ALESIS STRATA PRIME REVIEW | The BEST Electronic Drum Kit?

[@chuckddrummerNC]

The new update will allow you to use Bluetooth audio now. Didn’t know if you knew that. But. There you go. No aux cable needed any longer👍🏻

[@kajtemme5270]

Awesome! What are your experiences with bluetooth so far? Any difference compared to the aux cable (in terms of sound quality, lag, etc.)?

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

Oh and another thing, in mixer settings, delete ALL the effects everywhere. Then for the kickdrum, set the effect to 100% .. and it sounds a lot more boomy than at 0% .. What effect is still happening here?

[@CodyBDrums]

Are you sure there wasn’t a reverb effect left on the kick drum?

[@ostentatiousostrich]

I can't seem to find any information on how noisy the kick is. I have a Yamaha kit right now and it's not playable after a certain time because the kick sounds like I'm hitting my floor/wall with a rubber mallet.. How does this one sound? It looks pretty noisy..

[@CodyBDrums]

It is actually much quieter than it looks. The foam pad behind the mesh batter head takes away a lot of the noise. It doesn’t resonate at all either like you think it would.

[@ostentatiousostrich]

@@CodyBDrums Phew.. Good to hear. Thanks for the swift response!

[@CodyBDrums]

@@ostentatiousostrich Any time. Thank you for watching and commenting!

[@JulianFernandez]

thanks for sharing!

[@CodyBDrums]

Of course! Thanks for watching!

[@johngdrums420]

What do you plug the xlr cables into from the module? I want to send to my irig and straight to my phone.

[@CodyBDrums]

I go straight to a focusrite 2i2 interface. That connects to my laptop via usb!

[@johngdrums420]

@CodyBDrums hey, i bought the focusrite.. I guess now I run that to my laptop with a printer cable? Then how do i record? Is reaper good for that? Thanks for your help.. So lost.

[@johngdrums420]

@@CodyBDrums also, what cables are you using to the interface? I bought xlrs and a focusrite 2i2 Scarlett 4th gen.

[@CodyBDrums]

@@johngdrums420 The way I do it is plug the scarlet into my laptop with the given usb cable. Download audacity for free, and select recording device in audacity as your focusrite 2i2. Plug the two xlr cables into the back of your strata module and run them directly into the two xlr inputs on the interface. I know audacity isnt the best but its free and works great for just starting out recording your ekit!

[@CodyBDrums]

@@johngdrums420 my focusrite interface just came with a usb cable that connects it directly to my laptop. Its not a printer cable its just a normal usb cable that came with it. Hope this helps man

[@HOARDSNCORDS]

I have a strike. Now I want this. Let's be 🥁 friends. Thanks for your video can't get enough content about strata. Who's going to buy my strike?

[@CodyBDrums]

Thank you for watching! The strata is a nice upgrade in my opinion but strikes are awesome!

[@raykzzz_2321]

This is honestly the best bang for your buck, even $10k kit's don't have an interface that nice looking. Looking to pick one of these kits up probably next year, but I'm already excited for it to be here lol.

[@CodyBDrums]

It truly is! Whenever you get it I hope you enjoy it!

[@preciouswelll.marshilong4133]

Can i get all 14 individual output via usb to my daw if i'm recording (like in roland)...pls answer

[@CodyBDrums]

I don’t think this is possible. I could be wrong but I haven’t seen anyone achieve this and haven’t been able to myself.

[@Kozouakomachan9079]

Awesome alwais✰you are the best drummer!!🥁🎶⚡✨🌠🌟👌🏻👍🏼

[@CodyBDrums]

Thank you!

[@tinop414]

Everyone seems to review the extended version

[@JakeBorath]

Thanks for the review! This was helpful

[@CodyBDrums]

Thanks for watching!

[@uricohen5463]

Hello I have major issues with all the pads and snare . A lot of strick not registered , the hihat is bad

[@CodyBDrums]

So the hihat issues and triggering issues I talked about in my top 10 tips for the alesis strata prime video, feel free to check that one out! Hopefully it can answer some of your questions!

[@Randy-su3db]

Can you rotate the bass trigger pad 90degree so the pedals hit the strike zone better ?

[@CodyBDrums]

Interesting thought! I can look into that and let you know. Theoretically that should work 🤔

[@groethej]

There are hundreds of reviews on the Aleses Strata Prime.

[@CodyBDrums]

At the time I made this video there weren’t many

[@robcole6783]

I am having the same issues with the bass drum hits being intermittent. Gonna try taking the head off and tuning like you mentioned. will report back if that is also the fix.

