Customer Reviews

Ion iED01 Electronic Drum Set with Drum Machine

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I've had this kit a few days now. It has its pros and cons:
CONS: 1.)Multi-triggering of the bass and hi-hat pedals. I'll often get multiple kicks or hi-hat 'clicks' even when only pressing the pedal once. This generally happens when I'm working a pattern with hands and feet at the same time. The midi seems to get confused causing the pedal triggers to trip multiple times. This can be very confusing when working on a complicated rhythm, trying to perfect time, or struggling through a difficult independence exercise. 2.) The hi-hat and ride cymbal triggers aren't very loud, particularly when compared to the other drums. Can be hard to hear them, even at full volume. 3.)Set up of the kit and use of the midi is a bit confusing due to the sometimes vague instructions. 4.) Can't play a CD (as far as I can figure out) through the midi for play-along. I wear a small set of headphones under the headphones that came with the set so I can hear outside sources while I play. 5.)Definately not performance quality. But...PROS: 1.) Costs just a bit more than a plain practice pad set with no sounds. Having the sounds is much better. 2.)It's nearly silent to outside listeners. 3.)For working independence, timekeeping and patterns its not too bad. 4.)Doesn't take much space. 5.)It's pretty fun to play.
OVERALL: Though it has its problems, it's really the only choice if you're like me and want to practice timekeeping, independence and patterns while not disturbing roomates and without spending more than $300 (though you have to figure about another $100 if you buy a seat, music stand, and a couple of books.)

I looked over the reviews from 3 years back until now. Lots of complaints could be perpetrated by the customers themselves........
1. Plastic thumbscrews fall apart....seems that they have been replaced
by metal ones.
2. Drumbsticks broke after 10 minutes....... I beat on these drums everday
and have been for the last month.....nothing has broke.....must be
using those sticks to pry open dads liquor cabinet.
3. Drum pads drop down after continuous play.....the bracketry is plastic
however some ingenuity could prevail here....maybe spray some spray
adhesive to make it grip better, again I have no problem.
4. Complaint about he kick drum pedal echoing...has not happened to me
but there is a .pdf document for the adjustment of the pedals..maybe
has to do with that effect.
5. Complaints of the controller failing.......Have not had the problem.
6. Cheap construction.......I would rather pay $229.00 for this than a
four drum pad machine.......work with this, you can make adjustments
for your style (severity) of play.

Things I liked:
1. Sounds awesome over any of my amplifiers. I much prefer this to a
machine produced drum sound.
2. They don't give you what you don't want...i.e. a cheap drum throne
which wouldn't support me anyway...helps to keep cost down.
3. Nice range of programmable sounds to work with.
4. Add on options available that are not that expensive.
5. Not that hard to setup.....does take some time but not that much.
6. Little kids that come and visit love it.....so do some adults!

I say if you don't want to spend way too much and actually get a name brand (this is an Alesis brand) then I think this is the way to go. Customer service answered both times I called and were at least somewhat helpful. Carries a 1 year warranty also.

Recommended

Some of you are probably in the same situation as me. You want an electric drumset, either because you live in a condo or apartment and the neighbors will call the cops if you're creating 190 decibals of noise from an acoustic drumkit, or because you like the bells and whistles that electric kits have, or both! But you dont have $5,000 of spare cash lying around to buy a fancy roland v-drums kit.

The makers of this drum set attempted to create the solution to our problem, but unfortunately, they didn't quite succeed!

The first thought that came to mind when I sat down behind this kit was, "geez, this thing is kind of small." I started playing a drumbeat. The next thing I thought was, "this set feels flimsy, like it's going to tip over and break!". It felt like a kids toy! I felt a bit silly while I was playing it to be honest. The brain was very simple looking. The sound selection was small and the sound quality of the drums were on par to what you would find on a casio keyboard circa 1987. Taking this drum kit out to a gig in front of a real live audience is simply not an option.

I gave one star for the ambitious low price, and the other star for their effort to fill a gap in this market. There's not really anything else to compliment on.

After doing a lot of research for decent quality, low priced drum kits, you'll realize that you will have to spend atleast $500-700 to get a decent electric drumset (used), brand new, atleast $900.

If you get this kit, there's a pretty good chance that you'll be dissapointed and lose interest in it very quickly, and not play it anymore. (or it may break before then). I would highly recommend investing a little more money and get a decent kit.

