Roland TD-10 V-Drum

I actually owned two different electronic drum sets with the brains as the Roland TD-10. The first set I owned, for about a year, was a match between the Roland TD-10 ($650 used on Ebay in March 2008) and the Hart Dyanmics Studio Master 6.4 drum set ($2,100 new in March 2008). I sold that set but missed the TD-10 so much that when I had the opportunity to snatch the original all Roland pads + TD-10 on craigslist for $1,750, I grabbed it fast (April 2009). The second set includes all mesh-head drums, cymbal-shaped cymbals and HH, and a big mesh-head bass drum. The set also comes with a 3-sided aluminum racks, all mounting clamps, and cables.

The TD-10 actually had been discontinued for a few years. It has been replaced by the TD-20, for a lot more money. For my purposes (practicing at home and occassional wedding gigs), my current TD-10 set is more than adequate. I could not justify spending $4K on the TD-20, but then again I also currently own a Yamaha DTXtreme IIS set, another Roland TD-8 set, 4 synthesizers, a piano, 2 guitars, etc. I suffer from serious GAS and addicted scavenger of used good used musical instruments, blame it on Ebay & craigslist.

I really love the PD-100 (2) & PD-120 (3) drum pads. Mine are all purple-reddish color, really nice. The PD-120 are dual trigger, however, the TD-10 only support dual trigger on the snare only, not the toms. The other two PD-100 are just single trigger. Roland came out with the newer PD-105 and PD-125, which are all dual trigger. While all dual triggers would have been nice, my Yamaha DTXtreme IIS has all triple trigger, but found myself not using the rim shots on the toms as much as I thought I would.

Compared to other electronic pads on the market, mainly the Pintech and Hart Dynamics, I found the Roland to be the most "polished". The Pintech pads are just too... unpolished in my opinion, although much cheaper. The Hart pro toms are as nice the Rolands and as expensive. However, the Hart pro toms are very heavy in weight. Overall, all of the mesh pads from the three brands respond and work very well with the Roland modules (obviously no issue with Roland's own pads). One minor issue (difference) that I found is the feel of the rebound when striking the mesh heads. Pintech mesh seems to be the thinnest (single-ply) and seems to have the most bouncy feeling. In addition, Pintech heads seem to wear (and tear) the fastest. The newer Hart mesh is single ply but thicker than Pintech. Hart seems to have the least bouncy feeling. Roland heads (double ply) are right in the middle of the two.

The 3 cymbals that came with the set are shaped like acoustic cymbals. The two CY-14 are dual zone, and the CY-15 ride is supposedly 3-zone (however, it will take up an additional input on the module). Roland is definitely making a lot of money with these cymbals. Technically, they are just electronic triggers, thus a simple PD-7/8/9 rubber pad would serve well as a cymbal. However, it seems that us drummers are more than willing to pay 4-5 times more for these acoustic cymbal-shape cymbals.

Overall, for the money I paid for a complete Roland TD-10 used set. I am more than happy. I would say as of April 2009, if you could find a complete Roland TD-10 set for $2K or less, it's a good buy (the set without the CY cymbals should be at least 300-400 cheaper).

My TD-10 module includes the TDW-1 expanded card. The original TD-10 module comes with 600+ percussion sounds. The TDW-1 card basically add another 360+ sounds to the module. BTW, the Roland TD-8 essentially includes ALL of the sounds of the EXPANDED Roland TD-10. Why is it then that the TD-10 costs more than the TD-8? Well, based on my using both modules, I've noticed that even though the names of the sounds are the same on both modules, they don't necessarily sounds the same. I wouldn't say the sounds on the TD-10 are better, they are just different from the TD-8. In addition, the TD-10 allows much more control over the sounds and effects, good if you are planning to do a lot of studio work.

The preset kits on the EXPANDED TD-10 and the non-expanded TD-10 are also quite different. This is strictly personal taste, but I found that I like many more preset kits on the EXPANDED TD-10 than the original. BTW, if one is paying this kind of money for an electronic kit, you shouldn't just use the presets only, but experiment and create your own drum kits.

Overall, most sounds are of excellent quality. My favorites are the rosewood, standard, maple, and ballad. Excellent selection with snare, tom, and bass sounds. The weakest sounds IMO are the Hi-hats. At one point I was contemplating putting down some money for the TD-12, but while trying it out at Guitar Center, I just could not find as many sounds that I like on the TD-12 as on the TD-10. Again, it maybe just taste preference here.

These are Rolands so I expect them to last me for a while. I bought this set used, but it was still in very good condition. I don't think I have problems gigging with this without any backup. I am leery of transporting these around too much. I just hate getting scratches on the glossy lacquered (or wrap?) drum pads.

Have not deal with Roland directly, but I could get most of what I need from their website.

I love my Roland TD-10 drum set. The purple-reddish color is just amazingly nice. I just wish that the replacement heads are cheaper, instead of approx $30 per pop. Oh well, you do pay for the quality, I guess. Talking about quality, Roland should really upgrade the rack hardware on their top of the line kits. The new Yamaha hex rack looks much better than the cheap aluminum tubes.

My original kit was not nor stolen. I sold it, but I really missed the TD-10 so much, that I bought another one. I guess that says much about my feelings for the TD-10. For the current used prices, if you are thinking about getting a good intermediate electronic drum set, I would strongly recommend looking at either the TD-8 or the TD-10. I got both for very good used prices (I took out the TD-8 on gigs more often). The TD-10 comes with bigger drum pads (10" and 12"). The TD-8 has smaller 8" pads. The sounds are fairly comparable. The TD-8 also should run you a few hundred dollars cheaper.