Thanks, Michael, for the "unconventional" idea too. Though not a "real" drummer, my fingers are always drumming. And regardless of which path I go down, what's clear is that I will need to differentiate my finger hits. On my fingers, the drums are all blended, more for feel. Sure, they're differentiated by velocity or tone, but not in a consistent, organized manner. My hand knows when the kick or snare are to play, but any finger available on either hand will do depending on the moment. Time to experiment!
 
Chuck, yeah, I'm going to check in Sonar, and also am still considering the actual drum units. :)

I have both a real kit and electronic drums (A Roland TD4 / V drums)
I opt for real drums when ever possible. there is something about the dynamics of a real kit that can never and will never be captured by any sample out there.
 
When micing a real kit, you have bleed from other kit pieces that adds to a more than life feel.
Not even the best samples in the world which most will argue:
"These Samples were recorded on a Neve console using telefunken mic's on John Bonham's kit !"
well guess what...no matter how hard you try, they will always sound mechanical.
 
the E kits come close, but they still have years (like possibly 20) before they ever sound and FEEL like a real kit.
because when you hit Metal (a cymbal) or a real drum head, the bounce back and feel is totally different.
as is the machine gun effect on fast snare rolls, on fast tempo songs.
 
Peace man.

No worries... in all honesty, once you actually monitor yourself for what hits where you suddenly adapt accordingly (like working kick/snare only at first). I doubt that would be an issue at all. I tend to finger/foot tap a lot myself when driving but tap the gear shifter... pinky is kick, thumb is snare, and the 3 toms. For kick/snare you can also use feet easily, say one barefoot (kick), and one with a leather soled shoe (snare) on a wooden floor. A chair with feet you can put your heels on will actually use the same ankle motion for real drums (heels fixed, and tapping the balls of your feet). Sticks are cheap too, so you can also play with that as well.
 
An aside that is sort of funny... this kid likes to use Arduino for MIDI routing, and does a lot of neat stuff. Happened across him one day as the followup video to something else I watched, but he converted a Guitar Hero drum kit ($20) to fire off into his DAW. He is quite innovative with how he approaches things.
 

I recently bought a Yamaha DD-65. It's compact, has 8 pads plus kick and hat pedals. It also has a 'hand drum' setting for folks who don't want to use sticks.
I have fun playing it.
$219 at GC.

chuckebaby
I also have an Akai. AN MPD 26.
Works great. it also has built in presets for Sonar, Reaper, Pro tools, exc.
but I still prefer the drum machine because when I use Sonar for Drum triggering,
it comes with over 200 Maps. those maps include many drum machines. who knows maybe the korg is in there as well. I don't think so though.
What ever your choice... best of luck with it man.

I also have an MPD26 that I picked up for playing drums.  I find the pad sensitivity too low - seems like I have to whack the heck out of them.  So mine is collecting dust.  I've gotten used to using a regular keyboard/controller because the velocity curve is much sweeter.  I still don't do drums manually as much as I thought I would.  EZD and AD are just soooooo easy 

BobF

chuckebaby
I also have an Akai. AN MPD 26.
Works great. it also has built in presets for Sonar, Reaper, Pro tools, exc.
but I still prefer the drum machine because when I use Sonar for Drum triggering,
it comes with over 200 Maps. those maps include many drum machines. who knows maybe the korg is in there as well. I don't think so though.
What ever your choice... best of luck with it man.

I also have an MPD26 that I picked up for playing drums.  I find the pad sensitivity too low - seems like I have to whack the heck out of them.  So mine is collecting dust.  I've gotten used to using a regular keyboard/controller because the velocity curve is much sweeter.  I still don't do drums manually as much as I thought I would.  EZD and AD are just soooooo easy 

Yup, your right. you can set the velocity layers in settings (on the MPD's settings that is).
I had the same problem with the default settings.
 
If im doing any hand taping, typically I will set a fixed velocity (Example:110) then make adjustments later.
I used to use Midi loops a lot, but I never use loops anymore, I create all beats in PRV until im ready to track it with the real drums.

chamlin
Are there "tapping pads" to use as MIDI drum input devices? When I've done drum inputting on a keyboard I'm just too stiff. But I can really groove using my fingers and hands (not drum sticks) on a steering wheel. :)  Does that exist?

don't know your budget but have a look at the Nord Drum 3
 
http://www.nordkeyboards.com/products/nord-drum-3p
 
you could play it with hands or sticks. I use the predecessor and it's got super nice dynamics plus a good drum synth engine for a very reasonable price (for what you get).
 
even if you are not a drummer, picking up a pair of sticks and play with those will get you a long way quickly (and it's fun!!!) ... and much better than any hand pad controller can every give you