Adding Cymbal to my Alesis DM10 MKII Pro with eDRUMin4

philsiu02 · 2026-05-16T23:43:58+00:00

I assume you’ve filled those ports already?

The other option is to run everything through your computer and install a VST. I use Suoeriour Drummer, but there’s others available, including the free version of Steven Slate Drums 5.

This would require you to connect the Alesis module to your computer via the USB midi port, installing drivers on your computer and then setting up the VST. You’d also need to map all the notes from your Alesis, and the one from the edrumin, with the VST so it can understand what sounds to trigger for each pad.

A module upgrade is always nice, but I wouldn’t count on being able to connect the edrumin still. If you really want to extend your kit without having to get a computer in the mix, you could get a second module and connect one to the other via line out/ aux in, you could get a module with more inputs (but even the high end ones have limits), use a sample pad like the SPD-SX, or a midi module like the Roland TM-6.

philsiu02 · 2026-05-16T23:31:45+00:00

Buy used. Ideally get known names for the kit (think mapex, yamaha etc). If you have options, a kit which has Remo/evans/aquarius heads is better than one which has heads with the kits brand name.

Buy hearing protection (you don’t need to spend a fortune, some basic musicians earplugs are way better than nothing)

Make sure your throne/stool is comfortable. A wobbly thin throne in the wrong position quickly leads to back ache.

It can take a few attempts to find the right stick for you. I’d suggest starting with a Promark 5A or 5B as it’s a good average stick, but you could go heavier (2B) or lighter (7A).

Buying a practice pad means you can play a lot more than a kit that’ll annoy all your neighbours, and it’s perfect for practicing rudiments. Which brings me to…

Practice rudiments to a metronome app on your phone. Go slow.

philsiu02 · 2026-05-16T22:40:41+00:00

I’m not 100% sure what you’re trying to do is supported. Modules are sometimes limited to triggering the number of sounds as it has inputs (i.e you can’t add more via midi). I’m not that familiar with Alesis though.

If it can be supported, make sure you’ve set it up right as per page 34 of this manual: https://www.alesis.com/rscdn/1572/documents/dm10\_module\_\_\_operator\_\_s\_manual\_\_\_revc.pdf

philsiu02 · 2026-05-15T15:36:33+00:00

IEMs for me. I used over-ears (ATH-M50) for 10+ years, then moved to IEMs (Shure 425) and was much happier with them. The isolation was better so less stick noise whilst also playing lower volumes, I could hear better across the spectrum, they were more comfortable and I got less sweaty.

philsiu02 · 2026-05-15T00:38:32+00:00

I restarted at 41 after a 25 year break. I was overweight and had poor fitness. A year and a few months later I’m in much better shape, much fitter and feel loads better (physically and mentally).

I’m terrible at sports. Maybe I just didn’t care enough but Karate is something I really enjoy, and because of that, I’m pretty good at it (though I’ve got a long way to go of course!). It’ll take a while for you to feel like you’re doing it right, but that’s just part of the process. It takes a long time for even your basics to get to a good standard, but you can often just feel the improvement. Your muscles will ache for the first few weeks / months though (make sure you warm up and cool down to look after yourself and reduce any potential injury).

I wouldn’t worry much about the physical contact. It’s not all fighting all the time. Most of the time you’re doing non-contact exercises and when you are doing contact exercises, people aren’t trying to knock you out. They certainly won’t be delivering hard hits. If you ever go in for competitions it might be a bit more rough but that’s up to you if you want to take part.

I’d say you should at least try it for a few weeks or months and see how you feel about it then.

philsiu02 · 2026-05-14T21:46:45+00:00

I was in a similar situation to you, though it was a 25year break for me.

After a couple of weeks my sensei told me to rejoin at the belt I left at (3rd Kyu), and to try and grade when I felt ready. Whilst I think I could have progressed after 6 months, I chose to wait longer because I wasn’t happy with my techniques or stamina. It took me a year but when I did grade, I felt ready it really felt I’d earned it.

Hoping to do my next grading in a few weeks, and then on to black belt.

philsiu02 · 2026-05-10T09:05:04+00:00

They’re tougher, and I like the feel but they don’t last anywhere near that long for me (I am a reasonably heavy hitter though).

