For the price, the sound quality is pretty good. It has the alesis drum brain... There aren't a million drum sounds, but enough to get a good basic drum set sound.

The rack system and parts aren't going to win in a "tuff" contest, but do their job. The kick pedal, hardly can call it a kick pedal.......is the weakest link in this set. It isn't very accurate and will "double kick sometimes". I wanted a double kicker anyway, so I bought a kick trigger to work with my double pedal. This made the set about 10 times better. The pads are actually pretty nice. They have good response to them and have a good rebound.

This is VERY easy to set up. The drum machine takes some time to get used to, but that is the way they all are.

It isn't close to the best electronic drum set, but what can you expect for $250-$300? For the price there really aren't any other electronic sets out there. This will get get the job done and is pretty fun to play.

Don't expect a top of the line roland set....how could you for how cheap this set is priced. If you are like me and don't have much extra $$$, this set will do it's job. It is great for practice if you don't have room for a real drunm kit to be setup. Also, it is great if you have neighbors that don't care for a constant 4/4 beat!

Don't know, never have called for support.

It's not going to win any beauty contests, but it gets the job done.

Active Musician

Rock, Metal

OK Alesis design drum module, I think it's a step up from the SR 16 as it states that it's 24 bit. The drums are as good as any 100 - 200 dollar module that you will find but with extra benefits (trigger inputs and MIDI out). Some of the kits are a little over processed. I wanted to address the issue folks have had with the footpedals.... THEY ARE ADJUSTABLE!!! (see Ions web site) A small screw underneath will make them less sensitive. You can even make your own 'custom' spring adjustment for even more travel. I can now keep some slight foot pressure on the pedal as I release it (and between kicks) with no double trigger.

The drum module with it's MIDI out and drum trigger inputs is probably worth the cost of the whole kit alone. Everything else is a benefit. I did expect that the module would allow the user to adjust drum effects on each kit (e.g. reverb) but it does not (just select another kit or make your own up). Also, I expected a stand alone metronome to be on board, but there is not one. I had to make a user pattern OO into my metronome.

I found it easy to get going but I am somewhat technically familiar with this type of equipment. The manual is OK if you take the time to go through and experiment, just don't rush if you are new to this type of gear.

I've had 'Alesis' stuff in the past and it has been reliable so I would expect this ION to be so. So far so good.

I got a very good deal on the kit and if you can get the same deal it makes a great starter kit.

Don't know, hope I don't need to find out.

I own it and intend to use it to start to learn drums more seriously and also to trigger my drum plug ins in my DAW (especially to create my own more 'realistic' fills). It's much easier and more realistic than than using a keyboard.

Hobbyist

Rock, Blues, Acoustic

for the prce of this kit i was amazed at the realisticness of the sounds, it also has a very wide variety, sound pretty good through headphones which were included and even better through and amp or speakers.

the frame was good after tightening up , although some of the wing nuts may break after time and alot of tightening but personally i do not find it alot of work to buy more screws that would fit in as a substitute. the pads are very good , they are not too small therefore can be hit easily and not too big therefore can be put close to each other etc, all it needs is more of them but the expansion pack again is very cheap. drumsticks and headphones are included which is good but what wouldve been better was if it included a stool.

very easy to set up , it arived , i took it upstairs and was playing within half an hour. the drum machine could be hard to use without looking at the manual but even roland kits are like that. and of course hitting the pads is easy although the bass pedal does occasionly trigger twice but not been too big a problem only experienced it twice and ive had it two months.

The frame which from all pictures looked plastic is actually metal which seems to be pretty sturdy , again after some tightening up. ive had mines for 2 months and still seems to look brand new so i can imagine it will last alot longer. obviously which many other people have said the kick pedals are plastic and d not feel like real pedals but ok when you are used to them.

amazing quality for the money, best kit you will get for this price infact the only electric kit you can get for this price and vey good.

only had to use support once this is because i bought two of these kits and only one was deliveed but the other one came in three more days, so no problems with the kit itself.

many peple sais it looks plain but personally i really like the look of it especially because i got two there fore added secind frame to the original frame to make it bigger and with loads ofpads therefore mine look s amazing.

In a Band (famous Locally)

Rock

20+ years playing, 10+ years recording/studio, 10+ years professional

I've worked with artists in most popular genres

Sounds great, uses the world famous alesis sr16 drum machine

i love that everything is easily customized.

woulda got a 10 but theres alot of button press's to get things done, but once you do it a few times, its cake

stronger wingnuts would be nice

200 for a set. i had one of these in my studio about 3 1/2 yrs back. it worked good for quick recordings. i eventually moved and sold everything. now my son wants to get into drumming, and i didnt wanna drop 1000+ on a mid lvl set, so i got this set, and 3 cymbal expansions. he loves it, and it still sounds great like it did before. ONLY complaint i have....they re-designed the brain, the trigger/midi board and drum machine are all one unit now. before, they could be seperated.

takes a long time for email support

its ugly, but it gets the job done lol

I play

Metal/Rock

Guitar 4+ yr., Drums 1 yr.

Classic Rock, Metal

The 50 preset kits are all useable sounds, and you can adjust them to your preferences.

There may be more professionally suited sets out there, but this is by far the best deal. The price just can't be beat for what you get.

Hobby

Rock

I have drummed for several years.....like around 40 years now. I think the sound is great, I hook it through a P A system with 4 15" speaker boxes, and it puts out the sound very well!! The only problem with sound that I had was the kick trigger pedals. I replaced them almost immediatly with a Roland bass pad and regular kick pedal, and a Roland kick trigger for the high hat...that cured that problem, but those cost as much as the set...another 400.00 pretty much. I also added the expansion kit to mine, because I needed a floor tom and ride cymbal.

I never used the sticks that came with it...they were too big for my liking...I like 7A, I had plenty of those, so have been using them. The wing nuts do break, like they are brittle or something. Mine lasted for several months but the other day when tightening, one of them just crumbled. I stole a metal one from my expansion kit, and those work fine. I'll probably find some eye-bolts to replace them next time one breaks. Those would work if the correct size can be found. Everything else is good....well, other than the kick triggers that come with it.

