Alesis Nitro Ultimate XL Kit – Yet Another Option!
5,0 / 5,0 | 
Alesis releases another kit option in their Nitro range, the Nitro Ultimate XL, but does it muddy the waters?
There is no doubt that when it comes to value for money and getting literal bang for your buck, not a lot comes close to Alesis in the eDrum market. Their Nitro range, sitting under the flagship Strike range, gives you all the feel but with less of the bulk.
Now we have another kit option within the Nitro range, the Nitro Ultimate XL and whilst it ticks all of the boxes (sorry, Florian!), one begins to wonder if they’ve got too many options going on. I mean, I had to look quite closely to find the differences between the Nitro Ultimate XL and the Nitro Pro XL, released back in 2024.
Key Highlights of the Alesis Nitro Ultimate XL
- Larger drum playing surfaces throughout
- Snare now floor-mounted with stand included
- Stand-mounted Hi-Hat controller (stand not included unless you buy the bundle)
- Drum Module features BFD content for great quality out of the box
What’s In the Nitro Ultimate XL?
The XL, in Alesis speak, generally means the addition of a drum (extra floor tom) or cymbal (extra crash) over and above the non-XL kit. So the Nitro Ultimate XL features exactly these. The Nitro Pro comes with a much nicer deep snare drum, but sadly, it’s mounted directly onto the main rack. The same applies to the Hi-Hat. Not ideal
Having the pads you probably hit the most and the hardest mounted on the rack is just begging for crosstalk and mistriggers. But here’s the puzzling thing with the Nitro Ultimate XL. It now comes with a snare floor stand. Brilliant! Huzzah! Well done Ales…. oh, wait. That snare drum is now a shallow variant, matching all the other drums.
So it looks like the compromise is a shallower snare and floor stand over a deeper snare and rack mounting. Does the depth make any sonic difference? Of course not, but it looks and, maybe only psychologically, feels different. But at least we can eliminate it from the main rack, so that’s good.
It’s Not All Bad News
Better news, it seems, on the Hi-Hat front. Instead of the slightly floppy, rack-mounted cymbal pad, we now have a proper stand-based Hi-Hat mechanism, but sadly, Alesis don’t supply the Hi-Hat stand, so you will need to factor one of those in to your purchase.
Overall, aside from the snare depth, the pads are slightly larger in diameter, with the snare at 12″ over the Pro’s 8″, and the toms are all 10″ dual zoners as opposed to 8″ on the Pro. The Nitro Ultimate XL sports a 14″ triple zone ride and a pair of 12″ dual zone crash pads with choke.
Looking through the specs, the drum module appears to be identical between the Pro and Ultimate XL with the same number of preset kits (36) plus space for 16 of your own, configurable from over 500 drum and percussion samples. Bluetooth Audio, Aux In, sequencer, USB MIDI, recording function and stereo outs are all present and correct.
Nitro Ultimate XL Xtras
You also get a copy of BFD Player with its BFD Core Library thrown in, plus the Dark Mahogany expansion pack. This is a great way to get into triggering many more sounds via MIDI, but I would recommend upgrading to the full version of BFD, or maybe even Superior Drummer 3 for the best drum libraries known to human kind!
In Conclusion
Overall, the Alesis Nitro Ultimate XL is a decent kit, especially at its price point, but I can’t help but feel that Alesis have robbed Peter to pay Paul. Maybe there’s another kit in the works… the Ultimate Pro XL that gives us back the deeper snare and possibly a better module. But overlook this and its stablemates at your peril. These kits are always great value!
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