Ableton Forum

I know a couple of people were interested in the topic of stick-friendly drum controllers. Well, the seemingly mythical Alesis Control Pad finally shipped and I got mine yesterday. For a mere $199 I have to say my first impressions are very positive.

Someone had said that they played an early unit and thought it felt like a flimsy toy. I don't agree. Granted: the case is plastic, so if a real drummer treats it like a real drum for live bashing night after night, it's probably not going to stand the test of time. But the weight is fine, it sits well on a flat stand (big gummy feet), and the sensitivity/responsiveness are the best I've felt from a device of this sort. The drumkats and trapkats I've played (granted these were all very used units) did not measure up in terms of consistent responsiveness.

I'm not a drummer, so take my opinions re: performance with a grain of salt, but I still gotta give this product a vote of confidence. An all in one MIDI drum solution, bus-powered direct to USB for 2 bills?? No-brainer.

I've had my eye on this for a while, thanks for the review.

whats a mythical Alesis Control Pad?

what do you think of the bfd lite?

I've been considering this device and the bfd lite is a big draw because I just don't have the scratch for BF?

One important post-honeymoon observation: running via USB (have not yet tested with an external MIDI adaptor) this thing will occasionally drop beats if you're playing multiple pads simultaneously. This gets into some pretty sticky territory because MIDI is so time-dependent - it's hard to say whether the symptom might be specific to my own PC. I doubt it's the Control Pad hardware, because 9x out of 10 it works fine, and I doubt it's a feature limitation for the same reason. It could be a driver problem I guess.

You can duplicate the problem really easily by mapping a snare and a hat, playing your typical 1/4 notes on the hat and hitting the snare on every 1. On my system, even with the most even stick attack, I will drop a snare within 8 or 10 bars. Distracting. Bummer.

I still love the design of this thing, and consider a fantastic value at $200, but the above concern is something to bear in mind before purchasing.

what do you think of the bfd lite?

I've been considering this device and the bfd lite is a big draw because I just don't have the scratch for BF?

BFD Lite is great. Bear in mind that you can probably get it for free if you do some legwork. For a while it was on the disc on the front of Computer Music magazine. I actually bought BFD and 8-bit kit shortly after testing BFD Lite, but in reality I could have gotten plenty more mileage out of BFD Lite alone. Full BFD was really an impulse/ooh-this-is-too-cool purchase.

If you don't own BFD, the inclusion of Lite just makes this even more a no-brainer. But do note my one concern in the prev. post.

ohh i thought it was this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UXmOec2PwI

what is this? then

ohh i thought it was this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UXmOec2PwI

what is this? then

Only two things I can say for sure about that:

- it doesn't cost $199.
- it aint in stock at zZounds.

mbenigni wrote:even with the most even stick attack, I will drop a snare within 8 or 10 bars.

That's weak. Have you tried adjusting the sensitivity at all? Ever tried a DrumKAT?

Sensitivity is maxed on all pads by default, so that was a no-go.

I agree it is a MAJOR flaw. I regret that I gave it a 10/10 on a review page while I was still in "honeymoon" mode. Shouldn't be so quick to type.

I'm hoping it's got something to do with the PC and I can resolve by optimizing there (ie. is it dropping notes when the PC polls the network, or something weird like that?)

I have a DrumKat and a TrapKat banging around. They both drive me nuts. Too temeramental, too hard to program. And when it's not losing notes, the Control Pad actually feels more responsive to me.

is it possible to test it out with the standard midi port on it cause often midi controllers suffer from not working as well through the usb as the standard port.

Haven't had a chance yet, but will test as such this weekend. If I can't use the USB I will be bummed, but I guess it will be fine for the studio.

I'll get back with results ASAP.

Weird. Did some more recording w/ this thing hooked up to USB last night and... no problems. No use testing w/ MIDI+AC power until I can consistently duplicate the problem w/ USB, so for now I will take this as a "doc it hurts when I do this" scenario. ie. ignore it. If it recurs I will definitely test with straight MIDI. Until then I'm inclined to think this was a software problem (ie network polling or malware chewing up CPU cycles intermittently.)

Got BFD really dialed in last night and had a lot of fun. I still can't figure out how to get a continuous controller setup for the hi-hat (but I believe it can be done with one of the extra trigger inputs on the Alesis) but otherwise all good.

Still curious to hear others' experiences but it seems like I'm the 1st person on earth to actually buy one of these. Funny, I'd have expected it to sell like mad at this price.

mbenigni wrote: Still curious to hear others' experiences but it seems like I'm the 1st person on earth to actually buy one of these.

I'm waiting for you to give it the thumbs up...

Thanks for the info by the way, I'm finding it useful!