Alesis, which has been busily chiseling out an upwardly mobile stake in the e-drums market, has revealed its latest kit, the Strata Core.
The Strata Core is, essentially, a slimmed-down iteration of the Alesis Strata Prime, which we recently reviewed and found to be “a bonafide game-changer”.
A compact-for-this-level, all-mesh kit with a smaller footprint (and price) than Strata Prime, Strata Core’s key features, other than the module, which we’ll come to shortly, are the 12” dual-zone mesh snare drum, with head, rim click, and rim shot triggers, and an ‘Active Magnetic’ 12” hi-hat. The toms are also dual-zoned, and the 8” mesh kick is double-kick friendly, if that’s how you roll. Overall, we have
Hardware-wise, we have a curved steel rack, while those ARC hi-hats mount to any stand, and the crash and ride cymbals can be mounted to any stand you have around, regardless of the rack.
That module, then? The main USP of Core's 7" touch-screen, as with Prime, is the BFD sound engine and a sonic hinterland of over 25GB, across 75 kits, 370+ kit pieces, 800+ articulations, and 144,000+ samples. More than you, realistically, need, basically.
In terms of tweakage, you can fiddle with mic channels, experimenting with stacks as you go to layer articulation settings and, yes, layering those mic channels. Outboard Alesis e-kit triggers are also supported for more creative options.
Library-wise, Alesis Core ships with four complete sound collections, namely...
• Alesis Core Acoustic - ecorded at Powerstation Studios in New England
• BFD Dark Farm - an all-acoustic rock expansion pack from the BFD team
• Alesis Core Electronic - the best of the Alesis Strike Multipad one-shot electronic drum sounds tailored for layering over acoustic sounds
• BFD Percussion - a diverse collection of percussion sounds across BFD’s classic percussion packs
Alesis Strata Core is available now (RRP: £1,699/$1,999/€1,999) , for more details, check out alesisdrums.com
Alesis Core specifications and features
KICK: Strata Kick 8 (8in kick tower, mesh head)
SNARE: Strata Drum 12 (12” mesh
TOM 1: Strata Drum 8in (8” mesh)
TOM 2: Strata Drum 8in (8” mesh)
TOM 3: Strata Drum 10in (10” mesh)
HI-HAT: ARC Hi-hat 12 Active (12” 360 degree triple-zone cymbal with stand mounted active magnetic control system)
RIDE: ARC Cymbal 14 (14” 360 degree triple-zone cymbal)
CYMBAL 1: ARC Cymbal 12 (12” 360 degree triple-zone cymbal)
CYMBAL 2: ARC Cymbal 12 (12” 360 degree triple-zone cymbal)
MODULE: Core Drum Module w/ 7” touchscreen, multi-core processor, powered by BFD3 sound engine.
NUMBER OF DRUM KITS: 75
NUMBER OF INSTRUMENTS: 25+ GB of all new, multi-layered factory content, 370+ Kit Pieces, 800+ Articulations across 4 diverse sound libraries from Alesis and BFD
MODULE TRIGGER INPUTS: 9 via cable snake, 2 x 1/4” TRS (drum and cymbal triggers)
MODULE ANALOG INPUTS: Stereo 1/8” TRS
MODULE ANALOG OUTPUTS: 2x 1/4” TRS (main)
HEADPHONES: 1 x 1/4” & 1x 1/8” Stereo headphone outputs
MODULE MIDI I/O: USB MIDI, 5-pin In/Out, Bluetooth MIDI
USB: 1 x Type B (host) & 1x Type A (storage, external MIDI controllers)
USER STORAGE: 1GB+ internal drive
SOFTWARE: Free BFD Player + Core and Dark Mahogany
INCLUDED HARDWARE: 4-post Steel Rack, 3x Cymbal boom arms, snare stand