Pretty easy to figure out....the manual didn't help me much, just experimentation worked for me.

If it weren't for the cheap kick pedals, I would give it a 10. That and the plastic wing nut tops that break. Just as well figure on replacing those for a decent set-up. I like the Roland kick pedals..metal...and bass drum pad I purchased for the set.

Well, they are cheap enough. Mine was real cheap...wife gave it to me for Christmas last year!! But if you figure on spending another 400.00 for good pedals and bass pad, that jumps the cost up to about the price of a small set of Rolands.

Never had to use them, so don't know

I really like mine...haven't played my acoustic Ludwigs since I've owned these. If they ever fall apart, I'll invest in another set of electrics....may buy Rolands next time if that ever happens though!!

Have played in bands, drummer in disco bar in the 70's

Classic Rock...60's...Country

You are getting the same soundset as an Alesis SR-16, a dated but still incredibly useful palette for most non-electronic musical styles. Since it's stereo, you'll have to have a stereo amp or something to have good output for playing aloud.

They removed a key feature of the SR-16, and this is quite important...Program Change information cannot be sent to another MIDI instrument, what this means to a budding young MIDI artist is that you will not be able to change whatever sounds your ION kit will be triggering from the external sound source. This is a pain in the ass, yes...but necessity is the mother of invention, so a creative musician will surely figure out how to get around this! ;) The trigger pads are extremely HARD plastic, so it doesn't feel particularly drummy, and your snare trigger will probably lose much of its sensitivity if you play enough. The worst part about this is that if you're playing somewhere that needs quiet, it still sounds like you're banging on hard surfaces and it's pretty noisy.

The manual isn't useful, but thankfully, being able to bang out drum sounds is easy enough. The step sequencing is a little tricky, but the "live jam" recording is easy enough. Setup and breakdown is comparable to most drum kits. Time consuming at first, but then you get good at it if you need to. The size of the kit is another good point. I can break down the frame and slide all the metal pipes into a knee-high tube sock, then I slide it into a tripod case. All the pads and the brain go in a backpack with the wires. It's actually very portable.

As most reviewers have said, the plastic hardware is absolute garbage. I have yet to figure out what to use since apparently too much torque or tension will shatter the plastic braces. I'm in the process of replacing it piece by piece and building into my own "real electric kit." The tubular metal frame is a strong point. Good toughness and light. All drumsticks break. The included set are no exception.

The cheap price is the MAIN REASON TO GET THIS. By and large, musicians are poor and creative folk with big dreams. I am no exception. I got this with the brilliant idea of hacking it up and building some superdrumset with cheapo parts. It's happening, but the cost is escalating and now that Roland is releasing their mini V-drum kit, I'm starting to want that more. But if you're the adventurous, hands-on type, you can use this consumer musical instrument for professional applications.

Since it's a consumer-grade product, I'm going to ASSUME that their support is horrible, but that's just from prior experience with other companies.

It's appealing if you think of it as a chopper... like people who take crappy korean cars and turn them into racecars. I'd like to see other people's Frankenstein kits.

Professional Multi-Instrumentalist

Classical, Punk Rock, Indie Rock, Soundtrack

You get a very basic set of sounds from this drum kit, but quite a few of them are very good. With a little work, you can put together a few decent-sounding drum sets. The sound works very well for home recording, which was the main reason I purchased the set in the first place. My only complaint is that the colume levels are completely wrong by default. The bassdrum should be set to about 50% volume, the drums to around 75-80%, and the cymbals to full volume. Once you tweak the volume settings, this set really comes alive without blowing out your stereo or amplifier.

You really need to get the expansion pack for this set to do anything serious with it. You can set up a standard jazz kit with the included pads, but you'll be missing a tom and a crash cymbal. You can add 4 pads to the kit, which is really nice if you want to set up a cowbell, shaker, etc, or a couple roto-toms.

This drum set is incredibly easy to start out with, but... it's not good enough to rate higher than a seven. You only get a quick-start guide which gives a 1-page rundown of basic functions. Between online forums and fiddly around, I managed to find several features that weren't listed in the guide. One of the first things I wanted to do was to adjust the volume for each drum in a set, since the default volume settings are awful. I eventually found out how to do that by experimentation, but it was not particularly obvious. A proper instruction manual would easily knock this score up to ten.

The tubular frame is excellent, and the build quality of the pads seems to be very good. My only complaint is the fact that you have to overtighten some of the joint wingnuts to keep the pads from moving around. The pads themselves have very good stick response---they have just the right amount of recoil.

I had to choose between the Yamaha DD-55 and this drum kit. I'm glad I chose the Ion. The DD-55 has a slightly better sound quality, but nothing can match the physical configuration of a real drumset. Ion also use much better pedals for the bass drum and hi-hat than Yamaha uses. There are no other electronic drum sets that are even close to the price of this kit, so it's an excellent value. The sound module from the lowest-end Roland kit is still 20% more expensive than the entire Ion set.

I have not needed to call support.

The set doesn't look bad at all, but it definitely doesn't have the sex appeal of more expensive electronic kits.

Active Musician

Alternative, jazz, blues

As others have stated in previous reviews, the wide ranging sounds you can make with this thing are really very good, just not state-of-the-art , top-notch studio quality. Certainly adequate for most folks' rehearsal, gig and recording needs.

The kick pedal is absolute garbage. Seriously, completely worthless. I tried to adjust it many ways, first with the adjustment screws, then adding felt and carpet padding in strategic places etc, and could not get rid of those #$%&@> double hits. Extremely frustrating. I eventually took one of trigger pads from the top rack and retro-fitted it to a piece of plywood attached to the metal frame and rigged up with an old acoustic kit kick pedal left behind in my studio by a drummer since long forgotten. This works real well, once you figure where to plug it in and program yourself a custom kit(s) in the drum machine module, being able to adjust the relative volume, etc. An expansion kit is in my future so I can have a ride and crash cymbal again.