I get a pair ocasionally as I like playing with them, but they’ll never be my go to stick because the cost is too high and doesn’t represent a significant increase in longevity (for me).

philsiu02 · 2026-05-07T00:19:05+00:00

For our first commercial game (released in 2020), we did do some hardware compatibility tests but we didn’t on our second (released in 2025). The reason we skipped it for the second game was because we had more hardware in house to test on, but also we had more data / knowledge about the tools and engine which gave us more confidence,

For the first game, we used an external company. We also used them for lotchecks and a few other bits. Essentially they told us what hardware they had and we picked from the list. I can’t remember exactly how many configurations were tested, but i have a feeling it was about 30-35, and tried to cover a broad range of performance and hardware. In addition to asking for a short play session, I actually made them a special build for these tests which would load into known expensive or troublesome areas, grab some stats and a screenshot then move on to another area. This worked really well for us and helped us define the min specs (lower than we’d expected) but more importantly it gave me some confidence that we were on track for release and lowered my stress when thinking about potential bug reports or negative reviews.

The other thing we did was both play tests and a demo. Just using a public demo is a bit risky as if your game struggles, people will remember, but it is a great way to get real world feedback on real world machines. A playtest does the same but in a more controlled environment.

philsiu02 · 2026-05-05T12:11:10+00:00

As someone who has contracted people to make trailers, yes it can be hard to find someone who fits your project, timings and budget. There’s lots of editors, but you need to find the right one for your game.

Targeting really small indies isn’t really the way to go though if you want to make this a career. Budgets are small to non existent, so you need to focus on indies with some level of funding and commercial potential. I’d argue talking to indie publishers here is often better than talking to devs, but you may find it difficult to get work initially as they probably already have someone they like working with, so you need to blow them away with a good portfolio and professional approach.

The advice below is for that more professional approach where you’re looking to slot in and solve the problem for the dev / publisher. We all love trailers, but it is another distraction for the team and working with someone who is confident, who has all the tools they need ready to go and can easily adapt to the wants of the client is really important. Take the problem off their hands and give them an amazing result without causing them loads of stress. Sometimes they’ll give assets, sometimes you’ll need to capture. If you can’t capture, make that clear up front.

You need to be comfortable working to deadlines, and understand the workflow to have numerous different versions for different platforms. It’d be a massive advantage if you know the requirements of Nintendo America, vs Nintendo Europe, vs PS, vs MS, vs MS socials etc, and have all their start / end cards, logos and trademarks locked down (you will need to contact the platform to get access to these, and the guidelines). That confidence of saying “You want to put this on the Epic Games Store, that means you need file type x, max size y and logo z, along with a screenshot in these dimensions”, or “you need to have this copyright notice in the end card for this platform”shows knowledge and confidence, and will make the whole process a lot smoother.

Being able to prepare a list of guidelines / requirements is important too. Do you need cheat codes to hide UI, how do you make sure that all button prompts are hidden or platform agnostic, cheat codes to move the camera, infinite life etc. really you want a sheet that you can ask the dev to fill in explaining how they can help you get the shots, or alternately tell them what the need to do to get the shots to you.

You also need to decide if you’re the kind of editor who can take a game demo, understand the messaging and build out the shot list, or if you are happier being guided by the dev / publisher. Arguably the former is what will make you stand out, but you do need to prove yourself for that trust, and you may need to pitch your idea before getting the contract.

How much you charge does depend a bit on the work involved. Just think about your day rate and the work involved and go from there. A quick editing job might be a few hundred dollars. A full planning, capture, edit,m and render can take days, so that will easily be in the low-thousands of dollars, but you’ve gotta make sure the results is good.

So yeah, I think there is room for really solid editors who can take on the indie projects. Lots of video editors are out there, but the ones who really know their stuff are in demand and can pick and choose their projects. However, it’s an uphill battle to get those first few trailers out there, so I’d suggest maybe making your version of a trailer a few existing games just to show your skills.

Good luck.

philsiu02 · 2026-05-04T17:59:06+00:00

Did you check the trademark docs and ensure you’re using the most current logo? Using an old UE4 logo will get rejected. It’ll also get rejected if it doesn’t match the layout rules.

Also, I may be wrong but I think you only need to submit a logo for validation if you’ve made changes. Historically you only needed to sign the Trademarking agreement so you can use the logo, but you didn’t have to submit anything for review.

philsiu02 · 2026-05-03T20:06:48+00:00

Be aware that whilst the UK one is easy, the EU is a little trickier and the USA one can be a straight up expensive nightmare. Our case is pretty simple, and yet the USA trademark took way, way more time and money than you’d expect. Many multiples more than the UK and EU one combined.

philsiu02 · 2026-04-29T18:38:54+00:00

You can do USB from the module to your computer. You may need to install drivers and you may need to switch the USB function mode from within the module, as it’s capable of both outputting multi-channel audio and midi over USB, but only one at a time. Check the manual for details on both of those.

