Best Electronic Snare Drums – 5 Realistic Snare Pads!

The pronounced rim of the drum makes it easy to get rim shots when you want them. You don’t have to strike it too hard, which is really nice as this reduces shock through the hand. You can even let your stick dance on the head to get ghost notes when desired.

One of my greatest gripes about early electronic drum triggers was the lack of mesh head tension and the overall fake feel of the old rubber heads. I waited years for companies to really evolve and get their electronic drum pads right, and I think we're finally at the peak of great drum pad manufacturing.

Companies like Roland are truly listening to both their pro players' feedback and the public about what makes a difference when using drum pads versus acoustic snares. One thing that always comes up — and I've said it myself — is that when you tune or gaff tape your snare drums tighter, it significantly affects the way you play.

I particularly love having a lot of tension on my snares because I like to play modern beats in styles like hip-hop, pop, and electronic music. For that particular sound, I've always wanted a snare that felt tighter.

The challenge is that I also prefer snares that sound deep. For real acoustic snares, I've always chosen vintage-style deeper snares that I control with electrical tape and precise tuning.

I was concerned when I got this Roland drum pad that I wouldn't be able to achieve the feel I was looking for, but I was happily rewarded with a very sophisticated snare — possibly the best mesh head they've ever created — because it truly responds as you tighten it.

Another great thing about using electronic drum pads is that you can have the best of both worlds: a tight, responsive feel from the physical mesh head without altering the sound, since you're using samples. You can have a tight snare that's still deep and open — something impossible with a real acoustic snare.

With an acoustic snare, if you tightened it that much, it would be dampened. You don't have to worry about that with the Roland V-pad — it's far more versatile. Plus, you can use brushes, and it will capture the brush sweep.

That's remarkable considering how complex it is for the zones and trigger areas to intelligently switch between strike versus sweep. I expected lag or misfires — where it might see a sweep as a strike or vice versa — but that wasn't the case.

Similarly, I was pleasantly surprised that it always detected the difference between a horizontal rim shot pattern and a strike with just a touch of rim harmonic. I know you understand what I mean by that technique.

Sometimes when I'm doing a snare fill, I like to strike the very edge of the snare to get that metallic, tambourine-like bit of rim in the sound. This makes it feel more like a cutting, powerful snare fill versus a military-style drumline fill.

The moment I got this drum pad, that was one of the first things I tested. I was amazed that it actually differentiated between partial rim with snare and full-on rim shot. It switched samples accordingly — that's incredible technology.

Another crucial aspect of testing electronic snares is the difference between ghost notes and rolls. Many multi-sampled, dynamic module libraries, like those that come with the Roland drum pad, have separate samples for drumline-style rolls and ghost notes.

This distinction is vital because you don't want ghost notes — those subtle rhythmic touches between shuffling your snare pattern — to sound like you're beginning a drum fill or playing a military-style drumline.

I've heard modules that don't get this right, and it's atrocious. Fortunately, the TD-27 and TD-50 modules can tell the difference between these playing styles. If your budget allows, I'd recommend spending more for the TD-50, as the trigger sensitivity and response speed seem noticeably faster and more precise, though the TD-27 is more than adequate for most drummers.

Again, that could come in handy if you're serious about recording this kit in the studio, as the TD-50 module does have some sonic advantages.

The triggers were responsive to my playing. I didn't find myself struggling to get what I wanted out of this pad. In fact, the trigger zones in Roland V-drum pads as advanced as this one help with playing precision.

I've always struggled to get my ghost notes right in a Jeff Porcaro-style shuffle beat — loud enough without muddying up the beat. I know some of you understand what I mean: you need the ghost strokes to help the hi-hat pattern groove, but you don't want them so loud that they sound like rolls.

This takes lots of practice to get right on acoustic snares, and if you switch to an unfamiliar kit, it can be really hard to control this aspect of your playing. Also, tightening your snare too much can inhibit how the snare coils react, so I was incredibly relieved at how well this snare handles both soft and loud ghost strokes between strikes.

Around the 3-ply mesh head are 8 easily accessible lugs, so drummers can dial in their optimal level of tension. As it has come to be expected from Roland, the V-Pad mesh head provides very clean, articulate feedback while playing.

Though there seemed to be a reduced level of bounce to this head compared to previous models from Roland. This could be due to the 3-ply mesh head. I didn’t find it to be a bad thing for how I play but, I felt it was worth noting for any long-term Roland users.

The Roland PDX-12 may seem familiar as it is the same snare that comes with Roland’s TD-17KV drum kit.

This snare just looks great! The black satin finish and red hardware accents make this a stand-out piece.

First I wanted to try this snare on its own, without trigger assistance. This is a birch shell snare so it sounds very bright and poppy!

Its 13” diameter also lends itself to a more condensed clean crack sound when struck, which I really liked. The snare acoustic sound is easy to dial in so you can get right to playing.

For fans of kits that sound big and boomy, they may find the snare too “small” sounding. If you would be one of those people, then may I suggest utilizing snare’s hybrid option?

After some digging, I found that the trigger used on this snare is a single-zone trigger based on ddrum’s Acoustic Pro Trigger line. I found the trigger to be accurate and a lot of fun to play with!

For those who might criticize the acoustic component of the snare for its lack of resonance or size, you can easily fill in that gap by utilizing the trigger audio interface.

Fortunately, this is my go-to snare for hip-hop when I want to layer sounds with vinyl samples. It works extremely well live, but I especially use it in the studio for hip-hop and lo-fi electronic music.

