Roland SPDS Sampling Percussion Pad

A sampler is basically a synth which allows you to take a 'sample' of a sound and use and reuse it, or in this case, assign it to one of the pads and activate it when you want. You know, like a dog barking, a door slamming, or...hits on actual drums if you wanted.

Here's more of the same at musician's friend

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/perc/navigation/percussion-midi-controllers-w-sound-electronic-drum-machines-drums-percussion?EC=4779+4775&N=100001+304778

You may not need the sampling part if you don't need custom sounds or special effects (like doors, dogs, etc) so you might look into some that have already built-in drum sounds programmed. You can also use some of those pad units to play the sounds of a drum machine if any of you have it. It's hooked up with the MIDI interface, and you assign one pad per sound and play the drum machine's internal sounds live.

Hope this helps.

Hey thanks.
It still is a bit over my head, really! However, it was helpful. We really don't need stuff like dogs barking or anything, but it would be nice to have some way to play some interesting percussion without dragging around the whole set. It would also be nice to have something some of us "non drummers" in the band could play if called upon.
The deal is, there are 4 of us in this band. We all switch around on the instruments because we can all play more than one instrument. All four of us have played the bass, two of us can play keyboards, and all four of us can play the guitar. Unfortunately, only one of us is particularly skilled on the drums. When she is tied up playing something else, we are left with a couple little easy percussion instruments (djembe, shaker, tamb, or bongos), or no percussion at all. If we had some type of percussion machine that would take up less space AND be easy for one of us less skilled percussionists, that would help a lot.
Would the Roland HPD-15 HandSonic Percussion Controller be more appropriate? Of course, it is more expensive!

I was kinda hoping a drummer or percussionist would have posted by now; there's quite a few around here. But that Handsonic looks pretty cool. If there was a way you all could go down to a Guitarcenter or someplace similar, and try a variety of those things out, it would be best I think.

Get a consensus on one of the units.

Hey, any drummers reading this? :)

I may do that - I've got a Guitar Center close by. Is there a better forum where the drummers "hang out"? I know this is mainly a guitar forum. That is my main instrument anyway!

Gigs and Jams or maybe Hear Here. I know Bish is a drummer - he's a guitarist but plays drums in one band. He put a video clip up recently in Gigs and Jams.

Maybe even Live Sound. Or heck, put in Guitar Player's Discussion since you are a guitarist :)

Yes, you can play the SPD-S like drums.... sort of...

It allows you to sample any sound(eg. kick drum, crash cymbal, cowbell, loops, etc.. Any sound at all) and assign each sound to a pad that you can hit with your fingers/hands or drumsticks...

Like a mini version of electronic drums... but not as ergonomic as a complete drumkit (obviously you lose the ability to play the kick drum and hihat pedals with your feet) It's marketed more as an addition to a drummers kit, rather than a replacement but i think it might suit your needs

You can play it as simple or as complex as you like... as long as you can hit the right pads at the right time to trigger the sounds you're after... And, you will need amplification (or plug into your mixer/PA)

there is a similar sort of model (SPD-20) which doesn't allow sampling but has more triggers and hundreds (700?) of built in sounds. But it's a wee bit more expensive.

I don't own one (although i've got a Roland Vdrum kit) but have have heard great things about them from other v-drummers
Definitely go into a music store and check one out..... Once you play with one you'll be hooked ;)

J

P.S. http://www.vdrums.com is a great place to ask questions about these sorts of products. Good luck

Cool - thanks. Very helpful!

MoGal, I see you are getting some responses to this Q both here and on another forum thread, so that's good.

Sometimes it takes a few days or even more to get answers to questions, just depending on who is visiting the forum at any particular time.

Rather than posting the same Q on several different forums, it's probably better to post it in one place, and if after a week or so you don't have any responses, (and assuming it's a Q that could logically fit into more than one forum) then post a link to the original Q on another forum.

That way, all the responses will end up together on the same thread, and others who may have the same Q in the future will have access to the full info as well.

Margaret

I'll do that from now on. Thanks Margaret!

You could set it up for one up shots and play it, but I don't know if the triggers are touch sensitive for dynamic control. Or you could go straight for a drum loop so the only thing you have to do is activate it and forget about it till the song is over. A four/eight/twelve measure loop with a little turn around would work.

If you gals are bouncing around on different instruments, it might just be better to load it up with your drum loops. Otherwise, you have to play it and that really doesn't free you up for other things.

I believe Smashing Pumpkins used a drum machine for a while before they got a drummer. Not my bag, but it seemed to work for them.

Good luck,

Mike

No problem, Mo!

It's possible that a moderator could consolidate the three threads. At least I've seen that done at another forum I frequent.

I don't know anything about the percussion samplers, etc, but I did see a very good band perform using one in a small venue. Their keyboardist operated it and he was able to play his boards at the same time, so it must not have needed constant attention.

Margaret