun trigger on it's own if you turn the trigger threshold all the way down. There is a small dial on the side of each drum allowing you to adjust the sensitivity - I don't know why you would need these, setting the drum-dial to 50% I still had to adjust the module sensitivity for that trigger down to 10-15%. I will note that sensitivity was a HUGE issue on the older DM10X systems - I'm glad they resolved this.Cymbal Triggers: It's nice to see a two cymbal stack for the high-hats. Took some fiddling to get the pedal threshold where I wanted them but I'm more comfortable now. They do feel unnaturally thick though. Transitioning across edge/bow/bell on the ride feels fantastic - the ride cymbal is huge and is the most authentic sound/feel of all the cymbals. The crash cymbal is 2-zone with choke, and despite some tinkering, I still get the occasional bow triggering when I really wanted an edge trigger. Hats are two-zone too, in theory I thought I would love this but again it's been more of an issue than a benefit.Sound Module [Genera]l: First off - what speakers/headphones you use matters ALOT. I've only used my AT M50x so far, which are notably sensitive headphones, and noticed the headphone output is kinda noisy at full volume. Like the DM10 before, this module features volume sliders but thankfully the A/B bank system is gone (who's idea was that anyway??) and now every instrument has it's own slider. However, I have noticed that sometimes the internal volumes reset to some default value and I have to "jiggle" the slider to get it to re-register where the slider is located. The screen is full-color but it's worth noting the user interface design is pretty unsaturated and thus doesn't take full advantage of that. The screen is, however, very easy to ready. Sound Module [Sounds]: This is pretty important and I was honestly concerned based on what I heard of Texas Tim Root from NAMM. I'm not sure if they were using an older sound engine or if it's just the lack of dynamics in Tim's playing but I was much happier with the engine once I got to play it. Interestingly enough, some of the snares sound really good when playing accented rolls (something the DM10 was terrible at) and some just shotgun away - either way there are definitely some great sounding snares! I've noticed Alesis likes heavy and full-bottomed tom tones and I'm happy to oblidge - toms sound great and dynamic. All triggers have an A and B layer sound set (each with it's own volume/tone adjustment) which allows pretty impressive customization. The most pleasant surprise was the instrument customization interface and sound file-system. It's fantastic and beats the snot out of anything I have ever seen. Sounds engine is still not recording level but who records straight from a e-drum brain anyway?Sound Module [Accessories]: This Strike and Strike Pro use the same sound module - and for the Strike Pro all inputs are filled by the included triggers/pads. What is more interesting is the 8x 1/4" channel outputs (in addition to the LR mains outputs). I'm not sure the intended use of these outputs - midi recording is more suitable for studio work. The real application I could see is live applications so the FOH engineer has more mix-control, however, my experience with even larger clubs is they have limited 1/4" snakes. If the outputs were buffered XLRs - now that would make some engineers happy! Hooking the module up to my PC using the built-in USB was insanely easy and I was trigger EZDrummer in no time!Final Thoughts: Alesis has really stepped up the game this generation and fixed a great deal of the previous issues with the DM10. It's honestly not fare to compare the two. The rubbers across the board are better, the rim silencers on the DM10 pads barely lasted me a month.

Musical Background:

Light-gigging for several years

Musical Style:

From ZAO to Die Antwood to Imogen Heap to Matchbox 20...
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Submitted January 12, 2018 by Jan C in Hamilton, OH

"Love it"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
This seems to be a quality kit. I used to have some top of the line Roland V-Drums (circa 2008) and compared to those this Alesis kit seems to trigger much more reliably and predictably. Fantastic library of sounds available. Now I wish I had gotten the Pro kit, or I wish there was an expansion kit that would take this up to the Pro kit (one more pad, 2 more crash cymbals).

