I remember that model, and yes, very well built. First generation Octapads were absolutely terrible to play, but it worked well with my W-30 workstation!
@@unclemick-synths My go to sticks are 5A - nylon or wood bead, just depends on the sound. For strength training (need more of this right now), I still turn to trusty old SD1 Generals and I'll occasionally pick up marching sticks. Be well!
I still have mine as well, bought new in (I believe) 1989. The stick sound on the pads is noisier that current units, but it still works great as a MIDI trigger.
@@bentdrum I still enjoy the internal sounds but use them less now I don't record MIDI anymore. I used to record MIDI and then "print" each drum separately to audio.
Great review, Chris. Yeah, I need one of these. I went the cheap route many years ago and bought an Alesis Sample Pad Pro which is not only super basic and slow but has always had consistent cross talk issues. Time to get a big boy sample pad and go with the Roland.
Thank you! It would be the perfect accompaniment for FBR, and you would be able to trigger loops when needed, which could free up some head space for Tim! And agreed on the Alesis Sample Pad - too many issues and poor build quality.
The Long/McQuade vid on youtube was the go-to vid for this, but you did a very good explanation of itemized ins/outs and your way of describing... I agree with the want for acoustic experience, but the old days of Peart type setups with all the aux percussion are done. This kind of upgraded technology really helps with that avenue. Its good for aux sounds, soloing, and kit add on fx. Good job Chris!!!
Love the Peart reference, and I would also have to include Bozzio in that comment. And funny that you mentioned Peart as he was my major influence (he and Gadd) in my formative years. I've played a 4 piece kit for the better part of 20 years now, and the SPD is the perfect accompaniment. I always enjoyed using a 5 piece kit to work out Rush parts - it made me stretch the limits of a smaller kit when I was a kid. Be well!
Funny i made myself a blue monday kit for my Roland TM-6 pro trigger module, it's not easy to play on a regular acoustic drum set with trigger and mesh head, but playing any kind of personal sound or percussion is a joy, im probably buy that drumpad as an extension for playing instrumental loop, it's more convenient and was made for that purpose initialy, Michael Schak really show how to bring hybrid Drumming with loop to the next level.
Good controller but from initial observations a few suggestions to make it better. Pads more sensitive (to softer hits) if it can’t be adjusted. Maybe MIDI 2 resolution could help. Can borrow from sensory percussion 2 and spatially zone pads for precision, hands, etc. Remove excess controls like select, execute… smart-selecting and clickable rotaries are better. In firmware, going to factory should reset adjustments too.
I can’t choose between this or the Maschine plus. No I don’t do acoustic drums or will it be an additional to a drum set. This will be my only drum set to make beats to go along with a midi controller and guitar.
I've had a ball with my Nord 3P, the ability to strike a pad and get some real vibe in attack, then tweak the decay is a god send. There is nothing like striking a surface and hitting it hard, rather than these little pads that come with some samplers out there.
Comparing acoustic drums to electronic drums is like comparing an acoustic guitar to an electric guitar. They are two different instruments with two different purposes and both are great. Great guitarist use both types of guitars. Great drummers should use both types of drums. Why would you not use all of the instruments at your disposal?
I agree but it can depend on the music. However it’s good to learn the Roland because you never know it may come in handy or inspire some creative ideas
Hate to say it but it's evolving. Electric drums will be used by the majority eventually. If it sounds like a drum, there's no reason it can't look like one too.
I have been using Electic Drums for Decades. I Started in the late 70s with The Syndrum , and at that time also bought a Synare 1. A single pad synth with 4 oscillators and some different filters sq , sawtooth and Modulatiom. ThenvSimmons drug s with triggers. Pre midi. Using CV Sequencers.
