Its definitely cool but I think the Strum "Sdrum" feature is kinda stupid all the calibrating is dumb, you can tap in a drum beat faster with your fingers l, then you can do it with the guitar. Ive owned this pedal a while, I really dont think its Worth $ I get that its a pedal but I think they Could've done

It better in a larger footprint and Maybe Ditched the metal enclosure And put a second And 3rd Footswitch on it for switching parts. The different Fill features Are kinda strange I think it having more KIT sounds would've been better than 18 different fill patterns that aren't really that much different from one another.

So I think Digitach is a great company and they make great stuff but this one's just not quite The best feature set.

Also one really annoying part of it Is the tempo selector not having any locked numbers and the count in function is pretty annoying as it Dosen't have a designated Light or different sound for the one count, this makes it very difficult to start a pattern in the right time .

I dont nor.ally suggest another product in a review but Id tell everyone to save another $ and get the beat buddy 2.

I dont own this yet but it definitely does it differently and better imo.

Might need to do a review after I get the Beat buddy 2 to compare.

Having owned a number of drum machines over the years going back to the Alesis HR16, I have to say that the SDRUM provides exactly what I need for an easily programmed virtual drummer that strikes the balance between a device that requires intricate/tedious programming and those with canned patterns but no flexibility.

Once I got my mind around its operation and nuances, I was able to quickly create realistic and interesting drum parts that hold up on gigs where a rhythm part is needed but circumstances don't allow for that extra player in the mix.

(The FS3X footswitch is a must)

I owned mine for a few years and loved it. wish I never sold it. I loved everything about it but you don't have the ability to adjust symbols and hi hats volume levels. that is annoying and most percussion instruments give you that control so for this to cost and not have that ability is bad. THEN they announce they are reissuing it and STILL didn't create that extra option, is very bad. everything else about it is brilliant, fun and instant.

THIS is the one. I spent weeks [pouring over all the features of every drum-pedal I could find. I bought the BeatBuddy Mini-2 and was disappointed. (It had a myriad of cheap beats that no one will ever use, but forgot to include a basic metronome setting for when I DIDN'T want to sound like the toy aisle at Walmart). So the BeatBuddy goes in the closet. I bought the SDRUM last week and can FINALLY program some simple drum beats to practice scales and chords against. The sounds it produces are top-notch, and unlike the BeatBuddy, it lets you adjust YOUR OWN SETTINGS (instead of clicking through menus of 10,001 exotic and useless pre-canned beats). Don't get me wrong... it will fill in and add beats and fills for you IF YOU WANT IT TO. They let you choose between 3 patterns: "simple", "medium", and "busy". Take time to read the instructions so you know how all the push-buttons and knobs work... This little box has a lot.

Oh yeah--- This pedal has a feature that lets you make those settings buy dry-strumming your guitar instead of bending over to tweak the knobs. I have not delved into this feature yet. That will be awesome, but is not the feature that lured me in. I simply wanted to be able to set my own beat.

It's a dream pedal for those that cannot play with a drummer. Super easy to use, just give it a bass drum/snare pattern for few counts and you are done. SDRUM automatically adds the hats/cymbals/fills. Adjust the tempo, volume, complexity or patterns if you need. Hit the switch for fill and change in to chorus where the pedal start hitting cymbals for increased intensity and volume. I used spent 30 minutes or so programming my MPC for beats, do the counts...then readjust counts... readjust... no more. Now it takes me about 15 seconds to get a beat going. I can make changes on the fly - verse, chorus, bridge, fill, mute.. etc. I hate canned beats and like setting my own patterns. You can also get a fx pedal for extra features and control. You can also get a sync to midi cable on Amazon, if you are running a midi capable effect pedal for perfect synchronization on your effects.

This drum pedal is great. It was exactly what I was looking for. Quality sound and very easy to use. Takes less than a minute to put in your beat and select the tone of the kick, snare, and high hat /cymbals. I use this pedal every day. I have one of those complicated drum machines, (will not mention the name) that was a nightmare to program, and permanently lives in the hall closet. I do not have this on a pedalboard. I use it as a stand-alone drum machine playing through a separate Amp.
I highly recommend it.

First off, the SDRUM is a great addition for practicing - makes it a lot more fun. Playing with a "drummer" makes it much easier to lock in with the beat, and compared to a metronome this is far more entertaining and doesn't feel as much like "work".

But there are just so many "human interface" issues.

Let's start with the biggest. There is no BPM display. I mean, what the heck? I run a metronome app on my phone and then try to use the TEMPO knob to match my target BPM? So in the $ MSRP there wasn't enough room for the 30 cents (generously speaking) for a three digit seven segment display? That's not just lame, that's super lame. And really makes the experience using the the SDRUM a lot less enjoyable.