I love being able to process the acoustic birch sound while getting the full impact of the sampled one-shot, perfectly in phase and aligned with my acoustic snare. This has dramatically improved my production quality, as I no longer spend endless time in post-production trying to EQ, compress, and gate traditional acoustic sounds to match MPC vinyl snare samples.

Many hip-hop and electronic producers know this struggle — laying one-shot samples to beef up acoustic kits. It can be a nightmare and can destroy your groove if you're not careful.

We used to do this by manually slicing Rex loops or audio loops, grabbing snares from old Run-DMC or A Tribe Called Quest records, and manually aligning them on every snare hit in the session. You'd add the sliced-up snare you wanted to layer on another track.

Sometimes you'd get lucky and it would sound great, but other times the slightest flam or delay would cause your snare to lose punch due to phasing.

That's when companies saw an opportunity to create plugins for drum exchanging. I use the SPL drumXchanger from Plugin Alliance, which features phase alignment — there's no delay between when it detects your acoustic snare's transient and triggers your chosen sample.

Still, I would find myself manually editing all these triggered snares to fit properly, plus dealing with the challenge of blending the two different sounds.

This hybrid E-snare approach is far more intuitive and reliable. You save hours and avoid ear fatigue. Plus, it's a decent snare sound on its own — the birch has a tight, hip-hop-style crack that really complements dirtier vinyl sounds layered on top.

It works brilliantly for pop music too. You're not limited to dirty vinyl samples — you can use polished Max Martin-style snares or handclap-based snares, and the tightness and tone of this 13-inch snare suits that style perfectly when layered.

It's practically engineered for modern pop and hip-hop recording.

If you’re mainly seeking flexibility with the aesthetic presentation, then this is for you. If you want a more standard e-pad, then this would not be for you.

Unlike its bigger 14-inch sibling, it has a two-ply mesh head design with adjustable tension, letting you dial in the rebound and feel just like tuning an acoustic drum head. The 12-inch size is often easier to manage, especially when using multiple hybrid drum parts.

Coming from the same advanced line as the 14-inch model, this pad features highly sensitive dynamic sensors that deliver the same realism without the premium price tag. If you're going fully electronic and want to trigger an advanced module to sound exactly like an acoustic kit, this V-pad will do the job perfectly.

I use this pad with my electronic kit when playing film scores or Latin music, both in the studio and on stage. Even with acoustic kits at Latin gigs, I prefer smaller, tighter drums — I even have a cocktail kit specifically because I love using piccolo snares for Latin music.

Unlike rock or hip-hop, which often needs deeper, wider snares, Latin music and percussion relies on tight, crisp percussive elements. I sometimes remove the snare wires from my acoustic drum to get that calf-skin drum sound.

Since I enjoy triggering world ethnic drums, this kit is fantastic for live performances. I can layer African or Middle Eastern drums over my acoustic kit in a hybrid setup, or with an all-electronic setup, create custom kits where the kick remains traditional while the snare becomes a tabla or djembe.

I can assign different percussion to the remaining pads, and even set different sounds for the head and rim hits, creating unique real-time grooves.

These Roland V-pads with their two- and three-ply mesh designs deliver a satisfying attack that far surpasses the old rubber pads used as electronic triggers.

Here's a pro tip: position an SM57 microphone close to the snare trigger and run it through a harmonic compressor like the Empirical Labs Distressor (hardware or UAD plug-in) — you'll get fascinating sonic combinations when blending the mic with the trigger sound.

It's essentially creating your own hybrid snare with these V-pads.

There's no question that this snare is worth every penny, and it looks stunning too. The chrome with black edges resembles a vintage Ludwig or Gretsch snare, and its appearance perfectly suits its hip-hop credentials.

At 8 inches, the pad is compact enough to easily integrate multiple units around your kit. Don't let its small size fool you — it's far from simplistic.

It features a precise three-zone trigger that can be assigned to snare or tom open rimshot and closed rimshot. You can also route it via MIDI to trigger anything else, whether through Addictive Drums as a VST or to layer over an acoustic snare.

I mount these triggers on my crash stand to the right of my acoustic kit, usually with a snare sound loaded with effects and processing. I use the drum pad to trigger sounds with wobbles and extreme distortion, creating almost a dubstep-style effect.

On another pad, I'll run an ambient-style snare through an extremely long reverb using either my Eventide UltraVerb plug-in or Eventide Blackhole.

I use it this way because the small trigger space isn't ideal for recreating acoustic drum sounds. That's not its strength or purpose. Instead, I see it as a modern evolution of a high-quality classic trigger.

I prefer loading specific effect sounds that I can hit once and let them decay and tail off. With the synth-distorted snare, I might use it every other beat, or at the end of a phrase — playing my normal snare on beat two, then this effect snare before letting it tail off until the next bar, hitting it again at the end of beat four.

This creates cool, modern layering since I can strike it simultaneously with my main snare or toms.

During tom breakdowns or fills, I'll often use my left hand for the toms while my right hand strikes and alternates between the two effect samples.

Sometimes I'll skip the snare sample entirely, opting for an 808 sub kick or some high piercing sound. Layering these over your toms creates some incredibly cool modern textures.

What I love about these pads is how they push me to think like a composer or film scorer rather than a traditional drummer. Their compact size means I can mount multiple pads — I even have some on my left side near my hi-hat for triggering loops while playing my main snare.

Their precise 8-inch size is what makes them so versatile and effective.

For gigs with limited stage space, these pads paired with a small kick and acoustic hi-hat make for an awesome compact setup.

Whatever the case may be, there's always a use for a great, reliable electronic pad like this.