Alesis Turbo (Not Nitro) for drums?
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Hey guys,
As someone who used to love playing Rock Band drums years ago on my Ion kit, and is now looking to get back into it, I really appreciate the wealth if information that you all have provided on these threads.
Right now I’m looking for a new electronic drum kit, as my old ion has been beat to shreds over the years. I’ve seen alot of reccomendations for the Alesis Nitro, and after a good bit if research, it does seem like it would fit the bill fairly well with additionally adapters purchased. However, I did see that the Alesis Turbo was not only cheaper, but the kit also uses identical kick and hihat pedals (no mallet for kick). This interested me, because I was wondering two things:
1) Would it be possible to use the Alesis Turbo kit, on RB3/RB4 at all? I’m not 100% positive, but it may not have a midi out like the Alesis Nitro
2) If you could use it, would it be possible to map the hihat peddle to a second bass kick, allowing for a double bass experience without the cost of buying a double kick pedal.
I really appreciate any and all advice in advance here. Thanks so much!
with a quick google you would find out the turbo doesn’t have a midi out port. so you would have to run it to your computer and assuming the software you run it too can change the midi notes out to your console then the answer is yes for mapping the hi hat pedal. if the software can’t program the note number which normally the module does then no you won’t be able to do number 2.
the tubro is most likely recommended as it’s the cheapest ekit you possible can get that has both midi note program ability and a midi out port…to my knowledge
with a quick google you would find out the turbo doesn’t have a midi out port. so you would have to run it to your computer and assuming the software you run it too can change the midi notes out to your console then the answer is yes for mapping the hi hat pedal. if the software can’t program the note number which normally the module does then no you won’t be able to do number 2.
the tubro is most likely recommended as it’s the cheapest ekit you possible can get that has both midi note program ability and a midi out port…to my knowledge
Appreciate the advice! It seems like running through a computer program may just be an extra step that could cause more headache and unforeseen problems, even if I could get it work. Frankly, I dont have much experience in this area, so I may just want to stick with what is already proven, and spend the extra on a Nitro and a double kick pedal
Appreciate the advice! It seems like running through a computer program may just be an extra step that could cause more headache and unforeseen problems, even if I could get it work. Frankly, I dont have much experience in this area, so I may just want to stick with what is already proven, and spend the extra on a Nitro and a double kick pedal
with the nitro you could probably program the hihat pedal to be a bass drum…if you didn’t want to have it as an open and closed hi hat….
with the nitro you could probably program the hihat pedal to be a bass drum…if you didn’t want to have it as an open and closed hi hat….
Yea, I was thinking about doing that actually. The one problem would be that the kick is an actual mallet, and obviously the hihat is not. I’m not sure how that different feel would effect my timing. That’s why the Turbo appealed to me initially. It looks like I’ll just have to try and see!
Hey, coincidentally I recently tried to get the Alesis Turbo working and the biggest problem was its lack of MIDI out. I use RB3 but presumably this would also work with RB4 and the PDP Wired Legacy Adapter. To get it working I used:
- Rock Band MIDI Pro Adapter
- USB-B cable (since the Turbo doesn’t come with one)
- MIDI In/Out to USB interface cable
- A Windows computer
- MIDI-OX software (midiox.com)
Use the usb cable to connect the drum module to the computer, then use the USB/MIDI interface to connect the MIDI Out cable to the Pro Adapter.
In the MIDI-OX software go to Options >> MIDI Devices, then select Alesis Turbo as the input and USB MIDI as the Output and click OK. It should begin keeping a log on screen of when you trigger the pads and routing that out to the Pro Adapter.
It works great, with a couple minor annoyances:
- Didn’t notice any velocity sensitivity
- The kick pedal does not register as being held down, so you need another controller to pull up the alphabet menu in-game
Also, I don’t recommend this particular cable because it is very sensitive and disconnect if nudged even slightly:
Nor do I recommend this item as a substitute for a computer because it simply didn’t work for some reason:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074NGTGHN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Kick pedal does not register as being held down even with a MIDI out directly to the MPA without going through the computer. I’m pretty sure this is a common drums brain issue rather than the method you’re using, considering drum hits are never held, they are only hit events.
the rock band drum pedal was a switch and not a piezo sensor that is why with a plastic rb kit you could hold it down but ekits no
Hey, coincidentally I recently tried to get the Alesis Turbo working and the biggest problem was its lack of MIDI out. I use RB3 but presumably this would also work with RB4 and the PDP Wired Legacy Adapter. To get it working I used:
- Rock Band MIDI Pro Adapter
- USB-B cable (since the Turbo doesn’t come with one)
- MIDI In/Out to USB interface cable
- A Windows computer
- MIDI-OX software (midiox.com)
Use the usb cable to connect the drum module to the computer, then use the USB/MIDI interface to connect the MIDI Out cable to the Pro Adapter.
