All standard MIDI pad controllers are class compliant, so they will all work with SD3. What you want is something configurable in order to arrange to pads to suit your playing style. Having different pad groupings is also a plus in order to be able to play different articulations without having to adjust your playing style. My pads of choice is the Maschine Mikro.
These videos might be of assistance. This guy is one of the better finger drummers out there (I’ve based my style on a derivative of his, with the exception that I use a more static hand placement and use the pad groupings to change between hi-hats and ride cymbals).
What about a controller that you can use with sticks? I have a machine studio but the pads are too small for what I need – programming drum fills for songs. I can still do it with small pads, but it takes longer….maybe I need to get better at finger drumming. But if I could find a solution sooner and it under $300, I’d be stoked. I was looking at the bop pad and Alesis pads. The Roland and Yamaha units are more than I need , which also reflects in their price.
Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.2.3 Operating system: macOS Catalina (10.15)
I don’t think that I would say that this particular solution would be that immediate, especially if you don’t play drums. Not only are you throwing money into that, but you also have to throw a lot of time into it. I think if you spent a little more time learning your Maschine studio controller, you would probably get things done a lot faster. The beauty of the pad controller is that you don’t have to think of it in the same manner as a drum kit. You can arrange the pads in any which way you want to suit your playing style, with a special group for fills, and change articulations by changing groups without ever having to adjust your playing. For example, you can switch out the hi hat for the ride cymbal.
Considering that you are also dealing with 10 fingers, you can set up the pads to accommodate various types of finger rolls and rudiments (many people make the mistake of believing that they have to have every single type of articulation in a single pad group). The beauty of the Maschine controller is the ability to switch pad groups on the fly.
Thank you for your informative response! I’m convinced, I’ll be looking more into arranging drums on the Maschine. And great songs and songwriting Jordan, checked out your Bandcamp and enjoyed it.
Superior Drummer 3 version: 3.2.4 Operating system: macOS Catalina (10.15)
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