Programming drums. Drum pads helpful or not?

[kevinmathie]

Hey,

Quick question. I've been programming drums forever just by smacking the keys on my keyboard. But, as virtual drums have become more sophisticated, it's made me curious. Is there any benefit nowadays from programming drums via drum pads that you smack with actual drum sticks? Especially drum pads that may be more sensitive, like V-Drum pads.

Just curious. Please discuss...

Kevin

[mazz]

My thoughts on this are:

If you can actually play a drum kit, then there might be an advantage because you can play the entire groove at one time. Otherwise, a deeply sampled drum is no different from a deeply sampled piano or other instrument, it still takes technique to make it sound right and highly developed keyboard technique should allow you a range of expression appropriate for a drum part.

[slideboardouts]

Yeah I agree with Mazz. If you are an actual drummer I think it would help, but not because the pads themselves are any better than the keys on a keyboard. It would be because you would be able to get a better over all performance because, as a drummer, you know how drums should be played and you would be in your comfort zone.

I'll definitely be getting some drum pads eventually, but that is because I can actually play the drums a little bit and I know I could get better and more creative drum patterns by actually sitting down at a "kit" vs sitting down at a keyboard. If I couldn't play drums at all I don't think drum pads would be that beneficial.

-Steve

[boatrider]

I haven't used drum pads set up for sticks but I have found that finger drum pads ( like MPC) can accomplish some percussive dynamics that the keys can't...such as, rolls or latched notes...they also , to me, seem more sensitive to velocity and how hard you hit them , so you accent certain notes better, then I use keys for a more consistent sound ( like for kick drum)

[mojobone]

What Mazz said, with a caveat; drum pads are not yet as sophisticated as software drum samplers, generally. This means that, while Addictive Drums recognizes the difference between a free stroke and a rest stroke on the kick drum, most pads send only the attack/immediate release, via MIDI. Assuming that a note-off immediately followed every note-on event worked well enough, at the dawn of sequencing, but it's weak sauce, today, compared with drums painstakingly sequenced from a keyboard; in my very humble opinion, this HAS to change. There is also a problem in translating the position of hits on a given cymbal between ride and bell, and particularly for the hihat, which displays great timbral variation that's generally unmatched in sampled drum instruments. (and that's not to mention the closed/open spectrum) This also holds true for snare hits, running from 'rimshot' to 'shallow' to 'open'. Nevertheless, for real drummers who want a real feel and quickly-obtainable studio-quality drum sounds, pads provide a cheap and cheerful alternative to buying two dozen microphones and a half-dozen compressors/preamps in addition to your kit and heads, and THAT'S not to mention the price of the room.

[monteverdejon]

just got a few workstation-type keyboards with the pads on top...tried them once and don't know if i'll ever use them. i'm too used to general MIDI drumming on keys and i don't feel like i have any sense of relative velocity on the pads. but maybe i'll grow to like them.

[slideboardouts]

just got a few workstation-type keyboards with the pads on top...tried them once and don't know if i'll ever use them. i'm too used to general MIDI drumming on keys and i don't feel like i have any sense of relative velocity on the pads. but maybe i'll grow to like them.

I just got a controller with pads on it and I feel the exact same way. I feel I have way more control over velocity on the keys than on the pads. Plus there are only 8 pads which isn't enough for programming acoustic drums. I kinda wish there was a built in coaster or cup holder on my controller instead of the pads... that way I would have somewhere to put my beer.

-Steve

[mojobone]

Those of you that have those square rubber Akai-style pads might want to get under the hood and adjust their velocity response; tweaking that goes a long way toward improving their playability, and even better if you can do it on a per-pad basis. I'd also recommend experimenting with keymap layouts beyond General MIDI, when using the keyboard; if you assign two adjacent white keys to the same snare stroke, for example, it's way easier to get a snare roll happening.

[Kolstad]

I've seen vids of musicians who really can make great use of pads, but I've never really gotten into them myself. I have some on my midikeyboard, but very rarely use them. They feel too much like a toy to me. I got an Alesis performance pad in order to start playing drumparts, and it was better, but somehow it didn't appeal to me, and it was clunky with the bassdrum, so I ended up with a Roland HD-1 electronic drumkit instead. I'm really happy with that. Now I feel I can add some feel to the drum parts. I can't really hold a tune on them (yet), but record parts in steps. Even my daughter and my wife love playing on them too, so the HD-1 set has contributed to enjoy drums more in the small family here, so I love them!