Picking the best electronic drum pad to practice your drumming technique and paradiddles isn’t easy. There are a bunch cheap drum pads out there, but not all of them are that great to practice on.
There are tons of different options and features on drum pads and sampling pads. Obviously, they come with different sounds and the ability to sync them with apps to generate new sounds. They also vary in pad sensitivity and response. The more sensitive the pads are, the more realistic they will feel. Also, the more useful they will be.
Let’s compare the top drum machines on the market that you can use to practice and create music.
Compare the Top Electronic Drum Pads in 2020
Contents
- 1 Compare the Top Electronic Drum Pads in 2020
- 1.1 Roland Special Edition Percussion Sampling Pad
- 1.2 Roland SPD-30-BK OCTAPAD Digital Percussion Pad
- 1.3 Yamaha DTX Multi Media Digital Drum Pad
- 1.4 Alesis Sample Pad Pro
- 1.5 Yamaha DD65 Electronic Drum Pad
- 1.6 PylePro PTED01 Electronic Tabletop Digital Drum Machine
- 1.7 Kat Percussion KTMP1 Electronic Drum and Percussion Pad
- 2 What We Recommend and Why
Here’s a list of the best electronic drum pads to sample your beats and warm up your drumming techniques.
- Roland SPD-SX-SE
- Roland SPD-30-BK
- Yamaha DTX
- Alesis Sample Pad Pro
- Yamaha DD65
- PylePro PTED01
- Kat Percussion KTMP1
Roland Special Edition Percussion Sampling Pad
Specs, features, and benefits
Musicians know and trust the Roland brand and not because the name has a nice ring to it but because of everything the brand has done for and still does for musicians world over.
One of the products that this brand has offered musicians is the SPD-SX-SE, an electronic drum pad that is easily among the best in its niche. If you knew the SPD-SX, then this is simply an upgrade with a few additional features.
It comes with the nine pads. These are playable and assignable for loops, samples, or any percussion sound – acoustic or electronic.
For connectivity, it offers a USB connection that makes it usable as an audio interface plus four mono inputs for triggers and more. You also get built in effects so you can add some tonal color to your sound.
While the original SPD-SX comes with 2GB of memory, this updated version comes with 16GB so you can do more with this.
As part of the upgrade, this model comes with a free copy of Ableton Live Lite. This gives you the ability to fully manipulate and control your sound.
Pros and Highlights
- Pads – 9 playable and assignable pads.
- Memory – 16GB.
- Connectivity – Extensive including a USB port.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Cost – The cost may be much for some.
Bottom line
When you need a top of the line electronic drum pad for serious gigs, you can always count on this product. There’s a reason why it is regarded as one of the very best in the world.
Roland SPD-30-BK OCTAPAD Digital Percussion Pad
Specs, features, and benefits
We are looking at another electronic drum pad from Roland. If you thought the last one was a bit too expensive for your budget, then you can still enjoy the quality this brand is known for slightly less.
This is the SPD-30-BK, a piece of gear that Roland prefers to call a percussion pad rather than a sample pad. There is a pretty good reason for this too.
This pad comes with a ton of sounds covering almost every aspect of percussion. The 8 pads are velocity-sensitive and are well-proportioned to make them easy to hit during live performances.
With the latest software update, the number of available kits increased from 50 to 99. This means that there is hardly any sound you cannot find there. Though you cannot load your own custom sounds, you can tweak any of the available ones to your taste.
Now get this, you can record up to 50 loop phrases. That’s pretty extensive. More so, you can also choose to expand this pad into a mini drum kit by adding hi-hat, kick and snare controllers via the four available trigger inputs or you can simply use this as a trigger for your acoustic drum kit.
Pros and Highlights
- Pads – 8 velocity sensitive pads.
- Performance – 99 kits, 50 recordable loop phrases, over 30 built-in effects.
- Connectivity – Extensive.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Doesn’t offer custom sampling.
Bottom line
This is great as a bank of percussion sounds and also a trigger for your acoustic drum kit.
Yamaha DTX Multi Media Digital Drum Pad
Specs, features, and benefits
Yamaha is one brand that practically everyone knows. While it has offered musicians loads of products that have been very impactful, it has also provided the world as a whole numerous top quality products.
Today, Yamaha is offering musicians the DTX-MULTI, a 12 pad electronic drum instrument that comes with 1061 drum, percussion and effect sounds as well as 216 keyboard sounds.
This is one highly versatile pad. It can be played with drum sticks, hands or fingers. The highly dynamic pads respond easily to any of these triggers. This makes it perfect for the drummer who wants to extend his or her tonal reach with electronic aid as well as the percussionist who wants to access to as much tonal options as possible.
By simply adding additional pads via the available trigger inputs, this unit can be turned into a compact, stand-alone electronic drum kit.
Aside from its impressive list of sounds, tones and effects, you can also import up to 500 of your own custom sounds.
Controlling all that this unit is capable of is very easy. It is even more so when you use the DTXM12 touch App for iOS.
Pros and Highlights
- Pads – 12 dynamic pads.
- Performance – 1061 drums, percussions and effects + 216 keyboard sounds.
- Connectivity – USB, Midi, 5 trigger inputs and 2 pedal inputs.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Instructions – May be difficult to follow.
Bottom line
Whether you are a drummer or percussionist, this is one unit that can add great versatility to your performance.
