To prove their dedication to electronic drums, Alesis rolled into Musikmesse 2009 with drummers on the brain. The Alesis E-Practice Pad is Alesis' latest attempt to make drummers into better drummers, possibly coinciding with buzz about a sequel to Drumline.

Alesis calls the E-Practice Pad the "fun way to learn and practice the drums." It sure beats running through patterns in a woodshed out in the middle of nowhere where a crazed axeman threatens to kill you if you stray more than five BPM off tempo. Of course, you have to decide whether you want to be good at drums, incredible at drums or beheaded.

Plus, show me a threatening axeman with 65 different drum sounds, a built-in metronome with your choice of six tempo sounds and over 50 practice games and exercises, and I'll show you a threatening axeman with an Alesis E-Practice Pad. It provides a full dynamic range, from subtle to Bonham.

For practice purposes, drummers can practice silently via headphones or plug into an instrument amplifier. If you're like me, and you become way too good to practice, just mount it on your cymbal stand and use it for auxiliary sounds. Beat check, stroke balance and record / playback round out this practice pad, which has enough features to trick any wannabe drummer into following through.