The rest of the issues are minor and mostly a result of the fundamental design decisions that went into making the SDRUM. It's a pedal, so it sits on the floor, the main switch is a foot switch. But because of its function, you very frequently end up wanting to change the very fiddly dials. Like the tempo one, to match your BPM in trial and error with your metronome. Like the fill pattern, drum set style, etc. So ok, use longer cables and put it on a shelf so you can get to it easily, right? But you actually need that foot switch as a foot switch in order to start the drum beat, switch to chorus, etc. So yeah, this is a fundamental design issue. It's still annoying.

Other issues are caused by the size of it. Even bending down the markings are hard to read and not all that intuitive, so I end up with a lot more "trial and error" (especially on the top left dial) and less "intentionally changing things). And those micro buttons that are also LEDs, many of which with half a dozen or more color/blink-pattern combinations with different meanings? I really think less would have been more here.

This pedal is so much fun to use. Just read the manual and watch a couple of youtube tutorials and you will be ready to go. Looks complex but it is not.

I have been using this SDRUM for about 2 weeks. It works pretty well and I am generally satisfied with what I can generate as a drum loop. I also like the verse and chorus feature. However, storing a song you created is NOT intuitive and the instructions appear to be completely wrong. after 4 hours of entering and re-entering a verse I finally got it to store in a specified memory location so that I could go on to another song. Very irritating.
Also, since my JamMan stereo looper has no digitech link feature I can't sync this device to it. what I would up doing was storing the SDRUM loop in a jamman channel and then overdubbing. this works if you play it out as the instrument loop and don't use the jamman rhythm output.

Great addition to my music equipment. Using it in front of my Boss RC3 looper...significant improvement to drum options for various songs. Highly recommended.

Have had this pedal for a little over one year. It's a practice tool that has never left my home studio. I've never stomped on it or anything like that. It's broken. The volume drops randomly. I am aware of three other people with the same problem.

I was going to get a freqout but after this experience, nope.

This product is great. It works for what I want it for. The sequencer is intuitive and so easy. It is invaluable to me.

I really like all of the extra features I stumble upon but it is a little more complicated to get the beat "you want" but the alternates are absolutely worth the whole "0" work you really do! Cool little machine, id like more owners manuals :) please

After a couple of weeks, and a few cups of coffee later I can honestly say I really do like this pedal, and I'm no pedal guru. Watched a ton of videos, and can say now, I can operate this pedal fairly good. Looking foward to maybe using it in a live gig situation (small 3 piece, with SDRUM). Right now I'm running it through my ZOOM R-8 RECORDER and getting some really great sounding drums and guitar tracks(even though the R-8 has its own drums). Pretty easy to operate, and love the count- in for songs. Over all I would recommend the SDRUM to anyone. Easy to learn, sounds incredible. And always a BIG THANKS to Mike Brandt at Sweetwater. 5 star products and customer service....ALWAYS. ALSO....download the SDRUM manual....tons more info than the papers that came with it. Very helpful.

This pedal has been amazing thus far. The initial learning curve is fairly shallow, and I'm kind of a tech dummy. However, if you're willing to dive deeper than the basics, there are tons of additional features packed into this little package.

The drum loops feature a convincing sound quality and the interface makes it easy to switch between songs and parts on the fly. DigiTech has even added the bonus feature of packaging the power source with the pedal.

All said and done, this is an extraordinarily versatile pedal that is also user friendly. If you're on the fence with this one, jump down, because it's well worth the money.

A friend who is a professional musician advised me to get a drum machine rather than practicing with a metronome, so when the SDRUM went on sale at Sweetwater, I went for it. It took me a couple of tries to figure out how it works, but watching the videos on the Sweetwater site and reading through the quick start instructions a couple of times got me up to speed. Once I got used to it, it's very easy (hey, I'm kinda old - it took me a while to adapt to smartphones). So the bottom line is, the SDRUM is a blast. It gives me a much better sense of rhythm than a metronome, and feels like you are playing with a band. You can shape the drum sounds a multitude of ways with different drum kits, effects, song structures and tempos, and you can store up to 36 songs in it. My wife even commented that I sounded much better with it. I haven't tried using it with my terrible garage band yet, but I'm guessing it will keep us all a lot closer to the actual beat. And a shout out to Mitch Dazey, my sales rep at Sweetwater, who recommended the SDRUM over another product I was considering, pointing out the song storage capability. And of course, there's that little bag of candy...

I was a little leary on this since the reviews are kind of back and forth. Bottom line, it sounds great and is EASY to get a really great beat out of it when you learn how to use it properly.