It's all or nothing!

An excellent idea, with a fatally flawed implementation. It appears to be a limitation of the midi controller - drums will fail to sound intermittantly.

Since this appears to be a design issue, an except from my request for support from Ion-Audio.com:

I have found a problem with my new Ion IED05 Electronic Drum Set - the drums appear to conflict, perhaps in the MIDI interface (update: definitely the controller), perhaps within the Alesis controller.

When playing the drums, a pad will fail to sound intermittantly (and occasionally, the whole system will mute momentarily).

I hope this isn't the first you've heard of this issue, and that a fix is available.

Of course, I've checked the connections, checked to be sure I'm hitting the pads squarely and in the center, tried swapping pads (though the issue affects all of them, not just the snare), etc.

If fact, I can often reproduce the problem by simply, repeatedly striking any two pads together, one a split-second after the other. When it happens, the second appears to mute the first, before the first fully produces a tone.
________________________

Until/unless this issue's resolved, you'll find the set a cause of repeated frustration, whether for learning, practice or performance.
________________________

4/15/05 Update: after sending the kit back (twice), received a brand new replacement - which has the same flaw. Ion Support did all they could - this is a serious design problem.

Final verdict - the Alesys drum machine seems to operate fine (triggering from a keyboard via MIDI, no drop-outs), but the trigger-to-MIDI device (an ION branded black box labelled iET01) must be the problem. Perhaps an OK kit for learning, but fatally flawed in a way that lead to no end of frustration, and renders the kit unsuitable for performance.

Apparently all the earlier reviewers that "trashed" this kit were either: a)expecting perfection, or b)writers for the competition of Ion(Alesis) trashing the kit in order to steer you toward their product. Also, most of these reviews are outdated.

Of all the problems I've read from the reviews, I haven't encoutered a single one. It was almost too easy to set up. There's a video on YouTube, however, it's a bit outdated. It has you taking steps that Ion has eliminated; such as putting on the end caps for the poles. Mine came with the endcaps already on them. Also, some reviewers complained about the plastic screws, well they are no longer plastic. All of the hardwarde that comes with the kit is metal. The only plastic parts of this kit are the bracket mounts and they are very sturdy. I watched the video on YouTube once and it took me an hour and a half to set up the kit. This set up time included adjusting the pads to where I wanted them and tightening the screws. KEY HINT: make sure once you have the kit together and the pads where you want them, get a pair of pliers and tighten ALL of the screws well. The nuts fit into the brackets so you don't have to hold them and the screws are wingnuts making the tightening easy. No worries of stripping a screw with a screwdriver. The brackets may be plastic, but they can take qutie a bit of pressure. Just don't pull a Superman and overtighten. You'll be able to tell when they are tight enough not to slide. Also, make sure you have the brackets for the frame facing in the right directions. I only made this mistake once. Fortunately it was on the base and I was aware of this for the rest of the set up process.

Apparently ION has addressed some of these problems mentioned in earlier reviews. The problem reported by many about the pedals, I don't see it. There is no adjustment screw that I could find. So ION must've changed the design. The pedals are a bit touchy. If you are "heavy footed" on the pedals, you'll just have to lighten up or move your foot back on the pedal a bit. I haven't encoutered the "double hits" on the bass pedal except when I had my whole foot on the pedal itself. I just backed my foot up an inch or so, so it wasn't directly over the contact and haven't had a double hit since. And the complaints about the sticks. Good god, the people that broke them must've been on steroids. I tried to break them by using my knee as leverage. I pulled pretty hard and they didn't even crack.

The kit is very small vertically. I'm only 5'4" and it barely comes up to my chest at the very top. However, this is perfect for someone in my height range and it's not a problem for me. However, if you are tall, you'll have to put this kit on a stand or buy new bars to raise it vertically to fit your height range. My friend who is 6'4" sat down behind my kit and it made him look like he was a giant because it was so low. But this is not a detrement to this kit by any means. I only included this part in my review as a comparison to other kits that are larger.

