Should You Buy The Alesis Nitro or Surge Mesh Electronic Drum Sets? What are the real differences? 

Great job reviewing and comparing these two drum kits. Not all the other RU-vidrs take the time to really prepare and come up with a video as organized and helpful as this one

Great video! You’ve helped me make my decision. Surge, here I come!!

The comparison I needed, nice vid!

Such a great help! Thank you.

Now I'm thinking I should have paid the extra money for the Surge. I did buy an extra cymbal and Tom for my Nitro mesh kit. Excellent video!Thanks

This is gold man ! Thanks Justin .

Once you play double pedal, there is no turning back. Thank you for the info, that's what I was looking for

Very good and informative. Thank you very much!

Thanks for the very informative video. I am an absolute beginner but quite tall. I was leaning towards the Nitro but the Surge would probably fit my build better. Cheers,

I had to raise my nitro by 12 inches. Go to home depot with one of the legs then find the black iron pipes which are pre cut and threaded. The 1 inch threaded diameter pipe then just screws into the hollow leg. The extra weight on the bottom of the kit adds a lot of instability and it looks factory. I also added four more drum pads and 3 additional cymbals using stereo splitters and cables to plug and play since each drum cable going to the brain is stereo and can be split into two triggers. So I have 8 drums and 4 cymbals all on my nitro mesh brain plus hi hat and double base pedals. So maxed out 13 triggers.

Thanks for the idea of setting the surge #2 Tom rim to a ride and having another crash. I was considering buying another crash so you saved me some $$$. I’m very much a novice so thanks for the advice.

Thank you for being so honest, looking for my first drum set and nervous to get the wrong one. This video helps a lot!

You cant use double bass pedal on the nitro kit. It’s not responsive enough at all and the pad is too small. I had to buy a Yamaha kp65 kick drum pad to accommodate my double bass which was 70 bucks. Works great but if I had a choice before I got the nitro I would have went for the surge for the kick drum and the snare.

I bought my first e-drum around January which is the nitro. Following month sold it then got the surge. Big difference way better for the price.

It's really a good idea to program some of the tom rim sounds to different ride and crash sounds on the alesis surge mesh kit. And also you don't need to spend that much money on ez drummer just to use the sounds, as logic x pro or even garageband (which is the free version of logic x) have very good drum kit sounds out of the box.

Very nice and informative video. Thanks

i have the Alesis Surge kit and it is really cool, i use it for my drum covers. It´s a great e-kit to practice and i feel like the pads are better. i like the fact that the it has a 10 inch snare, and that the bass drum is a mesh pad. Works really cool in garage band so you can use any of those kits. Nice video comparation :)

good stuff!!! Thanks

Really good explanation in this video

Thank you for the review god bless

Thanks for this video!!

I own a Nitro kit which I bought after watching your videos in 2019. Great kit but I would agree with it's shortcomings. My biggest bug bare is that the interface is for right handed players and being a lefty I found that mildly irritating. Good video. Thanks.

Great video, I’ve been looking online at different electric drums, and yesterday I went to the music store to try them out, I liked the nitro for the price and since I’m a beginner. But I wasn’t a fan of the size of the pads, the kick pad and the rack. I think the Surge is the way to go

Very helpful - thank you 🤘😁🥁👍

fantastic video!

Awesome video. I bought the Nitro a couple of years ago (and he has an awesome video on how to create Def Leppard drum sounds) and the frame IS LOW/SORRY! No joke. I even did a video on how to raise your rack and make it look professional. And now I'm realizing that other people just put furniture risers underneath theirs and now I'm like "D'OH!!!" I just ordered the Surge and I'm super excited!

Thank you very much!

Great video!

i bought a surge kit second hand and only just realized the tom rims can be programmed separate from the drums which is totally awesome. now i have a timbale, cowbell and china cymbal all for free.

The surge looks so much more appealing to me I hope it sounds great

Another upgrade of the Surge kit is the choke function in the ride cymbal. A lot of improved features for only 170 dollars/euros. Personally, there's no doubt about the best choice...

Thank you !

