Roland SPD-SX Sampling Drum Pad

Trigger your own samples, loops, and backing tracks from the Roland SPD-SX. Built to stand up to drumstick hits, this sample pad is great for percussionists.

$879.99

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Roland SPD-S Sampling Percussion Pad

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Add powerful sampling to your system with the compact Roland SPDS percussion pad, which records CD-quality samples for instant playback.

The SPD-S Sampling Pad is an affordable and easy way to add sampling to any percussion setup. A great alternative to acoustic triggers and a rack sampler, the SPD-S lets you record CD-quality samples and play them back instantly using six pads and three edge triggers. Naturally, the SPD-S also includes preset sounds and effects so you can start playing immediately.

Features:

- Compact percussion multi-pad with CD-quality sampling
- Play any 8 sounds simultaneously via 6 pads and 3 edge triggers
- Up to 380 seconds of 44.1kHz user sampling (95 seconds in Fine mode)
- 200 User waveforms and 120 'ready-to-play' Preset waveforms
- Resampling function and onboard pattern sequencer
- 28 multi-effects and ambiance add dimension to sounds
- Wave memory expandable via optional Compact Flash cards
- Mounts easily to conventional drum stands and hardware

The Easy Way to Sample
Until now, integrating custom drum sounds into a percussionist's setup meant configuring complicated drum triggers and a MIDI module. That's why Roland developed the SPD-S Sampling Pad -- to give drummers and percussionists an easier and more affordable way to trigger sampled drum sounds and loops. With its generous sampling time, CD-quality sound, and time-tested rubber pads and edge triggers, there's never been a better way to play custom drum sounds!

120 Preset Sounds At the Ready
While the SPD-S lets you sample up to 200 User waveforms, it's nice to know there are plenty of Preset sounds available at any read more given moment. In fact, the SPD-S contains over 120 Presets covering everything from acoustic and electronic drums to percussion and sound effects. Combine the onboard sounds with your own sampled sounds and loops to create the ultimate drum kit. A sampling CD is included to get you started.

Create Your Own Phrases and Effects
The SPD-S includes a powerful multi-effects processor with 28 algorithms and unique ambiance effects, giving you the power to sculpt any Preset or User sound into something entirely new. Once you've created an effected sound, you can resample the waveform freeing the effects for something else. Drummers can even create original phrase loops using the onboard pattern sequencer and resampling function -- just sequence a pattern and resample the output. Now the entire sequence can be triggered like a phrase loop from one of the pads! With tools like these, drummers can take their playing further than ever before.

Well-Connected
Expansion is key with the SPD-S. Start with a Compact Flash slot for expanding sampling time and storing waveform data. An External Trigger input lets drummers add an optional drum pad in either a head or head/rim configuration. And with MIDI In and Out, the SPD-S can function as a trigger for external modules or be used in studio setups with a sequencer.
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Built-in Pads: 9
Maximum Polyphony: 8 voices
Sampling Mode: Fine/Standard/Long
Sampling Frequency: 44.1 kHz
Input Level: Line : -10 dBu, Mic: -50 dBu
Input Impedance: 10 kOhm (LINE/MIC)
Output Level: -10 dBu
Output Impedance: Output: 1 k ohms, Headphones: 47 ohms * 0 dBu = 0.775 Vrms
Memory: Patches: 128, Waves (User): 399 (Pre-loaded Sound 181), Card: 500
Maximum Sampling Time: 12 min. approx. (Internal Memory, Long Mode)
Effects: Multi-Effects (30 Type) + Ambience (System)
Display: 16 characters, 1 line (backlit LCD)
Connectors: Output Jacks(L/Mono, R, 1/4 in. phone type), Input Jacks (L/Mono, R, 1/4 in. phone type) *LINE/MIC selectable, Headphones Jack (Stereo 1/4 in. phone type), Trigger Input Jack (1/4 in. TRS phone type), Expression Pedal Jack (1/4 in. TRS phone type), MIDI Connectors (IN, OUT), Footswitch Jack (1/4 in. TRS phone type), CompactFlash Card Slot
Power Supply: DC 9V AC Adaptor
Current Draw: 1,000 mA
Accessories: Owner's Manual, AC Adaptor (ACI-120C/ACI-230C/ACB-230E/ACB-240A), Sampling CD, Slit Tape, Screw x2, Hexagon Wrench
Dimensions (W x D x H): 13 1/2 in. x 11 1/8 in. x 3 5/16 in.
Weight: 4 lbs. 11 oz.