Alesis Sample Pad Pro
Specs, features, and benefits
For some years now, Alesis has been making deep forays into the world of electronic percussion, given the established names a run for their money. One thing this brand offers is a more affordable alternative for musicians across the world.
One such alternative is this electronic drum pad – the Sample Pad Pro. This unit comes loaded with over 200 individual drum, percussion and cymbal sounds. These can be grouped under 10 kits. That means you can customize each kit with any of the sounds. You can also load your own custom sounds from an SD card. About 512 of such sounds can be saved on a 32GB card.
Playing this pad is very easy. The illuminated pad edges provide good visibility even on not too well lit stages for precise play. There’s also the option to add a kick pedal and hi-hat via the provided inputs. This will allow you use the unit as a complete electronic drum set.
With the included USB, Midi, 1/4 TRS inputs and output as well as the 1/8 input, connectivity is not a problem.
Pros and Highlights
- Pads – 8 dual zone pads.
- Performance – Includes over 200 sounds and can take 512 custom sounds via SD card.
- Connectivity – USB, Midi, TRS input and output and aux input.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Crosstalk – This may be an issue so you may need to reduce the pad’s sensitivity.
Bottom line
This is an affordable unit that will not only extend a drummer or percussionist’s tonal range but also provide a complete alternative for most drumming and percussion needs.
Yamaha DD65 Electronic Drum Pad
Specs, features, and benefits
We are looking at another product from Yamaha’s collections. This model is a more affordable option for those who cannot afford the previously reviewed offering.
We are looking at the DD65 premium pack which includes the electronic drum unit, headphones, two foot pedals, drum sticks and power supply.
This is a unit that comes loaded with 254 voices that are GM compatible. These voices can be assigned to any of the pads. There are also about 50 drum kits that come already programmed with it as well as kits that you can customize by yourself. These with the 100 songs that are built into the unit make for easy learning and personal improvement.
The pads are touch sensitive so your play can be fully expressive and there is also a hand percussion mode that allows for hand playing with Latin percussions. To help with some tone tweaking, you have a master EQ and reverb effect.
Unlike most electronic pads, this comes with a stereo speaker and a bass port that provide good sound so you can jam without the need for headphones or external speakers.
Pros and Highlights
- Pads – 8 Touch-sensitive pads.
- Performance – 254 GM compatible assignable voices and hand play mode.
- Connectivity – Midi in/out, aux in and headphone out.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Speakers – They are not really loud.
Bottom line
This is an easy to use electronic drum pad that is both great for personal use as well as live applications. The great thing is that it is very affordable.
PylePro PTED01 Electronic Tabletop Digital Drum Machine
Specs, features, and benefits
Pyle Audio has been trying to break into the musical instrument industry with a number of good quality products. This brand was previously known for simply building woofers. Well that has all changed now.
The PTED01 Tabletop Digital Drum machine is a good example of the diversification that has taken place. This is a portable electronic pad that offers 7 touch sensitive drum pads on which you can enjoy 25 preset drum kits and 5 custom ones. All these are based on the 215 percussion and 128 GM voices it comes loaded with.
This unit is just ideal for the highly mobile drummer or percussionist. It is compact, lightweight and can be easily customized. More so, it comes with a built-in internal speaker that offers the option of playing open or using the headphone output for a more private play.
You can add a kick pedal as well as a hi-hat pedal to play this as a full electronic drum set. You can also link it to your DAW to trigger your virtual instruments. This machine simply makes life so much easier while extending the options open to you.
Pros and Highlights
- Pads – 7 touch sensitive pads.
- Performance – 215 percussion and 128 GM voices.
- Connectivity – USB port and headphone output.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Pad size – May be small for most players.
Bottom line
This is a compact and lightweight product that is perfect for the mobile drummer or percussionist. With this, you can expand your performance and do much more.
Kat Percussion KTMP1 Electronic Drum and Percussion Pad
Specs, features, and benefits
KAT Percussion may not be a very popular name in the world or musical instruments. It is however an American company that has been in operation since 1985. Its main focus is the production of electronic percussions. These cover both electronic drum sets and tailor-made amplifiers for these equipment.
Today, we are looking at the KTMP1 Electronic Drum and Percussion Pad from the brand. This is a four pad unit loaded with about 50 drum and percussion sounds. This is a highly compact and portable unit that can easily be carried around by the drummer or percussionist on the go.
Though it may look small, you can use it as a full electronic drum set by simply adding hi-hat and kick pedals via the provided inputs. You can play it with a stick or with your bare hands. You can also manipulate the sounds to your taste, by tuning it, panning it, adding reverb and also assigning any of them to any of the pads.
There’s no doubt that this is an entry-level equipment but it does get the job done.
Pros and Highlights
- Pads – 4 touch-sensitive pads.
- Performance – 50 sounds, kick and hi-hat inputs and hand playable.
- Connectivity – Midi, USB, headphones stereo out.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Input – It has no aux input for playing your own songs.
Bottom line
This is a pretty much inexpensive electronic drum pad that works great as a beginner instrument but can also serve intermediate players. It is compact and easy to use.
What We Recommend and Why
It’s been fun looking at these different electronic drum pads. After carefully reviewing the seven different products on our list, we unanimously chose the Roland Special Edition Percussion Sampling Pad as our pick for the Top Electronic Drum Pad on this list.
Though this product is also the most expensive on our list, we believe it is worth its weight in gold.