Thanks , this helped me decide .The better hardware of the surge is worth the money to me .

Hi! You mention in the video that you can make the rim of one of the toms into a bell ride out of the box for the Surge. How do you go about doing that? Thank you!

How much floor space does it occupy once assembled? I can't find this info out anywhere to see if it fits in a small room.

I bought surge and I'm happy with the purchase.

I used to have a Yamaha dtx500. It was fine, but then I got the Surge, and I like it much better. Got it used for 200 bucks. Only thing is it came with an off brand brain called an Ion. Seems identical to the Alesis, but not totally sure yet.

Great review! Are both of these Alesis options fairly compact? Space is an issue here, so I'm looking for something functional but small space-friendly. Thanks again!

Another good video, Justin! Invaluable information for anyone currently weighing the cost vs features of the two kits.

Surge is a great value...I'm an experienced drummer....tweak internal settings to improve sensitivity and dynamics vastly improving factory settings and sounds. Kick pedal surprisingly solid quality and playability. Most stock sounds suck....only a couple of the provided kits are barely passable. However, carefully tweaking every drum, cymbals and hi-hat in your custom kits reveals quality that surpasses many of the VST kits I have used !! It has been fun setting snare rim to a nice rim shot sound with just the right reverb and eq on it, then balancing the volume of it to the snare drum.....resulting in a very real sounding result ! Surprising quality and playability for the low price.....well worth it ! Remember it is an instrument ! Many that complain of things breaking are animals pounding like a gorilla on this kit...better for them to buy claw hammers and become carpenters !!

FINALLY thanks man! 8:28 BIG!

The Nitro has an expansion kit you can purchase that comes with a duel zone tom and a crash cymbal and works great.

Great video

Great review. You're the first reviewer to talk about the height of the rack. Since I'm tall, one of my concerns is the height of the kit. Thanks to your video, I know the Surge is the model for me. Thanks!

Great video! Very helpful as I have been looking at nitro as an option. Very straight forward. Do you think the Alesis DM TOUCH iPad Drum Module a viable option for a drum module in 2021? Pros and cons? Thanks.

Thank you for sharing your insight! I am a guitarist looking into buying an electronic drum set in the $500 range. Do you think a Roland TD-1K is better than the Alesia Surge? I am leaning towards the Surge but def need to hear some advice from drummers!

Hi, great video, I just wonder if you can adjust the volume for each pad/tom?

Hey,I see you have changed out the drum module? What module is it,and what price is it? Have a nice day:)

Great video as usual Justin👍. What do you think on building a hybrid kit like yours vs something like an Alesis strike kit. I know they are close to $1800. How much has been invested into your kit?

Does anyone know if Alesis Turbo cymbals (+arm+clamp) can be used on the Alesis Nitro. Man, it's almost impossible to find a Nitro cymbal at a reasonable price online

In researching these sets I can't find an expansion kit for the Alesis Surge, only the Alesis Nitro. Is there an expansion kit for the Surge, or is the Nitro crash and tom compatible with the Surge brain?

Does it have one of those pedals that crash the cymbals together? (I'm new to drums not sure about all the names)

Oh my god thank you. I found a version of the nitro mesh at walmart that wasn't in any online stores. It came with the nitro module, but a binary kick pedal rather than the pad tower and another single zone 8" pad instead of the dual zone snare and it It was only $350. Now i know that i can literally just buy dual zone DM10 pads for all the inputs to upgrade. Since i just use the USB midi into a daw, i dont care about the module's sound quality, only that it works with the pads i need. I can't believe this crazy plan is actually gomna work lololol.

which kit is better alesis forge or the surge undecided they both look good

A well done review, and well worth the consideration to spend the extra $. Thank you! I'm reviewing your music on Spotify.

I went ahead and purchase the Alesis command for the better module.

Hey just wanted to thank you for the awsome review. I was wondering about the size.no body gives you that.im 6ft. Sounds like the surge is more for me.un fortunately my local musicstore dosent carry anything alesis in store just higher end yamaha and roland.there nice but pricey. I haven't played in 25 yrs.and dont really know if I'm going to keep with it.

