No Drummer? No Problem! Digitech SDrum Review 

Thanks for this. I've had mine for 9 months and you still taught me stuff that I didn't know it had. The problem with finding tutorials for the Sdrum is that it's been out for a while and people lost interest in making tutorials a long time ago. If you are thinking about making another video, I'd love to see how you would program a raggae beat and also see how to use this with a Ditto X4 Looper.

Best review of this I have seen on the internet. Shows off your talent for understanding gear and it's functions and just musical talent all around.

I've got one of these. Your experience with drum machines and doing tight rhythm strumming is clearly a bonus using this as intended. Its a learning tool for me, sometimes I get what I was after, sometimes its different but still musical so I'll jam to that. Its not the cure for a poor sense of rhythm or not understanding drum pattern structure. It sounds better as you get better. Get a preprogramed type if you don't want to go on the drum pattern learning journey. I got the Jam Man looper as well that takes advantage of the SDrums ability to trigger the looper on and off for seamless loop lengths that sync with the drum pattern.(no tempo drift) This unit is targeted at the guitarist that wants something intuitive to get thing happening easily. How good you are as a rhythm guitarist is how quickly it will deliver on that. Not the units fault, your first guitar didn't come with a guaranty you will sound great either, but it has way more in place than a guitar to get something good happening with a few attempts. Set your expectations to when you got your first looper pedal, their was a period of frustration till you learnt the skill behind using it well.

I'm awaiting one of these. Love you, you crazy man, you are just great.

Just saw this pedal a couple weeks ago in a video that popped up. I found the pedal used, only had it a couple hours. Bought it together with a Ditto Looper, both for $100. I hooked it up through my two 2,000 watt frfr speakers, and my Pod Go, and man!!! Sounds like I’m playing with a real drummer! This pedal is Awesome! Wish I knew about this when it first came out! Super easy to use! Love this thing! A solid 5 stars for this guy!

You obviously believe in it! ... you've not just spent 40 minutes wasting your time. I like your explanation of what it can & can't do ... & your enthusiasm! This is even more tempting with the recent price drop. Thanks for your time. Nice editing, filming & playing as always. Great channel content!

Again, proving that you are THE consummate reviewer and demo...er...er(?) of all things guitar on RU-vid. On my new, small channel I just did a demo of this pedal's JamSync to the JamMan looper last weekend. That was about all you left uncovered, but I actually have a deeper understanding of the SDRUM now that I've seen yours. Thanks.

as always detailed and informative

Thank you. I've been trying to figure out how to manually record a chorus. Figured it out watching your video around the 20 min mark.

Awesome review / lesson. Thank you

Love your playing here man, great review

I actually have this with the fx3 foot switch, it is GREAT!!! Plus, I use this inconjuction with a couple of DigiTech Jamman Stereo Looper & the DigiTech RP 360xp, there's a trick I do with these pedals for live gigs, I'll do a video demo on all of them at the same time so you can see what you can do with these pedals, you won't believe how cool they can be!!! Great video my friend, stay safe my friend, Rick On & God Bless!!!

Absolutely lovely demo of af pedal i did not know I needed, and fun too

Great review! And wow, what a great little gizmo! Great price too, much cheaper than the beat-buddy.

that was a really good review/tutorial ...ohh.. it's on my list now!

One thing you didn't cover is that you can cut out the hats, rides or toms by turning their control nob to 6 o'clock. That is really handy when you want to keep things subdued or if you want a loop for the drummer to play over.

Really, really, REALLY appreciate you saying viewers will need to spend a couple hours reading and getting comfortable using this. Your reviews are awesome!!!👏🏼

GREAT video!! I'm buying one, because of this video! Nova Scotia loves it!!!!~

Hey man, that intro song sounded really nice, sounded a bit like Satriani, 👍I think I'm gonna go buy one

Feels like a step back from the Digitech Trio. I have had the Trio for a couple years and it works pretty well for me so long as you remember to keep it simple while it learns and avoid syncopation.

Great review. Very informative, and still entertaining. (never had an instagram account, but if it can help you out - going there now. Stay healthy

this looks awsome but most part of the video i watched i was distracted by just how good your guitar looks xD

Great review.

Love my Trio+, not getting another with that learning curve in the near future :D

ok this one peaked my interest and I added to my Sweetwater list. I am a tad leery of the complexity so will do more digging and watch this vid a few times. Thanks for this info!!! **nice playing** **post edit** BEAUTIFUL geetar!

A drummer that doesn't eat your Cheetos and clog the toilet. Perfect.

Great Video, great review. One Question: Is it possible to change the swing depth?

The gio looks nice😍

Pedal massa, parabéns pelo video, shoooow

I have since a while now but cannot figure it out (wrote this before seeing the whole video) will come back, and probably have to watch this a few times.

The Keith moon edition comes with a half pound of TNT for the bass drum.

Easily the best intro jam on youtube!

37:22 All you need to see from that video. naa kidding. Really helped out here. Great stuff.

Good video and amazing guitar...

This is very interesting I will also check out the digitech trio + band creator . 👍🏻

I like and it's very good for creating songs. Normally I uses keyboard.