I would've given this set 5 stars, but there are a few things that prevented that final star. This is a very sophisticated kit, especially the brains, the midi controller, the ION IDM02. If you are not familiar with midi, then you might run into a few problems. When it comes to setting up the pads for certain sound set ups, throw the directions out the window. The directions for this aspect of setting up the kit are, well, incomprehensible and not well written. They seem to skip steps or assume you've taken a step that I didn't see or wasn't mentioned. The direction book mainly focuses on how to record and compose your own beats and other midi functions of that nature. So if you are familiar with midi, then you'll be right at home. I'm not, but that will come later as I learn a bit more about it. However, if you are like myself and not familiar with midi, there is a video on YouTube that gives a brief primer to the IDM02. ION has quite a few vids there to help you. So my advice is go to YouTube and look it up if you have a problem. Once I viewed the basic midi intro video, the light came on and I was able to do a few basic set ups. It takes a little while to scroll through the features and figure out how they work, but once you get the hang of it, no problem. One last hint about this component. All of the diagrams and set ups show it mounted in the middle of the lower horizontal bar. My advice is to mount this as far to the left as you can because of the LCD display. If you mount this under your tom toms, you won't be able to see it and there's no lighting behind the display.

The other slight problem I ran into is the adjustment angle of the pads. The only catch is, the pads can only be adjusted vertically, you can slide them horizontally and vertically on the frame bars, but the pad mounts limit you to only being able to angle the pads vertically. (You can twist the pads in a circular motion using the mounting bar to adjust to how you hit the pad). My problem comes mainly with the crash cymbal. It took me awhile to set it up to hit it similarly like you would hit a crash on an acoustic cymbal. The shape of the pad, not being like a cymbal is a small limitation. Even mounted at the very end of the bar, you can't angle the pad beyond "straight vertical." So you kind've have to reach up and over the edge of the pad a little bit to hit the pad in the apppropriate place. The bracket mount comes already from the box on the top horizontal bar, however, I tried mounting it on the vertical bar, but that didn't work for various reasons. But I grown accustomed to it now and learned how to strike it without thinking about reaching up and over. It's become second nature. I plan on getting the cymbal ION offers that has a natural cymbal shape later.

The high hat set up is a bit problematic too. You have to adjust the sounds for an open high hat, and a closed high hat. This can be a pain, or it can be creative, depending on what or how you play. I wish they had a single set up key, but oh well. I've adjusted and come up with some pretty cool combinations while messing with the open and closed features. Took me awhile to find a "genuine" acoustic sound, but it's only one of a few that I have now.

My last, and very minor, complaint is the headset. Hey, at least they send you one, but the ear pieces are very small. I like to play along with songs and there is no input on the midi to do this, so I, like another reviewer, adapted. I put the ear buds to my iPod inside the headphones, but it takes a bit to get them adjusted to where the ear buds give the same tonal sounds and quality. But this is minor and I'll get a set of headphones with bigger ear pads later. Another way I've gotten around this is to use the PA outputs and play my iPOD through my computer or a stereo.

All in all, this is a great set. I've loved every minute of it once I figured out the midi and got the pads set to my liking. It does take some time to make adjustments and become comfortable with the midi system, but once you do, you'll have a blast creating new setups. I have yet to learn how to compose my own tracks, but I'm learning a little through friends and searching the net for lessons on how to use a midi device.

For the money, you can't beat it! It's compact, takes up little space, which I have very little of and it fits nicely into a corner of my office, which is actually the other side of my bedroom LOL. And with a little creativity, you can do quite a bit with this kit. It does have a few limitations, but they are minor. I highly recommend this kit!!!

I have been playing guitar for years and I bought this toy drumset for my kid. When it showed up, I hooked it up to the hi-fi and I was amazed with the pro sound quality. I had no idea that there were this many features/sounds and programibility. I actually use this as much if not more than my son for making beats for production. I purchaced the accessory drum pad kit iDP01 to add two more pads and I couldn't be happier. A+++++++++

