Roland TD-20KX

Roland were established back in the very early ‘70s, initially building rhythm machines designed specifically to provide some sort of accompaniment for organists and pianists. It wasn’t until 1987 that they began to produce their first electronic drums in the form of the PD-21 and PD-31. These were single-zone pads that would often be teamed up alongside the PM-16 — a pad-to-MIDI converter that was very basic by today’s standards. However, we had to wait another five years before Roland produced the Compact Drum System, which was their very first full electronic drum kit. 1997 saw the birth of the V-Drum — the first drum product to benefit from Roland’s proprietary COSM modelling. While this proved to be a milestone for Roland, only a year later came their superb mesh heads designed in conjunction with, and manufactured by, Remo. This created a drum system that was considered by many to be a turning point. These drums felt ‘real’ and the sounds were astounding — perhaps electronic drums really could be a real alternative to their acoustic counterparts! Roland have grown to become world leaders in the manufacture of electronic drums and percussion. This success is due in no small part to the distinguished and highly acclaimed V-Drum family.

Roland’s flagship product, the TD-20, has enjoyed a healthy lifespan with the release of the TDW-20 (a user-installed expansion board). Roland intend to continue producing this product in a permanent merger with the TDW-20, but are handing over the ‘flagship’ baton to the TD-20KX. Roland have also redesigned and improved many elements of the kit and have concentrated on three main areas: visual impact, sound quality and hardware. This has resulted in the brand-new V-Hi-Hat, rack system and V-Kick pad.

The TD-20KX review kit came packaged in three large and rather heavy boxes. So heavy, in fact, I am sure I can still hear the mutterings of the cursing courier complaining of the excessive weight! The heaviest of the boxes contained the very substantial MDS-20X drum rack, closely followed by the TD-20X itself, accompanied by the six drum pads. The lightest (but still pretty hefty) package held the three V-Cymbal pads and V-Hi-Hat. Included with the kit is a very handy quick-start guide containing concise instructions together with some useful illustrations. Also included as part of the package are a couple of standard drum keys, a selection of Velcro straps, and cable ties to help make the whole assembly neat and keep those cables out of the way of flying sticks. The only additional tool necessary is a cross-head screwdriver for attaching the TD-20X module onto its specially designed rack clamp.

Apart from a quick lick of paint, it appears that very little has changed externally from the original TD-20. A dark grey colour has been chosen in favour of a once silvery metallic finish. Reminiscent of a fully loaded AV home-cinema-style amplifier, the rear panel is bursting with a whole mass of sockets, and the AC outlet and power switch. The many outputs include stereo master outs in a familiar configuration of mono/left and right (for connection to external monitoring or amplification), eight separate direct outputs (very useful for recording or live work through a multi-channel desk) and a digital out in the form of a coaxial/RCA-type socket. Running along the whole length of the back panel are 16 trigger input sockets — 12 of these are taken up by the various drum and cymbal pads included with the kit, with a further four auxiliary sockets available should the user wish to add any additional pads (Roland have thoughtfully provided cabling for these) at a later date. The supplied Mix In socket is for the user to input and blend any chosen audio source, such as a CD or MP3 player, with the sounds of the TD-20X. The signal of this may be routed to the Master Out or four of the eight direct outputs. The final jack input is a TRS jack-type socket for use with up to two footswitches, when used in conjunction with the optional PCS-31 split cable. Both the footswitches and cable are readily available as an optional extra from Roland. Each footswitch has the ability to control a whole variety of functions including starting and stopping the sequencer, changing kits or even turning the snare strainer on and off! Finally (as far as the back panel is concerned), for connectivity to other MIDI-compatible instruments and devices, two MIDI sockets are provided:a MIDI In and a MIDI Out that doubles as a ‘thru’.

With a lone quarter-inch stereo headphone jack socket and a slot for a Compact Flash memory card, the front panel is bare in comparison. While the new TD-20X Compact Flash card (of between 16MB and 4GB) may also be used for backing up and saving user data, one of the subtle differences between the TD-20 and TD-20X is that any user kits stored on the card can now be played directly without the need to copy them over to the TD-20X’s memory first. This means the extra kits will be readily accessible during a live performance.

