If you’ve been to a live show recently, there’s a good chance that you’ve seen an electronic drum pad sitting next to the drummer on stage.
These devices have become so critical in modern live shows, as they allow performers to trigger a variety of sounds that would have otherwise been impossible to incorporate into their music in a live setting.
Besides adding versatility to a live setting, they can allow drummers to practice at home or on the go, acting as portable, stand-alone drum sets. Not all of these drum pads are built equally though, as many of them have unique features and advantages.
In this article, we’re going to be discussing some of the best electronic drum pads available on the market, as well as some things you should look out for when trying to make your purchase.
The age of music technology is amazing, though overwhelming, and that is why we’re here to help!
The Top Drum Pads Compared
Roland SPD-SX
Top Pick
The Roland SPD-SX, easily one of the most popular electronic drum pads on the market, goes far beyond your typical percussion device.
It’s most prominent feature is the onboard sampling that allows you to build your own custom kits and trigger sounds live. It’s as easy as gathering a bunch of WAV files and loading them onto your device using your computer. You can even sample by recording straight to the SPD-SX with your phone or MP3 Player.
You have 4GB of memory onboard, giving you 720 minutes of sampling possibilities, enough for endless performances.
There are 9 high-quality pads on the face, 6 large and 3 small, and a user-friendly menu to help you scroll through and edit your kits. If you choose so, you can also hook up 4 external pads to give you some extra usability.
Bottom Line: For an electronic drum pad that is high quality, has tons of memory, and can unleash your creativity like no other, we recommend going with the SPD-SX. There’s no wonder why almost every modern drummer seems to have one in their rig.
The Roland Octapad has a very similar feel to the SPD-SX, though they are really meant for two different things. While you can’t load your own samples into the Octapad, it comes built with a wide variety of professional drum sounds and effects that will work for every kind of drummer.
If you want to go bigger than the 8 pads that are already onboard, you can connect up to 5 external sources, including kick pedals or rubber cymbals, to take your electronic drumming to the max.
An interesting feature on the Octapad is the phrase looping, allowing you to loop up to 3 different instruments at once, muting, playing, or tossing them, all on the fly. These loops can be triggered via the Octapad, or an external MIDI device, giving you more flexibility in your rig.
As for the build, the Octapad is made with Roland’s latest V-Drum technology, virtually eliminating crosstalk between pads and giving you extremely accurate isolation between sounds, making it a perfect live device where precision is key.
Bottom Line: Regarding a sample pad built for drummers, the Roland Octapad is far beyond other cheap pads on the market in terms of the sound quality, feel, and features. If you can go without the sampling capabilities, this is one of the top-tier electronic pads out there.
Alesis CompactKit 4
Best Budget
The Alesis CompactKit 4 comes with 4 velocity-sensitive pads that give you a pretty solid response considering the price. Not only does it comes with 70 built-in percussion voices and 10 effect voices, it also comes with 50 play-along songs, perfect for someone who is learning but doesn’t have a band to play with. It comes with everything you need to get started, including a pair of drumsticks.
One of the most prominent features when it comes to the Alesis CompactKit 4 is the coaching feature. Using the LCD, the “coach” teaches you how to play along with rhythms to the songs that are built in. This not only makes playing much easier, but also makes learning fun. The pad can be used with C batteries or the included AC adapter, giving you tons of flexibility when it comes to travel.
Bottom Line: Whether you’re on a budget, or just a burgeoning drummer looking to sharpen your drumming skills, the Alesis CompactKit 4 is a solid choice.
This 7-pad drum kit comes with 25 built-in preset kits, 343 overall sounds, and the ability to customize the sounds through the included software. It comes complete with MIDI connectivity, allowing you to play other kits on your DAW as well. For the price, the pads have great touch-sensitivity and respond very accurately to the strength of your hits.
One thing we love about the PylePro compared to the two Roland kits above is that it comes with a built-in speaker. Obviously you can use the headphone output if you need to keep quiet for the night, though having a speaker for a quick practice sesh can be much more convenient.
The PylePro comes complete with two pedals, presumably for kick and hi-hat, giving you the feel of a traditional kit. The LED display on the face is effortless to navigate, so you don’t spend an hour searching through various menus.
Lastly, the whole unit can run on batteries. This is unique when it comes to pro digital drum pads, making it perfect for travel where there may not always be an outlet around.