I bought the FD-9 and KT 10 pedals to use this as an aux kit and practice kit at home. The pedals are quiet and the kick feels ok, but the hi hat pedal feels late and really not very easy to play and or splash etc. On the hi hat I have to hold it down really harder then just letting my foot rest on the pedal to keep it closed. Have you played with the foot trigger pedals? Any advice for setting up the hi hat to feel better and play the way its supposed too? I really have to press it hard to close it. I have an old POS yamaha dtxpplorer electric kit. I will be repurposing the pads from that kit to the SPDX-pro. Havent tried to configure that yet as I am first getting familiar with the spx before adding to it. But the hihat pedal from that kit played almost more authentically than the FD-9 or at least from a feel standpoint of open close and not feeling latency in when my foot actually makes contact with the pedal. Granted that pedal is much louder on the floor in my practice setting of a small appartment but it feels much better and you can find those on the second hand market for like 50$ so I don't know if I have regret yet on the pedal purchase. DO you have any experience with the FD-9? Just as a default setting and when plugged in I am not super impressed. like I said, Really need extra pressure to keep it closed and I also can't splash it the way my entry level, very cheap yamaha hat played with the dtxplorer? I am overwhelmed at the menu dive for now, but as I get familiar with the unit, hopefully this becomes more intuitive. Any advice for now? I really would of thought the default settings would of just been set to play like it was as close to the real thing as possible. With all that being said, Yeah, this thing is amazing. You really are paying up for long overdue features and upgrades that the old SPD didn't have. Being able to have kick and HH control in the same unit for me was the no brainer. You used to have to choose between spdx and the 8 pad, it was one or the other. That was the mandatory up grade in my opinion that makes this more versatile. If you think 1000$ is too much, here is how I justified it. Laptops cost about the same or more these days, and this is way more fun and brings me more joy than a laptop ever will.
@@acemiracle383 Ok, Thanks for the response. I will try that. I just wish it felt like the FT 10. Feels more balanced and consistent to me. I am glad I am not the only one that feels it takes a bit of pressure to keep the Hat closed. It doesnt feel natural to just rest your foot on closed pedal, You really have to keep it pressed down firmly with your foot.
Hi, how is the spd sd pro going for you? I'm an accoustic drummer that has no space for a drumkit at home so I'm thinking of buying this machine with a KT 10 as a kick drum input. I'm thinking of wither buying this or the roland spd-30 (octapad), do you have any experience with that so you can compare?
Thank you very much for your video😊 I'm missing a very important feature: it's not possible to change the tempo of the loops? This was possible with the SPD SX.
A pretty good review but - hearing you say you don't like digital durms - l missed hearing some decent acoustics kits on the SPD - or aren't there any?
Is it possible to hook up a electronic mesh head to this thing and have the snare be as responsive as when it’s plugged into an electronic drum kit brain? Or is it always going to be less sensitive?
I saw another video that demonstrated some really nice Indian drums and stuff. However I would suggest downloading the manual too, to make sure you get exactly what you need.
Hello, I'm experiencing a latency problem using a sustain pedal on the footswitch input of my spd sx pro, I've already sent several emails to Roland to find out if they're going to do this recall in the next update, do you know anything about this subject?
I'm wondering if you can use this with a MPC 5000 as a slave to the MPC 5000. The MPC pads are small and it would be nice to have something like this for production work.
You can use any MIDI drum module with an MPC AKAI as long as you have a midi out from the Vdrum or any drumpad like this one, the cheaper solution IS to use DDrum trigger with there trigger module connect to your MPC , but Roland product have ability to detect double stroke and can be use without the need of external sampler
I noticed that the bass drum is always on your left and the high hat is always on the right. Being a right handed drummer, is there anyway to simply push one button to reverse the bass drum to the right and the high hat to the left and all the rest of the kits correspond accordingly? Super thanks for the great detailed video. Are you left or right handed?
You can arrange the pads however you like, and can add a kick drum trigger and hi hat trigger as well! It's incredibly flexible and customizable. I'm right handed, but would often switch hands/positions when I was a kid and try to train my brain to play with either hand leading.
Do you know if you can send midi notes during a song? Meaning: I want the SPD to switch the scenes of my Quad Cortex live during a certain song through a midi cable. (So i don't have to do this by foot - so i can focus on singing and playing). In other words: can the SPD automatically send midi notes to the midi output after starting a track? I know i could do this though Ableton but I prefer NOT to have a computer on stage... Thanks in advance. Vinny
I don't get for what the possesed drummer or the bleed from within drummer use that? I mean i see drum videos but i don't see them hit it but they have it there.
@@midichlorian73 ahh man. Already ordered through guitar center using that sweet employee discount (returned the spdsx after a couple weeks to get the pro) but have to wait uff 😣
2:30 in and believe me, I get that you don’t like an electronic kit that’s trying to emulate an acoustic kit… You’ve stated this multiple times already… Please get to the point, the sounds and the functionality… 😵💫
For me this is a very good pad without sync tempo, unusable for my purpose, I will buy it when Roland will implement that feature. I guess Roland will implement that someday as many users ask for that
That's the great thing about this device. Tons of onboard sounds that you can sculpt all day, and you can also load in your own samples. No need to use the loops, but I'm sure some people do. Thanks for your comment.
