Best midi drumpad (for sticks) for ios?

drewhino

hey audiobus community! much love!

im in the market for midi drumpads that i can play with sticks. last i even checked up on this type of thing was when the roland spd’s ruled the land.

does anyone have any favorites that they love? are the spd’s still the way to go?

im really wanting to get one that has the best functionality with auv3 apps like splat to clat or all the hits from klevgrand.

any help regarding this subject is much appreciated cuz im pretty much in the dark, thanks!

ecamburn

I’ve used the Keith McMillen Boppad on iOS with good results. In general I’ve not had any issues with any midi device I’ve hooked up via a camera kit. I also have an Alesis sample pad but can’t remember if I’ve ever hooked that up to iOS. I do like how the Alesis works in general, and how well it works with the computer. As you probably know, a big trick with live midi drumming is latency, which of course will depend on your audio interface

drewhino

@ecamburn said:
I’ve used the Keith McMillen Boppad on iOS with good results. In general I’ve not had any issues with any midi device I’ve hooked up via a camera kit. I also have an Alesis sample pad but can’t remember if I’ve ever hooked that up to iOS. I do like how the Alesis works in general, and how well it works with the computer. As you probably know, a big trick with live midi drumming is latency, which of course will depend on your audio interface

thanks for the reply! the sample pad is actually what i was going to get.

been reading up on the midi latency issues that people have. interesting! i didn’t really realize that’s a thing since i never notice it on keyboard. i have a universal audio volt 2 interface which is pretty new. hoping that can make do

rs2000

I'll keep my SPD-80 because I like the way its pads react to snare rolls and have uniform sensitivity across the pad area, something I've rarely seen in newer models with rubber surface.
Also, crosstalk between pads is not an issue unlike in some Alesis models.
I had to replace all piezo triggers once though, they don't last forever.

It works well with iOS apps, all the stuff like presets with different drum instrument mappings and different velocities sending different note messages are there.

MonkeyDrummer

Depends on your budget. I have literally owned pretty much every midi percussion controller at one point or another.

If you have a higher budget, Alternate Mode’s stuff is hand’s down the best.
Their offshoot company KAT makes a really nice round 4 pad controller.
If you want an actual drum set configuration, pick up an old Roland TD6K based kit for pretty cheap on reverb.

Even Roland’s 20 year old pad tech is solid.

MonkeyDrummer

@drewhino said:

@ecamburn said:
I’ve used the Keith McMillen Boppad on iOS with good results. In general I’ve not had any issues with any midi device I’ve hooked up via a camera kit. I also have an Alesis sample pad but can’t remember if I’ve ever hooked that up to iOS. I do like how the Alesis works in general, and how well it works with the computer. As you probably know, a big trick with live midi drumming is latency, which of course will depend on your audio interface

thanks for the reply! the sample pad is actually what i was going to get.

been reading up on the midi latency issues that people have. interesting! i didn’t really realize that’s a thing since i never notice it on keyboard. i have a universal audio volt 2 interface which is pretty new. hoping that can make do

Midi latency is indeed a wayyyyy bigger deal when playing drums. If your daw can’t get below buffer=256 in terms of latency, it’s painful. Don’t even think about midi over Bluetooth.

veitz

drewhino

@MonkeyDrummer said:
Depends on your budget. I have literally owned pretty much every midi percussion controller at one point or another.

If you have a higher budget, Alternate Mode’s stuff is hand’s down the best.
Their offshoot company KAT makes a really nice round 4 pad controller.
If you want an actual drum set configuration, pick up an old Roland TD6K based kit for pretty cheap on reverb.

Even Roland’s 20 year old pad tech is solid.

word thanks! my budget is pretty low lol. really just looking for something to create fills with and maybe hit a snare or two and just needing to trigger drum apps through AUM. i saw the KAT pad! i think im between that and the boppad. do you have any opinion between the two of them? thanks for the reply

drewhino

@MonkeyDrummer said:

@drewhino said:

@ecamburn said:
I’ve used the Keith McMillen Boppad on iOS with good results. In general I’ve not had any issues with any midi device I’ve hooked up via a camera kit. I also have an Alesis sample pad but can’t remember if I’ve ever hooked that up to iOS. I do like how the Alesis works in general, and how well it works with the computer. As you probably know, a big trick with live midi drumming is latency, which of course will depend on your audio interface

thanks for the reply! the sample pad is actually what i was going to get.

been reading up on the midi latency issues that people have. interesting! i didn’t really realize that’s a thing since i never notice it on keyboard. i have a universal audio volt 2 interface which is pretty new. hoping that can make do

Midi latency is indeed a wayyyyy bigger deal when playing drums. If your daw can’t get below buffer=256 in terms of latency, it’s painful. Don’t even think about midi over Bluetooth.

word! i had no idea until i started doing research after you said that. usually i work through aum on 128 is there is latency issues. hopefully that’ll be good enough?

rs2000

@drewhino said:

@MonkeyDrummer said:
Depends on your budget. I have literally owned pretty much every midi percussion controller at one point or another.

If you have a higher budget, Alternate Mode’s stuff is hand’s down the best.
Their offshoot company KAT makes a really nice round 4 pad controller.
If you want an actual drum set configuration, pick up an old Roland TD6K based kit for pretty cheap on reverb.

Even Roland’s 20 year old pad tech is solid.

word thanks! my budget is pretty low lol. really just looking for something to create fills with and maybe hit a snare or two and just needing to trigger drum apps through AUM. i saw the KAT pad! i think im between that and the boppad. do you have any opinion between the two of them? thanks for the reply

Have you tried using the built-in microphone as a drum trigger? Any envelope follower can do that.
Here's how I did it in Drambo:

BroCoast

@rs2000 said:

@drewhino said:

@MonkeyDrummer said:
Depends on your budget. I have literally owned pretty much every midi percussion controller at one point or another.

If you have a higher budget, Alternate Mode’s stuff is hand’s down the best.
Their offshoot company KAT makes a really nice round 4 pad controller.
If you want an actual drum set configuration, pick up an old Roland TD6K based kit for pretty cheap on reverb.

Even Roland’s 20 year old pad tech is solid.

word thanks! my budget is pretty low lol. really just looking for something to create fills with and maybe hit a snare or two and just needing to trigger drum apps through AUM. i saw the KAT pad! i think im between that and the boppad. do you have any opinion between the two of them? thanks for the reply

Have you tried using the built-in microphone as a drum trigger? Any envelope follower can do that.
Here's how I did it in Drambo:

This is the way to go.