Bottom Line: With the built-in stereo speaker, high-quality presets, and solid playability, the PylePro is perfect for at-home practice and on-the-go drumming. For a solid mid-range price, you really can’t go wrong with this bad boy.
The Alesis CompactKit 4 comes with 4 velocity-sensitive pads that give you a pretty solid response considering the price. Not only does it comes with 70 built-in percussion voices and 10 effect voices, but it also comes with 50 play-along songs, perfect for someone who is learning but doesn’t have a band to play with.
It comes with everything you need to get started, including a pair of drumsticks.
One of the most prominent features when it comes to the CompactKit 4 is the coaching feature. Using the LCD, the “coach” teaches you how to play along with rhythms to the songs that are built in. This not only makes playing much easier but also makes learning fun.
The device can be used with C batteries or the included AC adapter, giving you tons of flexibility when it comes to travel.
Bottom Line: Whether you’re on a budget, or just a burgeoning drummer looking to sharpen your drumming skills, the Alesis CompactKit 4 is a solid choice.
How to Choose an Electronic Drum Pad
Number of Pads / Pedals
For starters, if you’re a traditional drummer, you’ll most likely want an product with enough pads to host the individual pieces of a drum kit.
This means you’ll want one for the kick, one for the snare, one for the ride, one for the rack tom, etc. You may even want more, say one for a closed hi-hat and one for an open one.
Even if you’re not a traditional drummer, the more pads you have, the more sounds that you’ll be able to access at once. If you decide to upload your own sounds to your kit, having 10 different slots for sounds might inflict a bit more creativity than one with only 6.
Some, though not all, pads come with pedals. These pedals can be used to represent a kick drum, the opening or closing of a hi-hat, and more. Again, if you plan on moving from one of these digital drum pads to a legitimate kit, having pedals for practice can encourage proper training and muscle memory.
Inputs and Outputs
Different drum pads come with different inputs and outputs. There are a few ones that you may want to look out for depending on what you want to use it for:
¼” Input
Some products allow you to play along to music that you have on your smartphone or MP3 devices. Having a ¼” input can allow you to connect up your device so that your music plays through the internal speakers or headphone output. If you’re practicing other people’s music or going through some stuff on your band’s setlist, this feature can be beneficial.
Headphone Output
Let’s say you need to practice in your apartment late at night or while on the road when the rest of your band is being loud at the hotel afterparty. This is where having a headphone output can do wonders. Practicing at a low volume can be unmotivating. Being able to practice with music and sounds that you can actually hear in headphones while keeping quiet for others, is much nicer.
MIDI or USB
Having a traditional MIDI or USB output allows you to record using sounds that are on your computer. This will allow you to map your drum pads to the drum rack spaces on your screen, allowing you to record digital drums with a more organic feel.
Number of Sounds and Customization
Every digital drum pad comes with a different number of sounds. Some come with a few hundred sounds with a variety of kits, while some only come with a few basic sounds. Some even allow you to load up your own sounds so that you can build your kits from the bottom up.
Some devices allow you to assign different sounds to different pads, giving you a lot more flexibility when it comes to your playing. This allows you to customize your kits to fit your needs. Some higher-end electronic drum pads will enable you to edit the built-in sounds, meaning you can manipulate pitch or length of the actual samples.
Quality of Sounds
The quality of the sounds onboard is obviously very important, as what’s the point in trying to play an electronic drum pad that sounds like some cheesy and cheap keyboard from the 1980s?
Now if the cheese is what you’re going for, something cheap may be perfect for you, though for most of us, we want sounds that we can use practically and professionally. Quality is subjective, though do yourself a favor and check out some electronic drum pad samples online before buying, as nothing can give you a better review than your own ear!
Size
When you consider size, there's two things to look out for:
- The Size of the Drum Pad As a Whole
- The Size of the Individual Pads
The size of your drum pad may be a consideration if you are looking to travel with it. After all, you don’t want to be hauling around a brick along with your drum kit while you’re on tour.
On the other hand, you may not want to get something that is so small that your drumming becomes less accurate. This is especially true if you’re taking your drum pad into a live setting where there may not be a ton of lighting.
The Future Of Drumming
So there you have it, the top electric drum pads on the market. Regardless of if you want one of these devices to practice at home or play live, you should definitely get your hands on one.
From practicing to sampling to triggering an array of different sounds, a drum pad can change the way you approach playing percussion and drums.
The Roland SPD-SX is still one of our favorite electronic drum pads around because of its sampling capabilities and high-quality build. But any of the options on our list can work well depending on your needs.
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