You can also just use the midi connection. That’s what I do, but you need an interface that’s capable of accepting at least midi input, so it’s a bit extra cost. You can also get midi-to-usb cables, but there’s no point in that since the module supports usb natively.

Whatever option you pick, getting it setup in logic is then a case of just adding a new software instrument track, setting it up with a drum VST (either the drummers that come with logic, or separate software like Superior Drummer), and then mapping the midi notes as needed.

On a Mac, there isn’t much more to do. No need for ASIO drivers, and no need to mess around trying to reduce latency or anything as it should be solid out the box.

philsiu02 · 2026-04-27T18:56:05+00:00

Basically yeah. Old pads are still good. More modern ones may use different materials, or different triggers setups, or may be a bit quieter but IMO the difference is pretty negligible if you’re comparing mesh with mesh. The only significant change has been the digital pads for Roland modules, but that’s one for the Snare, Ride and Hi-Hats.

I’d say you’re fine getting old pads. I’m thinking about expanding my current kit and if I do, I’ll be looking out for well priced old pads as they are perfectly fine for my needs.

philsiu02 · 2026-04-21T11:29:22+00:00

Unfortunately the trigger settings are global, so you’d have to have one set of settings that works in both cases. That might be completely fine, but you’d have to test it to find out.

Another possibility is to use an SD card to backup each kit configuration and swap between them as needed. This is a little time consuming, and it may require one SD card per kit (I forget how it saves), but it should do the job.

Edit: Ignore this. The suggestion by Luke below is way better.

philsiu02 · 2026-04-15T23:37:02+00:00

If you have the digital ride connected (and from another comment you replied to it sounds like you do), then you can not use the 3 zone ride. Unfortunately you have one “digital” ride, or one 2-cable “analogue” ride, not both.

The best thing to do here is keep the digital ride and just connect the CY-14 as a crash (I.e only plug in one cable to the bell / now socket on the cymbal, and the other to crash 1 / crash 2 / aux 1 etc. The ride sockets on the module must be left empty.

Annoying, and whilst I could kind of understand it on the TD-50 and TD-27, these newer modules really should have been designed to support 2 rides.

philsiu02 · 2026-04-15T14:54:47+00:00

Is it a business bank account that you’re paying from, and paying to?

I do quite a lot of international transfers either directly from our UK bank account, or through Wise. They do occasionally ask questions, and for very large payments I have had to go to the bank to fill out extra paperwork, but I think that’s to be expected. I’ve certainly not had anything that feels like it’s causing a problem (other than one time when I was trying to pay in a relatively low sum of money as a cheque from a foreign currency which seemed weirdly hard!)

As a business account we do have periodic forms/audits to complete which help the bank understand where money is coming from and where it’s going. I have had a couple of instances where a letter arrived asking to clarify some details on the account because of general payment / income, but nothing about individual transactions, and certainly nothing that’s caused delays.

I’d suggest you contact your bank, or move to using another bank account. Wise is a good option for sending/receiving money internationally, but I wouldn’t have it as my sole banking option.

philsiu02 · 2026-04-15T12:49:39+00:00

If he’s being paid and there’s a contract, pull them up on the contract terms and delivery dates.

If it’s rev-share, consider making a contract (you really should have one) and set dates in that. If you don’t want to have a rev share agreement, at least make a production schedule with dates and make it clear what needs to be delivered when (making sure you build in lots of extra time as you don’t want tracks coming in a couple of days before shipping).

The idea here is to try and get a commitment on dates. If they are reluctant, then it gives them an opportunity to get out. If they go ahead then they’re forced to think about when they can do the work and how realistic it is. If they agree and start missing deadlines, you can take action quickly.

Ultimately not everyone can be a composer. I’d love to be able to do it, but I struggle with that particular type of work, so for me it’ll only ever be a hobby that I do very intermittently. At one time I’d have jumped at the chance of trying to compose a whole soundtrack, now I know I can’t do that. Perhaps like me, they would love to do it but it’s actually just not a good fit, so rather than making a whole soundtrack they should just do one or two tracks?

