Roland SPD:One Percussion Pads

89
WWW.MUSICRADAR.COM/RHYTHM SUMMER 2017 |
PRICE
SPD::ONE Electro, Kick
and Percussion: £219;
SPD::ONE Wav: £265
SOUNDS
11x preset sounds, 1x
user .wav (max fi ve
seconds on Percusison,
Kick and Electro pads);
SPD::ONE Wav: 4GB
sample memory
CONNECTIONS
Master output,
headphone output,
micro USB, power
DIMENSIONS
140mm [W] x 160mm
[D] x 56mm [H]
POWER
Battery or mains
adaptor (PSU not
included)
CONTACT
Roland UK
01792 702701
www.roland.co.uk
Essential spec
as a fl ash drive). Once you do, you can effect
it in the same way as the on-board sounds.
Talking of which, the tuning control is great
for tailoring the on-board sounds more
closely to your song, meaning you can get a
lot of mileage out of a fairly small selection.
The effects are also useful – the Electro and
Percussion feature reverb and delay, while the
Kick has reverb and distortion. You select
which effect you want to apply by turning the
control left or right. The further you turn it,
the more intense the effect becomes (in the
case of delay, it changes the delay time).
They’re great fun on-the-fl y, however we did
fi nd the reverb to be a bit noisy at more
intense settings. As with the tuning setting,
your effects are global, so if you change
sounds, you’ll need to reset the tuning and
effects settings if they aren’t needed.
So far, we haven’t mentioned the SPD::ONE
Wav pad. That’s because it’s quite different to
the others in the range. It’s designed as a
sample playback solution for drummers who
want to trigger sounds, phrases and entire
backing tracks live, along with a click track. So,
by connecting it to a computer over USB, you
have access to 12 folders (one for every switch
position). Each folder contains a Master and
Click folder. You place the click-less backing
track, one-shot sample or phrase (the
playback is determined by the fi le name)
audio fi le in the master, and the
corresponding (and synchronised) click track
in the click folder. The SPD::ONE Wav then
outputs the ‘master’ sounds to the main
output as well as your headphones, while the
VERDICT: Roland has clearly looked at
the market and delivered something
that is missing. Of course, which pad
you choose will depend on the sounds
you require. But they’re all quick to
physically set up, easy to use and
sound great. Will TM-2 or SPD-SX users
be selling up? Probably not, but we can
defi nitely see the Wav pad joining
proceedings for many drummers as a
standalone solution to running a click.
BUILD QUALITY
PLAYABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY
RATING
‘click’ folder sounds only go to your cans.
Using the mix control, you can then balance
the track and click levels in your ears. It’s
simple and really cleverly done in a way that
is sure to make using a click in a live situation
a doddle. We do have one small gripe though:
the inclusion of a line-in would have allowed
us to incorporate a regular monitor feed to
hear the rest of the band, without having to
start using an external mixer.
TRIGGERING SET-UP
Each pad gives you a sensitivity and
threshold control on the side to make
sure that you trigger sounds when
you need to, and not when you don’t
SOUNDS
The Electro, Kick and Percussion pads
have a 12-way control for selecting
sounds, and the alternative button
accesses an additional layer of sounds
EFFECTS
Three of the pads include effects:
reverb/delay on the Electro and
Percussion pads, and reverb/
distortion on the SPD::ONE Kick
USB
While the SPD::ONE Wav
specialises in custom
samples, the others are all
capable of playing back one
user .wav fi le too. Handy if
you need a sound that isn’t in
the same category as your
pad. The USB connection
also acts as a MIDI interface
RHY271.gear_roland.indd 89 7/13/17 11:04 AM