Sample Pad Pro

[wildbill]

Way late to the party, but I just got one today. 
I also have a Yamaha Multi-12, but was dissatisfied with the pad feel when using sticks.
I will probably keep it around to use for hand playing.

I like the SPP pad feel way better.  Firm enough to pick up intricate sticking,
and surprisingly also comfortable enough to use with hands.
Of course, it's pretty simple and limited in scope compared to the Yamaha,
but I think it will do just fine for me.

So far I just went through the stock kits, hooked up a kick pad/pedal, and loaded some sounds from a SDHC card.
It seems you can't layer a card sound with a stock sound, but I can live with that.
My Yamaha hi-hat pedal doesn't work with the SPP, but I've read about a work around on this forum that I can try later.

The Yamaha is a ridiculous PITA to program from the front panel, and they never made a pc editing program for it.
The Alesis Sample Pad Pro is way more user friendly, and simple to program. 
Almost everything is right there one one screen. 

Having to constantly press buttons tons of times to get around will get old quickly I think.
It would be nice if you could just press/hold and it would auto scroll through the options,
but if Alesis hasn't added that by now, it's probably not too likely to happen, I guess.
They both have been around for quite a while, and I'm hoping something doesn't come along at NAMM that
obsoletes both of them. 

Anyways - I'm liking it so far, and think it will most likely be worth the money.