THE CHEAPEST DRUM PAD ON AMAZON? HXW PD705 Review (ddrum Nio, DD90, dbdrums nPad)
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- Опубліковано 27 лис 2024
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HXW, a company I recently heard about, sent me the PD705 to check out. It's the cheapest nine-pad velocity-sensitive drum pad available on Amazon currently (no, I'm not counting those roll-up drum pads or table-top drum sets). It's basically an alternative to the Roland SPD-SX or Alesis Strike MultiPad. I was seriously impressed by it, given its price. Drummers looking for a decent MIDI controller for running backing tracks need look further.
Now this pad is oddly similar to the DD90 DigiPad and ddrum Nio (I think they all may be the exact same😲). Nevertheless, it's still an interesting drum pad.
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Retired professional drummer here, bought one and sold it in 6 months, after adding a snare, hi-hat pedal and base tower/pedal. I am a 'player', not a banger, I don't break sticks or heads but after playing this it started 'glitching' is the best term I can come up with. Having the module (brain) and pads on the same unit, proved too much for the wireing....or whatever happened. It would cut in and out and started pissing me off. I have videos of me playing it on my channel, ended up selling it to a keyboard player friend and took a big wash on it, never should have bought it. Great for beginners or a trigger, not much else imo.
I have one - I love it. I'm actually thinking of getting a second one heh heh.
Here's some info:
The samples it expects to play are mono, but the device itself is stereo, and samples can be panned and also the internal reverb adds some spacial depth so the mono is not much of a limitation.
In you import samples via the USB flashdrive, they need to be 48Khz. If they are 44.1Khz the semitone adjust will be wrong and melodic samples will appear out of tune. It's better to create kits with the downloadable Wave Manager software which will adjust the sample-rate of any samples you load into it automatically and tuning will be perfect.
If you create a kit using Wave Manager and load it from the flashdrive, but Pad 9 doesn't seem to work, you need to alter the setting for the hi-hat footswitch to "kick" (in the device's menu), then Pad 9 will work fine. You see, by default, Pad 9's two layered samples are shared with the hi-hat pedal.
This is a super helpful and detailed comment. Thank you for providing all the extra info!
Congrats man, Amazon used your video as demo, hope you got some royalties!
Very helpful and my compliments to you on your straight forward descriptions of the multi pad. I’m impressed and well after having been an E drummer for the past 25 yrs.it’s nice to see how far and at a good price a unit like this can serve my needs and not break my bank. Thanks!
Just a note on this unit. I purchased one on Amazon. The sounds are very good. I recommend not using their effect at all (not so good). But I have issues with the upper three pads triggering the cymbal pads above them. It is not consistent but often enough I got very frustrated after multiple recording attempts to get a clean one without the random double triggering. If I hit dead center on the pad it happened least often, but hard to do when you are playing anything up beat. I ended up turning the sensitivity, volume, and any other setting for the cymbals off completely to get a clean recording. Then go back and record the cymbals alone on a separate track. Used it for just 2 days now and sending it back for a replacement.
Sadly - that's an issue with ANY controller that employs piezoelectric sender/pickups as the trigger system (spoiler: almost ALL percussion pads do)
The only solution, unfortunately is a physical on - unless you can do some attenuation of said pad on the device, the only way would be to bypass the pads on board and make (or buy) an external pad wired up to replace said pad.
I have a DD65 - used just as a controller usually. However, I do see the odd mistrigger
Hey dudes, I am complete glad to see this. I am a hobby drummer, now edrummer with an pimped Millenium MPS-850 and EZDrummer2. That's a f***ing great combination.
I love it. Now I have here a Millenuim MD-90 Tabletop device, it's working but think the rubber pads an that device will be better an its looks more pro. I WILL get this NOW!
I’m getting this. I wish there was more information from users, though.
Definitely going to buy this. I had my strike multipad stolen at a gig in October. I bought a new unit however I’m very gun shy about bringing it out of my studio. I realize it’s not going to be extremely durable, however it already sounds better than the Alesis sample pad pro and less expensive. I bought one from Sweetwater and immediately returned it. The cross talk issues were horrible, it was a pain in the ass to program, and the internal kits were awful. These sounds are not anything to write home about, however they are better than the ones that came with alesis sample pad pro. Also the loading times were very long on Alesis pro. The strike pro multipad however is a completely different story, totally worth the money and a hard competition for Roland spd-sx. The Roland will allow sample warping to tempo, strike multipad can not do that, however that is the only advantage since the 1.3 update
I would love to see a compatibility chart for beaterless pedals (both kick and hi-hat). Haven't been able to locate anything worthwhile, though a few people claimed to do so in a video, the ones I found only talk about one or two products.
Great review. I will be purchasing it here in the UK where it is called the DD90 Digipad. Just a different brand name. I will purchase it between now and the end of July.
Does it take foot pedals for the kick drum and controling the HI-Hat?
If so, which pedals would you recommend?
Thank you.
I reckon people would have liked to have heard snare sensitivity and pad sensitivity all around
Its crazy to me how expensive still the big names units are. Even people selling used ones are not knocking a whole lot off of the original price when I look around on marketplace or reverb.
The cymbal sounds on the acoustic presets are pretty good honestly!
sounds dope! great review - no talking, no bs - just playing! ;)
Great unit for my needs!! I purchased a Used Roland SPD SX The Roland was saturated with too many samples and the pads didn’t work … lesson learned by new
Thanks for the video Nick. I plan to buy one. Could you suggest the best between this and Carlsbro OKTO-A
I haven't tried the OKTO A myself, but it looks like it might be a better option. Also depends if you like the SPD style or the Octapad design. Looks like you get 5 additional inputs for extra pads with the OKTO. Unsure if you can add your own samples to the unit though.
@@NickCesarzDrums thanks Nick
Thanks for the video Nick, do you know if you can you layer multiple sounds?
You can! 2 layers yeeehaaaa
Nice! I hadn't tried that yet!
That thing looks sick! Found it on Amazon.
I’m thinking of trading in my ktmp1 now
It's surprisingly decent for what ya pay for it
How's the cross talk and durability generally?
Thanks Nick, gives me a ton of insight. I just bought the Strike Multi-pad and its super nice but seems way overkill for what I need. All I am trying to do is access Superior drummer in my studio, but I want to hit big pads. Not use fingers. So, in your opinion is this unit good for use with a DAW?
Looks like a great solution if you just want to trigger subdrops, synth pads and stuff like that in a live situation. 👍🏻👍🏻
Great job on this review and demo! I love that you went through each onboard kit; very helpful! So, I just bought a used one through Guitar Center that I won't see until next week sometime. Unfortunately, the one I purchased is missing the AC adapter. Is there any chance you might be able to share with me what the output specs are on the adapter label? The only info I've been able to find so far from the manual I downloaded is that it is 2amp, center positive. Is it a 9v adapter? Neither the manual nor their website state the actual power requirements of the unit either. By chance is that printed on your unit itself somewhere? Just curious to know if it will work with a 1amp or even a 500ma adapter. I want to see if I can get my hands on a replacement AC adapter quickly so I can start using the pad as soon as it arrives. Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated! Thank you so much Nick! And many thanks to anyone else that already owns one of these and can provide me with the info.
I'll be at my studio later on today, so I'll be sure to look and let you know!
I have the Millenium Nonapad. It’s the same asaide from maybe some technical differences. I use it as a midicontroller with Ableton Live.
Does this just take a standard footswitch? Or do I have to find one by HXW?
I haven't tried with any other foot switches, but I would think it would be universal.
Why is noone ever talking about "CROSSMUTE"?
I got the Millienium Nonapad, which is basically the same unit and I have massive problems with crossmute, like with the Alesis Samplepad.
When you hit two pads at exactly the same time, it is likely that only one will be triggered.
Even in this Demo you can see it, e.g. at
7:41 HiHat on snare
6:37 the second kick
tnx
There’s not much internal memory. Do you know if you can run sounds from a USB stick or if they must be loaded on the unit itself?? Can you wipe the inbuilt kits to free up memory for your own samples??
Loading samples is the one thing I haven't tested yet (I couldn't find a USB stick laying around and haven't given the WaveManager a shot). I'll comment back if I find out. You're right though, the 128MB flash memory is very small. If most the samples you use are one-shots, you should be able to get quite a few on the unit, but it's gonna be no good for longer playback samples.
Ideally you can just have the pads trigger different kits inside your DAW via the USB MIDI connection, Nick does this thing have the ability to do that?
@@dollarsaurus01 Yes, this was actually the first thing I tried, worked great.
Es identica a la NPAD que venden acá en Argentina
Well my friend that's a nice electronic pads but I do have a Yamaha DD-75 along with Alesis Perc Pads and KAT Multi Pads. But I'm a give it a try to see if I can add it on my setup. I'm a go to check it out and see how's my budget because I'm on a tight budget
Super music played by you man....
Thanks for the video and review! How would this compare to the ddrums Nio? Also the presets are the exact same sounds as the Nio as well 🤔
I haven’t personally tested the Nio but it wouldn’t surprise me if everything was the same
@@NickCesarzDrums ok yeah it looks super similar (although I’m not a fan of the red pads on the Nio lol) also my biggest question is, the avatar PD705 compatible with Mac 1m chips? I have a max M1 running on Sonoma
Couldn’t tell ya, I’m running a Macbook Pro from 2019 that has the Intel chip. I would think it would be fine but can’t say for sure
thinking of getting a used one just to play samples of people talking with my feet while playing guitar. anyone think this wont hold up?🤔🍻
How much
It's more expensive as the Millenium Nonapad these days but looks totaly identical :)!
omg tnx for this sauce
What case would you recommend for this pad
You could try a Roland Gigbag for the SPD-SX. It is very similar in size, though I can't say it would fit perfectly. Else, if you need serious protection, get Pelican case with pluckable foam. You can make it fit perfectly.
Nick Cesarz bet thanks for the recommendation
Nick how many pads can you plug in
I haven't tried adding additional pads, but it looks like you can add four additional single-zone pads if you use two stereo splitters into Trig 1/2 and Trig 3/4. There's also two foot switch inputs for kick and hi hat.
Nick Cesarz oh okay
This looks a lot like the ddrum NIO Percussion Pad that is new on Guitar Center. Hmmm
Smells like a typical Chinese copycat
Yes they look identical. The only difference being the red color. I am willing to bet it's the exact same unit. IF ddrum scrapped internal sounds and made it their own, that would be one thing, but I cannot say for sure.
Is there a brush sounding kit? Can you play kits using brushes
I don't believe it has a brush kit. And I don't think brushes would work with the pad. They probably wouldn't trigger the pads. I have all the preset names listed on the blog if you want to read them drummingreview.com/hxw-pd705-review/
You can also double layer midi notes
Gear4music sell what looks exactly the same in the UK for some reason. Must be rebranded in different areas
It is.
Is this thing still working a year later?
Or even 2 years later? 😅
Hi and thank You for a good review. Is there any way to simulate 4 mikes setup with kick, snare and overheads on any sampling pad? I only see a midi out and 2 channel output on every one of them. I would preferr 4 jack outputs to avoid using a pc to mix the drums.
How's the cross talk?
Does the hi hat controller input have continuous control? So you can do half-open hats etc.
I haven't tried it yet, but I really doubt it to be honest
Quick question , I have a guitar looper effects pedal that connects to my amp and was wondering if I could connect this too the looper peddle I have and then it would play out the amp so I can loop drum sounds ?
Can't see what not?
Thanks for the review! I’ve been looking at the “ddrum NIO”, which seems to be the same as this. I’m a guitarist that would like to be able to easily loop a rhythm on a multipad as I build a song for a live performance. I’m hoping to learn more about the functionality of this device’s looper. Seems to be very little info out there about these. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thank you!
Mine just arrived in the mail today, the manual is sparse and I can't find any documentation or tutorials online about how to get it connected to Logic as a MIDI device. Can anyone help?
