Alesis Demonstrates New DM Pro Expandable 20 Bit Drum Module

January 28, 1999 -- Alesis is demonstrating the new DM Pro expandable 20-bit drum module, the company's most advanced electronic drum and percussion device available to date. The DM Pro provides composers with a dedicated MIDI drum module and gives drummers a professional solution for triggered electronic drum performances. The DM Pro, with 64-voice polyphony, a massive drum and percussion library, and the ability to import new sounds through ROM expansion cards, carries a list price of $899 USD MSRP.

"Alesis knows how to make drum sounds - the market has always loved our drum machines," said Jim Mack, Alesis vice president of sales and marketing. "And with a market-driven approach to product development, including input from composers and players, we've been able to make what we consider to be the ultimate drum and percussion module."

"The DM Pro ships with 16 MB of studio-quality sounds onboard - more than any other dedicated drum module available today," said David Bryce, synthesizer marketing manager. "The unit's flexibility makes it an indispensable tool for the MIDI musician and electronic percussionist."

A total of 1,664 sounds are packed into the DM Pro, designed for a wide variety of musical styles. The module includes hundreds of kicks, snares, toms, hi-hats, cymbals, percussion instruments and special effect samples.

The DM Pro also enables users to design and store up to 64 virtual drumkits, which can have up to 64 different drum sounds assigned to each kit. The 16-channel multitimbral unit also offers tremendous flexibility to customize its drum, percussion and effect samples. Up to four samples can be layered on each drum and sounds can be edited for pitch, volume, panning, output selection and MIDI note assignment. The DM Pro provides envelope control for synthesizer-like programming and two buses for adding reverb, gating and other effects. The DM Pro's six independent audio outputs with 20-bit digital-to-analog converters allow for discrete outboard processing of levels and effects.

Sounds on the DM Pro can be triggered using acoustic drums with triggers, electronic drum pads or MIDI synthesizers. Each of its 16 trigger inputs offers five separate common trigger parameters (gain, velocity curve, crosstalk, threshold, retrigger) and several uncommon ones (noise suppression, sequence start, pedal switch select).

For unprecedented expandability, the DM Pro includes a card slot like those found on the Alesis QS Series synthesizers. The PCMCIA-format cards can have up to 8MB of memory, allowing the DM Pro to simultaneously access up to 24MB of sounds. With the included Alesis Sound Bridge software, a personal computer, and the DM Pro, the user can store any sounds and sequences on the card and access them from the unit.

The DM Pro also includes stereo audio inputs on RCA connectors so that external audio sources, like CD players or tape decks, can be routed through an audio system. The unit is expected to be available in February 1999.

For more information, visit Alesis at www.alesis.com.