Alesis SamplePad Pro Review – ‘8 Pads Of Pure Awesomeness’

This video, via SPEARFISHER (Peter John) takes a look at the Alesis SamplePad Pro percussion instrument.

The SamplePad Pro has onboard sounds or can play custom sounds, via SD card. It has stereo output, headphone out and MIDI In/Out.

Npte: John notes that the ‘crosstalk’ issue he mentions in the video demo has been solved with the latest SamplePad Pro firmware update. 

Here’s a live looping demo, using custom sounds.

Features:

  • Percussion Pad With Onboard Sound Storage
  • Play onboard sounds or load your own via the SD card slot
  • 10 ready-to-play kits with over 200 drum and cymbal sounds
  • 8 two-shot, isolated rubber pads with active blue LED illumination
  • Two additional pad inputs, plus kick and hi-hat trigger/switch inputs
  • Save sounds on SD card (up to 20 Kits), accessible via USB
  • LCD display and software utility for complete control
  • 1/4? stereo outputs (L, R); 1/4? headphone output
  • 1/8? stereo aux input with level control; MIDI In & Out

The SamplePad Pro has a street price of about US $300. See the Alesis site for details.

18 thoughts on “Alesis SamplePad Pro Review – ‘8 Pads Of Pure Awesomeness’

  1. Too bad about that crosstalk issue. They can say it is fixed with firmware, but that probably means they are suppressing the pads in a particular way (or they’ve raised the default thresholds).

    It is probably more of an issue with construction. A box like this has to be built like a tank with crazy internal bracing, damping, isolation.

    Otherwise, I like the feature-set. Maybe if I ever got one, I’d hack it a bit and try to get more integrity out of the box.

    1. I think you greatly underestimate what software is capable of in situations like this.
      Of course, solid hardware can reduce these issues significantly, but these days there’s a lot you can do with proper software filtering without much latency.

      Not to rock the boat here; they surely *should* have addressed these issues before shipping the thing, but they probably *could* solve it with a better firmware.

      1. Yeah, but not if their “solution” is like that on the original samplepad, which basically just recognizes when 2 pads are played… *too close* to eachother and it cancels the audio of one of them. That’s not exactly a great fix. Hopefully what they’ve implemented here is better.

  2. for £219 it’s like £300 cheaper than the roland or the yamaha offerings, which is amazing..you have to cut corners somewhere i guess..i’d just not use the shoulder pads if i found them not so reliable..keeps it 6 pads and play 2 external pads (i have 2 old roland pads) in and you’re all good really..brilliant price point.

  3. Alesis still innovates. It is good to see that quality and quantity of capability are within reach of even the starting performer. I will not critique the reviewer, but from some of his asides, I am getting the impression (here paraphrasing Billy Crystal) that “it is better to look like a musician, than to sound like a musician.” Although this fellow is, to be fair, seeming to say it is about equal.

    1. Remember when Alesis brought out a gigantic analog polysynth (!), then a big knobby VA synth with multiple stepless filter models (still a rare sight more than a decade later), then a 3-octave mini-synth based on that VA engine (adding reverb and long delay) and then a series of digital effect desktop modules? That was 4 consecutive years from Alesis. That was innovation.

      I don’t know what you call Alesis development strategy these days. Retreat and imitate? Controllers and accessories?

      1. Amen brother. Alesis seems to have a rich tradition of thinking outside the box, releasing really innovating ideas, then losing lots of money.
        After the 80’s and 90’s of making EVERYTHING (tape machines, mixers, drum machines, keyboards, etc),
        and the 2000’s, when they were initially scooped up by NuMark, we saw your aformentioned era of innovation: Andromeda/ION…even the AirSynth AXYZ sensor…

        Now, after both NuMark and Alesis got bought by inMusic in 2012, Alesis looks to be slipping into low-era-Behringer behavior.

    1. It’s to the point where I would rather buy behringer than (almost) any current inMusic brand.

      Actually… I do own more behringer products than I do all inMusic brands combined, now that I think about it…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *