A lot of people in the edrumming world tend to consider a mesh pad better than most other types of triggers. For this reason I came up with a method to change out the Alesis DM10 Pro Kit’s Pad to a mesh type conversion (Medeli DD-602 trigger Pad). This conversion is not based on a Roland cone method but a more tried and true reflection plate method. The best part is, they only things you will need to buy for this conversion is a mesh drum head (I recomend the Billy Blast mesh without the center patch) and a three sheets of 12″ x 18″ (3mm thick) EVA craft foam (comes in many color, I used black). The kind I used is called Funky Foam which I got at Hobby Lobby (most craft/hobby store should have). The sheets were $1.00 each. The Billy Blast mesh heads (three 8″ & two 10″) were $10.00 each.
Before we get to the video, let me point out that the 10″ trigger pad (if you are upgrading the DM10 Pro Kit) is a touch different than the 8″ trigger pad. You will find a hole in the thick black foam of your pad. The hole is not, I repeat is not something to worry about. You will find that the trigger works just fine with the hole in the very center. So, don’t fill that hole.
Input Jack wiring Diagram
29 users commented in " Alesis DM10 Pad Upgrade Video! "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackGood Video. Very easily explained.
Roland, for example, has a free air space between the head and the piezo, yes? Aside from that free air space, there’s no difference between this setup and Roland’s?
Question, does the last foam piece (agains the mesh) dampen the delivery to the piezo? And thereby you lose some of the finer notes or ghost notes?
Thanks a lot bro! You are my hero!
No, I’m am not losing any of my finer notes or ghost notes. That’s using a DM10. I wouldn’t put is conversion up if I knew it would not be at least as good as a Roland set-up.
Since there’s still foam making contact with the mesh head, how does re-arranging the internals make the pad feel different? I was picturing no foam touching the head…….Thanks for your response, and for the very well done video.
The original set-up in the pad has only an 1/8″ of foam on top of a steel plate. I feels hard when you hit it. You can feel it bottom out. By doing the upgrade to mesh, you get good rebound and no bottom out feel. The foam is now 1″ thick instead of 1/8″. Big difference.
Congrats for your work, I am sure that is a big upgrade, specially the dual zone thing. About the mesh head, I expected anxiously for your post of the conversion, but i thought you would be making like the roland and pintech pads, no foam inside and lots of rebound feel, and of course more silent. Saying that, is it possible to do the dual zone conversion with the mesh without foam (just a foam cone)? Once again congratulations on your website it´s a weekly stop by for me!! Thanks!! Pedro from Portugal
Your making an assumption that the rebound isn’t that great with my conversion. Bad assumption. There is plenty of rebound. Much more than the stock pad.The pad will not be significantly anymore silent if you use a Roland style set-up. No hot spotting with my design. You will have hot spotting with a Roland set-up. If you really want a Roland set-up, it shouldn’t be that hard to do. Thanks for your comments.
Hey Phil, I tried the mouse pad upgrade on my snare pad(which has a roland mesh head on it) and it’s a noticeable improvement in rebound, feel and
pad volume. How much of an upgrade in feel is the conversion in this new video over this mouse pad trick? You must get sick of people saying “Thank You”, but Thank You!
Well, if you are happy with the mouse pad upgrade, you might want to stick with it. I do think that you will get a much better feel over your current set-up, doing the upgrade in the video. The upgrade in the video will make the trigger pad feel more like a typical mesh head pad (think Roland). I hope that helps.
Nope, I don’t get sick of people saying “Thank You” at all. It’s nice to know that I can help.
Hey Phil, what is your opinion on using Pearl Muffle Heads for this conversion, or would the Billy Blast’s be a better choice? I’m new to the edrumming world so any advise would be appreciated. Thanks alot for your time.
You can use the Pearl Muffle heads if you want. A word of caution, they don’t last very long. Most people want to use them just because they are the cheapest, but they don’t last very long (maybe a month tops). Billy Blast is really the best way to go. $10 is not that much more than $5..Before Billy Blast had their heads your choice would have been between the Pearl Muffle Heads or Roland/Hart heads at $35 a pop. I think $10 is not that bad when you look at it that way.
I was wondering if there was a way to turn the dual zone drums single with a stereo to mono adapter and then use a mono to stereo Y adapter to add extra cymbals and things to the kit. I really appreciate the video and the website. Any info on this would be appreciated.