I need to know how to use it as a midi controller for Logic as well.
How's it sounding after you've had it awhile ?
Is it worth getting?thanks
Sorry you're having issues. I haven't tried it in Logic (don't have that), but I was able to plug it in to my Mac and Ableton recognized it right away. Is there a setting in Logic to select a MIDI device?
Nick Cesarz Yeah I was able to get it working, no drivers or anything needed after all
can you change easily what midi note is sent on the device for controlling a drum vst via usb?
Yes, you can easily remap each pad to whatever MIDI note you need.
How loud are the pads with the unit turned off? I live in an apartment and I don't want anyone to hear ANY sound.
How the crap did you get ableton to recognize it? I get nothing unfortunately
Anyone know if you could load song-length wavs for backing tracks via USB thumbdrive and load them on this? Or do you have to used it as a MIDI controller with a laptop to do this?
I mainly play the electric guitar but I'm looking for a decent quiet and small electronic drum set that has MIDI capabilities and some level of sensitivity since I only use the drum VSTs. I don't care how it looks and I will be fine as long as it has some amount of rebound.
It'd be great if it is under $200.
And It'd be great if I can control the kick and the HI Hhat with my feet instead of my hands or fingers.
Anyone have any recommendations?
Thank you all in advance.
Looks like a nice bigger replacement for my Alessis 4 for the same price... less even!
Very good my friend.
Can I use it as a sequences launcher? If so, can I mix the metronome and sequences volume?
Is this supported by Addictive Drum software?
was there ever any firmware updates to light up the LEDS all the time??
can the pad sensitivity be adjusted for hand/finger play?
I haven't tried this myself, but it should work theoretically
Hi, I’m thinking of learning drums as a beginner in my 30s, is it a good idea to learn with a avatar percussion pad pd705?
I'd recommend going to your local music store and try out some electronic drum sets. I would say the Alesis Nitro Mesh, but it can be kind of small for some players.
Where do i buy this? I can't find it anywhere. I tried ebay, the link in description, and google shopping.
Alex, where are you located? I saw a video that said different regions have a different branded version of this pad.
@@NickCesarzDrums BC Canada, if you could send me a link that would be awesome. I also tried using a VPN in the US and the link and amazon still didn't work.
I am planning to use this with congas. What is the brand and model I can use with this as a stand?
Sorry for late reply. You can use a PDS-20 or Gibraltar 6713E 6700 Series, but you will need to get the
Roland MDP-7 mounting plate for both. In the video, I am just using a snare stand.
how come some roland sounds are on this unit?
Good question, hopefully they aren't ripped. They certainly do sound VERY close if not.
@@NickCesarzDrums yea they sound exactly like it i have a roland Td 6, td8 and a roland SPD 30 and it sounds EXACTLY like it
The manual says you can make a midi recording of up to 5000 hits. But I didnt find anything about exporting the midi file ? Do you know if the midi file can be exported ?
This is a bit beyond my knowledge. Any time I've recorded MIDI information, I've done it inside a DAW via USB.
Do u plug it to a computer I’m looking for a drum pad I like to make beats I want it just to have to plug in to a wall or battery powered idk if that’s a thing
I’m looking for a simple midi pad to control my digitakt and other drum machines. I don’t need The internal sounds
So this is way better than alesis samplepad pro?
Eh, I probably would pick the Samplepad Pro over this. I think it's a little bit more durable, but the HXW is still a good deal for the price.
Can you add your own sounds to it? Or use it for backing tracks (Arm, unarm, skip, stop)
You can though I haven't tried it myself. You get 512MB storage and 128MB Flash-ROM for importing your own original sounds via USB stick
For backing tracks, I'd use a USB cable with Ableton or whatever DAW you use for tracks.
Very nice!
does it slave or master to the tempo of other hardware? like can it slave to the tempo of an rc300 by boss?
I don't believe so. I haven't tried this myself, but I didn't see this in the menus when I was testing it. I haven't found anything in manual on their website either. Here's a link to the manual: www.hxw-music.com/msgBoard.jsp
Does it come with its own drum sticks?