Setup is pretty painless, unless one of the tightening nuts shatters in your hand. The drum (computer) module is a design that's over 20 years old, so don't expect an intuitive Windows or Mac OS type interface. If you are doing anything other than just sitting down and playing one of the pre-programmed kits, you WILL need the manual, and it's not really that great. So ease of use rates a '9' if you are just playing what's already loaded, rates a '5' if you are doing any programming of your own.

Kick pedal is completely worthless ('double hits'), and feels nothing like a real pedal. (If you've played with a real pedal, and are used to the feel of a real pedal, this may make a big difference to you). The tightening screws are fragile and the plastic shatters and lacerates your fingers if you tighten too tight. Caution! Pads don't feel much like real drumheads (but you wouldn't expect them to) You have to play fairly loud through an amp or headphones to drown out the 'clack' of the sticks hitting the plastic of the heads. However, the really important part - their functionality - is great, many different levels of volume and character depending on how hard you hit the pad.

What can I say, the dirt cheap price more than makes up for the flimsy plastic parts and the unusable kick pedal - if you're willing to make the work-arounds necessary to have a functioning kick drum. If you are not mechanically inclined and have a little more money to spend, you might do better elsewhere.

No experience.

Very small, simple and cheap looking kit. But you're not buying this to impress anyone. You want a cheap starter electronic drum kit that you can mess with. The fact that it sounds really good is a great plus.

Former working bassist, now home hobbyist

Pop, rock.

As the other reviews have pointed out, the module that comes with this kit is the Alesis SR-16 drum machine. The SR-16 has beena workhorse for well over a decade, and as was said, it features some sounds that reflect its age. A lot of the samples are heavily reverbed, but there are some really good samples that are great to use. Through the included headphones (which are the Numark HF-125 headphones), the sounds are decent. When hooked up to external amplification, I have found it necessary to adjust to volumes of the individual pads to prevent the sounds from being overdriven. I would suggest that if you are to use this kit amplified, to just save your favorite kit sounds twice. One for headphones, and the other, with the levels readjusted, for amped use. Just remember, the module (and trigger pads) can always be upgraded later.

The Alesis SR-16 is a big plus. I have always liked Alesis, and have found that other products that I own from them have been decent. The headphones are good for practice. The trigger pads are not the best. While they will suffice for practice and light gigging, they are not nearly as responsive as Yamaha or Roland. Then again, the package itself is several hundred dollars less that those other kits, and for this fact they are just fine. They are all single zone trigger pads, which means that they are the same whether you hit the rim or the pad. Needless to say, the cymbal pad(s), being the same as the others, are not chokeable. Small price to pay for the small price you pay.... The pads are velocity sensitive, though again, they are not as reactive as the higher quality pads. The two reasons that I have bought this kit, other than price, is for silent practice and to integrate with my acoustic kit. Through the integration, I can program a couple of the pads to produce sounds that I don't have available on the acoustic kit, and it has so far done alright. The Alesis does have midi, but I have not used the midi features, so I can not comment on its usefulness. The foot pedals for the hihat and kick do take a lot of getting used to. One option for the kick is to get the expansion kit, and use a pad in conjunction with an acoustic bass pedal.

Set up is easy. The SR-16 is fairly easy to figure out, and getting started won't take long. The interface is not as intuitive as I'd like, but the overall unit is not hard to use.

The rack itself is metal. The connectors, though plastic, appear to be sturdy. Others have expressed concern about moving the unit. If you plan on transporting it, just break it won. While putting it together will take a few minutes, it sure beats the risk of breaking the connectors. The pedals do feel cheap, but are not much different from the expression pedals used on many effects processor floor units. Bashing them is a no-no, but since most people probably won't thrash the electronic kit like an acoustic, I don't see this as much of a problem. Despite have an adjustment on the pedals, I have found that they are quite sensitive to your foot's movement. If you are not careful, errant kicks and hihat sounds will occur. Additionally, every now and again, hit the rim of a pad may trigger a faint but audible sound from and adjacent pad. This is do to no shock mounting. I have found that as long as the pads aren't touching, and the pads are good and secure, these sounds can be minimized. Also as stated before, the kit is ugly. Aesthetically, it is not pleasing to the eye. Nor does it look as "quality-like" as the more expensive sets.... Just remember what you pay for it. With the price taken into account, it looks darned good to me.

I think that I have said enough on this issue.

N/A

The pros outweigh the cons on this one. I've wanted an electronic kit for a long time, but they were not in my budget. That's what makes this an 8.

Home studio musician

Rock, funk, alternative etc

The sound quality is good, but the samples are heavily biased towards rock/techno, I wished they had brushed samples for jazz and the like.

The headphones and drumsticks were functional, but you will want to upgrade both if you don't own better already.

Getting the sounds is easy, you just hit the pad. However, the drum machine is a little difficult to use without goingthrough the manual. Multiple modes, individual buttons that change function depending on mode make this a an example of poor user interface design.

The plastic parts feel pretty flimsy, but do the job. I have not owned this drumset long enough to know how well they will hold up. The pedals are flimsy feeling, so I am considering buying an extra pad and using a real bass drum pedal to see if that improves anything.

As an apartment dweller who used a drum pad to learn, this kit is a great step up. It's not a $1500-$3000 electronic kit, so you have to expect to give up some features, but still great value for the price.

have not needed to call them

It does what it does, but does it well enough. Very little "sex appeal."

Hobbyist

Jazz and Rock

The preprogrammed sounds are better then what I expected. Nothing astounding, it is MIDI after all. Some of the kits have far to much reverb, I prefer differant parts of each, but since I lost the manual, I have yet to find a way to program each individual drum.

Since I am a fan of small drum kits, with little more then a kick, snare, floor tom and a couple of cymbals, I'm happy with the number of drum pads that come in the box. The drum machine has a MIDI output, and I'd imagine it could hook up to a computer to access more sounds.

Very easy to set up, albiet sometimes hard to get the drums excatly where you want them. Changing the sounds of the overal kit is very easy. Playability would depend on your skill as a drummer.

The drum sticks aren't exactly high quality, but the kit itself seams decently durable. Not something that could stand up to high abuse, but if treated with respect (as all instruments should) it should last quiet a while. The pedals for the kick and high hat are a little sensitve however.