Is the Surge snare compatible with the Nitro command module? I'm thinking about upgrading later on to a larger 10" snare, and this would seem like the most cost effective route.

Also, I believe only the crash cymbal is chokeable on the Nitro, but on Surge so is the ride.

Hello Justin, it is been I while I check one of your videos. Question: Can you adjust the height of the horizontal bars of the rack on which module, cymblas and toms are mounted? I ask this because my 7 year old son wants to learn to play drums and I would like to learn too, however I don't have the space or money to buy two sets and maybe one with adjustable heigth can work for bot of us taking turns different days.

Having 2 different sounds on a cymbal isn't a bad thing to me at all assuming the module has okay samples. Like for a long time my left crash has had a crash sound on the rim and a splash sound on the bow and it works great once you tweak the threshold and sensitivity. Problem is the trash simmons module keeps shutting off on its own and I keep breaking and resoldiering cymbals so I kinda want a new kit

I think I want multi zone cymbals and toms, though if you wanted to go cheap these are an option.

Found a brand new Surge at a thrift for $100. Was missing the bass drum, so I bought the only electric kick pad I could find at the local music store, a Alesis "Real Head Kick Pad"...everything checks out on it but it doesn't make any sound and the module doesnt reconize it when you hit it either...im thinking its not compatible because its dual zone or something like that? Know anything about it? Thanks

Is there a way to make it a 3 zone cymbal? Like a software that is compatible for Alesis Nitro/Surge. Thanks!

Can you add the Nitro extra tom and cymbal kit to the Surge ? Will it work ?

What do you think of the command? I’ve been between buying a new surge vs a used command. A lot of reviews just say save for Roland. I’d appreciate your advice though!

The only lingering question I have is this: Is it better to use the USB/MIDI or the actual hardware MIDI jacks. My TASCAM US144 Mk2 has hardware MIDI in and out as well as a control panel app to adjust latency. What are the advantages of each?

Since the surge has mesh I imagine it would have a better feel than the harsh rubber pad, but is it any quieter?

Nitro works for me I do have a acoustic kit [tama emperial] worth prolly 2k+ cuz of the upgrades I just need some quieter one lmao

I've had a surge mesh kit for 3 years and it's been nothing but hassle and problems from the start. Within a month the snare drum wire snapped inside of it. The mesh on it wore away and broke. The hi-hat pedal stopped working, the kick pedal's piezo stopped responding a month after that. The cymbals have mostly survived but one died last year. It's been an absolute nightmare. I don't know whether to buy another one or not.

Is it possible to get a Surge snare to work on the Nitro Mesh? I love the Mesh but the larger snare would be a bonus. I made an extra cymbal really easily for about 6 bucks.

Cooperate needs you to find the difference between these two electric drum sets

I'm a noob to the nitro set and turning down the volume on the hats was a game changer, holy fuck. I also turned up the snare. Gang.

Acording to Double bass at nitro, I cut that rubber part with piezo, removed metal part and now double bass works because trigger is more sensitive. but my beaters of my Mapex Falcon are very close to each other :D Now my plan is to do conversion with that modified trigger to put it into drumhead and use that on 16" Bass drum from kids set - DIY version of Roland KD18 (in my case KD16 :D)

Will the nitro expansion Tom and cymbal work on the surge Since both of the controllers are the same

What would u recommend between surge and command for the money?

hi would the nitro be good for a complete beginner? i love classic rock music and enjoy those beats, kind of inspired me to learn drums. do you think nitro is good enough for now and later? thank you

Looking at buying a used kit. Big question,,,,, can I use my Tama Iron Cobra pedal on this kit? The idea of practicing on Alesis pedal then going back to my Tama pedal live could be a problem. Weirdness involved getting used to the Alesis and then my normal gigging Tama pedal.

Hi, looking to get a drum kit for my kid and myself, what do you think of the Alesis Command Mesh? I can't find the Surge.

do you have any suggestions on Carlsbro CSD500 please?

