[[Image:footonstompbox.jpg|right|thumb|The Ellis stomp box sounds like a kick-drum and can be used as a trigger.]] A '''trigger pad''' is an electronic sensor on a drum<ref>{{cite web|title=ELECTRONIC PADS|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-2605981111.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924093629/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-2605981111.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=24 September 2017|work=Modern Drummer : MD|publisher=Drummer Publications Inc. 2012|access-date=5 May 2012}} </ref> that produces a certain sound assigned from a sound module once the head has been struck. This device allows drummers to play at a constant dynamic regardless of the physical force used.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}
Triggers are also used to add more definition to drum sounds and prevent bleeding{{definition|date=September 2017}} between sound sources, making it easier to hear clearly every drum hit without rumble or excessive cymbals. An example{{according to whom|date=September 2017}} is where very rapid bass drum hits become difficult to distinguish or even hear in the presence of a full band.
==Other uses== Triggers are used to count and monitor drum hits, usually{{according to whom|date=September 2017}} as a training device (e.g., to see if a drummer misses hits), and to officially monitor tests and competitions of drumming speed. <!-- GONNA HAVE TO PROVE ALL THIS, FANBOY: ; Tim Waterson, the current world record holder as stated in the Guinness Book of World Records,{{when}} uses trigger pads to record his speeds.-->
Mike Portnoy uses an electronic drum pad with a hardwired electronic metronome as what he calls the "secret cowbell", to count off the songs in a way that only his fellow band members and the technicians can hear.
Triggers can send a MIDI to a lighting control console to signal a change in stage displays.
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Drum kit components