Has anybody tried using a SPD-SX PRO as a sample based drum machine (with pads)?
The build quality looks good.
New kits load as fast as you select them.
Everything from sidechain compression to 53 different Roland Fx from filters to reverbs and delays with everything in between with programming depth.
4 Fx per pad and 32 voice polyphony.
Ability to layer multiple sounds and Fx to each pad.
A random example page from the SPD-SX PRO manual.
Even has a 16 step sequencer…
Short answer no.
I remember when the Alesis Strike Multipad came out that I was really interested in its capabilities around sampling, looping and sequencing from a non-drumming perspective.
Looks nice but I haven’t had the appetite to look into or get excited about this one yet, but one day want to make a small electronic drum kit around one of these sorts of things.
I just really want to see someone do a deep dive from a non-drummer perspective.
The Roland looks to have a lot more under the hood as far as memory and processing power goes for Fx and swapping (loading) kits.
Looks to be practically as fast as you select the kit it loads… The Alesis takes longer than you would want a pause in a live set.
(Video queued to a demonstration of load times for the SX PRO and then the Multipad)
The SX PRO also has a bunch of assignable outs and can accept up to 4 stereo triggers (8 inputs total) if you want to add pedals for h-hats and kick drum… Audio in… It certainly looks like it has more than the competition.
Granted it is double the cost of other pads. But compared to buying another electronic instrument the pricing is not so bad.
What exactly is it that you’d like to see/learn?
Have you got one SCG?
Reviews have rated the UI and the computer app well, would you agree?
Oh nothing in particular nowadays, but back then with the multipad it was basically any use that wasn’t demoing it alongside a drum kit.
Using to sample and loop synths etc in combo with hitting some drums sounds and that kind of thing.
I don’t have one. I had its predecessor for about a year, and sold it on.
The UI looks very similar to the predecessor, and the computer app definitely has a nicer looking screen. The previous version looked a lot like a command line window.
I never had a problem with the UI, most of the functions were fairly obvious and easy to get to if you know what you’re doing.
From a quick perusal of the manual it seems like not much has changed under the hood.
It still can’t send CC’s from pads, and is underwhelming as a sampler.
It’s more like “pad-based sample player that you really should use your computer to get sounds into”.
@Stone262
I was curious as to what you meant by “a deep dive”. We have different ideas about the word deep.
wonder if it can 809
We probably don’t. I was reflecting on when the Alesis Multipad came out. In the year or two after I probably watched every video I could find, read every review and forum post, and read the manual cover to cover. I found hardly anything talking about the experience of using it that wasn’t in the context of complementing a drumkit.
I’m not saying there were no in depth looks at the features, I’m saying I found nothing that was a deep dive on a non-drumming use case.
I wasn’t talking about about the above in relation to the SPD SX or SX Pro. The Pro made me think about going down the rabbit hole again, but your comments re sampling vs sample playback above suggests it’s probably not what I’m hoping for, which I guess is basically a 1010 Blackbox with pads.
Yeah, I agree with you, our concept of deep dive is probably similar.
While useful for playing electronic sounds, loops, and stems with drumsticks, “sampling multipads” in general aren’t things I’d call deep in regards to sampling.
Comparatively, they’ve been like toy samplers forever. Like plastic kiddie pool deep. Ankle socks deep.
Imagine a stand-alone sampler that has no filter, no L/R or polarity inversion, no collapse to mono, and doesn’t allow you to play the sample chromatically.
In addition, you have to resample through the effects to get anything done, though sometimes you can sample through the effects, and have access to another sample layer, so maybe two velocity layers.
It’s probably the market, most of the folks that I know use them for triggering backing tracks for shows or firing off analog samples to complement the acoustic kit they play.
The manufacturers have opted for simplicity - one can only assume that this is due to market research dictating the feature-set.
Something like Alternate Mode DrumKat Hybrid with AR mk2 inside would be an amazing step forward. It would probably weigh 7-8 kilos!
You’re better of pairing the BB with a good feeling pad.
Sure seems to look like it can here in the manual if I am reading it right…
As far as live sample/loop manipulation goes these two pages seem to be it.
(reviews I have read suggest the Multipad is a better choice for live looping/samples)
After a deeper dive in the reference manual, it was unclear to me if pads can send CC’s.
The HiHat pedal can send one to detect the position of a foot pedal, but that’s all the manual made clear.
To be of service, as well as answering my own question, a Google search turned up this bit of info:
The SPD-SX Pro can send Note#’s per pad, sure. CC’s and PC’s, no.
So triggering external midi device, BlackBox, Octatrack, whatever it can do.
Trigger a 1-shot recording trig for the OT, or open/close a filter depending on how hard you strike a pad? No.
The Alesis has the same limitation.
Precisely the reason I switched to DTXM12.
Thanks for your reply and input SCG.
Get a 1010 blackbox and add some pads via midi (I do this with a Digitakt/OT and a Nord Drum 3P and it works a charm).
Got one, and the 3P is on the wish list…. Hmmm haha.
