SPD-SX PRO Unboxing, First Impressions & SPD-SX Comparison

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

After fitting that screen protector, I don't recommend it! It says it's tempered glass but feels far more like those old thin plastic protectors that are only really any good for scratches. Definitely won't save it from stick hits. It's also quite hazy so makes it hard to see the screen clearly. No thanks. The search continues!

[@marcosroman5296]

Please let us know when you find a good screen protector. 🙏🏽

[@iplaywithsticks6194]

Please let us know if you find something. Searched The Google, Amazon, etc. with no success.

[@Cray0on]

I've just watched this video since I just bought this Roland :), it is on transit, but where can I find the proper screen protector?

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

Unfortunately I didn't find one in my searches after trying that other one and it's something that I completely forgot about... Hopefully I'll find something if I remember next time I'm shopping for bits and pieces.

[@djgreenhornet2892]

Wow this cool. I bought my first table top drum pad yesterday. Searching for drum pad in my algorithm now.

[@davidanderson3576]

That display needs to be implemented into the the new TD module😮! Thanks for your videos, keep them coming!!

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

I'm hoping that this is what will happen from the next generation of modules. I can't imagine they'd develop a screen and software layout for this then not re-use it. Fingers crossed we're not being too optimistic 😅

[@BFedie518]

​@@TheeDrumWorkshop\*sad mimic pro noises\*

[@GeorgeFalconer]

Wobbly pots! Just took delivery of a BNIB unit, and couldn't believe how wobbly (and super wobbly) a couple of the pots were! Some of the users on the SPD SX PRO users group said theirs were also wobbly, "not to worry". I'm disinclined to pay nearly £750 for tech with such cheap parts. Two of the pots feel they could break away from whatever they are attached to. Having owned and gigged regularly with the previous model; built like a tank, gave you the confidence it would get you through the gig. This has dented my confidence, back it goes to the supplier.

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

That's a huge shame. The pots on mine appear to be fine but I'll definitely keep an eye on them now. I agree that it's too expensive to just accept that kind of issue and if this is a common problem then that definitely needs looking into.

[@GeorgeFalconer]

Ordered another one to see if I was simply unlucky with the other one. Arrives shortly... :)@@TheeDrumWorkshop

[@SquizbarDeAlienOfficial]

Hey earthling! Are sample pads a good alternative to e drums for non drummers?

[@rickmatthewjones]

Excellent initial overview!! I'm especially curious about whether the ambient volume of the stick hitting the pad is in any way quieter/softer-sounding than the original SPD-SX. I've heard the Pro addresses this which can be an issue for smaller venues. Any chance the Pro actually sounds/feels quieter in the room, or do you merely have the option to play more softly due to the new sensitivity upgrade? Thanks for all you do! Love your channel!

[@voederbietels]

i want to know that to. the older spsx has a lot of stick noise. That was something i didnt understand why they thought of that in the design.

[@tortor9652]

Is it possible to use the Roland SPD-SX PRO as a module for connecting electronic drums?

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

It's possible to make a kit setup using the SPD-SX Pro, but it's quite limited in terms of inputs compared to a dedicated module. Also, if you want to use only sounds from the device (stock samples or your own), the playability isn't the same as a drum module because it's all just one-shot samples with a maximum of 2 samples per zone.

[@festizio1187]

Looking forward to more of your videos on this. You only touched on maybe 5% of its capability with this first impressions video, so I can’t wait to see what you cover next! There are so many improvements. Pitch adjustment alone is a great improvement. Being able to use one sample at different pitches to get a complete kit is nice to have. I haven’t touched the app yet but that alone is probably worth the upgrade. Great content as always Luke

[@cristaples]

