A sample pad will allow you to trigger on-board sounds or ‘sampled audio’ - along with files you’ve recorded or uploaded yourself - and integrate them into your setup however you see fit. Pre-loaded kits can often be erased to make space for your own bespoke sounds.

Let’s say you’re importing a snare sample to your sample pad. In terms of dynamics of playing a snare drum, think of two velocity layers as two different volume hits.If you'relooking for a dedicated sample triggerthe Alesis Samplepad is ideal. It's low cost, rugged and functional, with velocity sensitivity and an SD card slot for use without a distinct sampler unit.The Samplepad is the ultimate compact sampler module, ideal for enhancing your live performances with highly-creative sampled sounds. Here's what Alesis say about the Samplepad:

So, overall, you might think that I didn”t really like the Samplepad 4 much. Well, that would be wrong. Yes, it has lots of short comings and it could be SO much better with a few tweaks, but I”ve saved the best for last. To get started you'll only need to plug your kit directly into your computer via a USB cable. All of our devices are class compliant, so if you run into any connection issues please be sure to eliminate any hubs or connectors between the computer and your module. Sensitivity: As a drummer, I do not think the SamplePad Pro measures up enough in terms of detecting subtlety, in comparison to the high-end Roland and Yamaha models. For example, if you play fast double-stroke rolls or rudiments with ghost notes, it just feels a little clunky to play.

Alesis SamplePad 4 Overview

Capture every subtle nuance of your performance with SamplePad 4’s four velocity sensitive pads - whether it’s drum sounds, loops or one-shot melodics, this performance pad guarantees maximum expressive capability! Superior Sound Content Hi, yes, the SamplePad Pro is a decent option if he’s limited on space. However, if he wants to really learn drums then I’d recommend getting pedals as well, as otherwise he will only be able to play with his hands.

Depending on the type of pad, the predominant functions can be vastly different. Before investing it’s important to know the subtleties between the pads on offer, so you can accurately choose which best suits your needs. Generally speaking there are sample pads, percussion pads and drum synthesizers, all usually listed under the term ‘drum pad’ or ‘multipad’, so let’s take a closer look. What is a sample pad? Cross-talk: This was one of my biggest concerns with using the SamplePad Pro. A well-known issue with this model is that hitting one pad may trigger another. The Alesis SamplePad Pro contains eight drum pads. This includes six pads on the main face of the device, and two on each of the top corners. Is cross-talk really an issue with this device? The answer is that it depends. You may have to avoid using the particular problematic pads if you’re looking for a lot of sensitivity in your playing. Otherwise, it might be fine.

your samples and create kits. It's an effortless process that lets you get straight to playing. Built In Sounds You’re able to import a lighter “tap” sample as well as a hard-hitting strike of the drum. You can then adjust the velocity level on the SamplePad 4 to determine when the “crossover” is of which sample to trigger. This is great for percussion samples like congas or bongos. The ins and outs of the Alesis SamplePad 4 So, talking of user samples, things haven”t got any better in the loading speed from the Samplepad Pro. Transferring a 10 meg sample via USB from my computer to the Samplepad 4 took 73 seconds and then loading it from the card into memory to be played off a pad took another 80 seconds. Its also worth noting that the samples load each time you select a new patch (of which there are only 10) and when the samples are loading, the rest of the unit becomes entirely unresponsive. You HAVE to wait for the samples to load before you can do anything else, including moving to the patch you really wanted to be on. Waiting up to 80 seconds between patch changes can be a little frustrating at times, and because of this, I could not recommend the Samplepad 4 for stage use if you are using long samples – the frustration could cause you to strangle the guitar player… actually, thats not a bad idea… I recorded live hits from one of my acoustic drum sets and loaded samples of that onto this device. It worked fairly nicely, though I wasn’t amazed when using an external hi-hat controller.