Yamaha FGDP Finger Drum Machines

H1 · 2023-10-11T12:12:40.617Z

I bought one last week, I love it. The layout works really well for me. I play bass most of the time, and the thumb for bass - middle finger for snare position translates really well.

I hope they do a version with a synth engine.

I was wondering, for anyone who is has played both, the Nord drum 3p has a really nice engine, I had the first one years ago, but only played it over midi. Can you play it well with fingers ? Like the Yamaha ? Can you do triplets like you can on the Yamaha, when you go ring-middle-index finger ?

KaOsphere · 2023-10-11T13:31:36.632Z

I always found the ND3P pads were tricky to configure for finger drumming…
You have to hit pretty hard or else get false positive triggers when sensitivity is high.

Playing with sticks has always seemed more reliable to me. ( there are 2 modes with their respective settings for sticks and hands ).

For some reason, I never managed to be able to get the same sound with a kick trigger pedal, a stick, my hand or a midi note on the exact same pad with same settings which is a blessing and a curse depending on the context.

The nd3p has only 6 pads and no AT.

But, you can actually get pretty cool fx when sliding your fingers while pushing on the surface to create micro vibrations triggering the pads.

And of course, the velocity curve affects the sound in so many gorgeous ways, it is hard to compare to the FGDP.

blipson · 2023-10-11T23:59:48.237Z

I’ve found it un-fingerdrummable even with the most sensitive settings.

GovernorSilver · 2023-10-12T18:52:46.891Z

PearTreeCraft · 2023-10-12T19:07:24.931Z

Nice! This is the kind of demo I’ve been waiting to see.

GovernorSilver · 2023-10-12T22:55:45.609Z

JohntheSavage · 2023-10-13T00:25:14.812Z

Someone’s got the right idea.

Cheers!

GovernorSilver · 2023-10-13T03:58:16.549Z

Shame both models are out of stock at the local shop. I much prefer to lay hands on one for myself to just relying on demos

I’m patient, though.

Threnody-of-Abul-Abbas · 2023-10-13T18:25:37.530Z

Agree, I never finger drum on my Nord. It can do it, it just plays a million times better with sticks. The Nord is also quite hard, it doesn’t feel great banging your fingertips on it for an hour. My favorite thing to do with the Nord is to have a Digitakt (or any sequencer) sending lots of different CC changes to the synth settings while live drumming with sticks, gets extremely trippy and chaotic if desired.

I got the 50 primarily for fun and ease of use. The Nord sound engine is a totally different world, the 50 isn’t for drum synthesis or sound design.

The reason why I am really enjoying the 50 is that it is an instant pickup and play device with a battery and a speaker (surprisingly good bass!) that I can use to drum out a beat every time I get an idea or I have five minutes to spare. It can also sound pretty cool, especially if you tweak the settings (e.g. make some pads control AT tuning, adjust your sensitivity to get good dynamics) and run it through some effects, so it isn’t just a practice toy, but it is aiming for very different goals than the Nord. If you want to practice finger drumming then the 50/30 is will be a better experience, but if you want an amazing drum synth you will be disappointed.

I am happy with the 50 so far if for no other reason than it has allowed me a lot more rhythm practice during the week and made me realize how sloppy my finger drumming technique has become.

EDIT: One thing that sucks about these products, the manual is terrible. Some of the features aren’t even explained and I have been figuring stuff out by menu diving and playing around. Whoever wrote this for Yamaha did a terrible job and it seems really weird for a device being marketed as super simple/easy to just pick up and get realistic and customizable sounds out of.

tha_man · 2023-10-31T14:18:44.478Z

Got the 30, such a fun device! I was afraid voice announcement will be annoying but it’s fine. For more serious use I would recommend 50, but for some couch finger drumming 30 is perfect - uncomplicated, inexpensive, just turn it on, select drum kit and go. Sounds cool even on internal speaker, pad layout is great and pads feel really nice too, much better than on MC-707.