Based on my experience with it, if I had to guess the three places people are going wrong with it:

Too much volume/string noise- You can't blast a full signal at it. I turn OFF my compressor and roll the guitar volume to about half give or take (humbuckers). With too much signal its hard to pull off more intricate beats. For me personally I pluck the low E with my thumb for the kick, and pluck the high E for my snare. For my personal play style, this is more comfortable for me than strumming, and it seems to work perfectly.

Next, it doesn't sound all that great through the guitar amp (no surprise) but into a decent PA speaker (I use a EV ZLX12) that is self powered and it really sounds amazing. I have a lot of experience with programming and recording drums for the past 20 years and I can honestly say the samples sound really high quality. Sits perfect in a mix.

Last is some folks say that its too complicated. Its not. It LOOKS complicated with the unfamiliar style of knobs and lights but when you actually spend 30 minutes on it with the manual it becomes apparent how easy it is to control. Its NOT a plug and play pedal though like a dirt or reverb and it sounds like that is what people are hoping for. Its still not that hard though. In 30 minutes I was up and running and after another hour of practicing with it I was good ro go and changing sounds and feel on the fly with lots of different drum fills. SOOO nice!! You do have to have some drumming skills though.. several of the videos I saw of demos online were with people that very much lacked.

Final thought. If you have a quality PA to use with it, and the patience to sit down with the pedal and manual, and of course some drum talent then snatch this pedal right up and you wont be disappointed. If you want a plug and play pedal that plays premade drum tracks then I would suggest the BeatBuddy. This pedal shines for making your own, and does is very very well.

Great product and sales people ...

This SDRUM is a kick.I feel kinda down sometimes,go into my studio,get it all connected,fire it all up,let everything warm up,tweak a few knobs,and let the games begin....This is actually one of the few toys that actually works as advertised.Sounds superb on my CDs.I gave it five stars.

SDRUM is a Great pedal for practice at home and still have a drummer. It is more advanced and high tech than I thought. I would recommend this to any guitar player starter or advanced player.

This is a great option for a drum track for practice or live applications. This pedal utilizes the natural rhythm technique that a guitar player is used to by strumming the strings to build a pattern. It then adds the accents to fill in the sound. This is assuming that the guitar player can set up a Kick/Snare rhythm in the first place. Overall it is very easy to use. It has a lot of options for rhythms and fills. I like how a different rhythm can be set up for Verse, Chorus and Bridge. This pedal has a lot of flexibility and is very easy to use.

Like a live drummer, you can do three parts to a song, pick different cymbals and hi-hats, it takes time to work with, but you will get there, buy the footswitch, it will really put you in the beat.

It sounds great, and covers every style I have need for. Having ability to scratch or punch in beats is great. It goof that you can store songs. Separate outputs for PA and amp is great. Auto-fills, verse, chorus, bridge is great and being able to use extra 3 button footswitch is good. Jamsync works great - it locks in loops on my jamman device really well. All this is good, but I wish they had made the pedal larger with more dedicated knobs for certain functions - eg separate footswitch buttons to start/stop and a separate one to activate learning a loop. Separate buttons for metronome on/off maybe. A bit better thinking out generally for making it slick in a live setting, its too often the pedal just starts beating away on something random and unwanted, and you are pressing buttons madly trying to stop it. I have to refer to the manual so much to remind myself of all the functions that are necessary to use it well. I also wish there was a PC editor - at least a facility to backup and arrange songs and re-load songs - with the difficulties of getting it to read in a loop without embarrassing myself, a way of easily loading songs would be cool.

Easy set up, awesome drum tracks, drops the beat you need less than a minute. Don't use the scratch function just the pads. Send this direct to my mixer one a separate channel. Opened it plugged in the power, plugged in the output, plugged in the FS3X and was recording in less than 3 minutes. Simple operation sound good enough to use live and lays down a wide variety of options for you to choose from. Thought about this purchase over a year ago now I wish I would have bought it then. The foot switch helps a bunch so grab it too. Can't beat how easy this works and how easy it is to get th e drum backing you have in you head. Sweetwater is my go to store, Play with things at other stores but ALWAYS buy from Sweetwater.

I was thinking about getting a TrioPlus when I stumbled upon the SDRUM. I didn't know how much I needed this instant groove machine until I got it. Simple enough to get up and jamming quickly, deep enough to be a serious tool for developing song ideas. Although not documented, the SDRUM will serve as a MIDI sync master device (you need a 1/8"TRS to 5 pin MIDI cable...). I set this up with my Boomerang III looper so I can sync different loops for the verse and chorus. Run your guitar through an octave divider into the looper and you've got an instant backing band. While not necessary, adding the FSX3 footswitch provides some cool functionality. Great drum sounds, and really intuitive. Even when it doesn't perfectly track my guitar kick/snare patterns (although it usually does), the resulting grooves can be really interesting and inspiring. The drum samples are excellent, so you are rewarded for routing them to a full range amp/PA. Deduct a half star for not providing a way to export grooves. Really fun, really useful.