Along the top panel it’s a whole different story, with a huge array of rotating pots, knobs, buttons and sliders (some with dual functionality), and a variety of graphic displays. Over towards the upper-right-hand side of the TD-20X are three volume pots that alter the level of Mix In, headphones and master output. Just below and over to the left is a series of eight vertical LEDs that illuminate when a signal is input from any of the drum and cymbal pads. This may be useful as a test facility to check the amount of signal being transmitted or received from a particular pad or for customising certain pad settings. In line with the trigger LEDs is a monochrome LCD display, featuring an adjustable backlight to allow the user to change the contrast for the optimum display under various stage-lighting conditions. This particular display shows a mix of informative text with intuitive graphics.

Just to the left of the graphic display sits a small bank of similar-sized buttons that have a variety of functions, including Chain, Tools, Copy, Card, Setup and Trigger. The Tools button is used to check output and trigger monitor, or for specific functions within the kit selection menu. Copy allows the user to swap or exchange data between kits and sounds, and the Card button accesses all of the Compact Flash options. Setup is perhaps the most significant as the options selected here affect the TD-20KX globally. The Trigger button allows the user to access all of the various triggering functions. The right-hand side of the top panel has the ever-handy Value wheel that gives rapid access through a variety of menu options such as kits and sounds, or to increase certain parameters very quickly. Lastly, there are large ‘press’ buttons, one of which allows the user to preview a sound without needing to strike any of the pads. The last two are plus and minus buttons. These are capable of swapping over drum kits, and do a similar job to the value wheel, though incrementally — slower but more accurate!

Situated at the bottom left is a set of group faders. These are used for speedy volume changes that would be required during a live performance. Again, depending on which of the selected options is chosen, the faders control either the volume of individual kit voices and the overall mix of the assigned sounds of any auxiliary pads or, alternatively, they can control the volume of the auxiliary pads individually, the level of percussion, backing and the volume of any chosen click. There is a separate mixer accessed through a series of menus on the central graphic display with options such as pan (30 possible positions), cross-stick level and minimum kit volume. The group faders can also be used to alter these settings by pressing Mixer and Fader simultaneously.

There are 100 preset kits available from the internal memory — and another potential 99 user kits from the memory card — all ready at the touch of button. The player can choose from over 900 drum sounds or instruments for each kit created, including some wicked snares, kicks and effects cymbals. There are the same 200 backing instruments as on the TD-20. With the upgrade comes a huge and extensive range of ambience features, including 25 room and wall types to choose from, and options for mic placement. Each pad has its own dynamic EQ and compression settings, but effects such as reverb are controlled overall for each kit.

To the right of the group faders are the controls used for the onboard 20,000-note sequencer. This is capable of recording a performance in real time from either the kit itself, or from an external MIDI device. The functions of the buttons are pretty much self-explanatory: Pattern, Stop, Play, Record and Tempo (ranging from 20 to 260bpm). Play methods include Oneshot, Loop and Tap.

The PD-125XS pad is designated primarily as the snare, and the PD-105X/PD-125X pads as the toms. There is actually very little physical difference between any of them, other than that the PD-105X is a 10-inch pad and the PD-125XS and 125X are 12-inch models. The snare has a large V-Drum badge bolted onto the shell, and the mounting bracket found on the toms is noteable for its absence. The rims of each pad are made from a standard chromed, triple-flange hoop, but to keep the kit operation as quiet as possible each rim is insulated by a covering of thick rubber.

Depending on the voice or kit selected, all of the pads are capable of sounding much like their conventional acoustic counterparts, and are so sensitive it is possible to play them with brushes — though this should be with nylon-type brushes only. With each drum having two sensing areas — one on the rim itself and the other directly in the centre of the pad — positional sensing is possible within the TD-20KX’s software, which determines where the pad has been struck and adds subtle nuances and dynamic variations to create as much realism to the sound as possible. The floating lugs look very similar to those employed on Pearl’s Free Floating snares, except these are fixed at one end with the tension only applied on the head side. While they look very substantial and make no contact with the shell, this is a feature that is not so much for resonance as for convenience.

