Hey there,
I posted this question over in the "In the Studio" forum and Demoetc suggested maybe I post it here or maybe in another place. I will try here first, in the hopes a drummer may read this.
I'm actually a singer/guitarist in an all-mom band. Anyway, this is a percussion question. We have a drummer with a real drum kit, but I have seen another local band play around here and they use something that looks like this sampling percussion pad, instead of drums. Here is a link so you can see what I'm talking about:
http://www.zzounds.com/item--ROLSPDS
Anyway, my question is, what exactly is a sampling percussion pad, and can it take the place of a drum kit? There are a lot of times when we play out that we are very limited on space. If this thing can take the place of real drums, it might be something we would consider getting. Also, is it easy to play?
I am not positive this is what this woman uses in this local band, but it is definitely something similar. She just pats it with her hands. Sorry if this is the wrong catagory in the forum! I didn't see anything pertaining specifically to percussion anywhere!
I got an answer from demoetc in the studio forum, who said that we didn't really need the sampling part. It still is a bit over my head, really! However, it was helpful. We really don't need samples of 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!
MoGal
my personal opinon. stick with real drums. They sound better. Sampling pads are cool for.... Samples.... Kinda looks stupid to mee to see someone banging away on one of those at a show. My drummer has one but he programs things into it and while he's playing his set there are some effects like thunder and stuff we use he just reaches over and hits it with his stick while playing. Thats cool.. But as for making it your drums. Lug that set around, if you really want light and easy, Buy some Roland V Drums, they are the closest thing I've found. But thats my two cents. I'm sure other people here have better advice.
No matter where you go.... There You are! Law of Location
As long as you keep the real drums, use the pad for the other sounds you want. Just run it through a DI into the board and you're good.