I am a new drummer, and this is the first thing I ever got the chance to sit down behind and learn the drums on. And for the most part, I have to say that i like having the ability to sit down in front of something and play quietly. I also like that the pads react based on where and how hard you strike. It's been great to practice on. However, there are inherient flaws with this product and if I had to recommend a choice between this and something else, I'd say find something else. Here's why:
1. I too have noticed that the kick pedals occasionally give double or even triple taps. No amount of adjusting has fixed it. This is easy to work around, but I'm sure that for more advanced players it's a pain in the butt.
2. The frame that you set this thing up on is a piece of junk. It's light weight, sure, but it also uses a curious clamp system that will not prevent the bars from rotating. This is a huge problem for me and has lead to my throwing down the sticks for several days out of frustration. Play as lightly on the pad as you want, but if you get into a really fast and hard rock song and you hit the pads at a good medium strike, the entire top bar rotates. This means that as you play the snare pad starts to decend, eventually to the point where you have to stop playing and move it back up. No amount of tightening will stop this problem.
3. This leads into me third problem, the screws themselves. Be careful with the plastic tips. If you tighten one down too much, in an effort to solve problem two, they will very likely snap off in your hands and turn into little plastic fragments.
4. I've noticed that the high-hat just doesn't play at the same volume as everything else. This is a major problem for me when i'm trying to listen to what I'm playing and can barely hear it over the thumping bass and snare.
5. This thing is actually kind of short. If you're tall like me, you'll find that sitting at the right height can be somewhat of a chore.

I give this product 3 stars because, although it has enough technical flaws to render it difficult to practice on, it does solve a few problems that a normal drum kit present, the largest being noise. My solution was to hook the whole thing up to a better rig where nothing moves unless I loosen something. But not everyone has the materials and know how to build their own frame. As I said before, great for practicing quietly, but keep an eye out for something built a bit better.

I've had this set for about a month now, but I was pretty hesitant about purchasing it because of the hapahzard review. Also, the drum module I recived was broken right out-of-the-box; a port didn't work, but I just used a different one. Comes with 90 day warrenty.
To simplfy it: it is a great set for the price, not only is it the cheapest set, but it has the ability to utilize 6 triggers and is able to use a kick trigger pedal for use with double kicks.

Now to adress the cons others have mentioned:
1. Double Triggering of foot pedals- I found this to be caused by a slight alteration of the pressure exerted on the pedal. They are very sensitive so as long as you have a very solid hold it would doudble trigger. Also someone on the web has made a solution for it, but I believe it would void the warrenty so i'm not going to attempt it yet.
2. 'Lightweightedness'- Indeed, this set is lightweight, but not so much so that you will move it playing.
3. PADS MOVING- This is, to me, the worst aspect of the set. The pads will unadjust themselves pretty frequently, so they require constant tightening. I don't mind too much though, I just jam. Also how you set it up will facilitate or hinder the skewing of the triggers.
4. Not silent- The pads are hard rubber so they are, ironicly, pretty loud once hit. You can, however, adjust the sensitivty settings.

Pros-
1.Cheap. Next in price rang is about 300 and that set has a problem that other sounds always trigger when other pads are hit.
2. Has lots of different sounds as would be expected.
3. Double kick capable.
4. up to 6 pads.
5. Midi capable, though I have yet to use feature. (doesn't come with necessary cord)
6. Not that complicated to set up.

Overall I enjoy this product, mostly as it is cheap. At stores the lowest price was 500. If you can afford an more expensive one, than go for it.
It you just want to try drumming, or it is for a child, this isn't a bad set.
The price is indeed right.

I bought this set about three weeks ago and I think it is fantastic for someone to learn on. I have no experience in playing drums, but have always wanted to learn. I'm completely satisfied with my purchase. My other alternative was an acoustic set, but I have limited space and noise restrictions, not to mention I was hesitant to spend so much money to learn something. I have read other reviews about this set, some of them negative but what from I've noticed, all the complaints these people have are their own fault. This set isn't meant tu support much weight so it's not going to be the strongest structure; they complain their sets topple over but I haven't had this happen to me, nor has it even come close. It's an electronic set, you don't need to beat the crap out of the pads. Also people complain about the pedals hitting twice, yet they're easily adjusted with a regular phillips head screwdriver and once I did this, no issues. Others complain they can't hear the cymbals over the drums, but I think they're nuts. Even if this is a problem, you can create a 'custom' kit and set the individual pad volumes. I also have not broken the sticks yet, and if you do, go buy another pair. they're not that expensive. All in all, this is a good set for someone to learn independence and rhythm on, and I recommend it to anyone who is beginning.

The ION iED01 drumset is cheap. The mony spent on it is wery well used. The drum computer has not the newest e-drum sound, but the sound is working and sounding natural on PA system. It dos not take a lot of space on the floor. I am wery happy with it. The plastic foot pedals is the worst part of these drums. It is not the correct feeling. (The sound is ok....)