You get what you pay for, with anything. At least in most cases. With this I think you get a little bit more, not an astounding amount, but its definatly worth what most places will charge you for it.

Recording Engineer, Bass player, teaching myself drums.

Indie, Folk-punk

25 yrs playing drums for several bands

Southern gospel,country,50s & 60s rock

Sound quality is legitamite. Wide range of drum sounds and many genres are included in the module. My only complain are that there is only one crash trigger input. Most of the sound-related problems are within the trigger itself. Sounds fairly high quality through headphones and/or a P.A amp.

Features are alright. Brain is the equivalent of an outdated Alesis. As already displayed in the photo, for a standard drum kit arrangement there is only 2 toms (one can be placed on the lower rack as a floor tom) and one "cymbol" (which does not at all resemble one, it's just a plain platic pad). I do although, find the rhythm compisition feature quite helpful on the module.

Fairly simple. I'm not very fanatic about the tiny drum size. I use Zildjian 5B sticks and they almost all the time clang against each other. Also, the high-hat "pad" isn't extended out enough to be able to play comfortably. Setup took about 3 hours the first time (the wing nuts are a PAIN) but because of the lack of parts it is a fairly simple setup.

Oh boy. Where do I start. Before you worry about ANYTHING else, replace the pedals. They are absolute junk. The high hat has no range at all, and the bass has no dynamics. It's just one volume every hit. It's likely that the brain will not allow updating to Roland pedals because high-hats with range velocioty aren't even programmed into the unit. Just two sounds. Click, or Shwwwwwwwwsh. Not only this but the bass pedal MOVES EVERY HIT. The "drum" pads aren't very sturdy, considering the two that quit working within the past two months. Pads CONSISTENTLY move when hit. My fingers were so strained from tightening I couldn't even turn on the TV set. The sticks are half the size of typical ones. Hardware is very flimsy. Let's just say this drum set has some overall decent features. But when it comes to quality, this contraption is the King of Cons.

It's hard to say but for its cost I can't picture a particularly high-quality drum set of any kind. Not reccomended for any advanced percussionist.

Not 100% satisfied. When the first pad quit working we had to send the WHOLE set back and assemble a brand new one which took several hours. The second time I had to ship my order in and just under FOUR WEEKS LATER the new one had finally arrived. Another time, within the year we ordered a cymbal expansion trigger for it that took almost THREE weeks to arrive. Customer support was a nightmare to contact. It required hours of talking to them on the phone to clear up all the issues that have been created.

I've never been to physically attracted to a musicial instrument. But overall its design is pretty plain (doesn't matter worth much though).

Active Musician

Alternative, Punk Rock, Alternative Metal

couldnt ask for any more from a cheap drum set

ive heard that some have bought it and had some of the pads not work. this happened with my snare. i then switched the cable that connected it to the brain with another i had lying around, and the problem was solved. another problem ive heard is with the kick pedal. it feels very awkward at first if you are used to acoustic drum pedals, but thare are ways around using them. i am personally buying two expansion packs for this. one of these extra pads, i will hook up to the kick part, so i can use double bass,the next two for an extra tom and cymbal, and the other for what is labeled perc1, which is other cool sounds. the kit does shake a little while playing, but its tolerable. for those who are wondering, the rack is metal with strong plastic clamps, so it should hold up well in the long run. another thing is it is a bit small

setting it up is time consuming and could be hard for some, and the brain takes a bit to figure out

shakes a little, and pedals are somewhat a problem

great value, especially with this deal

active musician

rock/metal

Great sounds, good flexibility, rolls sound incredible, especially in this price range! Lots of variety! Very expressive with the "dynamic" sounds. The "dynamic congas" are absolutely amazing!

Great features, everything you need right out of the box. The only feature I would consider is the "line-in" option for playing along with CD's or other media & maybe an additional pad or two (though an additional two pads is only $50, so I can throw those in and still keep the price incredible)

Lightweight solid hardware, great pad sensitivity. The pads have little "spikes" inserted on the underside to hold trim rubber on. These "spikes" have a tendency to fall out with excessive playing... not a big deal.

I was blown away with the quality and craftsmanship in a this kit. Especially for the price range that it's in. Unbelievable!

ION is not great about returning emails.

Being a part-time musician living in an apartment, I am the envy of the local drummers on the quality of the product and the great price. I believe these things are going to sell especially in this market.

Active Musician

Mostly Rock/Country, some R&B (for studios)

Very Good Sound. The variety is great specially those latin beats. Can't find brushes in the meanu, then again I just got the drums about a week ago.

Definetly get the extra pads. I'm getting mine at this site...

I agree with some of the others who also rated this drum...weak pedals. I'll have to contact customer service. One of them seem to double and even triple the sounds at time. The pads overall are good but I also experienced the little pegs on the bottom falling out at times. No big deal since it will not affect the sound. I also experience a problem with the module; the hi-hat output was not working. See my comments regarding Manufacturers customer service.

As a percussionist this is a great addition to my set. Better than other multi-sound percussion pads. I'm also finding time to practice my drums chops. Great Value but I would strongly suggest to come up with better pedals.

I contact them by telephone on Dec. 24th (and they answer)regarding the module issue mentioned above. I received prompt help. I was told to go to the merchant who sold it to me. Best of all, I didn't have to undo the set. They were able to take and exchage the module only.

I didn't bought it for the appeal but for what it could do. If you want looks get a regular non-electronic set.

active musician

I play them all...

The sound is alright. ITs Kinda hard to do stuff on this drum set than on a real one.

The drum module that comes with it is pretty cool you can make your own beats and stuff.

Its pretty easy to get sound out of it but the pedals are just to sensitive.

Its was easy to put together and there were no lose parts are anything.

Yeah its worth your money its a great first drum set.

The set up it wants you to go with its pretty lame so I just set it up the way I wanted to.

Active Musician

Alternative/Rock

The sound is fairly good.You must have a good amp for it to sound good but sounds good through the headphones.It still sounds electric becuase its a fairly cheap kit but an amazing price.

