Triggers & Pads

One of the cheapest sample pads you can buy. The sounds and interface are weak, but as a $130 plug-and-play MIDI controller for Ableton, plus Bluetooth jamming, it punches well above its weight.

HXW's budget sampling pad with a unique party trick: wireless Bluetooth sampling. The sounds are solid for $400 and it expands well, but the UI is slow and USB needs the right cable. Here's how it really performed.

Roland's flagship sampling pad: flawless triggering, huge I/O, and tour-grade build. Stock kits are uninspired and it's the priciest pad out there, but nothing else is this reliable live.

Roland's 14-inch digital hi-hat is the closest an electronic hat has come to the real thing: flawless triggering and articulation that make the whole module sound better. It only works with the TD-50X, TD-50, and TD-27, and it costs $1,149.99.

HXW sent me their budget sampling pad. It undercuts the Alesis Sample Pad Pro by $100 with extra inputs the SPD-SX lacks. Stock sounds and build are weak, but for triggering backing tracks live the value is hard to beat.

The most popular sampling pad ever made. After years of touring with one, here's what it does brilliantly, where it falls short, and why the SPD-SX Pro is now the better buy.

A sampling pad brings loops, samples, and backing tracks to your kit. One pick per budget, from a $130 controller to a $1,499 touring flagship, every one road- and bench-tested.

Years on, still the best value multipad for gigging drummers. 8,000+ samples, the best I/O on any pad, and about $300 less than the SPD-SX Pro. The interface is a bit clunky, but the value is not a question.

The touring standard for electronic mallet performance. I ran one in Vinyl Theatre for years to play keys parts through Ableton. The pads are superb and it is bulletproof, but the internal sounds are poor and it is a serious investment.