[@CodyBDrums]

Yeah let us know! Hopefully it works for you like it did for me! 👍🏼

[@outforit692]

@@CodyBDrumshow tight or loose did you make your base drum head? I have no experience with any acoustic drums so I have no reference. I am having the same issue with kick and also snare. I got the module replaced and the new one is working better but still has issues. Thanks for the tips and reviews. Good work.

[@robcole6783]

@@CodyBDrums Well it didn't seem to fix my issue. i ended up resetting to factory settings. That coupled with the mesh head tuned a touch tighter seemed to fix everything for me. it is definitely a learning curve but the kit sounds and plays awesome.

[@CodyBDrums]

@@robcole6783 Nice to hear! Im glad it got better for you. It is definitely a learning curve but you will definitely love it! Cheers!

[@NielsHeusinkveld]

How do you find cymbal edge sensitivity? I find you don't have to smack it that hard to max it out, even at 1.0 edge sensitivity. The sensitivity range for toms snare and kick seems larger. Check the trigger thresholds for cymbals, set them at 32 (silly) and you'll see you need to hit 3x this hard to exceed the threshold. I reported it but doubt it is fixed. Did you do any crosstalk setting? I don't understand the setup, it asks me to hit the snare zones hard, but it just sits there.. I think crosstalk might be a bit bugged and maybe this is responsible for missing the odd trigger..

[@CodyBDrums]

Thanks for sharing! Yes cross talk seemed a bit bugged out for me too. Im assuming a future update will take care of that although i haven’t checked it out after the latest one yet.

[@smellynelly1]

im thinking about getting it, hows it held up over the 3 months this videos been out?

[@CodyBDrums]

It has held up great! I still definitely recommend it to everyone! If you want to check out how i’ve utilized it the last few months Ive put a few drum covers out with it! 👍🏼

[@smellynelly1]

@@CodyBDrums oh sick illl have to check them out! thanks for the reply

[@josephflannery6136]

The update that came out a few days ago has enabled normal Bluetooth audio, FINALLY.

[@CodyBDrums]

Yes finally! Just got done testing it out! 👍🏼

[@CodyBDrums]

I did not! Thank you!

[@chuckddrummerNC]

Good review and great playing man🤘🏻

[@CodyBDrums]

@@chuckddrummerNCI appreciate it man!

[@derekmaynard5619]

Sweet!! Was waiting for this update. Thank you!!

[@SalvatoreAvvento-p3l]

If you connect it to a DAW via USB cable, does every single piece of the set record a WAV track (as well as the Roland TD50) or just midi?

[@CodyBDrums]

It may depend on the DAW youre using and the ability to manipulate whether its going to be WAV or MIDI. Im going to assume its just MIDI though if youre connected via usb. I haven’t tried this though so don’t take my word for it 100%. I record via XLR to a usb audio interface. That, obviously, records wav for each piece.

[@lobbyrobby]

As a beginner drummer playing on a Roland kit I need those stick holders. My right hand stick is always flying out of my hand. Sometimes I'm do fairly good at keeping the beat going with my foot if the stick is nearby. It's usually across the room tho haha.

[@CodyBDrums]

Right! I love having them its so convenient even for an experienced drummer like me. Back up sticks right where you need them! Worry about the hole in the wall later! 😂

[@insanedrummer89]

Hm would I rather buy a DW collectors or rhis 🤔🤔

[@CodyBDrums]

Depends on your situation, but if a DW collectors kit is within your budget that is an awesome option! I went from an acoustic kit to the strata prime mainly because of my living situation, it allows me to play whenever I want and allows for much easier recording for drum covers.

[@mecdrum7]

Thanks all my fears of buying this is explained away I want now lol

[@CodyBDrums]

Good to hear! 🤣👍🏼

[@MichaelParker-k4k]

OK maybe in sales land it's a ten piece in drummer world that's a six piece. But ok

[@CodyBDrums]

Correct!

[@pvampman]

I was thinking about buying one of these to use for my music venue as a house kit. Do you think it would hold up?

[@CodyBDrums]

It definitely would. I think you’ll love it!

[@johnfrith7884]

I’m thinking of switching to an E kit exclusively because I cannot hear my acoustic drums through my in ears and Mics without turning the volume of the music up too loud and further damaging my hearing the bleed is too much even with custom in ear monitors and gunshot headphones over that When I’m just practicing I like to just sit behind the kit with no hearing protection any hearing protection I’ve ever used makes the drum sound crappy so I just play cold turkey. I can’t do this anymore my tinnitus is really bad. I’ve done that through my whole childhood. I’m 44 now I played on the Alesis strata prime at guitar Center, but I could only play on it a little bit with no songs to play along too just drums From what little I played on it I very much liked it Is it safe to assume that if I got an kit with headphones on playing music through with drum-less tracks that I would be able to hear much better and have better clarity and a better experience than my current set up with Drum and Mics what would be the difference between the two in your experience Thank you. Reply

[@CodyBDrums]

Thanks for the comment! I think overall you are going to have a much better experience transitioning to the strata prime. Everything can be specifically fine tuned to make sure you’re comfortable while playing and there is absolutely no bleed whatsoever while playing with music because striking the pads barely makes any noise! Playing an EKit is significantly less harsh on the ears and joints in my opinion. I think youll love the change!

