Alesis Samplepad Pro 4-stars Reviews

Bought for testint sampling and DAW usage

PROs: This product is really great if you want to try out sampling-MIDI-DAW opportunities. It has the possibility to play virtual instruments (with a notebook, DAW, sound card of course), upload sample packs to memory card, plug in additional drum pads, switches, pedals, etc. It is really great to test if bringing electronis in to your play is the route you want to take. If yes, you should sell this and buy a better product (see cons below), if not, sell it, and you lost only minimal money.

CONs: The top two pad is not playable, it is just good for programmed stuff like all mute, etc. The remaining six is okay, but you have to tweak with the sensitivity. Loading samples is awful slow, you don't want to change it in the middle of a song. One of the knobs in front shows wear after light usage less than one year.

SUM: To see if bringing electronics to drumming, this is perfect, it is really versatile, and you can do everything what more expensive stuff provide - in a less perfect way.

better than expected

Pro: great sound with my Alesis Strike Pro. Sounds is soft though and the sounds are limited. To create new sounds or load them on the pad it's quite fiddly. Overall, im happy with it.

Great low-cost samplepad

I ordered this product as it was one of the cheaper samplepads I could find with a larger number of triggers. I used this samplepad hooked up with a hi-hat trigger and e-kick trigger with a bass drum pedal so I could practice an electric drum kit feel in a more portable manner. This product isn't silent but does a good job of dampening the majority of hits.

The flexibility of the sounds on the product is very impressive, with complete control of each pad with the sample, volume, pan, pitch of sample, sensitivity and trigger type.

Good product

It's a great pad, good for beginners though the extra shoulderpads are probably not a necessity. The quality and the kit that comes with it is pretty good and does the job for many setups. It's also a good idea to look in getting additional kits online.

Most of the time the pads take bit more force to respond, which is the only downside.

Aside from that it is a great multipad, I'd recommend it to everyone looking to do some studio-work or investing in learning how to drum.

Does the job

Its a really good instrument for the price but obviously doesn't compare to the Roland Pad, however I have used it multiple times live and its great! Would definitely recommend for a beginner!

Pad Problem

schön und praktisch Menüpunkte auch sehr einfach sind, ist alles in Ordnung in die rechte obere Pad la Baguette knapp unter seinem Block schlug, da es einen Mangel an guten Erkennung

Does everything for the price

It's like GPS navigation - works perfectly if you know how to use it.

What I mean is it has options for each pad that can be set. First thing to do in my opinion would be setting pad sensitivity. I like max sensitivity on two top pads and three bottom pads, and one level less than max on a middle line of pads. Setting pad sensitivity to max allows to have nice dynamic range and natural feel of soft and hard hits.

Setting up patches saves a lot of time. This device works a bit slowly, changing sound patches takes few seconds, navigation is not perfect, so it is better to set up device at home or on rehearsals time because there won't be enough time to do it on stage. But it doesn't take forever... it's just slower than Roland similar devices.

You can load your own sound samples from sd card (you can convert your sound samples into alesis sound sample with a alesis software). Loading samples from sd card takes a bit longer that loading factory sounds but once it's loaded you can use it without a worry. This device allows you to sound unique.

It has 4 more inputs which allows you to have external kick, hi-hat and 2 pads more. So it can be used like a drums. It's useful for elektro music drummers or situations where stage and room is small.

Good price/performance

The Alesis Samplepad Pro actually does what it advertises. The menu/saving system can be a bit wonky and the kit loading takes a while. Otherwise it's a great, usable alternative to the Roland SPD/x for half the price.

Looks like it will be a good investment

Just bought the new Alesis Sample Pad Pro, with the objective of adding it to my acoustic drum set. Had the chance of playing with it (standing alone) only for a couple hours, and it has been a lot a fun.

You will find some problems related to the crosstalk between the two pads in the center, but it can be fixed with the reduction of sensitivity. Guess that's the only problem nobody mentioned to me before I bought it. Luckily I found support within the Alesis forums and fixed quickly. A new software is available as well, and is recommended to be installed right away.

For this amount of money, I guess it might be the best piece you can get!

I would recommend it.

Great for sample playback - if that's all you need!

This is a very solidly built product - however, it doesn't come with any mounting screws to attach to a mounting clamp (bought separately) - I believe it uses the same screws as a Roland SPD set, or you can find some M5 screws. Pads light up when played, although this is clearly just to indicate which pad is 'active' in the editing section rather than for any cool on-stage effects - get some light up drumsticks for that! There is some (limited) cross-talk between the pads but I do not have the latest update yet.

There is only a very limited Reverb effect available to apply to your samples, and the rest of the editing involves velocities and sample locations. Loading samples is fine, just remember to convert them beforehand - Alesis have a downloadable converter for just this.

Having said the above, this is still excellent for triggering drum, vocal or FX samples - but don't expect the feature set of the equivalent Roland! Great for the price.