The learning curve is steep. I spent 3 hours trying to get this machine to respond to the strums of my guitar and it would not, despite redoing the steps repeatedly.

I'm returning it today

Great range of drum and cymbal sounds. Pedal isn"t to complicated to set. Still grasping the strum / drum aspect but it"s very cool learning and just experimenting with it. Sturdy build quality too. Great tool for the solo artist (or the drummer learning guitar

Always fast and accurate shipping! Once lost a package due to the shipping company, not affiliated with sweetwater, and it was a $500 loss! No problem! It was replaced right away! Whatever you are expecting to get is always right on que! Customer service ALWAYS contacts you immediately to make sure you get what you orderd and asks if everything is ok. And if you order something over the phone, the same representative calls back. And I'm pretty sure it's always the same man. Also live the little bags of candy added! Great treat for the kiddos!
I will never go anywhere else to order my music gear!

I was really leary if I would be smart enough to get the sdrum and the jamman solo xt to work with the jam sync . It took a couple of hours but finally got them to sync together.if I can do it ANYBODY can. My salesman Matthew has been super patient. You guys ROCK

This is one of those things that when described sounds like a good idea. In this case it actually delivers all it promises. Almost as good as a real drummer, better in some ways. It doesn't smoke or spill beer or show up to practice stoned. ;-) .. Obviously it's not as good as a real drummer but when you are wanking around it can generate some great drums if you can bang out the kick and snare on your guitar (or the buttons). Dialing in the variations of kits and patterns is fun. Also can be a great tool for recording demos and stuff. The timing and quantization is just about right. Most of the time its generating exactly what I had in mind. I got this on a blowout deal but I'd have to say its worth every penny at the $199 price. And you do need the FS3 footswitch, its great for prompting a fill and directing parts. This is the best drum machine a guitarist could ever want. Sound quality is very good and kits are generic enough to be fairly timeless.

Set up my Helix to send raw guitar out on a mono send then picked up the output on a stereo return to mix back into the main out. Level control is very handy but it seems to work at nominal levels when its all centered.

I gave it 3 stars only bc using the buttons on the top works pretty well. The strum function is useless. It doesnt work anything like id want it to and is very inconsistent. Id buy something else if i could. I did get a custom patch cable for jamsync to midi so i can use it with my looper. Id probably sell it if i didnt use that function. Still kinda sucks tho. Just a mediocre product.

Went looking for a quick and dirty way to set up some backing tracks to practice along with my guitar. Found this stomp box; glad I did. I read the quick start guide about twice, watched the on-line Digitech video, I think Sweetwater even e-mailed me a link upon purchase. I 'trained' the pedal to my guitar and away I went. The first song was a little shaky, held the button a few seconds, cleared the deck, and tried again. Up and rolling. Seriously, I've never been a pedal person, and I have been playing guitar for 38 years now. I even teach private lessons to a few dedicated students. This little box is great. In 15 minutes from opening the package I had two very decent backing 'songs' set up and was jamming along. I can set up a computer and use software or download backing tracks, even play in stuff on a looper, but with this it is nearly instant. Strum in a beat and the box develops some really decent rhythm backing for you. My students (and myself) tend to fall in and out of time. Especially if the players are not playing with other musicians on a regular basis, and sadly, that is the case with far too many of us right now. This will help. Some negatives I read mention not quite ready for live shows, or the quality of the sounds. I think they might have missed the point (target audience) for this device. First, the drums sound fine to me even coming through an 8 inch speaker in a Fender practice amp. As for using it for live shows, I haven't seen where you can fade it out, etc, but, again, I see it much more as a practice tool to enhance your timing and playing (dare I even say creativity), than replacing a live drummer out gigging. I picked up the optional foot switch as many suggested that add-on. I've been messing with the pedal so much I haven't even ran the optional foot switch yet, so yeah, you can get by fine without, but I'm sure it will ease things up a little. Only downside is that being a pedal, the user interface is a little challenging. I'm a software engineer and design user interfaces, but without a touch screen and 'soft' buttons, etc. it can be a challenge. Still, like I mentioned, 15 minutes will have you rocking out, so not a big deal once you get the hang of it, and you will. Hope this helps, enjoy!

When I first saw this pedal advertised, I was very intrigued. I wanted to have some drum beats to play along with and maybe even help create song ideas without having to spend too much time programming. I bought this a month ago (xmas present to myself) and got it out a couple days ago to give it a shot. I was a little intimidated by all the buttons and knobs, but after reading the quick start guide...I had it working perfect in 10 mins. This was exactly what I wanted.... within 30 seconds I created a great drum part for a song. It sounded great and inspired me to pick up my Les Paul and riff around until I had an awesome song idea going...then I quickly recorded it on my phone and BAMM!! New song to work on! I couldn't be happier!! This product really delivered and made my solo jam/practice time 10x more productive. THANKS DIGITECH!!

