Yamaha FGDP-50 and FGDP-30, new finger drum pads with sample playback engine

Yamaha FGDP-50 and FGDP-30 are new finger drum pads with a customizable sample playback engine, sample import, and more. 

Many musicians prefer to record their drum sounds with their fingers. A finger drum pad is suitable for this and is available in every price range. Some make it very easy for the musician and offer a range of built-in drum sounds.

The most popular drum pad is the Alesis SR16, which was released back in 1990 and is still being sold 33 years later. Now, Yamaha is bringing competition to this market with two modern products.

Yamaha FGDP-50 and FGDP-30

The FGDP-50 and FGDP-30 are newly developed finger drum pads with modern features. Both instruments have a special layout with differently sized pads. The 18 pads are arranged in an arched layout with left-right symmetry, designed for a three-finger playing style, using the thumb, index finger, and middle finger.

This makes it easy to play standard 8-beat rhythms with one hand and 16-beat rhythms when both hands are used, promise Yamaha. During development, emphasis was also placed on pad hardness, sensitivity, and speed.

It is designed so that you can play the pads very expressively and uses unique drumming techniques like tolls, barely-audible ghost notes, or flams. You can switch between two sounds by changing how hard you strike the pads.

The FGDP series features the highly acclaimed, realistic acoustic drum sounds from Yamaha’s DTX electronic drums series but refined for these instruments. They offer high-quality sound and a comfortable finger drumming experience, says Yamaha. Both units also offer a wide range of newly created electro sounds that can meet the needs of various music genres.

Both units include a built-in 2.5 W speaker and run on USB-rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. With the micro-USB, why on earth Yamaha, you can connect the FGDP series to a computer and use it as a MIDI controller. Plus, it lets you record audio or MIDI over the USB port in your macOS, Windows, iOS, or Android device. Main output and an AUX-In are also onboard. There are also significant differences between the models.

Yamaha FGDP-50 vs FGDP-30

Let’s start with the engine. The FGDP-30 is a finger drum pad with built-in sounds that cannot be changed. So a kind of rompler engine. Different from the other model. The FGDP-50 has a sample playback engine where you can tweak the individual sounds with various parameters: tuning, filter, effects…)

There are also more sounds onboard. Yamaha includes in the FGDP-50 1,500 voices and 48 preset kits, while the FGDP-30 has 1,212 voices and 39 preset kits. Another highlight of the sample playback engine of the 50 is the option to load your own samples in the unit via the USB host socket.

So you can equip the FGDP-50 with your favorite drum and percussive sounds. Approx 600 seconds in 44.1 kHz, 16-bit, mono, 300 in stereo, and 20 seconds per file. You can also record your performance onto the flash drive.

Unlike the FGDP-30, it also has a screen and eight additional mappable RGB pads, giving you control over more sounds. It also features a session creator function that outputs backing tracks for your in various music genres, with accompaniment by bass, guitar, synthesizer, and more.  For the beat production friends, it also offers note-repeat, a function we know from Akai products.

First Impression

At first glance, solid new finger drum pads from Yamaha. I will probably never understand why micro-USB will still be installed in 2023. For me, the FGDP-50 is clearly the exciting one here, with sample import and sound mangling options.

The new Yamaha FGDP series is available now. The FGDP-30 costs 179€ and the FGDP-50 299€.

More information here: Yamaha 

Available at my partner

Hardware Sampler News