Practice-pad drummers
Keep the pad you like. RealFeel, Evans, a mesh pad, whatever is on the desk. The puck just sits on the edge.
See every hit against the click.
Rudiment Ninja sits on the edge of the pad and picks up the stick hit itself. The app shows whether you were early, late, or on the click.
£49 inc. VAT · UK shipping included. First batch of 100 units. Expected summer 2027, latest 31 August 2027. Terms of sale
- Any Surface
- Pairs over Bluetooth
- No mic, no cables
The problem
Microphones alone miss a lot of hits.
They have to pick a stick hit out of whatever else is going on in the room. Stick the sensor on the pad and it only hears the stick.
Listening through the phone
- Talking, the TV, a chair — any of it can look like a hit
- Quiet ghost notes often don't register
- How hard you played depends on where the phone is sitting
- Move the phone and you have to set it up again
Stuck to the pad
- Only a stick hit registers
- Ghost notes and accents both come through
- Volume comes from the hit, not the room
- Pick the pad type once and leave it
Setup
Stick, pair, play.
Stick it on
Press it onto the edge of the pad. Rubber, mesh, wood, even a desk. The gel base holds without glue, peels off clean, and you can move it to another pad.
Pair it
Turn it on. Your phone sees it as a normal Bluetooth MIDI device — same idea as pairing a keyboard. No dongle, no drivers. iPhone, Android and Mac. Windows support to be confirmed.
Play
Pick a rudiment and a tempo. Each hit shows up against the click, with how hard you played. Set the pad type once and you're done.
What it does
Timing, speed and dynamics.
Timing
Each stroke is lined up against the metronome, so you can see if you're rushing the back of a paradiddle or dragging your doubles.
Speed
Keeps up with 32nd notes at 220 BPM. Pad ring doesn't count as extra hits.
Dynamics
Accents and ghost notes are measured from the hit, so you can actually work on them — flams, accent taps, a roll that gets louder.
Rudiments
The app shows the sticking. You play it. It scores the timing. It can't tell left from right — there's one sensor, on the pad, not on the sticks.
It's just MIDI
You don't have to use our app. It also works with GarageBand, Logic, Ableton, or anything else that takes Bluetooth MIDI.
In the box
The Rudiment Ninja with its battery built in, a spare gel pad, a USB-C cable and a quick-start card. Charge it like a pair of earbuds.
Who it's for
Pad players, drumlines and teachers.
Drumline, marching & pipe band
Doubles, flams, rolls, and a line that has to lock together. This shows you the timing your instructor is hearing, between rehearsals.
Drum teachers
Easier to show a student where a paradiddle is uneven than to keep saying “listen”. One puck moves between pads in a few seconds.
Students & returning players
Cheaper than an electronic kit, and you can see whether the ten minutes you just did actually got cleaner.
The app
A simple practice screen.
The app runs on iPhone and Android. Setup is a couple of taps, not a page of numbers.
- Timing line. Hits land on a line. Left of centre is early, right is late.
- Pad setup. Pick hard rubber, soft rubber, mesh or a desk. Or tap once soft and once hard, and it sets itself.
- Progress. Tempos and scores stay on your phone, so you can see if this week was cleaner than last week.
FAQ
Questions
Will Rudiment Ninja work on my practice pad?
If the surface is flat, yes. Hard rubber (RealFeel, Evans), soft rubber, mesh, wood, or a desk. The gel base sticks on and peels off without leaving anything behind. In the app you pick the surface, or tap once quietly and once hard and it sets itself.
Does it use my phone's microphone?
No. It sits on the pad and feels the hit. The phone never has to listen, so talking, music or a noisy room doesn't create extra notes, and a quiet tap still counts.
Does it know which hand I used?
No. There's one sensor, on the pad, so it knows when you hit and how hard — not whether it was the left or the right. The app shows the sticking (R L R R L R L L) and scores the timing. You still have to play the right hand.
Which devices does it connect to?
iPhone, iPad, Android and Mac. Windows support is still to be confirmed. It shows up as a normal Bluetooth MIDI device, so the companion app is the main place to use it, but GarageBand, Logic, Ableton and other MIDI apps work too. No drivers and no dongle.
How fast can it track?
The aim is clean 32nd notes at 220 BPM, about 29 hits a second, without the pad's ring turning into extra notes. That's faster than the quickest single-stroke rolls people have actually recorded. Flams are the hardest test: the two notes land milliseconds apart, and both still register.
What about lag?
You hear the pad. The app doesn't play the sound of the hit back to you — it just shows whether you were early or late. Each message is stamped on the puck when the hit happens, so a bit of Bluetooth delay doesn't move the timing. People can usually feel a difference of about 5–10 ms; the stamp is finer than that.
What is in the box?
The Rudiment Ninja with its battery built in, a spare gel pad, a USB-C cable and a quick-start card. A wall plug isn't included. Any USB-C charger you already have is fine.
How long does the battery last?
It's a 500 mAh cell and it only has to run Bluetooth, so a typical practice habit should be weeks between charges. We'll measure it properly on the first finished units and publish the number before this batch ships.
When does it ship, and what if it's late?
This first batch is 100 units, put together in the UK. We expect to ship in summer 2027. Small hardware runs slip, so if this one does, you'll get an email first. You can cancel for a full refund any time before yours goes out, and if it hasn't been dispatched by 31 August 2027 we refund you automatically.
Is the app free?
We haven't set the app price yet. It runs on iPhone and Android, and we'll say what it costs before this batch ships.
Is it safety tested?
The Bluetooth radio is a pre-certified module. The finished puck still needs its own UKCA and CE assessment. We'll confirm the marking here before the first batch ships.
First batch
100 units, assembled in the UK. Expected summer 2027, latest 31 August 2027.
£49 inc. VAT · UK shipping included. You can cancel for a full refund any time before yours ships. Terms of sale