Tireless drummer in a can! I love this thing!

I ordered the SDRUM from Sweetwater, packaged with the FS3X foot switch and it's exactly what I needed! It's a great addition to my pedal board.

Obviously no gadget can do what a live drummer can do, but SDRUM hits the mark for it's intended purpose.

DigiTech did a great job on this thing. There's a minor learning curve, but it's really easy to use and you can quickly and easily create interesting drum loops to jam with. I've fiddled about with drum machines and software, etc. and all are more complicated than what I was looking for and that's where SDRUM shines. Once you get familiar with how it works, it's super easy and quick to create drum loops without having to micro-manage anything. You just input a kick/snare rhythm and away you go.

About the foot switch. It's a must-have in my opinion to get the most out of SDRUMs. The switch is really useful when jamming to easily jump between song parts/pause the drums/etc.

I'm mainly using it as a practice tool to jam and it excels at that. It's like having prerecorded drum tracks to jam along with, but without the limitations of being stuck with a finite number of loops and having to play along to the same old thing all the time. Your imagination is really the limiting factor. And for me, having that flexibility helps inspire creativity.

For me, SDRUM was one of the best purchases that I've made investing in expanding my creative musical horizons. It does everything I need and does it all well. If there was one thing I'd wish for, it would be add the ability to manage/save loops over the USB interface (the manual only mentions USB as relates to firmware updates). This would be really nice to have, but as it stands, SDRUMs is a home run.

Good work DigiTech! And as always, great service from Sweetwater!

I'm giving this 4 stars for ingenuity and overall design and holding back that one point for complexity.
This is a fantastic idea. Putting a drum machine in a pedal that you can scratch the beat into with a guitar is brilliant. The sounds are good. My guitar signal chain starts with a Switch Blade+ switch that allows me to switch between or play through. multiple amps. I run a cable from the Tuner jack on the switch to the SDrum input. From the SDrum, Mixer Out goes to a keyboard amp. Guitar and drums will go that route if you don't have something plugged into the Amp Out jack on the pedal, so I put a dummy plug in the Amp Out socket. Guitar feeds to the pedal for training the pedal and to the guitar amp for playing, while the drums only output to the keyboard amp.
So far, I've used it only on the desktop. There's a learning curve to this thing, but I don't think it's that hard.
It is daunting, thought, when you unbox. The videos make it all look so simple, but there are a lot of buttons and flashy lights.The videos left me with a lot of questions. I put the pedal on my desk and started reading the manual.
I got very confused trying to understand the buttons, lights, and switches from the user interface part of the manual. I advise reading that section but not trying to understand operations from that. I moved on the the sections on teaching and selecting drum patterns and started to learn. From there it wasn't all that complicated.
Note: If you're training the pedal with a guitar, I highly recommend that you calibrate the guitar fresh with each session. It only takes a few seconds and solved a lot of problems for me.
There's a lot of flexibility in this device and that makes it somewhat complicated. I suspect that I will have to use it frequently to keep from having to hit the manual when I do use it. Still, I think it's a brilliant pedal and look forward to whatever they come out with next.
Bill

Thanks Adam Vaughn for the excellent service as usual! I got this primarily because the Church Band I play in found ourselves without a drummer for the entire month of December. That's a lot of new Christmas music to get through with not drummer. While certainly no replacement for a real live drummer, this was a lifesaver in a pinch. It's super easy to get going and up to speed. Easy to get a really cool, workable beat going. This got us through all or our normal and special Christmas services with ease. Now that our Drummer is back, I look forward to using this on my own for jamming at home! FYI, I got on the December special with the Free Control Pedal which I highly recommend.

This pedal keeps time excellently! It also has a lot of cool features which makes it great for practicing with! I would recommend running this through a 2nd amp with no distortion. Also it sounds a little bit digital so i wouldn"t recommend for live use but its a great practice and songwriting tool!

Easy to use, great drum sounds, ample storage.
Not a lot of useless patterns and sounds. Straight forward and fun.
Get one, you won't be disappointed.
Oh yeah, use the control pedal and get the same crash cymbal just like the other guys.

If people tell you you suck...then practice with this pedal. I promise it WILL make you a better player. Paying with a metranome is boring. Click click click. Boring boring boring....the sdrum is everybit as fun as playing with a real drummer.