For support or warranty questions, please contact the manufacturer:
Phone: 323-890-3700

Reviewers gave this product an overall rating of 4 out of 5 stars. (133 ratings)
Submitted February 17, 2008 by a customer from alum.mit.edu

"Out of date, but useful"

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
My goal with buying the SPD-S was to put together a decent hybrid drum kit that I can roll around on the Boston subway system. I use an acoustic hi-hat, snare, and crash/ride cymbal; the SPD-S is my toms, kick drum (with KD7 pedal trigger), and other supplemental percussion. It works pretty well for this. I would NOT want to use the SPD-S for snare or cymbals. The basic problems with the SPD-S are that it uses old technology, and that Roland cut too many corners on the sound generator. A new model is long overdue. Hopefully the next generation SPD will include: (1) much more responsive pads (difficult, but supposedly the HandSonics are much more sensitive, so apparently Roland knows how to do this); (2) a more powerful sampler, with envelopes, pitch manipulation, loop points, etc.; (3) a USB port so you can just plug it into any computer and transfer samples; (4) at least 2GB of built-in memory (Flash chips are so cheap these days that there's no excuse for having less) and a modern memory card slot.

Sound
The sound fidelity seems good so far, although I haven't done any really critical listening or recording with it. The quality of the included samples and the ways it can manipulate them are a different matter. There are maybe 50-100 or so moderately useful preloaded sounds, depending on your style: basic acoustic and electric kicks, toms, cymbals, snares, and small percussion. (If you have a half-decent drum sample CD it probably read more has better sounds.) There are also a bunch of useless loops and sounds that were obviously included just to make flashy demos, like a guy saying "You got the groove!". I hoped that the included CD would have more useful sounds, but it seems to basically have the same sounds that are preloaded into memory, plus more loops. And if you want to play the sounds EXPRESSIVELY, it will take some work. First you have to train yourself to hit the rather small pads, preferably near the middle where they're most responsive, and never too lightly, because they don't notice light hits at all. Fortunately you can select from a few different velocity curves, though you have to select one curve for all the flat pads and one for the edge pads. I settled on curve LOG1 for both the flat and edge pads, with sensitivity 5 and 7 respectively. I'm pretty happy with the feel now, although I really wish it would respond to light taps. (For external pads, you can set everything independently for each, including the minimum velocity that it will respond to-- this feature would have been really nice for the built-in pads. I'm very happy with the way my KD7 kick pad responds when plugged into the SPD-S.) The other problem is that the sound generator is really wimpy in terms of sound manipulation. A really good percussion sound module would optionally (1) allow at least 8 different samples per pad depending on the velocity, and/or cross-fade between a few different samples; (2) vary the pitch depending on velocity; (3) have real envelope generators; (4) have per-voice filters. The SPD-S has almost none of those features. It can have two samples per pad, selected by velocity (no cross-fading), which is pretty weak. It can't change the pitch or even the duration of a sample dynamically, although you can do a bit with the effects (see below). It doesn't have any filtering for each voice, although once again you can fake it a bit using effects. There are no envelope generators except for a really basic "dynamic attack" feature that I've found pretty useful. So basically, to make the sounds change in any way (besides volume and attack) in response to velocity, you have to use the built-in effects processor. Many of the effect parameters can be set to respond to velocity. The main problem with this is that there is only one effects processor, shared by all the pads that have effects enabled (fortunately you can select which pads' sounds are routed to the effects). So you can, for example, use a pitch-shift effect to make the pitch respond to velocity, but if you hit one pad and its sound is still playing when you hit another pad, the pitch of the first will suddenly change in response to the second. By far the most useful setup I've found is to use the "isolator" effect (really just a simple 3-band graphic equalizer) on just the toms, with the high band set to respond to velocity. The fact that the filter is shared by all the toms is not too noticeable. You could probably also get some nice results with the 4-band Parametric Equalizer, 2-Band Compressor, or a few other effects, although I haven't yet found settings on those that work for me. It can play loops, but you can't set loop points or anything; it plays the sound from beginning to end and then starts over. It doesn't even loop seamlessly. I made a half-decent timpani roll sound that looped perfectly on my computer, but on the SPD-S there was a little click every time it got to the end. The loop feature is really meant for phrases, not continuous sounds. There is NO WAY to get a realistic snare drum sound out of this thing.

Features
Aside from things I mention under the "Sound" heading, I'm mostly quite happy with the SPD-S. It's the only electronic multipad that is is so compact, and the only one with a built-in sampler. A few minor shortcomings: You need a 512MB Compact Flash card (larger ones won't work; smaller ones are just silly and are even harder to find) and a computer with a Compact Flash slot to transfer your own samples into it. Fortunately 512MB cards and readers are really cheap. I got a SanDisk card and a Kingston universal memory card reader (USB-based) from Amazon; both work great. The LCD screen is absurdly small. Having to keep patch names down to 8 characters gives me nostalgic flashbacks to the MS-DOS days, but not in a good way.

Ease of Use
I haven't had any trouble learning to use it, but I have a couple of engineering degrees so maybe I'm not typical...

Quality
No problems so far, but I've had it for less than two months. I heard a rumor somewhere that the problem with the pad contacts is fixed in recent units, but I can't vouch for anything.

Musical Background:
Amateur cellist, drummer, composer

Musical Style:
Classical, rock, jazz, experimental
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