The bulk of the MIDI drum pads I see online seem to be for use by fingers rather than sticks (or at least their pads are too small for me with sticks). The toys with larger pads are in the right price range, but seem to just create audio themselves and sometimes includes speakers. Does anyone know of a cheap, velocity-sensitive MIDI controller with at least 3" diameter pads?
A buddy of mine has this one below. I've played on it several times and it's great for what it is. Rubber pads are very responsive and it comes preloaded with a ton of sounds out of the box:
I forgot this earlier but the alesis samplepad4 I listed above also has 2 extra pad/trigger ports if you wanted to expand or even add pedals to make a pseudo-kit out of it.
Thank you all for your suggestions! I hadn't run into any of them in my initial browsing of Sweetwater and Amazon, and all but one of the above are in my price range. The Alesis recommendations led me to their web site and this is the one I am currently considering.
Thank you all for your suggestions! I hadn't run into any of them in my initial browsing of Sweetwater and Amazon, and all but one of the above are in my price range. The Alesis recommendations led me to their web site and this is the one I am currently considering.
It is a MIDI controller, and it was for the extra pads, not the features you mentioned. But the linked comment you referred to kills this as an option. Who would have guessed? I'm going to reexamine the 4 pad expandable option. It also makes me no longer trust Alesis marketing.
It is a MIDI controller, but the linked comment you referred to kills this as an option. Who would have guessed? I'm going to reexamine the 4 pad expandable option.
I am not a drummer. I want to create simple drum tracks that have a more natural (to me) input than a keyboard or my fingertips. I'm in SE Michigan, USA. I don't know how many pads I'll end up wanting, but with different pitched toms, pads get used up pretty fast.
I am not a drummer. I want to create simple drum tracks that have a more natural (to me) input than a keyboard or my fingertips. I'm in SE Michigan, USA. I don't know how many pads I'll end up wanting, but with different pitched toms, pads get used up pretty fast.
@electrodrummer, thanks for all the help. Because you mentioned it, I looked at the Yamaha DDs. It looked like the DD-75 is the only one that is current from Yamaha's point of view which has some appeal to me. I found a used one for only $11 over my budget, except I'll probably need to buy a power adapter so I don't need to use batteries, although it is possible I already have one that will work. I'll wait to see its specs.
I will need to buy something so it can connect to my computer for MIDI. Does it matter much what? I figure it will just need to be MIDI on one end and USB on the other.
I will need to buy something so it can connect to my computer for MIDI. Does it matter much what? I figure it will just need to be MIDI on one end and USB on the other.
Yes - it matters. Cheapo $3.99 Chinese ones are awful. Get a branded one - Yamaha, Roland, M-Audio, ESI, MOTU, etc. Otherwise you can get drops and glitches and general yuk.
You wanna save money get a 65 over a 75 (I bought a 65 in the UK for £20 ) . But download and read the manuals to compare specs. The 65 and 75 support a decent hat controller (HH65 for example) which is nice.
Or, seek out a ControlPad (or even a PerformancePad) and you won't need a MIDI/USB interface - it's got one built in.
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