Samplepad 4 from Alesis

[KennyinDundee]

http://www.alesis.com/products/view2/samplepad-4

This looks quite a neat product to add to a setup. Its compact, plays samples that can be transferred from a PC or Mac and easy to use.

Has anyone played this or has experience of this?

[Mezzo]

I know nothing of the 4 version, but I do have an 8 pad one I got mid last year if thats any help. I am assuming software wise they will be the same.

They are best as either extra sampled pieces, loops and of course extra midi triggers rather than complete backing tracks. It is well built and can (and indeed mine has many times) take a beating. One thing is the load time on the samples isnt the fastest for mid song swaps, so if you think you may want more samples in the future you could look at the 8 pad one.

The 4 pad one also has an extra dual zone trigger input as well which would potentially give you 6 triggers altogether and with velocity layering that is potentially 12 samples

Now the 8 pad one is a different animal, it has got 2 x extra trigger inputs one is dual zone, plus kick input, plus variable hi-hat input (since you can use it as a complete kit), plus 5 pin midi in and out as well as the usb, meaning it is capable of 12 triggers with dual layering on the velocity plus the hi-hat pedal that switches a pad into 3 dual layers on potition if you play local samples (ouputs cc position to midi).
What that means is that if you didnt want to plug anything into those you can still assign them on the midi, so if you took a midi lead out of the drum module into the sample pad pro you can set those unused zones to trigger samples / loops etc on anything you hit on the kit, e.g. rims. as well as having the 8 pads on the unit.

But if your only looking at 4 samples (5 or 6 with extra pads) like extra percussion pieces or loops and if it behaves the same as the 8 pad one I have then yeah you wont be disappointed.

Hope that helps a little, I love the 8 pad version, I hope the 4 is similar


Edit : Oh and it looks awesome with all the blue neon

[KennyinDundee]

Many thanks Mezzo for all the detailed info above. It is very much appreciated. I'm change my module this year (not sure which one yet though) and I'm considering picking this up at the same time. I have anTD9 also and really like it but I want just want more realistic sounds and no machine gunning.

What do you use your DM10 for May I ask?

[Mezzo]

Well now there is a story on the DM10 lol. I bought the DM10 module on a whim second hand, at the same time bought the TD9 second hand, one of those mad moments, so not totally sure what I am going to do with it yet lol, but as a trigger device the DM10 doesnt support my roland cymbals as well as a roland obviously, but I have mapped the TD9 to the DM10 over midi and intend to give it a try and see how it sounds out of interest, there is certainly no perceivable latency out of the DM10 on midi but need some time to listen and compare, but it may end up a backup or portable addition to the sample pad as a drumkit in a laptop bag.

The TD9 I was really impressed with its triggering and dynamics, its was the first time I had used a TD on converted large mesh heads and considering I am using 13 inch mesh heads for the snare and "floor" tom there isnt the slightest hint of any sort of double triggering on the TD9, I dont know how roland do it, but they do it very well, I was quite taken back so stuck with it, all I have done is set the pad type to PD105, not altered any of the settings within and it triggers beautifully from the smallest tap to biggest whack.

I have also updated it to V2 and installed the sync vex which is an improvement. I usually run AD2 so sounds become somewhat irrelevant then, but there are times I just want to press a button and play and the sounds on it are more than good enough for that, so for that reason and its impressive triggering I am sticking with it for now.

[allanjohn]

http://www.alesis.com/products/view2/samplepad-4


Has anyone played this or has experience of this?

Played one briefly at NAMM and it was pretty good. There weren't many samples onboard and I suspect any loaded .wav files will only have two velocity layers, but for perc sounds, it's a neat solution.

[Chris K]

http://www.alesis.com/products/view2/samplepad-4


This looks quite a neat product to add to a setup. Its compact, plays samples that can be transferred from a PC or Mac and easy to use.

Has anyone played this or has experience of this?

its the same price as the sample rack without the amount of triggers of the sample rack, great for percussion, FX and loops, but don't get too much large samples can take time to load sample and changing kit can take time if the sample are too much long, but great price.

[KennyinDundee]

Can I load a song or backing track onto it or is there not enough space?

[Chris K]

Can I load a song or backing track onto it or is there not enough space?

http://www.alesis.com/kb/article/1988

limited to 48mb for each users kits, you can but, again more the sample is larger, more it will take time to load from the SD cards, I don't think you will want to wait about a min to load the sample...you can have up to 512 samples on each SD cards max and works up o 32GB cards, but limited to 512 wav on the root of the SD..no need 32gb sd cards.

[electrodrummer]

Can I load a song or backing track onto it or is there not enough space?

[tivi]

HI electrodrummer, so SP-404 or SP-404SX can do loop [with mute group] like SPD-SX? thanks. I know little bit about MIDI notes, setup MIDI notes from TD sound module to trigger the loop from SP-404/SX right? thanks. but not too sure about mute group on SP-404/SX, if SP-404/SX do have mute group like SPD-SX that would be great, thanks.

[kurth83]

I have the older model, the original Sample Pad, it is a square 4-pad thing, single layer only. I use it to add some variety to my kit, I have it loaded with stuff like tambourine, finger-snaps, egg shaker, three different bongo sounds, claves, stuff like that. I prefer the older 4-pad layout to the new two-pad two-rim layout, but the compactness of the new form factor (not to mention aesthics) are appealing.