And so to one of the most boringly-named, but nicest bits of input kit I’ve used in a while. you may have ready my article a few months back (during the infancy of this site) about the M-Audio Trigger finger (here if you’re interested – http://www.axemansplace.co.uk/?p=48). At the time, I really liked it, but over the last few months, have found that it doesnt suit my stlye of inputting drum tracks. Yes – it’s a nice piece of kit, but I found that it was so similar in the end to using a keyboard, that I didn’t bother getting it out – I stuck with the keyboard instead. Basically, I found out that I wanted something that could emulate the way I hit drums with a set of drumsticks, and the trigger finger just didn’t do that.

So… recently I’ve started looking around for something else. My dream drum input device would be a set of nice Roland V-Drums – http://www.roland.co.uk/drum_kits.asp – Yum. However, with those starting at £450 for the most basic of basic models, it was kind of out of my reach.

This month, a review in Computer Music highlighted a new drum control surface – the Alesis ControlPad. they gave it a good review, and on reading, it seemed to be exactly what I was looking for…

This was a cheap (£149 – bought for £140) drum controller – designed to be played with sticks – exactly what I was looking for! I got myself down to SoundControl and picked me one up.

After getting it home, I plugged it in and played away. It’s a lot diferent to hitting those small Trgger Finger pads with my fingers – it actually vaguely feels like I’m hitting a drum. The rubber pads have quite a nice response to them, and enable you to do rolls and flams fairly easily. The configuration is a snap (just plug it in and Logic picks it up – Not so sureabout cubase, but should be pretty straightforward). The config on the actual device is simple – you get to choose from various preset layouts (or design your own), and can choose from a selection of velocity curves. Then you just bang away.

You need a set of sticks for this baby – finger tapping aint really an option, as you’ll just get the quietest of taps out of it like that. It also has various sockets at the back for numerous switches – one for kick, one for hi-hat pedal, two for additional trigger inputs (available seperately), and also an inc/dec double footswitch for selecting patches if required.

Also around the back are standard 5-pin DIN MIDI-IN and OUT, for connection to other MIDI equipment. This is all rounded off my a USB socket for PC/Mac connection.

The pedals can be standard non-latching jobs (I’m just using my keyboard sustain pedal for one at the moment, till I pick up some more). The only gripe (and its not much of one!) is that the kick pedal outputs at a standard 64 velocity, which is non-editable. This isnt really much of a problem, as its changable in-software, but it would have rounded off an otherwise very rounded package…

Overall, my initial reaction is definitely positive. It’s much more suitable for my style than the Trigger finger (which was a nice piece of kit – just not suitable for me!). I’m lookin gforward to having a play with this, and will report back my findings. However – untilthen – here are my first impression scores :-

• Build Quality – 9/10
• Performance – 9/10
• Usability – 9/10
• Value – 10/10
• Overall – 9/10

This is obviously a first impression, but I’ll be posting some examples of me using it soon, so stay tuned.