When I first started messing around with the pedal I was able to get complicated beats that I would normally have to download a jam track to play with. Now that I have this pedal I don"t use jam tracks anymore..ever... I just don"t need them now. This pedal is amazing and the only thing that has been a little annoying is the tempo knob and volume knob can get touched when pressing the button down. I was thinking of putting a guard to keep my toes from hitting it on accident. It doesn"t happen unless I"m wearing sandals though. Buy it you will not regret it. One bit of advice though. Play it through separate amps for left and right. You will get a much clearer sound. These drums sound real btw. I rarely feel like I"m playing with electric drums. This pedal is top notch well worth twice the price for sure. It looks complicated. It"s a very simple and intuitive pedal. Get one today. I love my SDRUM !!!!!!

I got this on sale... and it is really cool. It took me awhile to figure it out as it is very complicated but if you take time to read the manual and watch a few youtube videos it will start to make sense. Using the guitar to make the beats really does work and it super easy. The drum sounds are great and there is a lot of variety available in which drums play, how loud, tempo, etc. Tap the switch and it changes the beat for a chorus, tap again for a bridge. That really makes jamming to it fun. I haven't tried syncing it with a looper but if that works that would be amazing. (I ordered a looper to try it)

So, I say get it on sale, especially if you have a digitech looper. It's a lot of fun.

Maybe it's because I'm not a drummer, but I had a very hard time making beats on this. I guess you gotta be a multi instrumentalist to use it.

Nice when it works properly...randomly repeats measure one of recorded loop rendering it useless in a live situation. Digitech is aware of the issue and probably not going to fix it is what I was told...

I've finally had a chance to play live with the SDRUM and it's just great. Everything you need and nothing you don't. Why spend one or two hours programming a song when one or two minutes will do? Once you understand the logic of the pedal's encoders and the programming, it's truly a breeze. A couple of times through the 41 page manual and you're all set. In many ways the final product that this produces is far superior to what us non-drummers can realize with a standard drum machine. I just program by using the "kick" and "snare" pads so I can't comment about putting in parts with a guitar or bass. I purchased the FS3X footswitch at the same time and I have definitely made use of it. I would factor that into the purchase price if you plan on using the SDRUM in a live setting. This IS the next generation of drum machine so I'm anxious to see how the competition will respond and how Digitech will "one up" themselves with the next model.

Great product, easy and fun to use! Check out all the features, amazing product!

It depends on what you're going to use this for as to how well it will serve you. The sounds are fine. You get some customization of the patterns too and you can save up to 36 patterns. So if you're going to set up patterns to use as a practice tool then this is fine.

However, as the beat behind a duo in live performance it leaves a lot to be desired. The user interface is straight out of the original programable VCR's so there's a fair amount of fussing with it when you should be interacting with your audience. Also, if you're going to perform with it, the 3-button remote foot switch is a MUST. Yes, I get it, I should just hire a drummer, but there are lots of venues now that want live music but do not want live drummers due to volume issues.

I'm hoping that this product will have a follow-on product (SDRUM+?) as they did with Trio.

Easy to use, easy to figure out. As a guitarist/vocalist/song writer/producer/ ect....... this is the best pedal I have ever purchased. Totally awesome! 2 cons being the level and tempo pots are to sensitive, when stepping on the pedal button, the can move on you. Simple solution is a piece of electrical tape on the pot to the pedal to keep it from turning on you. Hopefully Digitech reads this and changes the type of pots for these two. (level and tempo) Maybe some kind of locking pot so it only turns when you want it to. :) :) :) Other than that, totally awesome pedal. Well worth the price! D.O.C.

P.S. If your drummer is ever late or always late, this guy is never late unless you are. hehe

Great pedal and easy to use. The only thing it needs is a footswitch enabling you to put accent cymbals in like the Beat Buddy. Sure the Beat Buddy has more songs in it, but why pay for proramming you may not use. Believe me 36 stored songs is enough.

I was an early adopter of the SDRUM, and felt compelled to come back and write a review because I saw a few of the negative reviews. I think the negative reviewers make some fair points, and it's maybe not a product that's for everyone. But the good far outweighs the bad, and if you use a proper setup and watch some videos on how to get going, it can really take your home practice/jam sessions to a new level.

The sample quality of the drums is terrific, BUT it is dependent on your setup. While you can run this into the front of your amp, I don't recommend it. You won't be able use any effects on the amp for your guitar tone, and the drum hits may drive the amp and sound...bad. The easiest setup for me was to get a $7 1/8" to 1/4" mono instrument cable, and run this into the AUX IN jack of my BOSS Katana 100. Many inexpensive modeling amps have this type of input. If you don't have that, consider running everything into the FX loop of your amp, and then using an amp-in-a-box pedal in front of the SDRUM for your guitar parts. Or, if you have a mixer and some monitors, run the drums out to that and your guitar to the amp by itself.