Alongside the new MDS-25 drum rack, the newly designed kick pad is probably one of the most outstanding and eye-catching features of the whole setup. While the pad itself is 14 inches in diameter (sizeable for any electronic drum), the complete kick assembly stands at nearly the same height as a conventional 20-inch bass drum. This superb-looking piece of equipment looks as though it really ought to be capable of much more than simply accepting a clout from a beater (or two). It really is a work of art. There was certainly nothing deceptive about the weight, which more than amply matched its stature. The black-coloured, powder-coated, triple-flange hoop on the playing surface is a Remo-manufactured mesh head.

Invisibly positioned below the mesh heads, felt pads help to reduce the impact of the beaters, along with reducing the bounce produced by the mesh heads themselves. On the audience’s side, the large black surface resembles a rather menacing speaker grille. As if the pad’s weight wasn’t quite enough, anchoring the KD-140 to the floor is a pair of Sonor-esque spurs that are chunky to the extreme — possibly the most robust spurs I have ever seen on an electronic kick. These are fully adjustable to allow the correct angle while maintaining absolute stability. Repeatable positioning is made easy by the series of notches and markers provided at each point where adjustment can be made.

From its rubber feet, right up to the very top of each cymbal holder, the new-look MDS-20X rack has been subjected to some highly significant design improvements over its predecessor. One of the main elements of the design criteria was to ensure the rack system had more stability, especially as V-Cymbals are surprisingly heavy (some weighing more than many conventional models), which could potentially have made the rack system top heavy and therefore unstable. The whole assembly looks superb with its chrome-plated tubing and a set of newly designed, shiny die-cast aluminium clamps. These feature nylon sleeves at the sections that clamp onto the racking, providing a very secure grip while also avoiding metal-to-metal contact with that precious chrome. The base of each upright tube has a single rubber foot that has self-levelling properties due to a cunning design of the ball-and-socket type. These are able to lay flat on the stage surface even if the racking, or indeed the stage, is slightly uneven, while also doing the job of isolating the whole rack from the stage surface.

Each of the three horizontally aligned lengths of 38mm-diameter tubing are slightly curved to give the drummer excellent access to each kit component. The MDS-25’s legs comprise four vertical tubes, with the longer pieces doubling as mounting for the two small toms. For improved aesthetics (and to avoid having to re-wire each time setup occurs), all of the connecting cables are hidden inside the tubing of the left and centre rack portions. While the review rack was set up for a right-handed player, it wouldn’t take too much to swap the two side tubes and do a quick re-wire for a lefty.

Thanks to the superb resin-ball clamps it is now possible to optimise the toms to any preferred position, allowing the pad to be set at any chosen angle. There is plenty of vertical adjustment available too, as the stems are able to extend up to the top of the clamps. As mentioned previously, the two larger 12-inch toms fit onto the right-hand racking (for a right-handed player) and are each held in position by one of the new aluminium clamps and associated tom holder. The smaller 10-inch models, while still on the similar resin-ball clamp assembly, actually slot directly into the two vertical front tubes of the racking.

Also new to this rack are the MDY-25 cymbal stands, which once again feature a resin-ball clamp. These are sited at the very top of each cymbal pole, giving complete freedom to adjust the cymbal tilt to any preferred angle. There is now an in-built boom arm that can either be used as a boom stand or can ‘disappear’ into the stand tube itself. In practice, I have found that, with most e-kit racks, the cymbal stands tend to be a little too close for my liking, and this is where the booms come in handy. These are impressive and much like the standard fittings of hardware found with quality acoustic kits.

Atop each cymbal pad are slightly raised lines that represent the tone grooves or lathed lines found on conventional cymbals. The playing surface is made from a thick rubber that replicates the feel of a real model’s weight and inertia, while maintaining a very low level of sound from the sticks. You could be in the next room and not know there was someone having a good thrash! The coating over the top of each V-Cymbal pad is made from a stick-resistant coating of metallic silver. The finish of these is a great improvement over the former black models. I have found the black pads tend to show up every mark from each stick strike whereas, during the course of this review at least, there was no evidence on either the V-Cymbals or the mesh V-Drum pads that I had actually played the kit!

The CY-15R 15-inch pad is designed as a ride cymbal, with zones that overlap, and the effect this provides is simply staggering. With the choke facility from the edge sensor, this V-Cymbal is more than capable of playing and sounding just like the real thing. The crashes have dual sensing (on the edge and on the bow), and all of the V-Cymbals have the ability to perform cymbal chokes.