I love having different lots of different sounds, but onlyfive pads.....not a lot of possibilitys.

The foot pedals don't go down very far and makes double bass very hard.Also there is only two foot pedal inputs so if you want double bass you wont have a hi-hat.

The drum pads fall of and break easily.

Great price.

Never talked to support.

Very ugly!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hobby

alternative,metal

This set sounds decent, there are not many sounds to choose from though and only 2 sounds are worth using. Not much variety in drum sounds, each pad only has one sound.

The pads stay in place half the time but you always have to adjust them. The pads on my set kept leaning down, especially the toms. The kick pedal double kick sometimes which is extremely annyoying and ruins your playing, the kick pedals are junk. The hi-hat pad is set up horribly. It is too far to the left, I can't even reach it hardly when I play. The only way to hit it is to have unusually long arms or put your shoulder in an awkward and painful position. This drum set is designed to give you tendoitis. The only way to SAFELY set up the hi-hat is to put it on a rope and hang it down from the ceiling in front of your face. The only good thing about htis set is that it is lightweight and easy to transport.

Like I said before this thing seems like it is designed to give people tendonitis. I plan on selling this and getting a better set ASAP. This set is not worth buying.

This set seems sturdy but the pads won't stay still and you have to put weights in front of the kick pedal to keep them in place. This seems more like a cheap toy than an instrument.

Not worth the selling price at all, I bought mine for $150.

I don't care too much about appearance just playablility, but this set has neither.

hobbyist

death metal, metal

The drum machine itself produces a wide variety of drum sounds, so is pretty good for any noise you want to make.

As use as a stand-alone drum machine, the features are brilliant, but since it is a whole set, it should be judged as such. The high-hat is too slow in responding to the pedal, and the kick pedal on the other hand is set so that the slightest amount of pressure will set it off, which makes it unlike a real set. It also doesn't provide enough pads for anyone who wants to play something resembling a real kit. Worst of all, the kick is not pressure-responsive - it only oututs one volume level which is incredibly annoying as you have to keep chaninging it during playing. It is also a shame that using a double-kick is not possible, nor is using two crashes. The pads as cymbals are very unconvincing and frustrating.

The interface is not too tricky to figure out, although the instructions are not particularly helpful, as they treat it as primarily a drum machine, whereas it is being sold as an electric drum kit.

The pads are the most frustrating and useless things i've ever played. They do change the volume according to how hard you hit them, but they tend to break very easily, and not matter how hard you srew them onto the frame, they always move! This makes playing for any long period of time impossible as you have to keep lifting them up! The small screws on the pads come off quite easily. It seems that this drum kit wasn't built for playing! Both pedals have now broken within a year of purchase, and they can't be replaced or fixed!

It's pretty cheap for an electric drum kit, but that's because it's not very good!

Ion doesn't seem to have an easily accessible website, and almost no good drum shops stock their products as they're not of very high quality. Ion does not stock replacement pedals, which is a shame, since they seem to break easily.

It's not very pretty and doesn't look like a real kit. It certainly is not aesthetically pleasing.

I have been playing the saxophone and drums for 10 years

Jazz, Rock, Alternative

Ok it's not a set of V-Drums. But there is a decent variety of sounds. This was bought for my daughter (amd me). I wanted to teach her drums, and since we have guitars keys and bass thought it would be a fun addition.Was looking for a kit that could sound like her hip hop music to keep her interest.

Has everything we needed.

Took a minute to figure out programming, but was off and running in no time. Some features can be a pain .

I didnt expect super stability, it actually does pretty good there, and doesnt travel, but the pads will never stay put and if you tighten them the wing nuts Will break.also the little pins on the back of the pads fall out all the time. Also I bought mine from a retail store with one left, the day I got it home one of the inputs was bad. I just used another input and reprogrammed it, 3 months later the kick is dead(the pedal is good, its the brain)and it randomly emulates other sounds(hitting the snare makes a cymbal crash)

flimsey, mediocre sound- I can even live with the broken wing nuts, but the brain is trash.Cheap 1/8" connectors. Just buy an entry level yamaha for a few hundred more--it's well worth it.

Can't find their web site yet.

I think the idea was great, too cheaply made in the electronics.

hobbyist

rock

The sounds are based on the Alesis SR-16, which is old and dated at this point. But they are definitely serviceable for practicing. I primarily used this for inputting midi data into my DAW for use with EZ Drummer. Worked OK for that, but not great.

All you need for a basic setup. Although no dynamics on kick pedal and no "range" on hi-hat - it's either on or off.

Pretty straightforward. Nothing complex about setting it up or using it.

This is a crappy toy. Don't waste your time if you've ever played a real kit. The nuts and bolts would snap off in my fingers! The pads wouldn't stay tight enough to remain in the same place while I played. There would also be "double hits". The kick and hi-hat pedals are plastic and cheap. I sold it for $75 before it stopped functioning altogether.

You get what you pay for. This is cheap and not meant for serious use.

No experience with support.

Hobbyist

Rock

The sound is not bad, but it all sounds the exact same.

It has plenty of features. I wish it came with another pad for a floor tom and maybe a separate pad for a crash/ride depending on what you choose.

It's pretty easy to use. Setup is not too bad.

The pads keep moving, and I cant stop them. when playing the other drums, it will crash randomly.

It's good to practice quietly, but don't use it for professional use such as recording or touring.

I don't know.

It's not that "sexy"

Still learning.

70's rock

sound is very good hook it up to an amp for extreme playing. the peddals are sensitve but when you get them going right its awsome sound 233 diff sounds make it more extreme.

it couldve came with floor tom pad and crash

easy to set up doesnt take long. not hard to learn the drumb machine or the pad styles

good quality

very worth it

dont know yet i get this yesterday

it dont look bad at all very nice set up easy to use

active musician

rock

The sound it ok I guess, but when you play rolls and parradiddles it cancels out the sound. Even with top volume(with the ion headsets on) you can somewhat still hear your sticks hitting the "tom drum" pad

Stupid!!!! It kept falling down, even after you tighten it to is maximum WITH PLIERS. You cant even play medium volume with out the whole "Tightend Drum Pads" falling over

Guess its what you pay for

Not preety, plain, generic, you dont get the feeling of playing a real drum set, like I wanted

Hobbyist

Rock, Metal, Solo

7 years musical experience. Gig weekly.