Leptic · 2023-10-31T15:52:29.315Z

Yeah for the voice menu, so fun

icaria36 · 2023-11-02T22:27:20.391Z

There was this review by The Quest for Groove a few days ago. This guy has been reviewing finger drumming devices for years.

Blasted_pingin · 2023-11-02T23:55:41.081Z

Threnody-of-Abul-Abbas:

I never finger drum on my Nord. It can do it, it just plays a million times better with sticks.

That’s purely personal. I bought sticks to play on my ND3p but ended up having to play with my hands during a trip and i feel much better playing with hands/fingers than with sticks.

blipson · 2023-11-09T13:58:07.521Z

I connect an external controller, but I get no sound out of the FGDP-50.

The pads work normally. I verify, for example, that the kick is on channel 10, note 36. MIDI Monitor verifies that my controller sends this channel and note and also verifies that the FGDP is MIDI thru-ing the same channel and note. I verify that the trigger setting MIDIRcvPad is On for every pad. I even tried toggling Local Control in the Utility menu. Still, I get no audio out of the FGDP via the external controller, only its local pads. Any suggestions?

Stone262 · 2023-11-09T20:38:03.959Z

I don’t own one so can’t test but have been curious to have a look at the manual and your post prompted me to do so. The manual is awful.

The first thing I thought was if midi thru is turned on then some devices will ignore incoming midi messages and just pass them to the output. Manual makes no reference to midi in/out/thru settings.

I suspect it might relate to the trigger presets (which I think are set on a per pad basis?).

This page says you have to be on preset 6-12 for the pad to be set to receive midi. That being said it sounds like you are manually making the right trigger settings anyway.

https://manual.yamaha.com/mi/de/fgdp50/en/fgdp50_en_ug_011.html#Trigger_List

blipson · 2023-11-10T08:52:44.438Z

I meant it’s MIDI-thruing in an informal sense: I verify MIDI is passing through the FGDP-50 back to my MIDI hub even if the FGDP has no explicit MIDI thru function. That’s just to demonstrate that everything else looks to be working as it should.

Stone262:

This page says you have to be on preset 6-12 for the pad to be set to receive midi.

Yeah, I set my trigger presets to P07 Normal Rx. I’ve tried the other Rx’s, but no dice.

The manual is kind of a pain, but since it’s not too long for this not-too-complicated device, you kind of get used to it. The search function usually works out.

blipson · 2023-11-11T12:29:15.497Z

blipson:

I connect an external controller, but I get no sound out of the FGDP-50.

It was a routing error in my MIDI hub. It’s fixed now and working normally. Sounds good, with a nice feel played from my Zendrum controller, whose larger triggers make more intricate and lengthy drumming far more comfortable and easier to use more parts of your fingers and hands. The FGDP is just too tight a fit for two-handed grooves and lines. I like to do hats and rides on one hand, with kick and snares on the other. I wing it with toms and play downbeat crashes with different points on my palm, which isn’t possible on the FGDP. I rarely strike the Zendrum with fingertips, mostly using the knuckle nearest the tip and sometimes the middle knuckle. FGDP is biased toward the fingertips, especially as the pads get smaller.

triandgle · 2024-06-17T23:09:28.806Z

Tokin_Tone:

Being class compliant, I’m also hoping to run it through my ST and use the sounds and analog FX section from there.

I just got the FGDP-30 and as a stand-alone finger drumming instrument I love it! I’m curious if anyone has got it running as a midi-controller with their Syntakt or Digitakt II, since the velocity macros could make this a lot of fun! Is there any way of hooking them up without a pc involved?

EDIT: With Retrokits RK-006 probably.

Also, after 10 months the FGDP-hype train still hasn’t left the station…

persimmonenjoyer · 2025-05-23T21:23:34.838Z

Did you ever try connecting it with the retrokits? Obviously this is old, but I just got the FGDP50 and plan to use a Kenton USB Midi host to control my Model:Cycles.

Leptic · 2025-05-23T21:33:40.911Z

Retrokits is dope, i use it with a m:s , the arp firmware