The design of the original VH-11 took the toil of no fewer than six members of Roland’s R&D team, and laid the foundation for yet another superb feature of this kit: the VH-12. Like the excellent VH-11, this model is designed to sit on any conventional hi-hat stand (not included within the kit package). The VH-12 comprises two opposing cymbal pads that are linked together by a small cable, which is terminated with quarter-inch jacks. Two small pieces of plastic stop the lower hi-hat cymbal rotating, while the top has a similar slotted component to avoid this turning too. The opposing cymbals not only produce a more authentic look, but they are said to give a better under-foot pedal response and overall stick feel with the two cymbal pads acting very much like their conventional counterparts.

While the hi-hats themselves may look fairly similar to conventional models, trying to work out how the hi-hat clutch comes apart for fitting the top hi-hat is is another matter. This was the point at which I had to reluctantly refer to the manual! I was fairly pleased with myself that I had managed to get so far without the aid of any literature. While the VH-12X comes as standard with the kit, it will also be compatible with some of the later, higher-end V-Drum kits as an optional extra, retailing at around £500.

The whole setup is fairly rapid thanks to plenty of assistance from the quick-start guide, and the clear labelling of the connecting cables. The 12-inch snare pad was placed into the charge of the snare basket, which only just held it in place when adjusted to its fullest extent! For any potential purchaser, it is worth checking that their snare stand can grip a 12-incher. Each of the pads went into position with ease, and the only minor hold-up came with the fitting of the hi-hat, which to me seemed a bit fiddly. Once everything was in place, it was just a matter of adjusting the hi-hat and kick sensors via menu-driven options shown on the TD-20X screen — and then the fun began!

The in-built demos provide a real sense of what may be expected from the TD-20KX kit, and just mades me keen to get playing. Having selected just about every kit available and checked out some of the options, it became apparent that there is definitely more to the kit than meets the eye. With all of these options so readily accessible it would be only too easy to go power crazy, so I began to make minor changes to see their effect (all of which can be wiped with the handy factory reset). However, even sticking with the standard range of kits available there is plenty to discover and several useable kits. Each of the attributes adds a great deal of realism, with one fine example being the flapping head of the large tom on the Lite kit, which is just audible as the drum sound fades away.

The whole kit responds in very much the same way as a traditional kit, though it could take a little time to adjust when jumping from acoustic to electric. The mesh pads have an amazing stick response, virtually sending the sticks back into the air, and the individual kit sounds range from pretty good to outstanding, with many being highly useable. Of course there is no need to stick to a standard kit so I ‘constructed’ a nice birch kit with a huge metal snare. Turn on the effects with a little compression, reverb or some gating and the kit becomes a studio engineer’s dream, while maintaining a big, wide grin on the drummer’s face.

While I am a really big fan of those amazing mesh heads on the toms and snare, I honestly think that the feel of the kick isn’t quite as ‘realistic’ as it could be — I actually preferred the feel of the soft rubber pad found on the TD9K! Bearing in mind that I usually have the rear head very slack on my standard 22-inch acoustic kick, the problem (if you can call it that) with mesh models is that the response is a little too ‘immediate’ for my taste. Though, to be fair, I did only have the kit for a week and I am sure it would have taken me a lot longer to get to grips with every feature available, including the adjustment of the head tensioning! Where the user benefits the most from the TD-20X’s enhanced sound processing is in the overall realism of the drum sound, especially on the snares. Close your eyes and it’s not too hard to imagine you could be behind an acoustic kit.

There are certain e-wrinkles around the edges, which give away the age of the TD-20 (even with the added X-factor), such as the lack of USB connectivity and a graphic display that seems to look a bit dated somehow. Having said that, I was having so much fun with the TD-20KX that any gripes are very minor in the grand scheme of things. So, while not exactly ‘new generation’, there are several areas that have been greatly enhanced and these are very welcome for anyone really serious about playing an electronic kit at a professional level. Roland have created a highly professional rack system that is able to withstand all that the road has to offer — it’s simply rock-solid and just wouldn’t budge despite all my best efforts. Once the whole kit is set up, it really becomes one big eye-catching display with the rack and kick taking full marks for the visual feast.

Roland TD-20KX

Electronic drum kit