You're magic dude! I just watched your 2016 vid about the Trio + and here you mentioned it in the intro. I'm torn between this SDRUM and the Trio +. If only the SDRUM had bass. I use the JamMan sterio looper and love it. The SDRUM seems confused (not confusing). Which one to get, the SDRUM or Trio+?

You can also get it to do a brush swirl pattern which is useful if you fancy a spot of jazz. As far as I'm aware no other drum machine is capable of doing this.

Great RIFFS !!!!..Henning..

I love your videos and just your character is so great! I have watched both videos but I'm undecided between choosing the Trio+ or the Sdrum with a jamman solo xt to be able to use Digitechs Jamsync (I assume a normal looper pedal wouldn't work, trying to turn both pedals on at the same time) Which would you suggest? 1) I want to record entire songs at home with drums to send to my band or a backing track for Facebook videos. Either way I can play bass and guitar on the looper after laying down drums with the Sdrum OR I could let the trio+ take care of it if I dont care about the bass melody 2) practice improvising solos at home easily and quickly, over a few chords with some drums, or to come up with solos for songs Ive written over the rhythm track and drums. 3) a bonus would be to load up the looper with "samples" from a memory card that I could drop in over our live performances (air raid sirens, speech quotes etc) could the trio+ also do this? if not I could just spend £35 and buy a simple Lekato looper to do this. Thing is I dont want the tracks I send to my band to always be the same 5 drum tracks or sounding the same which is what concerns me about the Trio+ if you are playing the same genre all the time (punk and rock). Is it possible to push the trio+ towards a certain type of drumbeat by emphasising it with your guitar when it is learning (just as an example if you wanted to do something like "we will rock you"..if you are not worried about the on board bassline could you hit the strings in the correct rhythm to get it to come up with a drum pattern that might be close?)? On the other hand the Sdrum is less flexible with only 3 song parts & it cant program the order of the verse chorus and bridge it has to be done on the fly I think? Really Confused what would be best..Can you help?

I have hesitated a long time between this Sdrum and the beatbuddy...This is not exactly the same functionalities, but I have bought the beatbuddy because I prefer the sounds. Ideally I wanted them both.

Hi man, great video. I think it's a great product, but does it quantize what you strum? And also, I see just 4 drum kits + alternate button, what kits does it add?

Great vid, thanks! Maybe I missed it, but I got one question: while it’s great to be able to jump from the chorus back to the verse via DOPPELKLICK (beautiful language :) if you also have a bridge, is possible to jump verse -> bridge if you use all three parts of the song?

This thing really should have MIDI EXP programmability. Can you imagine the ability to select songs and beats per preset on a pedalboard switcher?

No Drummer, ....no drama...

Wow, this little thingy is so impressive! I thought it will cost a fortune, clicked on the link to Sweetwater and was like WTF?! 130 USD? So I checked for it on Thomann (I'm living in Germany) and it's 149 Eur only there also, which is more than worth to buy. Thanks for introducing and recommending this little magic box and the cows! Grüße aus Gevelsberg ...

Rockin´ jam!

Greateytsch again!!

Incredible to see all those fun gadgets we have today. The sky is the limit! Well, your imagination actually...

Now I've seen everything, someone playing drums on a guitar! In all honesy it's an interesting gadet, basically a drum machine that actually sounds like drums! I prefer something a little more programmable though.

It's impressive how tiny the delay in processing is. Usually with things like this there is always those few milliseconds of delay that ruin it (typically on octave down pedals) but on this the delay is almost non-existent.

Picked up one of these on sale for $60 new the other day. Pretty cool for that price. I don’t think I would buy it at list though... Useful and syncs with my Digitech XT Express Looper.

Can you program the snare and kick for the same part at different times? Like first just focus on the kick the rewrite on top of it and just focus on the snare. That would make this beastly. Without that, I'll stick to my Pocket Operator. Nothing to see here.

Whoever voted this thumbs down obviously doesn't have one to know how helpful this is !!

With a few drummers in the family, I'd have to hide a little gizmo like this. Thankfully, it's small. That's NOT what she said! Animals at end :)

Perfect for quarantine when you can't get together with the band!

... or for jamming by myself in my boathouse at the cabin... I want one now; excellent review!

Just sayin' but that's a sick MuMan Explorer. I hadn't realized that Ernie had the company since 1984. Leo was the guitar guy in the mid-seventies, so those from those days could definitely be collectors' items. Wow! Your intro instrumental! 3:30 That's so right. This is not an RC-20 looper. (and trust me, neither is the JamMan Solo SD and it doesn't even host midi-sync.) 4:50 Anal drum tracks?! I'm a drummer who began doing "acoustic solo shows" that evolved into me fronting a virtual band with pedals and backing tracks I do in Logic Pro. This is the latest pedal in my board along with its 3X switch. 11:51 Yah. I know. Wth? It has to be simple, I guess.Toms would be good for a bridge part or a "primal" verse part...So basically, stay on it and learn it and it'll be a great tool in the arsenal. Steep. Yep. Pretty steep learning curve so far. This video has given me a great and different perspective of this device. I was bouta flip it until I saw this. Like he said at the very beginning.... Spend a LOT of time familiarizing...