Jazz, Progressive rock, psychedelic rock.

this thing is horrible. the pedals dont work correctly, your limited to the type of drums and symbols you can use. the sound just overall sucks. ive broken like 3 sets of sticks on it because you have to lay so hard to get some decent sound. it plays things you dont hit, and to top it all of, the sound on mine cuts off. it is HORRIBLE.

in a rock band, active musician, aspiring sound/recording engineer

rock, alternative rock, metal, grunge

I have a friend who bought this set and even though it's really cheap it's still not worth it. The sound quality is ok but still kinda fake sounding

no features on the set are really good it's just a really cheap drumset

it's a really easy thing to set up i think it was designed for beginners

like previous reviews the same thing happened to my friend, the pads slipped when hit not too hard and the hi-hat pad can't really be reached if you play cross handed which is how most people play.

this isn't worth it, not even for a beginner set, its more like a toy then an instrument. If you wanna drum I suggest waiting till you have enough for a cheaper roland or yamaha, or if you wanna just start out drumming pay 300 or 400 for a beginner acoustic set which which is alot better than ion.

I first heard of ion from an add for a drumset they are making for the game rock band 2 but never really heard of em before and I have been playing drums for the past 5 years, so I assumed they were not that good but when i played this set at my friends house it kinda confirmed that they weren't good.

along with horrible sound and quality this set would look ugly even if its staying in your basement

active musician

rock, funk, punk, alternative rock

it is terrible i couldnt stand it i had a terrible result with it i am telling u dont buy it bad bad abd

recording engineer

rock

Thanks to it use of the Alesis drum machine, the sound quality is fantastic for the price.

You have to buy the expansion pack to have a complete kit. The ability to set up different drum sets is very useful, however there is no midi in, just midi out so it limits your ability to expand.

It is very easy, although the manual isn't very helpful. If you tinker around with it, you realize that it is user friendly.

This is where things go wrong. The plastic wing nuts constantly break and the pedals are made poorly. However, if you are resourceful, you can get around the wing nut problem by going to the hardware store and buying replacement parts. Plus you can hook up a regular pedal to a drum pad to replace the pedal that came with it. It is a hassle, but for the price of these drums it is worth it. My biggest issue is the fact that the connections on the back of the drum machine are going bad, which began just after the warranty period ended.

If you know that you are getting beginner's instrument, it is worth the price, but if you are a seasoned drummer looking for electronics I would suggest holding out for something better.

This is a utility instrument, not meant to be "sexy" but it looks fine for what it is.

25 years

Rock, Jazz, Country

I owned it they that piece of crap back where it came from... ok this is really heart felt, i had such high hopes and expectations from ion. when i first put it together i was so happy and ready to rock the sh** out of it. well i noticed that the symbols kept on moving so i decided to tighten them and when i did it striped.... then it happened again to more of the wing nuts. then the symbols and snare toms let me tell you people THESE ARE NOT VELOCITY SENSITIVE!!!! My husband called Harmonix to verify what is going on and also called Ion to see what is going on with these problems. ion said that they were velocity sensitive and they told us that there was an update that removed it. haromix said that there was no such action taken for any kind of update. so one of them is lying. and I will find out when I receive my rock band 2 kit tomorrow. so please if you can test these out with out buying them I HIGHLY recommend it.

It really does sound good. For what it is and the cost, I would buy another again if I had to. There are many different sounds of drum kits that are easy to find and use. Its a very strong sounding kit and it sounds great.

The ONLY flaw this kit has is the foot pedals. When used as a bass pedal they double tap while playing sometimes which really bugs when you are playing a good song. Its got everything you need to start playing. It would be nice if they included another pad assembly for a floor tom. It certianly is no toy. The module looks small in the pics, but its a good 9 inches wide. It can produce almost any kit you can think of. The pads are tap sensitive. If you hit softer, they play softer. If you hit them hard, they sound hard. The bars that hold it togeather are metal and its real sturdy. Definitly a good sounding kit.

Its very easy to use. Other then the pedals, I am sure you can replace one with a Alesis DM5 Pro pedal. This kit plays along real easy and is very accurate with a real acoustic drum kit. You can play fast, slow and it picks up the sound fine.

I can't complain, I got the kit for a great price. It would be nice if the clamps that hold the frame togeather were metal. The plastic ones work fine, but that extra strength wouldn't hurt. The pads are built strong and will last a long life of pounding.

This kit is the best value for the money. You won't find a better kit for the price. With an investment in a better foot pedal, this kit can keep up with the best of em.

I sent the website 2 emails in the last week and haven't herd squat. Also the ion forum is down and is never working.

Its a real basic setup. Its not breath taking, but it gets the job done.

Hobbyist

Rock, classic rock, alternative

Decent sound but not totally realistic

cheap expansion packs (2 pads for $50)

Not sure how to use it with other products but it is easy to set up and use. I have not used the drum machine part because that would involve reading the manual which I did find a bit difficult to understand.

Decent quality EXCEPT EXCEPT EXCEPT and I mean to highlight this. The foot pedals are poor quality. I have had the kit for 16 months and almost from the beginning I was getting double strikes on both pedals. I had to take them apart numerous times to fix them. The bass pedal is totally gone now so I had to get a real bass pedal and put a drum pad down there to get a bass sound. The other pedal is starting to go also.

For the price it is great especially if you are not sure if you are going to really play drums seriously. Now that I have been playing for over a year I wish I had a better kit. I will eventually replace this Ion kit and get a better quality one. For beginners it is great.

Did not deal with tme.

The sounds are outdated...my Boss DR-5 is a much better sound module.

An inexpensive child's toy...nothing more.

Easy enough to put together, but don't expect much else.

Cheaply made...again, a child's toy...serious drummers should consider a Roland or Yamaha professional-level product.

No value here...

Not Applicable.

No appeal whatsoever.

