Roland SPD-SX Sampling Pad Reviews

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.

Ultimate Tool

The Roland Sampling Pad is a beast when it comes to getting the job done. With the clean layout, clear features, and built-in effects, it's a powerful tool to add to any musical set up requiring samples, backtracks, or any other sound you can think of.

Great all rounder

This is a great all round peice of kit. I play with a gigging covers band that often wants specialised sounds replicating to "make the song". You can sample from almost any source and then edit it to fit. I'm not very technical, so I've avoided this type of technology, thinking it was beyond me - it's NOT. Is so incredibly easy, if I can make and use samples, then anyone can. I use it as a practice pad occasionally, as it's very quiet with the headphones, and more stimulating than a regular pad. I gig with it, and contrary to my initail view - it's a very robust peice of kit.

Very nice device from Roland!!!!

I am using the Roland SPD - SX for 3 years and I can say that is an amazing device from Roland .

You can do almost everything with this amazing electronic drums .

I tested it playing all kind of music : latino , jazz , rock , heavy metal , etc . . . and I can say that I did not have any problem . All the pads work PERFECTLY , and also all the LEDS ( above every pad ) .

Also the data communication with the external pads works perfectly . . . I use an electronic Drum Bass ( kick ) , an electronic Snare ( with double trigger ) and an electronic cymbal for hi - hat . . . All the products are Roland brand .

I just can say that I had a Small " problem " with this great machine , the OUTPUT volume is NOT so high . . . I wrote an e - mail to Roland and they told me that probably my cables are damaged . . . Anyway , this problem is very easy to fix giving more Gain from the mixer .

You must try it ! 100 % Recomended !

Our fifth member of the band

We bought this unit to provide occasional noises/fills for live use and ended up with almost a 'robot keyboard player'. I would say that this pad is not fully suitable to provide full accompaniment and it cannot replace human keyboard player, but we managed to use it this way for few songs. It sounds so much better now during live gigs. I suggest to buy an FS-2 type pedal for it, our drummer found it more convenient when using pedal.

Roland SPD-SX Sampling Pad

What the world has been crying out for, for years. use either the internal sounds or load your own samples... once loaded from USB they stay in memory, no faffing about, couldn't live without it now. Had the Yamaha version before this and it doesn't have a hope of matching this for being user friendly or spec.

Excellent sampling pad

The Roland SPD SX is an excellent addition to any drum setup.

The pads are very good quality and react well to light and hard strikes.

There aren't many factory pre-sets as this is a sampling pad to be filled with your own sounds.

This really opens up a vast amount of musical possibilities for both beginners and professionals.

I highly recommend the SPD SX.

Great loop

This is a great loop machine, and more than a looper. You need imagination to work with.

Powerful tool

An extremely versatile tool for any drummer/percussionist. I use it mostly as a percussion/SFX pad for musical theater productions. Saves having to bring along a rack of percussion and timps to have at the side of the kit. Also blends and connects well with other electric kits because of the many inputs/outputs.

A very powerful tool, that I look forward to exploring more of the capabilities.

Awesome piece of kit

I use this mainly for triggering midi (through Ableton and Battery). It works great, reliable, solid build. Some people find the top pads unresponsive but they are designed to be hit from the top as opposed to from the front.

Great built in effects, looping facilities, software is really simple too (once you have the correct sample rate for your samples). Presets for external acoustic triggering are great, pretty much plug and play and then adjust sensitivity or whatever according to your playing style.

Great as a stand alone unit or as a midi trigger. Really adds to the scope of what you can do live (especially with Ableton)

Great addition to your setup

This is another excellent piece of equipment from Roland. It's an excellent sampler which is it's primary function. It's also pretty easy to use and setup. The main limitation I find with this is my imagination. The usb/computer interface is not too bad but could be a little more user friendly and visually appealing. I find that I get better response from my Roland triggers when I use my TD-12 compared to this but it's pretty good - perhaps I need to play around with the settings a little more. I know it's first and foremost a sampler but I think it would be nice if it came with some more drum sounds so it could be used more right out of the box. I'd also like if you could add four dual triggers instead of two. If it did that it would be awesome, I'd actually use it as a hybrid kit for recording with EZDrummer. Overall it's excellent at it's intended use but I'd like the option to expand it a little more without having to buy a Octapad.