Jesus....7 minutes in , and he is STILL talking about himself ! Me , I , me .....I would have.....I prefer , blah blah blah....couldn't keep watching. Sorry.
![Roland SPD-SX PRO Sample Pad [In-Depth Demo]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/PLA5XzC2gII/mqdefault.jpg)
![Hunxho - Ball Forever [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nki9ZTF9Uls/mqdefault.jpg)
My SPD-8 is still going strong after 30 years. It was their first octopad with built-in sounds.
I remember that model, and yes, very well built. First generation Octapads were absolutely terrible to play, but it worked well with my W-30 workstation!
@@midichlorian73 I use lightweight sticks that have a lot of bounce in of themselves. They'd probably be really crappy on real drums! 😀
@@unclemick-synths My go to sticks are 5A - nylon or wood bead, just depends on the sound. For strength training (need more of this right now), I still turn to trusty old SD1 Generals and I'll occasionally pick up marching sticks. Be well!
I still have mine as well, bought new in (I believe) 1989. The stick sound on the pads is noisier that current units, but it still works great as a MIDI trigger.
@@bentdrum I still enjoy the internal sounds but use them less now I don't record MIDI anymore. I used to record MIDI and then "print" each drum separately to audio.
Great review, Chris. Yeah, I need one of these. I went the cheap route many years ago and bought an Alesis Sample Pad Pro which is not only super basic and slow but has always had consistent cross talk issues. Time to get a big boy sample pad and go with the Roland.
Thank you! It would be the perfect accompaniment for FBR, and you would be able to trigger loops when needed, which could free up some head space for Tim! And agreed on the Alesis Sample Pad - too many issues and poor build quality.
Roland is for the major league players. The other brands are for the pretenders
The Long/McQuade vid on youtube was the go-to vid for this, but you did a very good explanation of itemized ins/outs and your way of describing... I agree with the want for acoustic experience, but the old days of Peart type setups with all the aux percussion are done. This kind of upgraded technology really helps with that avenue. Its good for aux sounds, soloing, and kit add on fx. Good job Chris!!!
Love the Peart reference, and I would also have to include Bozzio in that comment. And funny that you mentioned Peart as he was my major influence (he and Gadd) in my formative years. I've played a 4 piece kit for the better part of 20 years now, and the SPD is the perfect accompaniment. I always enjoyed using a 5 piece kit to work out Rush parts - it made me stretch the limits of a smaller kit when I was a kid. Be well!
Funny i made myself a blue monday kit for my Roland TM-6 pro trigger module, it's not easy to play on a regular acoustic drum set with trigger and mesh head, but playing any kind of personal sound or percussion is a joy, im probably buy that drumpad as an extension for playing instrumental loop, it's more convenient and was made for that purpose initialy, Michael Schak really show how to bring hybrid Drumming with loop to the next level.
Good controller but from initial observations a few suggestions to make it better. Pads more sensitive (to softer hits) if it can’t be adjusted. Maybe MIDI 2 resolution could help. Can borrow from sensory percussion 2 and spatially zone pads for precision, hands, etc. Remove excess controls like select, execute… smart-selecting and clickable rotaries are better. In firmware, going to factory should reset adjustments too.
Thanks for the SpD SX P overview. Dig the Hyde St Studios T too! YES!
Thanks! And yes... one of my favorite studios to work in. Cheers!
I can’t choose between this or the Maschine plus. No I don’t do acoustic drums or will it be an additional to a drum set. This will be my only drum set to make beats to go along with a midi controller and guitar.
I've had a ball with my Nord 3P, the ability to strike a pad and get some real vibe in attack, then tweak the decay is a god send.
There is nothing like striking a surface and hitting it hard, rather than these little pads that come with some samplers out there.
Do you also own/play this Roland? If so, how would you compare the 2?
@@echoface1670 No I haven't sorry.
But no hi-hat input so a fatal flaw on the 3P for a working drummer.
best video i seen on this yet well done
Comparing acoustic drums to electronic drums is like comparing an acoustic guitar to an electric guitar. They are two different instruments with two different purposes and both are great. Great guitarist use both types of guitars. Great drummers should use both types of drums. Why would you not use all of the instruments at your disposal?
Exactly 💯
I agree but it can depend on the music. However it’s good to learn the Roland because you never know it may come in handy or inspire some creative ideas
Hate to say it but it's evolving. Electric drums will be used by the majority eventually. If it sounds like a drum, there's no reason it can't look like one too.