Perhaps my favorite thing about the SDRUM is how it works with other DigiTech units via JamSync. I already have a JamMan Express XT looper, which is their most-affordable, entry-level unit. It works like it should, except I'm terrible at getting the timing down. Used in a master/slave setup with the SDRUM, however, the length of the SDRUM pattern (1, 2, 4 bars, etc.) dictates the length of the loop recorded by the JamMan. This makes it MUCH easier to record loops with, and a much more rewarding experience.

Deducted 1/2 star only because there is some latency with strum programming (and the pads sometimes), and because the overall U.I. can be a bit intimidating to figure out. But the Kick and Snare inputs are not meant to be timed perfectly - they are programming a basic outline of the pattern, only, and the SDRUM will quantize them and allow you to tweak all the other instrument parts (with some detail). It's a brilliant device that can really change the way you play guitar.

When I tried to create beats with this, what I got back was not very close to what I wanted... and that is the basic purpose of this device. Returned.

I tried the Trio and Trio Plus and was hoping that the SDRUM would have better sound quality. Unfortunately it sounds the same. The features don't really matter if you can't get the sound quality right.

I've had this for about a month now. I downloaded the pdf instruction manual the same day the pedal arrived but didn't full comprehend some of it. About 2 weeks after I received mine, I watched several tutorial videos on You Tube. That cleared up much of the fog from the manual. I'm still in the learning phase of the pedal but it has gotten much easier to comprehend. Now, let me say that I own 2 other drum machines and the SDrum is least like a machine and most like an actual drummer. The flexibility offered by this pedal is fantastic. All the variations to the pattern that you create are incredible and the dynamics available to various parts make it really fun to use. I use it in my studio and can see the possibilities with this thing. The quality of the drum, hat and cymbal sounds are great. Doesn't sound like a drum machine at all. It really is easy to work with but I suggest viewing several of the tutorial videos on You Tube to really discover the multiple variations of kits and dynamics available and it really clears up any details that are hard to follow with the manual alone. That is the only reason I gave it 4.5 stars. As for the sound quality and realism this pedal produces I would give it 10 stars if possible.

Amazing piece of gear.Having a blast with this one. I'm no drummer so programing a drum machine has always been no fun for me and I usually just use the preset patterns that come with it. Gets pretty boring and limits what songs I can play. With the SDRUM I can have a beat to match what I want to play in seconds. Create a simple beat with my guitar or bass and it does the rest. It's like showing a real drummer what I want by scratching muted strings and then he takes it from there with all the little nuances. For those having trouble getting to work with their guitar or bass it's important to mute the strings in the same area of the neck and use same pickup and tone settings. My P-Bass is a little harder to use than my guitars, but it does work well with a little practise. It seem to me that different areas of the neck yield different results. You just need to experiment. Works fantastic with my Jamman Express Solo XT. Makes looping easier because you don't have to be so precise with ending the loop. The SDRUM takes care of it.It even starts recording automatically on the first measure. All you have to worry about is playing the guitar. I give 2 thumbs up and a big toe. Great job DigiTech.

The Beatscratch doesn't work well (as noted in most of the reviews above). The Touch Pads are unresponsive such that only simple beats can be entered. The drums samples or borderline acceptable - the Brushes are the only one that doesn't sound like an ice-pick in your ear. And after 2 hours of messing with this thing, I can't figure out why sometimes it uses a click track when entering beats and other times it doesn't.

Also, does a beginner or intermediate player have enough rhythm to enter a beat? Me thinks not.

There are much better drum machine solutions on the market.

I bought this as a practicing/songwriting tool, and ended up sending it back.

I'll start with what I liked about it. The samples are great. And there are a lot of possibilities for getting just the right groove. I'm also impressed by the EQ on the amp out; it does a good job emulating live drum sounds when played through the amp.

The biggest issue I had with it is that it was clipping when plugged into my fender champion 40 amp, even on the clean channel, and my guitar was cutting out on the kick and snare hits. It didn't do this on my other amps, but the champ is my main amp for practicing.

The beatscratch (strumming muted strings to teach the pedal) didn't work well for me. It seemed to have trouble distinguishing between low and high strings. It would give me a kick when I wanted a snare. I ended up using the pads more often than the beatscratch. Which sort of defeats the purpose of the pedal. I mean, without the gimmick it's just a drum machine.

Lastly (and this isn't the pedal's fault), I have a looper that isn't a DigiTech (so no JamSync) and it was impossible to keep them in sync.

I think if I had a DigiTech looper and if I didn't have the clipping issue, I'd have kept it.