[@johnfrith7884]

Thank you for the reply I’m going up to my local guitar center Wednesday to get one i’m going to trade my gear in toward it. I’m going to get the extra pad and two cymbals as well. I’m very excited about it.

[@CodyBDrums]

@@johnfrith7884 Awesome! I hope you enjoy it man 👍🏼

[@medani]

Also, the module allows you to record performances but i cant figure out how to export recordings off the module to another device, has anyone figured it out?

[@CodyBDrums]

I thought you could import them onto an SD card??

[@medani]

Ah I had no idea I couldn't find anything online, I'll try that once I find and SD card

[@scottyoung_Jeed88]

Your left beater was right on the edge of the trigger pad on the bass drum dude, move the pedal to the right and it might help your kick issues if you still get them, you can see the dark strip behind the head that the beaters should line with, hope that helps 🤘

[@CodyBDrums]

Untortunately, due to the type of pedals, i’m not able to move them any more to the right, otherwise the bass drum would become un level. The strange part too is, the missed hits I was experiencing were coming from the beater that was actually centered on the dark strip… So it’s strange. But thank you for sharing dude 🤘🏼

[@scottyoung_Jeed88]

Ah makes sense dude! no worries at all always happy to try and help if i can, great videos btw!@@CodyBDrums

[@CodyBDrums]

@@scottyoung_Jeed88 Thank you, I appreciate it!

[@DevenKhanna-sm5mq]

@@CodyBDrums Oh, is the clamp off-center?. I have same issue with my Tricks. The only solution is to get a bass drum plate, but I imagine that given the bass drum, there may be issues attaching the plate without damaging the bass drum.

[@CodyBDrums]

@@DevenKhanna-sm5mqNo the clamp of the pedal is centered on the bass drum, but that unfortunately causes the left pedal to be off center where it contacts the battery head. If I move the pedal clamp over to the right to compensate for this, It causes the bass drum to be un level if that makes sense. Are you suggesting there are bass drum plate attachments that can solve this?

[@justaslipknotfan-rt6wh]

Can u do chop suey by system of a down at some point pls?

[@CodyBDrums]

That one is on the agenda! 🤘🏼

[@romburford2718]

Thanks for info bud, I got mine 2 weeks ago and I’m battling the opposite problem of most mainly my kick and snare… both are to sensitive… if I’m just hitting single notes on the kick every 4th or 5th note will double hit on its own… and the snare is even more sensitive.. I went to the obvious settings head sensitivity tried the masking settings and decay , any advice to remedy this ?

[@CodyBDrums]

Interesting… You’re definitely the first i’ve heard complaining of this. Have you set up cross talk settings?? Prior to me setting up cross talk I could trigger the snare drum by literally clapping my hands above the pad. Otherwise maybe faulty triggers but I doubt that. Let me know, and thanks for watching. 🤘🏼

[@zendrummerSG]

I have issues with the kick trigger on mine too. It seems the kick trigger is too sensitive, so sometimes it activates a double trigger. It triggers at max velocity, so adjusting the threshold etc doesn't help.

[@CodyBDrums]

@@zendrummerSG Just curious, have you opened up the bass drum and taken a look at the kick trigger??

[@romburford2718]

@@CodyBDrums and @zendrummerSG that’s what I’m going to try next as well… thanks for the comments guys

[@amoscampista5380]

From the video, it looks like your double pedals are slightly off-center. Not sure if that might have affected triggering properly.

[@CodyBDrums]

Thanks for the comment! They are a bit off center due to the clamp placement on the main pedal frame. Clamping it centered on the bass drum causes the slave pedal to be off centered to the left. Im not able to move the main beater to the right to accommodate for the left, it would cause the bass drum to become un level and wobbly. An interesting thing too is, the missed trigger hits were coming from the beater that was actually centered on the trigger pad, not the slave beater. Someone else commented the same thoughts, just thought id explain further. Thanks for watching!

[@Protpally70]

I have this kit, the kick drum misses triggers/notes often. I hate it. I don’t know the remedy….

[@CodyBDrums]

@@Protpally70 Theres a few things you could try but no garuntee it would work. Is your batter head fully fastened/ evenly tuned? did you mess with sensitivity settings?

[@Protpally70]

@@CodyBDrums I will check my check pedals tonight. Also, make sure they are hitting the sensors as full as can be. :)

[@kitewing]

My Strata prime will arrive in a week. Have you downloaded the latest upgrade where you can connect your phone via bluetooth?