Musical Background:

Amateur, playing drums ~45 years

Musical Style:

All
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Submitted May 24, 2019 by Jinx W in Honolulu, HI

"Heard horror stories about ride cymbal"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
This kit is amazing! I bought it in December. There were barely any instructions for the setup, but it should be easy enough for most people. There are so many ways to customize the sounds you get. Sensitivity, sound, tone, delay, reverb, echo, decay, and other things like cross-talk can all be adjusted to your liking for every trigger on every zone of every pad or cymbal. With that said- the factory settings on the module are optimized very well where you don’t have to fool with things like cross-talk for your kit to sound great (if you don’t want to read up on that, and you just want to play your drums). Now to my title. I read a lot of reviews about different kits before I bought this one. I’ve wanted drums for 10 years and finally had enough money. I read about problems witht the ride symbal not triggering properly, and it was an issue, initially. The ride has two outputs, and I tried switching the cables around every different way. I tried plugging one of the ride cables into a cymbal input and changing the sound of that cymbal to a ride sound. I plugged toms into the ride input on the module to see if a tom would trigger the ride sound (trying to find out where the problem was coming from). Nothing worked. Alesis was tricky to get ahold of. I got some run-around through emails, and I finally called them. The customer service rep told me it was a compatability issue between the ride cymbals and the cables they were sending. That sounded like bull to me. It just seems like regular 1/4” cables in a harness, marked for different drums and cymbals by relative distance from the module. But I was wrong. The CSR from Alesis said they would send me a new set of cables. I got the guys to stay on the phone until an email confirmation came in to say they were sending it. The cables came to Hawaii in three days, and it solved the problem immediately (despite me shaking my head the whole time I was switching them out- thinking it wasn’t going to work and I was wasting my time). Overall, the kit is so amazing I’m glad I didn’t spend more on a Roland kit.

Musical Background:

Playing guitar for 20 years (since I was 9), bass for a decade, some keys for a decade, and college recording classes 2012-2014

Musical Style:

All classic rock- Beatles/Pink Floyd/Hendrix/Zeppelin/CCR/Tom Petty...
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Submitted September 23, 2018 by Steven Pinnock in Independence, MO

"Strike kit trigger fails"

Overall: 2 out of 5 stars
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The kick drum trigger completely cut out after one month, the crash trigger is at 65% reliability and the rubber material on the crash is getting warped and has air pockets on top of it. I dont know if I got a bad make and model of the kit but for 1700$ and their horrible warranty program, it's not worth the risk.

Musical Background:

15 years of all drumming styles

Musical Style:

All styles
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Submitted August 1, 2018 by Matthew T in Wildwood, MO

"Not Ready for Primetime"

Overall: 2 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Physically, the Strike kit is solid. The box weighed a ton and each item appears well-built. Fully set up, it definitely doesn't resemble many e-kits that look like toys. The feel of the heads is also quite nice. Slightly more bouncy than real heads, but still nice. The main problems with this kit are two-fold. First, the high-hat. Getting consistent sound from it is difficult. And forget about getting any sizzle. It's a one-trick pony. In addition, the "real" kit sounds from the module just don't sound real, notwithstanding the hundred plus sound options. Updating to the latest firmware hasn't solved either problem. I've also had difficulty getting the module to work with iOS GarageBand. Alesis support says it "should" work, but there's significant latency and not all the instruments will trigger. I purchased this kit specially for home recording, but thus far it hasn't been able to meet that basic requirement. Unfortunately, these short-comings leave me with an expensive paperweight.
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Submitted September 2, 2020 by a customer from gmail.com

"Alesis Strike Pro Set electronic drum set"

Overall: 1 out of 5 stars
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Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Nothing but trouble from the beginning. The high hat only triggered part of the time. Went through all the manufacturers troubleshooting streps with no solution. Figured I could get by using the ride cymbal. 3 weeks later the ride completely stopped triggering. Sent it back. Not trying to bash Alesis. I have had 3 different models through out the years and loved them. I actually replaced the Strike kit with a different model of Alesis. The guys at zZounds was a great help as usual. Recommend these guys highly.
Sound
Bought this set thinking I was upgrading. WRONG!The hat cymbal would not work part of the time. I could live with that some what by using the ride. 3 weeks later the ride completely stopped working on the edge and bell. Sent it back. zZounds was a great help. Great bunch of guys to work with. Not trying to bash Alesis. I have had 3 different sets of Alesis and loved them Iactually replaced the Strike set with another model of Alesis.
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