Alesis has carved out a powerful position in the ever-growing electronic drum kit market, thanks to an admirable focus on affordability while striving to push features and specs - mesh heads have long been standard throughout the range, for instance.
Now the US firm has focused in on the sometimes-lacking edrum hi-hat experience. Its new flagship e-kit, the 9-piece Nitro Ultimate, tackles the issue 'head-on' with a mounted controller that works with traditional stands, as opposed to the faux pedal switch that's often deployed to occasionally suboptimal effect. The controller hosts a 10-inch dual-zone cymbal, while the stand/pedal add a traditional feel to hi-hat proceedings. Nice.
While the hi-hat is the star of the show, the rest of the kit is undeniably well-specced, especially for a kit at this price ($899 USD, €849.99, £719.99), and can be paired with a dedicated 80W speaker system, the also-new Nitro Amp Pro.
At the heart of the kit, of course, is the all-important module. In the Ultimate's case you're looking at a total of 52 kits (36 factory and 16 user programmable), thanks to BFD software integration (including the Dark Mahogany Expansion Pack).
Breaking it down, you have around 640 drum, cymbal, percussion and electronic sounds to play around with. As a decent little bonus, you'll also get a 90-day subscription to Drumeo, an online learning platform we have no hesitation in recommending.
Back IRL, there's a 10-inch dual-zone sanre, three 8-inch dual-zone toms, that hi-hat controller, three dual-zone 10-inch crash cymbals (two crashes and a ride), and an 8-inch mesh kick drum tower, with pedal.
The Alesis Drums Nitro Ultimate electronic drum kit is available now for $899 USD/€849.99/£719.99, while the Nitro Amp Pro has a recommended price of €149.99 /£124.99, though it's only available outside the US.
Nitro Ultimate features
- 8-inch mesh kick drum tower with kick pedal
- 10-inch dual-zone mesh snare with metal hoops
- Three 8-inch dual-zone mesh toms with metal hoops
- 10-inch dual-zone hi-hat cymbal with stand-mounted controller (works with traditional hi-hat stands)
- One 10-inch dual-zone ride cymbal and two 10-inch dual-zone crash cymbals
- Rugged 4-post steel rack with locking clamps
- Advanced drum module with 52 total kits and 640+ professionally designed sounds
- Bluetooth audio streaming for jamming along with songs or lessons
- USB MIDI connection for virtual instruments and recording software
- Comprehensive I/O: dual TRS main outputs, stereo headphone output, auxiliary input
- BFD Player software with Dark Mahogany Expansion Pack
- 90-day subscription to Drumeo interactive lessons
Nitro Amp Pro features
- 80 watts of drum-optimized amplification power
- 8-inch woofer + 2.5-inch tweeter configuration
- Bluetooth audio streaming with separate volume control
- Two ¼" TRS balanced line inputs for drums plus additional instrument
- 2-band equalizer for tonal shaping
- Compact wedge-style floor monitor design
