Ion Audio iED04 Desktop Electronic Drum Pad

Other products by Ion

Product Features

• 8 natural feeling, velocity-sensitive drum pads
• Built-in professional drum machine so you can record and play back your own beats
• 50 Preset and 50 User drum kits with 233 sounds assignable to any pad
• Built-in rhythm patterns to complement your playing
• Large LCD display with easy-to-navigate interface

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 21 x 8 x 18 inches ; 12.5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000I4YBLW
• Item model number: ION IED04
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,215 in Musical Instruments (See Bestsellers in Musical Instruments)

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Product Description

Product Description
Want to play the drums? Now you can enjoy practicing and playing drums without disturbing the household with this portable, electronic drum kit. Ion Audio iED04 features eight drum pads and a built-in electronic drum machine with professional sounds and features. You can create and record your own beats from scratch or play along with the built-in patterns. With the Digital Drum Station, you can practice quietly with headphones, or plug it into an amplifier to jam with other musicians. Drum sticks and headphones are included! Dynamic Articulation stereo samples with reverb and ambience for realistic playing 2 inputs for external kick and hi-hat pedals (sold separately) Stereo input to play along with your CD or MP3 player MIDI output to play external MIDI devices High-quality 24-bit stereo and headphone outputs Lightweight, durable enclosure Drum sticks and headphones included

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Adequate for an amateur drummer who needs to keep quiet at home, April 23, 2007

By	C. Lovejoy "artist's sponge" (Salem, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've needed some time to adjust to this machine, and after playing with it for several hours, I'm very pleased. It has many strengths and what might be seen as shortcomings. There are just too many features to cover all of them concisely hear, but I'll touch on a few that make a difference to me.

Immediately I liked the slim design, made possible by the omission of internal speakers. I was especially pleased to find that my Yamaha FC-5 sustain pedal worked as either the high-hat open/close pedal, or the kick pedal, though a velocity sensitive trigger would be better suited for the kick.

The pad sensitivity is fine. I don't have to hit very hard to get the loudest sound, which doesn't give you much room to control the volume of a strike. After a few minutes, I was ghosting on the snare without a problem. However, if I inadvertently strike away from the center of a pad, all the pads pick up the strike and one or two will sound quietly. Rolling messily on the snare, I often hear the hi-hat chime in uninvited. This is easy to avoid with a little care.

The included speakers are very poor, not reaching nearly the volume or ear coverage to muffle the sound of hitting the pads. I already have a fine pair of headphones with a 3.5mm to 1/4" adapter, the Bose Tri-Port over-ear headphones, so I didn't even take the included phones out of the box.

After discovering this pad, I found the Roland SPD-11 and SPD-20. These appear to offer the same functionality with a higher standard. After longing for a few minutes, I found the price on those. At $700, I might as well go for the TD-3 V-drums for $1000. At the $155 I payed (open box at Best Buy), I'm extremely satisfied.

I bought the pad to practice and play with friends, since I've been without an acoustic kit for almost a year. But the pad also has some pretty powerful drum machine features, allowing you to create sophisticated loops and fills which can be triggered by pads or used as accompaniment. I look forward to using the MIDI connectivity to start composing and performing real music.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful and fun, May 5, 2007

By	Six Dollar Man - See all my reviews

This nifty little desktop drum machine is a good tool for getting your feet wet in the world of electronic music, for an aspiring drummer to test the waters, or for experienced musicians to work on ideas or just practice. With 100 patterns in 50 presets (and optional fills with each pattern) and great drum sounds, this device can be used as a stand-alone drum machine, played in real time with the included drumsticks, or both at the same time. It can be quietly used via headphones (also included), plugged into an amp, PA system, or home stereo, and can control (via MIDI) other sound modules, hardware and software synths and sequencers, and digital music software.

The ION IED04 shares the exact engine found in the highly successful Alesis SR-16, and the controls are identical. I've used the SR-16 for years with fine results, but what I've often found lacking when manually programming a dedicated drum machine is the human touch. Being primarily a guitarist, I just don't think like a drummer. For strictly electronic pieces the synthetic sounds of pure machine are fine, but for pop, rock, and other "organic" genres a machine is often a bit sterile.

However, playing the IED04 with sticks adds a good deal of realism to any drum pattern, even with limited drumming skills. With decent pad sensitivity and (I believe) eight velocity levels, the device picks up a lot of nuances that are difficult to simulate when programming a drum machine, and can help speed up the creative process as well.

A rear-panel input lets you jam with any external sound source such as CDs, MP3 players, or your own recorded tracks, and MIDI Out allows the IED04 to drive other devices {MIDI In would have been a helpful feature, however). Inputs are also included for electronic kick and hi-hat pedals (not included), which may be tough and/or costly to obtain - ION does not appear to offer them. Though by no means a "pro" model, this drum machine/performance interface delivers solid value for its price, and is fast earning its place in this reviewer's project studio.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Believe It Or Not!, December 3, 2007

By	The Information (United States) - See all my reviews

UPDATED 11/17/08

Before the launch of this product the Alesis Control Pad was the only 8-pad midi drum trigger in the $200 range. The Control Pad redefined the industry so much at its price Guitar Center wouldn't even order them due to no profit margin. This one is good for the consumer!

Ion-Audio, lower division of the Alesis company, has now cranked out a very affordable nice rubbery 8-pad unit with a MIDI-OUT! It also has a built in SR-16 drum machine, which is an industry staple. Set to fixed midi notes, each of the 8 pads can send out midi. With software like Reason any drummer can record using drum sticks, and if needed assign the performance to an appropriate sound. Using Reason's various instruments, each of the 8 pads can be mapped to a different sound! This is an amazing capability for a unit so cheap which makes this product in the category of "unheard of until now". The pads feel like good heavy duty rubber and are extremely sensitive. With velocity mapping in the NN-XT a perfect patch can be created for your drumming style. They don't feel amazing like a high end Roland pad but remember the price.

For a tech-minded Reason user this is a brilliant and cheap device that can be used professionally. For example, with the additional use of a couple of software programs "Bome's Midi Translator" and "MidiYoke" the 8 pads can be assigned to send any notes allowing each pad to work on a different channel within Reason's Redrum Drum Computer! Using Bome's Midi Translator to build a patch for this purpose only needs to be done once. This is truly exciting power especially for those on a budget.

The ION iED04 comes with headphones and some cheap drumsticks as well, making the box an incredible value. If you are seeking the absolute cheapest 8-pad midi trigger system, this is it! Without USB this unit needs to be plugged into a standard midi interface, which could add to the cost of getting it up and running if you have no existing midi ports. I'm connecting it with a basic Yamaha USB midi interface.

Professionals and students alike can use this as a 4-in-1: practice pad, live instrument, midi control pad, and stand alone drum machine.

KUDOS to the creators of this very valuable and impressive package.