Roland SPD-6 percussion pads

[Philip OKeefe]

Anyone out there using one of these? How well do they trigger - with sticks and hands? I noticed there's a couple of footswitch in jacks on them - can you connect a kick drum trigger to one of those? And if so, does it assign that trigger to one of the six pads? How about controlling hi hats? (Open / foot closed / clutching, etc.)

 

Anyway, I'm interested in hearing the thoughts of anyone who owns or is using one of these. Thanks!

[Matt.Hepworth]

They work much better with sticks than hands. The jack can handle a kick trigger that is on separate assignment, if I recall correctly. I've never tried a hi-hat pedal on mine, but I will tomorrow if I get a chance. Let you know.

[Philip OKeefe]

Thanks - I appreciate it!

 

Do you get much in the way of cross triggering - you know, where you hit pad #2 hard, and pad #3 triggers a ghost note?

[Alndln]

I have an older Pad 8 and it triggers fine and no ghost notes at all,so I would imagine a newer version could only be improved.I have a DW bass drum midi pedal which triggers fine as well, but I never tried any Hi Hat pedals.

[Matt.Hepworth]

Originally posted by Philip O'Keefe:

Thanks - I appreciate it!

 

Do you get much in the way of cross triggering - you know, where you hit pad #2 hard, and pad #3 triggers a ghost note?

With the pad design they're almost completely isolated from each other - I've never had that, but I'll hit mine really hard and try it.

[polyt]

Have you looked at DrumKats Phil?

 

I was looking at the Yammy pads at GC and they happened to have an old used DrumKat (3.0) for less then the SPD-6.

 

Just about every parameter you could think of is adjustable. There's features on this thing that I don't even understand. It may be overkill for your needs but they do have a nice pad layout which is hard to put a price on.

 

Edit: I should mention there are no onboard samples.

[Kendrix]

Ive also got the Roland SPD Pad 8.

 

To be honest I typically program the hits in cubase and dont often use the pads.

However, when i have used them I have had no issues with cross-triggering between the pads.

 

I've evolved to use some better drum sounds out of my sampler- however this unit still works for me and has done so for 8 years without a hitch. I keep waiting for the lithium battery to die- its way beyond its expected life- so far so good.

 

FWIW Ive seen this unit used in live situations such as the Cirque de Soele (sic) and some other pro bands. Its worked for them- using the pads live.

 

To move up a major step Ive heard some folks rave about the full-up roland V-Drum kit.

[Hendmik]

Ditto on the Roland Octapad. I have a Pad-80, essenitally the same as the Pad-8, just with more controller options. I love it. It works great with sticks, not good with hands. ~$200 on eBay.

[AlChuck]

Do you get much in the way of cross triggering - you know, where you hit pad #2 hard, and pad #3 triggers a ghost note?

I find that the pads are well isolated from each other, but if the side of your stick hits the plastic frame around the pad area, it can trigger one of the other pads close by.

[Valkyrie Sound]

Believe it or not.... I have one of these!

 

I've never had a ghost note problem... but I probably don't play as hard as others.

 

They're pretty nice for the $$.

 

You can borrow mine anytime if you want to test them out for awhile Phil.

 

Valky

[songrytr]

Is this the same unit that guy from Little Details had (you know...that half-crap little band from the 909)? I always thought if you put that rig in the right hands you could probably get some rockin' MIDI input.

[DRi]

Originally posted by Kendrix:

Ive also got the Roland SPD Pad 8.

 

To be honest I typically program the hits in cubase and dont often use the pads.

really? the sounds on it are pretty crap, i use a SPD20 (the bigger brother) just as a trigger to sampler.

 

Originally posted by Philip O'Keefe:

Thanks - I appreciate it!

 

Do you get much in the way of cross triggering - you know, where you hit pad #2 hard, and pad #3 triggers a ghost note?

the spd6 had this problem for a little while, though they seemed to revise it pretty quickly and mum was the word.

 

the pads are much better with sticks, and hence i went for the SPD20 instead, its bigger and feels more fluid, not crunched up into a little unit.

 

having said that i still prefer my MPC for most rhythmic programming. the sequencer on it is astoundingly quick to get around, so much so that i do the programming on that then just arm sonar to record in what i did, rather then just midi>sonar from the get-go.

 

now that midi controllers with knobs are cheap and ubiquitous im really hoping percussive style pads are the next evolution. its nice to see lots of MPC copies around, and im excited about trying that Korg controller with the sliders and MPC pads....

[Kendrix]

Originally posted by D_Samp_DRi:

Originally posted by Kendrix:

[qb]Ive also got the Roland SPD Pad 8.

 

To be honest I typically program the hits in cubase and dont often use the pads.

 

really? the sounds on it are pretty crap, i use a SPD20 (the bigger brother) just as a trigger to sampler.

--------------------------

 

Well, thats why I also wrote this:

"I've evolved to use some better drum sounds out of my sampler- "

 

In particular Steve Gadd samples.

 

However, there are a number of perc things on the SPD8 i still use. rimshots, cowbell, triangle handclap, scrapper, some of the ride cymbals.... whatever.

[DRi]

fair enough.

 

personally i wouldnt touch Roland sounds with a pole, though im a crate-digger as far as jazz/funk sounds go and synthesis freak as far as electronic sounds go.

 

the XBase09 by JoMoX is a great piece of gear for analog drum synthesis.

 

just cant handle those poor roland bips and baps and for the love of jeebus, why the f**k do they fill up half of the ROM with "special fx" sounds???

[Confusionator]

I own the SPD-20. It's got some really important connectivity that the SPD-6 doesn't have, I think mostly around the hi-hat controller and other external input stuff.

 

If you buy an SPD-20, you can live without a DrumKat. But if you buy an SPD-6, you'll eventually want/need a DrumKat, too. So the SPD-20 is more economical.

 

(I need to teach a course in G.A.S. economics....)

[Super 8]

Phil,

If you want a really nice surface to play from, I would have to recommend one of the DrumKat models. The down side of these is that they lack any console buttons. The units were designed for the "playing" drummer in mind, and rely upon those little cheapy keyboard sustain pedals for navigating patches and editing.... Of course, there is probably a software template that will let you handle all that from your computer too.

 

You mentioned "fingers", also. The Roland pads are designed for stick use. If you really want something that is ultra-responsive to finger tapping, you have to go with a Zendrum or a Zendrum Laptop unit. The trigger sensitivity on those is top-notch.

[DRi]

super-8.... the SPD-6 has a sensitivity switch to choose between sticks and hands....

[Philip OKeefe]

A local store has 'em for $200 (plus tax) and I thought it would be easier to use something like that than it would be to pull out my self built pad kit (Radio Shack triggers inside of Remo practice pads + a TD-7 kick trigger) for the occasional MIDI percussion part. Strictly as a controller - I probably would never use the onboard sounds.

 

As far as playing it with the hands instead of sticks, I just thought that might be better and / or more natural feeling than using sticks for the occasional conga or bongo part. Yeah Lee, I know - they're drums and they shouldn't come out of a box , but I do not currently have access to either of those hand drums, and unfortunately, finding someone who does isn't always easy at the exact moment you need 'em.

 

Thanks again for the input everyone.