My first though is that the menus and controls are a bit complicated after the other versions. I think it’s a great machine, I can use two samples per pad and have a crossfade point that makes a triggered snare more realistic, lower the attack transient to stop it sounding plasticky on the front end and it will get close to a v-drum or tm-6 pro. FX are expanded. Master FX have shrunk sadly, I liked master fx and used a lot of delay on hihats and ping ponged it between my left and right speakers and I can still do that with multifx but I just liked the 4 masterfx. Feedback on the master fx is controllable on the knob but I still only get one master fx. Audio over usb is great, multiple outs are great, click and midi clock wonderful. I like to trigger 4 toms, double kick and a dual zone snare on rock gigs, then on pop gigs I have single kick trigger, pad, dual zone hats and it’ll be nice to trigger dual zone snare and two toms, if I want to switch between those gigs I have to reprogram the triggers, I’d like to see trigger banks available, 8 or 16 wouldn’t go amiss for a journeyman drummer. That would be a pro feature. Even better would be individual trigger settings per kit. That’d really be cool. The onboard sounds are great, so much choice for snares and kicks, claps and percussion etc. couldn’t find any fingersnaps. Edit : found them I exported my sounds from my SX and then loaded them into the Pro tonight, took me an hour to set up the 6 kits I need for my next gig with Tom triggers, snare trigger and kick and hihat, all my sounds are set and I just need to test the levels on my speakers with my kit which I’ll do in rehearsal. I’ll set up some midi control kits another evening to control superior drummer, Ableton drum racks, breaktweeker and addictive drums. I want to find out how to set up the control foot switches and see if I can plug triggers into the input in some way. Set up the hihat pedal and make use of it, and the expression pedal. The click can be started when you hit any pad or trigger, so you can start with a sound and get the click in your in-ears, it’ll play, loop or start stop each time you hit the pad for that sound. There’s also sample delay. You can hit a pad and have it nit start until a note value has gone by, so you could have 2 pads start at the same time without using pad link by hitting them each consecutively on 8th notes with each pad delayed by a correct note value, or pad link them, hit one and have 4,5 or however many start up later without having to build silence into the front of the sample, it does the maths for you. This might not seem useful but to someone out there this will save a lot of time. Pad sequencer is a cool tool, the alesis dm4 trigger module allowed you to hit a pad and it would cycle through 4 different timbale or bongo sounds, it was fun and allowed you to play a pad with broken 16ths that sounded like you were playing like an expert percussionist. This goes way further on this unit. Up to 16 steps of any sound in your kit patch, so you could have all the intro synth hits from Big in Japan by Alphaville for example in your kit, sequence them in the correct order and put them on a pad, each time you hit a pad it plays a synth sound in order, hit your snare at the same time and everyone thinks your a genius, even better map the snare trigger to the sequencer and do it with just the snare, change kit patch to the next kit to carry on with a snare sound. Instant cool. You could also do this with alternate hihat sounds and have an evolving hihat sound, my take would be then to put delay in the hihat, ping pong it and put it into a stereo field and it could sound amazing. Masterfx does effect audio in when going out through main outs, if audio in is only routed to headphones then masterfx doesn’t get passed to the signal. This is very important as if you’re receiving an in ear mix via that audio in, you definitely don’t want to add delay to it while you’re trying to listen to it, if you’re sending that audio in out through your master outs you do want masterfx to work, and then they work in your headphone mix as well. Cool feature and well thought out. Turns out the resampling and performance sampling i hadn't found was actually solved, the sampling mode has a choice of inputs, input from audio in jack or input from pads, or both, so if you want to record a performance, merge two samples or do anything that is not in the menu from the old one, you can actually do it this way. This also includes the masterfx as a sampling manipulation. It’s actually pretty awesome when you do it. Still annoyed that masterFX is global and doesn't change with kit, that'd be cool and losing 4 masterFX buttons when they could have given us 4 programmable ones is annoying. Trigger banks is also annoying but then the first update might change that. Sounds can be edited for pitch, and for decay very easily and can be blended with cross fade from velocity, switched from velocity too, all in all a much faster way to edit your sounds when you turn up at a gig and the sounds you thought were ok have too much bottom end through the ginormous PA speakers and with a turn of a knob you can change the sound. So my only real quibbles after playing with it and finding out what it’s about are no trigger banks, no global masterfx toggle global/kit., these could be addressed by a firmware upgrade, the loss of 4 masterfx knobs can’t really be changed so I might carry a seperate fx unit for slicing incoming audio and dj style fx if I ever need it.

[@johndef5075]

I envy your ability to maximize a piece of equipment. My 60 yo brain has a hard time processing all this.😅

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

Great review! Not much I'd disagree with there after my first tests. I'll see how I get on with other functions once I get back from a week off!

[@cristaples]

@@TheeDrumWorkshop first time formatting a usb stick it tanked it. Reformatted on a pc and it was ok second time. Couldn’t reformat on a Mac though.

[@cristaples]

@@TheeDrumWorkshop The hihat pedal works pretty good on software instruments like Superior and Addictive Drums, but doesn't get a good foot chick on Superior.

[@bearingSSW]

Mate, you need to find a women...

[@MaharashtraBands]

Looks interesting ...

[@adonissanchez8808]

wow tremendous battery, I USE THE ROLAND SPD 20, I like the instruments it has built in, but the spd sx pro is more advanced

[@edwardbrands3271]

Can you get a hat pedal to work...I tried with the last model and never got it to work.

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

Yes, I'm using one in the playing example of this video. It was a feature that the SPD-S had but was removed for the SPD-SX, now it's been added back in for the SX Pro with some better features. I plan to dig more into it in another video.

[@edwardbrands3271]

@@TheeDrumWorkshop Thank you

[@Paul_on_Guitar]

Looks nice. Can't wait to hear some new sound samples. 🙂

[@PeaveyPV20]

What make of drum monitor do you use for this? Thinking of getting one

[@cristaples]

I found out that multifx stay as you left them when you set up the patch, so if you set up a delay at 40% feedback and 60/40 dry/wet mix it’ll be that when you go to a patch, but if you move the decay with a control knob it’ll change it instantly, if you leave the patch and come back to it, it’ll be as you set it not as you left it. If multifx were on when you left the patch, they’ll be on when you come back to it.

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

I think that's how it used to work on the original SPD-SX, if I remember rightly.

