merseymale wrote: ↑Tue Aug 10, 2021 11:48 pmI have an iPhone - using it now to write this but can it help in this regard?
...so, if you're keeping the drum side and computer side separate, I think we've narrowed it down to a few different options.
1) I'm not sure why you're currently recording the triggers on the Zoom and then playing them back. You say the triggering is a bit erratic, so it might be the triggers at fault, but I can't imagine that this extra step is helping. With your existing setup, why not remove this step by running the triggers directly into the Alesis and recording the Alesis straight onto the Zoom...?
2) James made an interesting point about the possibility of using trigger-to-MIDI conversion in Reaper instead of doing it on the Alesis. Another thing you could try would be to record the triggers on the Zoom as you're doing, but forget the Alesis. Transfer the recorded triggers straight into Reaper, load up your virtual drums, and drive them using Reaper's own trigger/MIDI system. (I don't know about that. I'm not familiar with Reaper.)
3) You could experiment with drum sample replacement as Nigel mentioned. Some systems can identify different sounds in a mix, whereas others will need them on different tracks. For instance, you could record your acoustic kick and snare on the Zoom, no triggers involved, run them into something like SD3, and replace those sounds directly with others. (It's not a cheap piece of software, though it's very good...just an example.) How well this works depends on the complexity of the playing. I've found it pretty effective with simple patterns, but it would struggle with flams, for example. It probably won't have the dynamic sensitivity of working directly with triggers. If you work with the sounds on the Alesis, you could split them out into separate channels which is a plus, but the dynamic control would take a hit from the extra step. I would have thought that working directly with triggers would be cleaner, but this approach might suit your workflow better and work fine for you.
4) You could go triggers->Alesis->MIDI recorder with a different device in the attic. You could get a MIDI interface like an
iRig for your iPhone, record directly into that, then transfer the MIDI files to the DAW where they could be used to trigger different drum sounds. (This would be my preferred option if I couldn't have the drums and computer in the same room. You can run a sophisticated DAW like
Cubase on iOS and it's pretty good, though cheap and simple apps are also available.)
You'll quickly get the hang of MIDI. It's simply music as data instead of audio. Instead of the sound of a piano playing middle C, there's a series of messages ("Note on" and "Note off" messages mainly) saying, "play this note, play this drum sound". There are advantages to working with MIDI in some situations, such as being able to edit the sound and timing of parts in ways that would be impossible if you were working with the audio.
merseymale wrote: ↑Tue Aug 10, 2021 11:48 pmI understand what you’re saying about recording MIDI files but how are they to be in sync with what acoustic sources I’m playing along with them?
If you record your drums as MIDI while playing along to a track, or a click, they'll keep exactly the same timing as if you had recorded the audio.
(Re: drum replacement, note that you're not avoiding MIDI; it's being used under the hood. The system analyses the drum hits, turns them into MIDI data, then uses that to drive different drum sounds. I guess it's not fundamentally different from trigger-to-MIDI as carried out in the Alesis or by Reaper in that respect, but the sounds being analysed are more complex which has pros and cons. It makes it possible to distinguish a kick from a snare in a mix, say, but makes it harder to analyse dynamics, or hits that are very close together.)
… you are quite right. I have largely been relying on experience alone and how I deal with what experience throws at me to learn audio things but as President Lincoln said “experience is a dear school but fools learn in no other“ -it is a bit mad that, this far into the 21st-century, I’m still so ignorant of midi matters 