LOVE my nitro. Will it last forever if you beat on it for years with recording and practice? No. But I bought a second on sale, kept the first set parts for extras and perfectly happy👍🏽

Demonic!!!! I needed to follow up on this because I am (and please forgive the foul language), Frigging STOKED with this kit. You're probably the absolute best salesman for this kit hands down. I'll detail what we have since the kit arrived the other day... I got the DW 5000 series tractor throne. (Guitar Center) 7 1/2" bed risers for the rack Proper sticks that have some grip so I quit throwing them across the room. (Guitar Center) and last but not least - I got the Nitro Mesh Expansion pack as another commenter suggested ($99 at GC also) and THAT, sir, was the biggest surprise of the evening. This sumbitch has DUAL zone tom and a crash with choke as well as cords and all the hardware to mount it all. I expected single zone at that price point. You want to talk about a value-added box of hardware. On that note,, I wanted to remind people about what you said regarding this kit - all of the tom, snare and cymbal inputs are DUAL zone and have stereo (2 channel) cables already included. You can put a dual-zone on any position! I'm almost speechless. I know I may be easily impressed or such a noob that I am stupid, but damn if this kit isn't just kicking it with surprises. I just ever so briefly touched on recording with Ezdrummer, and THAT is a serious game changer for sounds. It makes this thing sound like I paid a WHOLE lot more for it.

Can you add a multi zone cymbal to this kit ? Will it work?

Quick question about tom overrides: Can you use a TOM input as a cymbal? I mean, if you buy a dual-zone cymbal can you reprogram the whole TOM 2 dual trigger slot to function as ride and ride bell?

I have the Nitro Alesis Nitro Mesh, if the modules are the same would it be safe to say that the surge 10 inch snare would work with the Alesis Nitro Mesh. Hoping that if I can get a used Surge snare it could save me from buying a new kit just for the larger snare. Thoughts would be appreciated. Thx man. !!!!

What if I already bought a Nitro Master kit and I want the snare bigger and the double bass

If I pick up the bass drum from the surge kit separately, will it work on my nitro? I’m pretty sure it will, but I feel like I need to ask the expert on this one.

I have a command mesh kit . Can I add a 3 zone cymbal and extra tomb?

Can you buy just the bass pad and connect it to the less expensive one?

Are you able to add your own samples to this? Thank you

Really enjoying your videos! To those who live on the continent of North America, are you able to get Tourtech kits? Here in the UK we have a company called Tourtech that make truly amazing products at this price point. I recently got the TT 22M, all mesh kit, everything is dual zone! 10 inch snare, really good height for me at 6ft, decent enough module, - I picked it up for $509.59 (375.96 pounds sterling) in a bundle with sticks, throne and headphones included. Easy to use right out the box. I am astounded by it. Would be great if this channel could get it's hands on one. I think you'd really like it.

whats the difference between the debut and the nitro sets? 😛 i am not a drummer because i cannot make any noise 😶

I want the surge for myself, but I also want to teach my 6 yr old son. Is the Nitro better for a 6 yr old or can they be both shortened and positioned the same for closer play?

Can one buy a nitro expansion pack with an extra tom and a cymbal, and connect to the surge?

What are your thoughts on the KAT200??

People with Surge or Nitro... Where do you place your second crash (bought separately) ? Do you keep the ride on the same place? I've looked into correct positioning rules...But those are for acustic kits. And the size/shape of these edrums is very different.

Hello Justin, is one of these quiter than the other? I live an apartment, on the first floor though with no neighbours under or next to me. There’s only one apartment above which will be great regarding the neighbour problem 😄 However I want as quiet e-drums as possible.

I choose Surge and add a new crash from Yamaha! In a second time a use the new cash for ride and now I have two alesis crash and one ride Yamaha! I simple solution!

My question is if you got the nitro mesh kit (the basic) and are just wanting to upgrade the brain module say to the 'Alesis Command' Module Or the 'Alesis Surge' Module would you get better sounds out of it? Rather than buying a whole new kit would it be smarter to just upgrade the Brain itself especially if you are trying to stay on a budget.

Hi,just straight with me Nitro or surge? Btw,this is my first drum/e kit