I have been using Electic Drums for Decades. I Started in the late 70s with The Syndrum , and at that time also bought a Synare 1. A single pad synth with 4 oscillators and some different filters sq , sawtooth and Modulatiom. ThenvSimmons drug s with triggers. Pre midi. Using CV Sequencers.
Still using them. Roland Hansonic and one of these.
Great review that was easy to understand. I’m an old guy and want to keep up and this was easy to follow. Thank you
Is there a reverse gate feature to play songs such as We Will Rock You and The Stroke?
I love it on my Christmas wish list nice 💯🎼🥁😎✌️
New Order! 🎉
I bought the FD-9 and KT 10 pedals to use this as an aux kit and practice kit at home.
The pedals are quiet and the kick feels ok, but the hi hat pedal feels late and really not very easy to play and or splash etc. On the hi hat I have to hold it down really harder then just letting my foot rest on the pedal to keep it closed. Have you played with the foot trigger pedals? Any advice for setting up the hi hat to feel better and play the way its supposed too? I really have to press it hard to close it.
I have an old POS yamaha dtxpplorer electric kit. I will be repurposing the pads from that kit to the SPDX-pro. Havent tried to configure that yet as I am first getting familiar with the spx before adding to it. But the hihat pedal from that kit played almost more authentically than the FD-9 or at least from a feel standpoint of open close and not feeling latency in when my foot actually makes contact with the pedal. Granted that pedal is much louder on the floor in my practice setting of a small appartment but it feels much better and you can find those on the second hand market for like 50$ so I don't know if I have regret yet on the pedal purchase.
DO you have any experience with the FD-9? Just as a default setting and when plugged in I am not super impressed. like I said, Really need extra pressure to keep it closed and I also can't splash it the way my entry level, very cheap yamaha hat played with the dtxplorer?
I am overwhelmed at the menu dive for now, but as I get familiar with the unit, hopefully this becomes more intuitive. Any advice for now? I really would of thought the default settings would of just been set to play like it was as close to the real thing as possible.
With all that being said, Yeah, this thing is amazing. You really are paying up for long overdue features and upgrades that the old SPD didn't have. Being able to have kick and HH control in the same unit for me was the no brainer. You used to have to choose between spdx and the 8 pad, it was one or the other. That was the mandatory up grade in my opinion that makes this more versatile.
If you think 1000$ is too much, here is how I justified it. Laptops cost about the same or more these days, and this is way more fun and brings me more joy than a laptop ever will.
Might not be the best solution but... I took one of the springs off my FD-9 pedal and found it much better in terms of the force required to 'close'.
@@acemiracle383 Ok, Thanks for the response. I will try that. I just wish it felt like the FT 10. Feels more balanced and consistent to me.
I am glad I am not the only one that feels it takes a bit of pressure to keep the Hat closed. It doesnt feel natural to just rest your foot on closed pedal, You really have to keep it pressed down firmly with your foot.
Hi, how is the spd sd pro going for you? I'm an accoustic drummer that has no space for a drumkit at home so I'm thinking of buying this machine with a KT 10 as a kick drum input. I'm thinking of wither buying this or the roland spd-30 (octapad), do you have any experience with that so you can compare?
"Liquid" from the SPD SX taken to a new level..on steroids.
Thank you very much for your video😊 I'm missing a very important feature: it's not possible to change the tempo of the loops? This was possible with the SPD SX.
but what about the NORD Drum 3 in comparison to this one? that I like to hear some comments on.... :) thanks
I have a Nord Drum 3P. Apples and oranges. The Nord is a synthesizer, while the Roland is a sampler.
A pretty good review but - hearing you say you don't like digital durms - l missed hearing some decent acoustics kits on the SPD - or aren't there any?
Nice video! Just received mine , having trouble with my roland fd8 hh pedal working
Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks
Is it possible to play other sound librarys on the SPD-SX Pro?
You can load samples, which makes the SPD SX Pro limitless in the sounds one can trigger.
Is it possible to hook up a electronic mesh head to this thing and have the snare be as responsive as when it’s plugged into an electronic drum kit brain? Or is it always going to be less sensitive?
How about the Indian tones and Indian loops of previous SPD rhythms kits had..!!..?
I saw another video that demonstrated some really nice Indian drums and stuff. However I would suggest downloading the manual too, to make sure you get exactly what you need.