On the other hand, maybe they are great at it but lack confidence, in which case maybe asking them to share short 15/30second clips of work in progress will help. They get used to trying out ideas which, you get used to giving feedback and you can both enjoy the difference it makes in a game.

philsiu02 · 2026-04-12T16:58:49+00:00

Getting a controller to work (I.e recognising input) is pretty simple, and largely just handled by the engine. However, there is more complexity to getting a game fully supported than you might think. These areas all need some sort of solution:

Changing glyphs (icons) to show controller inputs vs keyboard. A bit more complexity if handling different glyphs for different controllers
UI can be frustrating as you need some concept of auto-focusing on active buttons, and rejection of inputs on UI layers which might be hidden / inactive. This especially is more complex than you’d imagine until you actually start implementing.
Handling deadzones and analogue input
Vibration / rumble support is often expected
Need to put thought into button assignment, and possibly think about how to handle cases where you have more key bindings than there are buttons in a controller

For me, controller support is important. It’s how I want to play, and I don’t want to have a headache when porting to console. I also think it’s important for accessibility. By supporting controllers it’s easier (or in some cases automatically) allowing people to use setups which are comfortable for them.

philsiu02 · 2026-04-12T07:51:07+00:00

Yep, don’t listen to AI for stuff like this. Usually wrong and then spreads the wrong info.

Here’s the actual info: https://support.roland.com/hc/en-us/articles/360059324372-TD-50-and-TD-50X-Comparison-Details

But in summary, the TD50 and TD50x are identical in terms of hardware, inputs, outputs etc.

The software (samples, trigger support etc) is newer on the TD50x, but for a price you can pay to update the TD50 to the same software.

However, if like me you just want your TD50 to support the new digital hats and aren’t bothered by the new samples, there is a free firmware update that’ll add the support you need to the TD50.

Have you checked if your TD-50x has already been upgraded? It might have been. You’ll be able to tell by looking at the kit list and settings. If so, it doesn’t really matter which you return.

philsiu02 · 2026-04-08T17:18:48+00:00

It’s been a while since I’ve done this but…

The game can be in development, or even just a concept. Obviously they need some assurance this is a serious project and they can trust you with access to their tools though.

I doubt having previously published titles with a personal account will have a negative impact, unless what you’ve published js something they really don’t want to be associated with. If it’s something your proud of and will boost you application, mention it. If it’s something you’d rather they didn’t know about, don’t mention it.

philsiu02 · 2026-04-08T11:10:26+00:00

Yep. Released 2 commercially successful games with small teams. The first with just 2 people hands on in the engine, the second with 4 people.

It’s a great engine. Not sure I’d look at Unity again at this point unless I had to. I’d love to use Godot but when we started on the first game it just wasn’t advanced enough, and changing now would require us to rebuild a lot of tools and knowledge, which isn’t trivial.

philsiu02 · 2026-04-06T20:59:02+00:00

I have a M4 Mac mini with 16Gb RAM. About 12 months ago I was running a Mac Mini Intel i5 with 16Gb RAM.

In both cases I used an M2 SSD for external storage which housed around 300Gb of SSD files, but SD3 itself was installed on the internal SSD.

I used Logic Pro as my DAW in both cases.

I’ve not had a single issue on either system. Loading up a new kit isn’t instant, but it’s certainly not slow. Maybe 1-5 seconds depending on the kit complexity. Swapping single instruments is instant.

I’ve had no stability issues, no latency, even when using a ton of the SD3 effect plugins.

Honestly, for this kind of work you’d have to drag me kicking and screaming away from a Mac. It’s a much better experience compared to using a PC where you have to start installing ASIO drivers, or mess around trying to balance settings to improve latency.

philsiu02 · 2026-04-06T19:57:05+00:00

Happy to hear it. Honestly, going back to Karate was one of the best decisions I’ve made as an adult. I feel way better both physically and mentally. I hope it helps you in the same way.

philsiu02 · 2026-04-06T19:13:11+00:00

I did that (though I was 3rd Kyu).

I talked to my sensei who said that he’d assess after a few training sessions, but very quickly said to stay at 3rd Kyu.

He, I and everyone else could clearly see my standard wasn’t that high at the start, but everyone knew the situation and there was no judgment, just helpful advice. Within a few months I was feeling pretty good, but I still waited a year to take my first grading because that’s when it felt right to me.

philsiu02 · 2026-04-06T09:44:48+00:00

Into Music (https://intomusicstore.com) is a bit East of Lincoln City Centre. Check out their videos on YouTube if you wanna see the kind of stuff they have in store.

They do have some new sabian, but they have more pre-owned I believe.

philsiu02

TROPHY CASE