NUX DM-210 electronic drum kit review

NUX DM-210 review: What is it?

NUX are arguably more well-known for their affordable take on classic guitar pedals, but in reality, they do a lot more than that. Since bursting on to the scene in 2006, NUX has established itself as a go-to place for affordable - yet reliable - digital pianos, multi-effects units, guitar amplifiers, wireless systems and of course, electronic drum kits. 

Today we're taking a look at one of NUX's entry-level, beginner electronic drum sets, the DM-210. This lightweight, small-framed kit is equipped with all mesh drum pads, an independent kick-drum - which was specially designed for DM-210 - as well as a few welcome extras. 

We all know drums just sound better with some accompaniment - and luckily, the NUX DM-210 has three options allowing you to jam. The song button on the module allows you to access a bank of demo songs prepared for you by the folks at NUX. These range from upbeat fusion rock to chilled pop and can be played with or without the click track. If you fancy playing along to your own music, then you have two options. Simply hook up your laptop, phone, or tablet via the integrated Bluetooth or aux-in. 

In terms of sounds, the DM-210 comes loaded with 15 presets. These range from pop, rock and metal to more electronic styles and even funk and jazz - so regardless of your playing style, you'll find a kit to fit the bill. 

NUX DM-210 review: Performance and verdict

Set-up

If you've ever set up an electronic drum set from scratch, you'll know it can be quite an intimidating experience. You can end up drowning in a sea of cardboard boxes, polystyrene, cables and hardware if you're not careful. This can be especially daunting for newbies building a kit for the first time. Luckily, this NUX kit is fairly straightforward to assemble. 

You only need one tool - a drum key, which is provided - and a little patience and you'll be up and running in no time. The instructions are well laid out and easy to follow, but they do opt to only show pictures with no written instructions. This can lead to some frustration if you aren't able to fully interpret the diagram and need further guidance. That said, it didn't take too long to get the kit together, and it should be relatively easy for most people. 

Hooking up the pads to the module couldn't have been easier. Each lead is clearly labelled with the name of the corresponding drum, as well as being colour coded - you literally can't get it wrong. 

Sound

As mentioned above, the DM-210 comes loaded with 15 different kits. These range from studio stables to funk, rock and metal sounds, as well as some EDM-inspired effects. 

For the most part, the in-built kits sound very good. The majority of the snare voices are punchy, tight and present, with the kicks and toms having plenty of low-end thump. Overall, the sounds included in the DM-210 are very satisfying to play - with most of the presets giving you the sonic feedback you expect when you smack a drum in anger. 

That said, as this is an entry-level drum set, the sounds aren't quite able to compete with the likes of Yamaha or Roland - lacking the polish you've come to expect from these premium brands. We would, however, put them on par with the likes of Alesis. 

Nevertheless, we were able to design our own custom kit in a matter of minutes, pulling together our favourite kick, snare, toms and cymbals from across the library of sounds available. Not only can you assign different drum sounds to each pad, you can also adjust the volume and sensitivity. Unfortunately, you can't assign the hi-hat pedal to be a kick, though, so if you were hoping to channel your inner Chris Adler, then you're out of luck. 

Like most of the electronic drum sets on the market, the NUX DM-210 includes pre-made backing tracks for you to jam along to. While these backing tracks certainly serve a purpose, the tracks themselves leave a lot to be desired. Having said that, with the inclusion of Bluetooth audio as well as aux-in, you'll most likely never use this function anyway. 

Those looking to forgo the internal sounds, in favour of software such as Toontrack's Superior Drummer and XLN Audio's Addictive Drums will be glad to know that it's a breeze to set up. We used the kit with Superior Drummer 3, and it worked incredibly well - taking just seconds to set up, with minimal faffing around to get the drums mapped correctly.   

This makes the DM-210 the perfect option for home producers and DIY recording engineers looking for a simple way to input MIDI drums - and let's face it, it's way more fun than tapping on a MIDI Keyboard.  

Playability

If you've ever played a modern electronic kit, then you'll most likely be familiar with the concept of mesh heads. Famed for their more realistic and natural feel, they are seen by most drummers to be far superior to the rubber pads found on very basic drum sets. 

For us, we very much enjoyed the feel of the DM-210. The snare and tom pads are plenty responsive, with a relatively natural feel. The pads are sensitive enough to allow you to comfortably play ghost notes and rolls while feeling robust enough to take a beating when things get heavy. 

The snare pad has the added bonus of being able to play a rim shot and side stick, upping the level of expression available from the wallet-friendly kit. 

We should also note that all the pads can be adjusted using a drum key, meaning you can tension them to tailor the rebound and feel to your exact liking, again leading to a more personalised playing experience. 

Moving on to the cymbal pads. The DM-210 comes with two cymbals, a crash, and a ride - although you can set them to be anything you want. As you'd expect, the cymbals are multi-zone, allowing you to play either a bow shot, edge shot, or even choke the cymbal. This is a very nice feature and something that we'd certainly miss if it wasn't included. 

We need to say we did run into a little bother with the cymbals not triggering perfectly every time, but we feel this may be due to striking the cymbal between zones. Once we adjusted our technique, it was no longer an issue, so it's worth keeping that in mind.  

Final thoughts 

Recently we've seen the drum market become saturated with electronic drum kits promising a world of features and extremely articulate playability, but there's one catch - they cost a small fortune. That's where the NUX DM-210 comes in. This robust little drum set puts up a good fight against its more premium stablemates, delivering user-friendly features such as multi-zone pads and Bluetooth audio at a fraction of the cost of the bigger names. 

For us, this is the perfect kit for the drum novice, home producers looking for a more fun way to input their MIDI drums, or established players looking for a low-cost alternative to Roland and Yamaha. 

NUX DM-210 review: Hands-on demos

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NUX DM-210 review: Specifications

• Drums: 8'' Snare, 8'' Tom x3, 10'' Hi-hat, 10'' Crash, 10'' Ride, Kick, Hi-hat Control, Kick Pedal
• Preset kits: 15
• Features: Metronome, Coach, Reverb, REC, Songs, Bluetooth, USB MIDI, All Mesh Drum Heads
• In/Outs: Headphone, DC-9V, L/MONO R Output, Aux In, USB, Cymbal Trigger In
• Contact: NUX