Decent, but I didnt get to try it for long

Decent, but I didnt get to try it for long

I bought it used (barely) and it was just over a year old, Drum Module went out shortly there after, probably the motherboard. Very cheap and flimsy.

It's the cheapest for a reason

Very hard to contact, probably on purpose. Replacement Drum module replacement price was quoted higher than the whole kit new.

As wanted a digital kit, 10 - as have have owned this product, 0

It's a great set for my 10 year old daughter- she started drum lessons this year. You can't get a good sounding/good quality beginner drum set for this price.

Light weight, can fold up in a corner. Has everything a beginner needs to get the feel of real drums. We'll probably add the extra pad set later for a ride cymbal and floor tom.

Took me 15 minutes to set up. Everything works perfectly.

The pedals are junk- will probably replace them with something better when they break. The rest of the kit and the Alesis drum machine are sturdy and will last a long time before my daughter will want to upgrade to a professional set.

Much better than a similarly priced beginner drum set. My daughter can practice for hours with the headphones and not disturb the rest of the family, but she can plug into my bass amp and jam with me!

Haven't needed any.

It looks as good as other electronic drum kits on the market, but at 1/10th the price of a Roland.

Gig with local bar bands

Jazz, blues

the sound on this product is great, except for the 'silence' that is produced by one of the kick pedals 15 minutes after we got the thing set up!

the manual was relatively clear in terms of setting this set up, however, for the kick pedal to fail to produce a sound really bothers me. technical support was of little to no use in solving the problem. seems to be an issue with the module, and not the kick pedal itself.

great concept, however, the technical issues makes one really regret every investing in the product.

can't beat the price, obviously, which is the reason why my complaints are one of MANY!!!

technical support suggested that i mailed the module back to have it serviced. i did not have much faith in this offer, and so am left to decide whether to return this item altogether, or just live with the issues.

The concept behind the product makes it very appealing, however, the technical issues proves that 'you get what you pay for'!!

It sounds good but it sometimes it randomly hits all the drums and cymbals. The pedals are terrible after about a week the break and start double hitting. You have to keep on buying new ones

Decent midi brain with several presets. Good for the price. Pads work well with heaviness response. Trigger pedals are garbage.

Same as above...decent midi brain with several setups. Comes with sticks and headphones.

Fairly easy to learn. Basically choose a preset drum kit and play or create your own from the presets choices.

Quality would be fine except for the trigger pedals. The trigger pedals both broke (the contact cover) after less than 2hours of play (light play).

If you ready to go ahead and fork out for some decent pedals..this set would be decent.

Worst support you will ever find. I tried effortlessly to contact them via email for over 4weeks to get the pedals repaired or replaced under warranty. No response whatsoever. Did not try the phone support..it was a long distance number.

It's just a cheap electronic drum kit that works and looks decent except for the junk pedals.

Percussionist for 20 years.

Rock.

Pretty realistic sound for the price, but not a wide tunning range.

starter set is decent, mine didnt come with metal wing nuts (the plastic ones suck) the expansion is worth the money.

Prety much plug and play, the pad customization was a little odd at first

The pads and the frame seem durable enough, the wingnuts, and the pedals not so much. The wing nuts are plastic and break. The pedals just can't hold up to any abuse, they also look cheap.

Overall a good value, you simply can't get anything with the sound or features for anywhere near the price. To get anything better you have to pay two or three times as much.

Not the flashiest drumset but the features and the price make it a very good gift and a good buy

not bad at all--i purchased the extra two pads for ride and floor tom and have the sound coming out of amplified speakers--sounds pretty damn good

I bought the accessories and it made a big difference for a small amount of additional funds

put it together and plug and play

all the reviews i read so far are good except 3 things: 1)BASS TRIGGER IS POOR--I AGREE 2)WING NUTS BREAK--MINE ARE MADE OF METAL, WILL NOT BREAK, THEY MUST HAVE HEARD THE COMPLAINTS ABOUT THIS AND FIXED IT 3)DRUMSTICKS ARE LOUSY---THAT ONE IS WEIRD--USE YOUR FAV'S AND THROW THE OTHERS OUT 0

CAN'T TOUCH DRUMS THAT DELIVER THIS FOR THE $$$$$

SUPPORT????????

PLAYING FOR 40 YEARS

ROCK

Sound is awsome. i feel like im playing a 5,000 dallor piece of equiptment. It is so compatible for any kind of music. u can even hook it up to ur computer to get even more sounds(if there arent enough already)

Every thing was great. Even though i got the expansion, it was all cheep. i think if ur looking for an awsome drum set u should buy this one.

Sooooo Easy. Like a little 5 yr old can play it and make some awsome beats

had mine for 6 months and hads no prob. i abuse the thing so bad and it hasnt broke.(dont abuse it too much cause like with anything it will edventually break)

Omg Its like the best thing in the world Just buy it its cheap and u can always add on

No need for CS (Costumer Support)

who cares how it looks as long as u look good when ur playing it thats all that matters... Right??

This is crap. The sounds are barely passable at best. If you ever owned a Roland kit and expected to get a similar sound oout of this piece of kit...you are in for a rude awakening.

The included sticks should be thrown in the trash. The hardware must almost immediately be replaced with their upgraded hardware.. this is junk.

If I could rate this lower I would. Each kit that I've tried to setup and play for brief periods of time (20-30 minutes) have broken within that time frame. Do not buy this for children or heavy pounders..actually just save a bit more money and look at a Yamaha DTXpress or Roland TD-3 kit.

If you want to buy broken gear then this is great.. otherwise you will waste more time and money in frustration and replacement parts than this thing is worth.

UGLY! Very un-drumlike in appearance. Cymbals are not even remotely cymbal like...

AWESOME sound cause as a Mac user I connected it to GarageBand via MIDI and used all the sounds from GarageBand, I could turn the drum kit to a Techno/Pop/Dance/Rock kit with a simple click of a mouse.

YES!!! Even though i don't use the headphones much because I have the kit connected to my computer, I use most of the time the Harman/Kardon speakers and blow the whole room with sound!!!

SUPER EASY, just buy it already.