Fantastic songwriting and inspiration tool. I own both the Digitech Trio+ and this Sdrum. The Trio+ is more like having a real drummer and bassist--I can ask for some variations and get something like what I asked for. The Sdrum is more like being able to tell a drummer the exact kick & snare pattern I want--which is pretty much impossible in the real-world. BeatScratch works okay but I prefer finger-tapping the pads myself. I also highly recommend the FS3X to go with it. I use it in Direct Part Mode 3 so I can switch between the verse, chorus, and bridge easier. Also in Direct Mode 3, I can tap any button to get a fill, which works surprisingly well. This is the closest thing I've found to thinking of something and then hearing it a few seconds later. Neither tool is perfect, but both are fast as heck and that's more important to me so I don't kill the muse (she doesn't stick around for long...). I imagine mostly guitarists will buy this, but I'm sure some great hip-hop will be produced with this amazing thing.

I've had the Sdrum for about a week now and have really taken my time with it before coming back to review it. I'm a bass player and bought the pedal to use with my bass. There's definitely a learning curve that for me centered on calibrating. I had a very difficult time getting my bass scratching recognized cleanly by the pedal. It would sporadically give me the kick drum when I was strumming the snare or give two kicks when I only intended one, etc. I found I could get it to work best and most consistently when playing deliberate, simple kick/snare patterns with lots of space between hits. That was okay but I wanted this pedal specifically to create more complex patterns. The pads on the pedal work fine (although its tricky to get the right timing since you have to use your hand to toggle the foot switch as well and tapping out complex double kick patterns isn't easy.) So initially, right out of the box, I was a little disappointed.

I then decided to try using a guitar to scratch out patterns instead of bass and everything changed. Much much easier to calibrate the guitar and scratch complex patterns. I was able to create intricate double kick stuff that was made even better by adjusting the "busy-ness" of the groove and adding more intricate highhat and ride rhythms. Exactly what I was hoping to be able to do. So for me its way easier to use a guitar instead of a bass to get the patterns I want.

The sound of the drums is excellent. I've been using the Power kit primarily and it sounds very dynamic (through headphones as well as my amp/cab setup). I had a rehearsal yesterday and played some drum beats I had saved through my amp while we were setting up - and all the guys commented how great the sound of the kit was. When playing bass over the beats I can hear everything with clarity. Takes some adjusting to get the right balance and mix but I find the Sdrum to deliver a very usable and functional overall sound...not just in headphones but also through my amp.

So that in itself is all I really needed from the pedal to keep it. But then I connected it to a JamMan Express using the JamSync and that sealed the deal. The Sdrum automatically synchs the loops from the JamMan to the drums so I no longer am trying to time loops precisely with the footswitch. I spent more than two hours this morning lost in a continuous loop where I added more than half a dozen parts (on both guitar and bass) and each new loop I created would automatically sync with the others and the drums. Easiest drum machine/loop pedal jam I've ever had...by far.

Bottom line for me is that I am extremely happy with the purchase. But nothing is perfect and have to say when I was initially having trouble using my bass to create beats, I thought I might have to return the pedal. Not being able to use my bass to get intricate drum patterns is the only reason I didn't give this a 5-star rating. However, I fully admit that my strumming technique probably sucks so others may have more luck with their bass than I did. Also, the pedal is a little bigger than I thought so keep that in mind if space is an issue (it isn't for me).

I've had a "traditional" drum machine for many years but never bothered using it because it was just too time consuming and complicated to program a multi-part song to play along with, especially if you wanted it to sound like a real drummer. This is the perfect solution. There's lots of functionality and drum/percussion sounds available, and plenty of videos on YouTube that show what this pedal can do. The interface is fairly intuitive, and there is a tutorial video on the DigiTech site as well that will help to get you up and running quickly. If you are accustomed to using a looper pedal, the transition to the SDRUM should be pretty natural.

I was a little reluctant to jump into the first release of a pedal like this, but it has a USB interface, which according to the manual, will allow for future firmware upgrades from a computer. So I took the plunge, and am glad I did!

I found it curious, however, that the Quick Start guide takes you through tapping out a beat on the Kick and Snare pads, rather than scratching on your guitar or bass -- which is kinda the point. It's not that hard. Again, watch the tutorial on the DigiTech site.

The only minor disappointment for me was that when you connect the SDRUM to a DigiTech looper with JamSync, you can't change the tempo on the SDRUM without losing sync with the looper. This is really more of an issue with the JamMan looper than the SDRUM; I'm betting that the SDRUM probably puts out a time code, but they have yet to develop a looper that can chase the time code as a slave device. This wouldn't be an issue for someone who wanted to use the SDRUM with a JamMan for live performance, but for practicing at home, you can't record a drum pattern along with a loop at a slow pace, and then speed it up as you ability improves. But it's not a big deal to me, and this is definitely still a "5-star" piece of gear! The old drum machine is headed for eBay. My rig will be perfect when they come out with a looper that can chase the SDRUM's tempo.