Can ya use this thing with an electric piano like a Rhodes or even a synth for that matter just wonderin' thanx dude(s)

Hi, is it possible to send a guitar signal just on mixer output?

My nephew Johnathan is thinking of getting the DigiTech band creator with a built-in Looper and additional 3 button footswitch. Now that I'm seeing you with this drum pedal which do you think he would be better off getting? He plays mostly metal. When I say metal I'm talking about? neoclassical type stuff stuff like Yngwie and people like this play. His music is all original. He doesn't play a lot of covers except for Megadeth he really loves them and a few others. 99% of what he plays is original, very detailed and unique. At any rate which do you think would be a better pedal the drum pedal? The SDrum pedal you have here or the band creator from DigiTech with a built-in Looper & 3 button footswitch? He needs a Looper and a drum pedal that's why he was thinking of the band creator with the built-in Looper. He played through one of those before and really liked it because it has the Bass and everything in it but I'm looking at you with this drum pedal and I'm really impressed by itl. Please give me your thoughts on this if you get a chance thank you and God bless you and your family!! Jimmy in NC.... P.S. Great Video. Clear, Concise and to the Point!!

I don’t know who my favorite RU-vid guitar guy is but, you are probably tied for 1st with them.

Pro Audio Star has these for $69.99 USD every few months. Have been tempted but haven't pulled the trigger. I think the latest sale just ended a day or so ago

That’s great!! You won’t need one of those guys that like to hang around with musicians.

i make some post rock / shoegaze song should the Sdrum be the thing or the trio+ ?

Awsone video. What about the jamsync? you could try with a Janman Looper if you got it.

The quality of your videos has improved exponentially. TG no more jokes about genitals or that's what she says. Nice intros, overall great format with demo at the beginning, explanation/tutorial in the middle and your thoughts at the end.

Do you prefer this or the BeatBuddy?

Ive been using the sdrum for a more than year right now. Its a great tool for practising and song writing, because setting up is so much faster. I personally do not go crazy for the drum samples. They are okay and would definitely work for Pub gig, but in a recording environment I still prefer plugins like bfd

In sure I’d do better with this thing than I do with my E-drums

I tried this pedal for a week. You have to remember quite a few convoluted things to just use it. Seemed far from "easy and direct"

Can it be used as a standalone drum machine¿thanx dude

I loved mine and really miss it. one of only 3 or so things I sold (digitech freqout is another) this is a great pedal. an immediate drum machine that you can start an idea and it carries it. the BIG PROBLEM is you can't turn drum sounds down. the hi hat and symbols are a too loud and that was annoying. that was the ONLY issue I had with it. too bad they didn't get any feedback or try and create more options on the reissue of the pedal.

oooh it has jam sync so will sync with my jaman solo xt :)

The fret marker rings on hat guitar are ripped off Harden engineering guitars :) Vary nice!

it is possible to save different beats in different songs?

Are there any drum machines /pedals that have expression pedal control of the velocity/ dynamics Seems everyone leaves out this function Which is odd as it would take these things from practice tools to true performance tools 🤷🏻‍♂️

That demo song was f***ing rad.

Had one and sold it. It’s completely unpredictable. You strum out a beat and it generates something completely different.

Is there any way to skip the bridge and go straight back to the verse?

Can you set a different tempo to each part of a song?

Difficult to use, but good for practicing in tempo. However, heaven forbid you’re getting your overdriven tone from the amp you’re using. Have to run it behind an A/B switch with the SDrum going to the clean channel of a Peavey Classic 30 and the guitar signal going to my Marshall SV20.

So my understanding is that you cannot strum cymbals and toms too, correct? Can anyone confirm one way or the other? If not that is a major bummer. I got six strings on my guitar to play with

it seems its always the videos where its not about tone where i love the tone the most.. 24:50 had me goin "woah, i wanna know what he's using"

Does it follow your tempo and slow down when you slow down. Or even stop. If you stop does it stop.

killer Gio

best moment at 26:08 tum tum ta taa tum tum ta taaa heheheh

I've very recently overcome my distrust of drum machines at least as a practice tool... Jury is still out on recording... however ask me again in a week or so, I'm a lousy drummer...

A tempo read out would have been nice... on a drum pedal...

I thought Digitech went out of business a while ago? Someone else took them over?? 🎶🎸

That guitarmaker guy from Texas gave up when he got to the headstock, obviously!

i need to record a song with drums, is this gonna be the drums ?

That Ibanez Gio tho... Which is it?

No MIDI out? ☹️ That would have been perfect.

Can you record these beats into your DAW

Can you use this with a bass guitar?

This VS Beatbuddy?

What about latin percussion?

not exactly "plug and play " , but for $150 you have to temper your expectations. personally , i feel it more than delivers at this price point. great for getting an idea across to a real drummer. engineers don't design things on cocktail napkins , but many great inventions started out that way .

holding stop, will stop it, wow ;-)