GarageBand!!!

This kit came really cheap, and just great because i didn't actually use the sounds of the drum machine since its connected to GarageBand. MAC USERS, buy it!!!

Haven't called them.

"I Want It" the titled said it.

I like the drum sounds and it was really responcive.when I recorded with it the ION worked really well and gave me the sounds that I was looking for

I wish it came with more pads at least enough for one more crash or a ride. the headphones worked great.

I liked how I could still get rim shots but the pedals for the kick and hi hat are too responcive and sometimes will trigger just by shifting your weight on it

It looks nice. the pads wear out easily and I had my triggers go two months after purchasing it. I ALWAYS WORRY THAT IT WILL BREAK.

I loved the set until it broke. it helped me improve my drumming with its sample beats and I like the record function

I called them and they were rude and talked to me like I was the problem with the drum kit when the triggers went. I will not ever buy ION again simply with the service that I experianced on the telephone. they were not helpful and they did not even attempt to solve my problem. they were easy to get in touch with.

I would rather use a company that appreciates its consumers and that stands behind their product if its faulty

From a beginners opinion, the sound of the ION is very amazing. Toying with hard rock, county, or 80's pop with the many sounds available for each pad or pedal allows me to explore things I'd never be able to do with an accoustic set. There is limits to certain things like rim shots. Sound volume based on the power of the hit works, but understandably not as effective as an accoustic. The quality drops using the supplied stereo input type cables plugged into a stereo as the manual suggest, but spend a few buck for a 15 watt amp and everything comes alive! When using an amp you can plug an MP3 player into the stereo imputs, plug in the supplied headset to the Amp, and crank it as loud as you want while playing along to music or practice licks. Biggest complaint I get from the family is the walls shaking from my movement and not from the noise when using the headset. Without the headset and using an amp there still seems to be potential to peel the paint from the walls. For me, electric is the way to go and this set does it.

Everything you need to get started is in the set. A supplied headset will plug into the unit to play alone, but I would recommend using the left and right channel outputs to go right into the input of an amp since the sounds come out much better. Tone control can be adjusted at the amp that way. I wish it came with a cheap little CD of some basic drum lessons or variety of setup positions that would help the new drummer more. I can see how the learning curve of playing drums could discourage a new user. I had to overcome it with the internet and library videos, but it would have been nice for ION to supply it.

Very easy to set up with just a screw driver and about 20 - 30 minutes. The manual does a good job of putting everything together, but an average person could figure it out on thier own. The manual explains how to change all the electronic sounds and options pretty well and it is very easy to make adjustments on the control. There is also a ton of preset drum sounds that are ready to go at the touch of a button. Adjustments of height for different size users is very easy. The entire unit is light weight and compact. I can carry it down the hallway to another room with everything connected and in place.

The set is solid and professional enough for the beginner that plays as a hobby or with a small garage or church band. I don't believe it would work well in a large stage or heavy banging playing. What lowers the quality score is after playing a few weeks I had one pedal start making additional sounds when pressed or held down due to a switch wearing out. I switch pedals and that started doing it too. I was playing with sneakers on, but think that may be too hard for the pedal over time. ION replaced both pedals under warrantee with no problems, and I now play in bare feet which is less pressure, but still can give it a good fast kick and it's working fine so far. If ION would upgrade the switch to make it sturdier my score would have been a 10. I also have occations when I hit one pad with a firm hit and I hear an additional sound echo. This may be limited to the amp power or limits within the unit. So as long as the unit isn't beat on hard, it works great!

Absolutely worth the price for beginner or limit users that want the variety an electric drum set provides. Professional drums sets are well beyond my price range so the ION set has made learning the drums possible for me.

Warrantee claim for both pedals was taken care of very will and had the new pedals within days. Excellent support and response. I even got a call from a tech to discuss my problem. A very nice touch. The ION web page has some good basic info but I would like to be able to get the sound chart incase mine gets messed up or lost. Maybe a few demos or lessons would be nice too.

Beginner hobbyist

Rock, Country

good sound through the headphones.using this as a quiet alternative so i can practice more.

everything needed to get set up was included. seems like a sturdy rig

lots of different sounds to play with. more than enough to learn and practice.

finish and fit very nice.

graet sound for the money.

have not had a problem so far.

not sexy but like i said gets the job done.

The quality of the sound is pretty good, given that it is a beginner set, but it should be used for no more than that, because it is prone to not picking up a hit, or it is to loud or soft, at the most inopportune times.

It needs all the extra pads, I'll just leave it at that

The set itself isn't too bad, but it should not be used for shows, just practice and fun, because when I plug it into the speakers, it either over or underpowers them for the necessary sound.

If you just want something to have fun with (buy the expansion sets, though), then it should suit your purposes, but don't expect it to be great for shows or anything

Again, its nice to practice on, because its quiet, and it is fun to play for recreation, but I use my Tama Swingstar (acoustic) for shows

I have to say I am very impressed with this unit for the price. The drum module is an ION badged Alesis SR16, which has very good drum sounds. The pads are velocity sensitive which to me is also impressive at this price point.

The rack/stand is sturdy and very easy to put together. The unit is more "kid size" than adult, but I bought this for my son to learn drums on. This is essentially a kid size electronic drum kit with full size quality sound. The only thing I would improve on is the kick pedal, but at this price point that might be too much to ask.

Time will tell of course, but at this point I'm very satisfied. I've had an Alesis SR16 for years so I know it should last.

IMHO, this is an excellent value for what you are getting. Essentially a kid sized electronic drum kit with full size sound.

Can't say, didn't need support.

It's also very cool to have these around to beat on.

Hobby, former active musician

hard rock

It sounds really good with the headphones or a good speaker setup.I the pads are very responsive and the smaller area has actually improved my playing.

The drumsticks broke the same day I got the set but the rest of it is good. I wish they gave more info on the drum machine.

seems to be a good quality prod, but there are these plastic pegs behind the pads and the just keep falling out. Also if you play hard n fast the pads keep sliding back as the fastners are plastic.

You get more than you pay for!

If u cant get a real set for whatever reason, this is PERFECT to practice.