[@CodyBDrums]

Nice dude! Yes I have, it works great! I love it

[@kitewing]

I'm so glad to hear it works. You should do a short video on it. You will get loads of hits!! You have nice chops. I can't wait to get mine!

[@CodyBDrums]

@@kitewingThank you! And that is a good idea 👍🏼 I hope you love yours once it comes!

[@Catman868]

Needs a cow bell

[@CodyBDrums]

Definitely 👍🏼

[@D-Squared]

Bro I love my dominator pedals!

[@CodyBDrums]

They are amazing aren’t they?

[@D-Squared]

@@CodyBDrums For sure! Dig your covers. Good content. Have fun

[@CodyBDrums]

@@D-Squared Thank you! 🙏🏼

[@medani]

Has anyone else noticed their snare drum not triggering while playing along to aux audio? For me about 1 in 100 snare hits just wont trigger, ive switched out the snare drum with the floor tom but still happening. Also, I know there is one sample that has audio of the engineers talking at the end, I cannot recreate it on queue but I hear it about once a week 😂

[@CodyBDrums]

I believe I have. Have you made sure the mesh head is evenly tuned all the way around and sufficiently tight? The heads on the pads come loose on purpose and need to be properly tuned just like a normal drum. You may have already known this but I did not when i got my kit. Letting you know just in case. Also have you messed with any of the sensitivity in trigger settings for this issue?

[@medani]

Thanks mate, I'll give that a try. I can't seem to recreate the issue while playing without aux audio but it may be a coincidence. 👍

[@CodyBDrums]

@@medani No problem!

[@nankleflank5645]

That sample with an audio engineer's voice, is one of the funniest mistakes ever! 😂

[@CodyBDrums]

@@nankleflank5645 Agreed 😂

[@D3f1anCE]

I Have this kit, the main issue im having is getting the Hi hat to register an 'absolute closed' hit without having to press down really hard on my pedal. If i just rest it there like i would with an acoustic set, it still sounds washy...not a game breaker but mildly annoying. did you have this issue and have you solved it ? Also thanks for tip with the kick drum :)

[@chuckddrummerNC]

Go into settings and adjust the bottom parameters for the hihat. That should take care of your issue 👍🏻

[@DavidHutchinsonNRG]

Had the exact same issue

[@CodyBDrums]

Yes I did have this issue too. Let me know if adjusting the bottom hi hat parameters in settings works for you. Otherwise there may be one more thing you could try. Thanks for the comment and watching!

[@josephflannery6136]

Just go to trigger edit, select hi-hat, and on the bottom adjustment there's a top hat and bottom hat, play around with those settings until you're happy with the fully closed spot and you're set :) took me a few days to figure that one out

[@CodyBDrums]

@@josephflannery6136 Thanks for sharing!

[@arsonne]

Played a store model of this and it is… SHOCKINGLY bad out of the box. Like unplayable. I have no doubt that it can be dialed in but for 3500$ I expect it to kinda just work. Comments everywhere about tons of issues already.

[@galgogergo]

Store models being exhibited are notorious for being badly setup and being constantly whacked on tbh... I don't know, maybe if the store assistants cared and resetted the modul from time to time that might've helped in cases like this.

[@CodyBDrums]

I agree there is a TON of tweaking needing to be done once you get it, to get it sounding great. But it is possible, just takes a lot of time and tweaking. Definitely not as great right out of the box like they make it seem.

[@CodyBDrums]

When I tested one at my local guitar center it sounded terrible. They had a terrible sounding kit selected and were playing it through a not so great amplifier.

[@aaronrio4271]

@@CodyBDrumsDo you have any tips for making it sound better? I’m pretty new to drumming and was thinking about getting this kit. But I thought it would sound great out of the box and i’m not too sure on how to actually dial in a good sound.

[@CodyBDrums]

@@aaronrio4271 It’s all going to depend on your taste and how you want your drums to sound. I will say, no matter your preferences, you WILL be able to get the drums sounding how you want them to. It just takes experimenting with the module. A good starting point is just assigning a drum and cymbal that sounds decent on its own in kit edit. Then go into further settings for each one and add effects or tweak however you’d like. Just keep doing it until it sounds good to you! A good rule of thumb thumb ive learned is, if it sounds good to you, then it probably sounds good to everyone else 👍🏼

[@jessew-j2c]

For the floor toms turn the L bracket drum mounts around so they come in from the other way. That way when you mount the drum on the holder the floor toms will be more centered over the rack as apposed to the offset way you have set them up!

[@gyanprakash7445]

Review without a second of play….

[@CodyBDrums]

To keep the video shorter I chose to make a separate video where I strictly sample all of the kits. Thanks for the comment!