Do you mean splitting a dual zone input into two single zones inputs? If that is what you are asking, the answer is yes. You just need a stereo to “L”"R” mono cable. Like this one at Guitar Center.
To anyone considering doing this upgrade…….DO IT!!! I just did my first pad using Phil’s video as a guide, and the difference is amazing! I didn’t do the dual zone, just the mesh head conversion…..I bought everything he mentioned, plus a $10 soldering iron and a $10 “third hand” work stand. It was very easy, even though I’d never used a soldering iron before. It feels at least as good as a Roland pad. A couple of minor adjustments on the module and the difference is incredible. I had previously done his mouse pad conversion on my snare pad….while that was an upgrade over the stock drum pad, the difference of this mesh conversion over that is HUGE. Thanks Phil!!!
You can also do this with fiberglass window screen instead of an expensive mesh head.
Yes you could, but a Billy Blast mesh head is only $10.00. I have tried the fiberglass window screen before and unless you are a very lite handed drummer I would never recommend that method. Those type of heads always break on me within one to two weeks of heavy use. If you really want to use the fiberglass window screen you might want to use two layers of it to make it stronger.
Agreed. I do use 2 layers, in fact. They still wear out, but it is trivial in cost to replace. A roll is cheaper than one Billy Blast head and will cover all your pads several times.
One thing: does the piezo go above the metal plate or below?
Also, how do I stop crosstalk between the head and rim?
Should be below
With the DM10 you would just tweak the crosstalk settings in the module. I hope that helps.
I’m using a DM5. While it does have crosstalk control, is there anything I can do to physically deal with it? I lose a LOT of sensitivity on the head if I turn up the crosstalk setting.
Phil, is it necessary to cut the circle out of the white foam? I just performed this conversion on my dm10’s snare, I did not solder/unsolder just cut a slit in the foam, reassembled the foam and did not cut the white foam, i dont see a difference in triggering at all. Im using a set of mesh heads I bought from 682drums.com. the snare feels awesome now! Thanks for making the video.
If it works, go with it. I cut it out so I would not have foam pushing back on the piezo element. I thought it might cause hot spotting but if it works with cutting out the circle, I say great. Now the conversion is even simpler. Thanks for the update.
I converted all the pads. They feel so awesome, just like a roland vdrum almost and the acoustic noise level is reduced dramatically! Im very grateful cuz they really were so loud especially the kick drum. Gotta make you wonder why medeli didnt design it with the piezo plate lower in the drum in the first place.
I plan on doing this upgrade next week on the DM10Pro Kit.
Can anyone suggest a cymbal or cymbal pack to compliment the DM10Pro with the same features as the Surges Cymbals. The cymbals are loud and with the mesh head will only sound louder. Thanks!
I would look into the DMPad cymbal triggers. Similar to the Surge but made of heavy plastic and rubber so they are more quiet. Here’s a link to DMdrummer.com that shows the different Alesis Drums Components
I just completed the conversion. I did cut out the white foam too. Maybe I didn’t need to. Either way, it works, and I didn’t have to change any sensitivity or crosstalk settings. Crosstalk actually improved.
Pictures here: http://www.dmdrummer.com/index.php?topic=131.30
I used the Slit method, as all my heads were already dual zone (except the kick). I also spray adhesived the slit closed. I also cut out a t-shirt to use between the dark gray foam and mesh head. It looks good, as the head it white, instead of checkered white/black.
Phil is the man! The heads sound fantastic! Although, in comparison, now the surge cymbals are quite loud.
I just completed my conversion using the exact foam Phil listed as well as the Billy Blast heads. I had ordered the heads a couple weeks ago (also didn’t realize he is local to me).
I was totally prepared to do the soldering until I checked back here and saw that some were just cutting a slit in the foam. Well thats what I did and it saved a boat load of time. I did cut out the circle in the white foam however.
I must say I am very very pleased with the result. I was slightly disappointed with the acoustic noise of the stock drums. This conversion is not only quiets the drum but it feels so much better!
Back to my cymbals, in headphones the Surge cymbals feel so good but playing without through the Alesis drum monitor it is annoying. My friend is buying the studio kit so I may play with the DMpad cymbals since he offered to trade. I would get an extra cymbal and he gets the Surge.
Thanks Phil. Very stoked you took the time to show us.
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