Hello, I'm experiencing a latency problem using a sustain pedal on the footswitch input of my spd sx pro, I've already sent several emails to Roland to find out if they're going to do this recall in the next update, do you know anything about this subject?
Very good video well done tks
I'm wondering if you can use this with a MPC 5000 as a slave to the MPC 5000. The MPC pads are small and it would be nice to have something like this for production work.
Absolutely. MIDI goes both ways.
You can use any MIDI drum module with an MPC AKAI as long as you have a midi out from the Vdrum or any drumpad like this one, the cheaper solution IS to use DDrum trigger with there trigger module connect to your MPC , but Roland product have ability to detect double stroke and can be use without the need of external sampler
I know I can load samples, but I want this machine to allow me to create samples. That's what I want extra in this unit.
I noticed that the bass drum is always on your left and the high hat is always on the right. Being a right handed drummer, is there anyway to simply push one button to reverse the bass drum to the right and the high hat to the left and all the rest of the kits correspond accordingly? Super thanks for the great detailed video. Are you left or right handed?
You can arrange the pads however you like, and can add a kick drum trigger and hi hat trigger as well! It's incredibly flexible and customizable. I'm right handed, but would often switch hands/positions when I was a kid and try to train my brain to play with either hand leading.
@@midichlorian73 Great job of convincing me! I bought one!
@@ralphgomez9006 Right on! Happy drumming!
@@ralphgomez9006How do you like it so far?
Hello brother can you explain about spd sx pro SYNC TEMPO
Do you know if you can send midi notes during a song? Meaning: I want the SPD to switch the scenes of my Quad Cortex live during a certain song through a midi cable. (So i don't have to do this by foot - so i can focus on singing and playing). In other words: can the SPD automatically send midi notes to the midi output after starting a track?
I know i could do this though Ableton but I prefer NOT to have a computer on stage...
Thanks in advance.
Vinny
How to sync tempo with click? "Bpm loop" works really weird
Hi, sadly no way to sync tempo the loops as SPD SX do, a pity...
Excellent review. Hopefully, you will find a pair of glasses that fit, and you won’t need to push them back every 30 seconds. 😊
😂😂yea too much fun mate thanx a lot 👍🏿 🙏🏿
Great review
what about live looping like the Alesis Strike Multipad?
I don't get for what the possesed drummer or the bleed from within drummer use that? I mean i see drum videos but i don't see them hit it but they have it there.
Want!
Tell us one more time you don't like edrums. 😂
Can u run triggers off this?
I'm sure it does, because it has midi out.
give it 8 out puts ?
Spd-x… 🚫Spd-x sx….🚫 Spd-sx PRO🎉
As a stand alone guitarist would be nice if Roland made fool operated pads, instead me of using wooden stomp boxes.
Why would you need CV out? Just use MIDI to CV
Mines been on backorder for two weeks ugh. Also check your description spelling (and* extraordinaire* drum* - hah)
What?!?! Somebody's about to get a reckoning! We had some in stock a couple of days ago... order from Alamo perhaps?
@@midichlorian73 ahh man. Already ordered through guitar center using that sweet employee discount (returned the spdsx after a couple weeks to get the pro) but have to wait uff 😣
The Avatar PD705 is pretty much the same thing for a much lower price.
2:30 in and believe me, I get that you don’t like an electronic kit that’s trying to emulate an acoustic kit… You’ve stated this multiple times already… Please get to the point, the sounds and the functionality… 😵💫
Alamo Talkshow!
Why can't this just be a module that can be separated from the pads?
TM-6 Pro
Very bad pad with no sync tempo. I didn't like it
For me this is a very good pad without sync tempo, unusable for my purpose, I will buy it when Roland will implement that feature. I guess Roland will implement that someday as many users ask for that
I really don't like all these stupid loops on this device. Just make good sounding kits.
That's the great thing about this device. Tons of onboard sounds that you can sculpt all day, and you can also load in your own samples. No need to use the loops, but I'm sure some people do. Thanks for your comment.
Jesus....7 minutes in , and he is STILL talking about himself ! Me , I , me .....I would have.....I prefer , blah blah blah....couldn't keep watching. Sorry.
Demo please, blah, blah, blah...
Meh, be careful. Not all digitality is easy to use.
Not a good(Pro) product.Even roland is not suppose to fix the issue (tempo sync) so I will tell my community pls don't but this product
Which one would you recommend then?
@@SamS-ef5ez Ableton Live + a cheap pad sending midi notes to a laptop