I can’t remember since it’s been a while but I think it did
@@NickCesarzDrums Cool, thank you
Sorry friend i'm from indonesia,
Bisakah di kirim ke indonesia. Harga berapa ya?
Does this compare with the Alesis sample pro.
I have it and I love it
Can you download samples on it rather than having to be plugged into the daw
I second this question. The reason I would think you’d pick up a drum pad to sample sounds is so you don’t have to bring the computer on stage.
What stand are you using?
It's just a Yamaha snare drum stand
How much does it cost? Why did you not mention that? Seems quite relevant according to the title of your video…
Impressive
How is it on rolls---any machine gunning? Kinda sounded like it.
IIRC yes, the machine gunning is apparent
Rolls probably not the best either
Can you track with this? Like, if I wanted to record with it could I have each pad record we independently to a different track for mixing?
Great question
Nick
I got a heart from you.
Can you add you own samples?
Yes you can via USB stick. Can’t remember how much memory the unit has off hand, but I’m pretty sure you can store it directly to the pad
im having issues trying to update mine. i try to update and nothing happens on screen i try and switch back to kit and it freezes. possible an issue connection the usb?? did anyone have trouble with the usb connecting and or updating?
Yes it takes a good few secs to update alright im on my second pad and problems with it reading my 4 usb's ?? Really annoying think I'll get the alessis multipad pro can't be half as bad as this,I'm disappointed as I really wanted this to work it's my first time in the sampling side of things and heard great things about this 🙄
How's this holding up after awhile ? thinking of getting one was looking at alessis but they seem to have a lot problems thanks.
Alan Clancy I’ve gotten it to work just as a MIDI controller and it works fine. Definitely some crosstalk issues here and there that I hope can be fixed with firmware. I also haven’t been drumming on it with rapid fire speeds so I can’t speak to how well it handles crazier drum solos, but it’s a good little pad.
@@dollarsaurus01 thanks for getting back to me I was looking at the alessis pad pro aswell, would you think it's better?
Alan Clancy Can’t say for sure as I’ve never used that one. I did watch and read a handful of reviews for it though, and it definitely seems like this one has a more fluid and easy to navigate menu than the Alessis which only has four buttons
I heard that the MIDI out had really bad latency.
The hair metal kit sounds like they actually ripped the samples from Toontrack's Drumkit From Hell. If so, that's an insanely questionable business decision if they didn't officially license the samples.
yea you can also hear the cowbells congas timbals and the other percussion sounds are from different roland drum modules
You could use midi to loop 2x of these together I guess couldn't you?
I would imagine that would work!
Have the drum pads Speaker
It does not
How much is this
How many pads can you plug into your unit
Technically four, but you'll need a stereo splitters to do so. I haven't tried this myself, however.
Nick Cesarz can you possibly make a video on it
Nick Cesarz could a drum splitter work for adding extra pads
@@juleshammond5525 Possibly. I haven't tried it yet, but will be later today
Nick Cesarz nice let me know if it works
Anyone got any tips how to get Logic Pro to recognize this thing?
Does this unit have very low drum tones? I can't seem to find any unit on the market that has super low drum tones. Can anyone help?
The sounds on are pretty basic. Lots of drum kits (that you can hear in the demo section of the video) and that's pretty much it. From what I remember none were really low-drum tones. You may need to use USB and a DAW for better sounds.
3 years down the road, can anyone speak to its reliability? I'm looking for a compact midi controller for my studio that I can actually play with sticks and feet.
Mine is working great still, but I don't use it frequently. Not a great answer... sorry!
👍👍
It's Nice than Roland SPD S ???
Not even close. The build quality is lower and the onboard software is very basic.
Yamaha dtxm12
Wow
Look like ashley dme705
Only $20 cheaper than the alesis now...
Quien me puede enseñar a grabarle mis propios sonidos?
I would like to buy it but has the same sounds that the Alesis and probably Alesis is chepear than this.
Bass drum should be in foot not on Stick
13:10