Roland SPD-SX Sampling Pad

Its an exceptional product!

I really love it all the time that I've been using it. Its totally worth it!

GREAT PAD

a very good pad from Roland with a lot of features!!!

The essential sample pad

We love our SPD-SX. User friendly and very versatile. Whether you just want to switch it on, or go deep with triggers and tracks, it works like a dream.

We loaded it up with samples (after a few Youtube tutorials) and have about 100 banks of sounds. Roland are quality all the way. Afte 12 months of weekly use, we have encountered no issues. This says a lot as it is a tool for DRUMMERS!

Awesome tool

I needed to expand my drum set and this is an incredible addition. Very easy to use and works flawlessly!

Perfect for modernising live perfomance

When my band decided to move away from traditional acoustic drums & fully live performances, the SPD-SX was the best asset in bringing the new setup to life. It's incredibly easy to drop your samples in with the software unit and it ran full backing tracks with no issues.

It wasn't used in a studio setting but I believe it can be quite difficult to map to a drum rack in Ableton, so that's something to be aware of and brush up on if that's what you plan on buying it for.

All-in-all, very sturdy and reliable unit that can take a beating and is easy to assemble and disassemble for live performance, etc. The routing option built in is great as well for allowing you map the click track/backing tracks/etc to wherever they need to go. Fully recommend

Three units, same problem three times.

I have so far had three of these .

The first one i got worked perfectly except the top 3 bar triggers (in particular the top right one) where not always triggering the sounds the way the 6 standard square pads did. { the top right hand one worked maybe 3 out of 6 hits}

I sent it back and got a replacement....same problem....the three bar triggers had to be hit with some consideral force before they would trigger, and even then there would sometimes be no response.

I sent that one back and have now got a third unit....guess what....yep...same problem.

Its not the velocity or dynamics settings as i have already been down that route.

As i said, the other pads work perfectly, the weight of the stick enough to trigger them, but those bar triggers!!

It could be just a bad batch as a friend of mine has one and its fine. (the weight of the stick triggers all pads on his)

Having said all that it is a marvelous piece of gear if you get one that works properly...as for me....im returning for a refund.

Great piece of kit

Seemingly endless possibilities. Easy to figure out how to do anything I want with it. Slightly smaller than I expected but not so small its hard to hit the pads as long as you're looking at it. Pretty solid, taken a few hits to the sides and screen just fine. My only gripe is it needs to be angled towards the player a bit more than I'd like in order to consistently trigger the furthest 3 pads.

The perfect drumpad for loading your own samples

It comes loaded with some really cool samples! But the shine of this, is really all the settings and possibility of loading all your own samples. This is the absolute best sampling pad out there!

You can even edit your samples directly on the SPD-SX (start point, end point, gain, trigger mode, etc.). The rubber pads has a great feel and bounciness to them when you play with drumsticks. The build quality is really good, though it's all made in plastic, so you might want a flight case for carrying.

Only minus is that the output is a bit low, but you can fix that by exporting you samples as close to "0"dB and set the output vol. on the sample pad to loudest setting.

AMAZING

One of my best purchases ever. Feels great, extremely useful for live performance. Also good in the studio for programming drums using MIDI.

Takes time to learn how to use, but well worth reading the manual through.

Only negative I can think of: expensive.

Roland make the best drum samplers

Previously bought the Roland SPD-S. Upgraded to the SPD-SX. So much more functionality than the previous version. Little things like the USB connectivity. SD ram and larger external supported memory.

Pros

USB interface

SD memory

Loading and setting samples to pads via PC

Live effects on active samples, really easy and good.

Sturdy product.

4 external triggers - I use the DDrum triggers with the kit.

Cons

Setting up the Sample pad as midi controller with Reaper and Abelton Live DAWs can't be done via USB, need a Midi to USB cable.

Conclusion

If you are building a hybrid kit or expanding an electronic kit this is a very powerful tool and worth the money.