In the MIDI-OX software go to Options >> MIDI Devices, then select Alesis Turbo as the input and USB MIDI as the Output and click OK. It should begin keeping a log on screen of when you trigger the pads and routing that out to the Pro Adapter.
It works great, with a couple minor annoyances:
- Didn’t notice any velocity sensitivity
- The kick pedal does not register as being held down, so you need another controller to pull up the alphabet menu in-game
Also, I don’t recommend this particular cable because it is very sensitive and disconnect if nudged even slightly:
Nor do I recommend this item as a substitute for a computer because it simply didn’t work for some reason:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074NGTGHN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Wow, thanks for the detailed reply, this is very helpful! That’s definitely exciting to hear that its feasible with the Turbo kit.
Just to confirm, I presume that with the Midi-ox software you can map the different drums how you so choose, so you were able to map the hihat pedal as the second kick?
Also, did you have any headaches with latency issues or hits not registering, anything like that? I’m curious after going through this method, would you still prefer to purchase the Turbo, or would you rather have shelled out the extra 80 for the nitro?
MIDI-OX will simply re-route the signal to whatever, in this case the USB<->MIDI interface. Your drum brain should have options to remap pads to whatever notes you need.
I’ve used MIDI-OX in this capacity before, and I didn’t have latency issues, there shouldn’t be. MIDI is lightning fast and all that this does is transfering data. MIDI is data, and very little of it. The only con to that method is the setup.
There are many programs that can do the same, including REAPER, the software used to chart RB songs officially. I don’t believe that MIDI-OX can remap notes, but there should be a way to do it via REAPER, though it is not as user friendly.
Wow, thanks for the detailed reply, this is very helpful! That’s definitely exciting to hear that its feasible with the Turbo kit.
Just to confirm, I presume that with the Midi-ox software you can map the different drums how you so choose, so you were able to map the hihat pedal as the second kick?
Also, did you have any headaches with latency issues or hits not registering, anything like that? I’m curious after going through this method, would you still prefer to purchase the Turbo, or would you rather have shelled out the extra 80 for the nitro?
80 bucks more for a real pedal a midi outport and the ability to change midi notes. not to mention the ability to add more pads to it and a better resale value…kind of a no brainer
MIDI-OX will simply re-route the signal to whatever, in this case the USB<->MIDI interface. Your drum brain should have options to remap pads to whatever notes you need.
I’ve used MIDI-OX in this capacity before, and I didn’t have latency issues, there shouldn’t be. MIDI is lightning fast and all that this does is transfering data. MIDI is data, and very little of it. The only con to that method is the setup.
There are many programs that can do the same, including REAPER, the software used to chart RB songs officially. I don’t believe that MIDI-OX can remap notes, but there should be a way to do it via REAPER, though it is not as user friendly.
Awesome, thanks for the detailed explanation! Always great to get a second person to confirm before making a purchase like this.
80 bucks more for a real pedal a midi outport and the ability to change midi notes. not to mention the ability to add more pads to it and a better resale value…kind of a no brainer
While I would normally agree that the 80 dollar jump would be a no brainer. My concern is actually I would rather have two of the same kick pedals. Versus one mallet and one non-mallet. I feel like that would mess with my timing and feel of playing. So I would have to buy an actual double kick on top of the extra 80. Now were looking at 200 extra to play.
I’m still going back and forth between the two though. Because I can definitely see the pros you mentioned being worth close to that.
Wow, thanks for the detailed reply, this is very helpful! That’s definitely exciting to hear that its feasible with the Turbo kit.
Just to confirm, I presume that with the Midi-ox software you can map the different drums how you so choose, so you were able to map the hihat pedal as the second kick?
Also, did you have any headaches with latency issues or hits not registering, anything like that? I’m curious after going through this method, would you still prefer to purchase the Turbo, or would you rather have shelled out the extra 80 for the nitro?
I was using a friend’s kit, so I haven’t done much research and can’t speak on whether you should upgrade or not. However, I will say that the Turbo brain is very basic and you can’t, as Alternity suggested, map different pads to different notes within the brain itself. This isn’t really much of a problem since the default notes that they send do correspond to the notes that Rock Band is expecting, so to configure it the most you have to do is swap cable inputs going into the cymbals/pads themselves.
The game will automatically map the second pedal to a kick unless you turn on the “Hi-Hat Pedal” option in the game’s Drum Options. And if you turn that option on it will affect how the hi-hat sounds during fills but not make it register the blue cymbal as one might expect.
MIDI-OX just seems to be a simple router, but that’s all I needed for my purposes. I didn’t notice any significant lag but I was also using it with a pretty laggy TV, so I can’t say for sure.
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