It’s been a busy 12 months for Alesis when it comes to electronic drum sets, starting with the Nitro Max, which raised the bar for entry-level kits thanks to its inclusion of mesh heads and a BFD-derived sound set. Next came the flagship Strata Prime, which ports the multi-sampled BFD 3 library into a touchscreen-equipped drum module for the first time. Now, Alesis is following up with the Nitro Pro - which expands on the features of the Nitro Max, offering what Alesis says "caters to both new and experienced players, providing unmatched flexibility and features at an accessible price point."
Running alongside as the bigger sibling to the Nitro Max, the Nitro Pro is once again an eight-piece, mesh-headed electronic drum set. For the Nitro Pro, however, Alesis has made the three included 8-inch tom pads dual-zone, and scaled up the snare drum offering with a 10-inch, extra-deep pad for more realistic placement.
The Nitro Pro gets an upgrade when it comes to the bass drum tower, too, with a larger, 8-inch pad offering the same tension-able mesh head performance as the rest of the kit, and sized to easily accommodate a double bass drum pedal.
It’s all mounted to a beefed-up sturdy steel frame with reinforced mounting hardware to ensure that everything stays put, and Alesis is also bundling a bass drum pedal and hi-hat controller with the Nitro Pro.
For the cymbals, we get the same 10-inch hi-hat (single-pad, rack-mounted), crash and ride pads as seen on the Nitro Max, with each of the latter offering two playable zones as well as choke functionality.
Turning to the bright red module, and it’s clearly sporting the same phone support and BFD logo as the Nitro Max, offering over 500 sounds derived from the BFD software library. These are organised into 36 user kits with an additional 16 slots for you to create your own combinations.
Internally, there’s a sequencer for recording your playing, built-in jam tracks, and reverb and EQ effects.
It comes with Bluetooth onboard for cable-free jamming to your music library, along with MIDI-over-USB for hooking up to your computer, or a five-pin DIN I/O connectors if you want to interface with hardware over MIDI.
Audio connectivity is handled by a stereo line outputs along with a headphone socket and mini-jack aux-input. The Nitro Pro is expandable with additional trigger inputs for an extra cymbal and tom pad, and if that isn’t enough, then Alesis is including its BFD Player software as well as a free 90-day subscription to online drum lesson platform, Drumeo!
“We are proud to extend the Alesis Nitro family with Nitro Pro," says John Boudreau, Director of Product Management at Alesis. “This kit presents an unparalleled value in the marketplace, offering professional studio quality sounds and advanced features. With Nitro Pro, we invite drummers to take their passion for drumming to the next level."
The Alesis Nitro Pro is available now, priced at $599£679/€799. For more information, head to the Alesis website.