[@adonissanchez8808]

I am a dj musician producer, and I mostly work with roland equipment, specifically sampler, the spd sx pro is the most advanced sampler pad I've ever seen, how I would like to have it in my hands

[@logan979]

Do you have a favorite source for backing tracks ? TY

[@tortor9652]

Hello. Tell me the country of production of the Roland SPD-SX PRO?

[@482jpsquared]

I have often wondered why Roland doesn't provide a flip up/down screen protector of some kind.

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

I agree, that would be very useful!

[@djashjones]

I got mine, last week. The way I justified it was, prices are only going to go up and if I wanted some extra toms and cymbals to expand my roland kit, then the sample pad is cheaper. One thing I was hoping for the pro to have was samples for rototoms and especially Octobans. Any chance on doing a video on how add drum samples to the new pro and maybe think about selling a rototom/octoban kit?

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

That's fair! I might do a loading tutorial at some point. I'm not sure about the samples - moving into percussion sampling is something I'd like to do but I don't currently have any rototoms or octobans, so it would require a little investment!

[@bearingSSW]

Damn! Just connect it with a USB cable and drag& drop your samples!

[@pablo.ochoa.s]

My man, great video! Im a big fan of your channel. And i really need your help!!! Here it goes: I am putting together a portable e kit, using the SPD SX Pro like the main piece (like a drum module with pads on it). Already have the components (external triggers for the kick, snare, hihat and ride) and it works almost perfectly... except for the hihat. I cant make it work "nicely", it just have the "A" sound and the "B" sound, but the Pad dont make any type of "blend" between them, i mean, i have an octapad, and that old thing can do that "BLEND thing" with a external hihat conected. In the SPD SX Pro theres only "closed" & "open" sound, and for the type of tecnology (and for the price tag), this is anoying and dissapointing, theres nothing "PRO" on it... do you think that can be fixed with a firmware update or something? or its just me? i need to fix something in the settings?... I really think this its something IMPORTANT to have, i mean, if you cant control the hihat, you cant GROOVE properly! I hope you can help me, `cause im trying everything i can think of and nothing solve the problem. Thanks for your time!

[@pablo.ochoa.s]

And im having some troubles with the 3 zone ride, too; but with that "problem" i find the way to manage it and make it work.

[@nayrdrumr]

Hey, love you videos! They've been a huge help as the dive into edrums has been overwhelming. Recently saw your videos about using the roland digital snare in various TD models that do not support it. Currently, I am thinking about using triggers on the tom and kick, then my roland pd 128 as my snare (Solely as trigger sounds not layered over acoustic sounds). I know this is probably not ideal, but I'm curious as to your thoughts. My other idea is to use a 27 so i can get a digital snare.. but i dont know if that huge cost is worth it, as I don't use ecymbals. Or if getting the digital snare makes since as im not sure the spdsx pro can use all the benefits the digital snare offers. Sorry this is so long. Thanks!

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

Hey. Thank you! There would be no benefit to doing the digital snare "hack"/"workaround" for the SPD-SX PRO really, no. You can only really trigger head/rim zones at different velocities with external pads on the SX PRO (there's no rimshot/rim click distinction etc), and you'd be just as well served by any other decent 2 zone pad! Even the PD-128 is a little "overkill" for the unit - the pad's positional sensing abilities aren't useable, for example. But if you already have it and you like using i then that's the best one to go with! It should perform as well as you'd hope. The TD-27 is worth it if you'll use its features - a decent amount of pad inputs, tweakable onboard sounds, the extra articulations afforded by positional sensing, rimshot detection etc. But if you're mainly just firing off samples like you would on the SPD-SX then I don't think it's going to offer you a lot for the extra money. It all comes down to what you actually need the unit to do, they're very different products for different scenarios.

[@nayrdrumr]

@TheeDrumWorkshop thanks for the thoughtful response! It's much appreciated. Good to know that the 128 is a bit overkill. I've been wanting edrums and acoustic cymbals but what's holding me back is sharing a kit with one to three other bands where they don't use edrums. The spd has been great to provide my band with some lofi beats and unique sounds. Again, much leaned how to make those sample sound the best from your channel. Cheers

[@djamalifrish5915]

nice video review of the roland spd sx pro , but my parents can't afford that and i love playing percussion drum 😭😌😌☹️

[@tendingtropic7778]

nice video, thanks, question: you are playing with a 'regular' kickdrum? which one is it? (tama club jam mini?) and why not use a kick from the roland (with a trigger pedal). How did you record the kick? it sounds nice!

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

Thanks! The kick is an electronic conversion of a Tama Club Jam. So it's got a trigger in it and it's hooked up to the SPD-SX Pro, triggering the kick from that preset. I do have a small Roland kick drum trigger (KT-10) but this is the kick drum I use on my full electronic kit setup and I think it looks a bit nicer on camera! I have a video of some of my kit conversion here if you're interested - kzbin.info/www/bejne/iWOWh5uuaciFh80

[@tendingtropic7778]

@@TheeDrumWorkshop tnx, you are right!

[@marcosroman5296]

What stand are you using to hold the clamp with the pad hooked up to it?

[@shivamusic3060]

Do they come with vdrum sounds from standard drum modules like TD 17 or just comes with one shot samples ?

[@4v4.....l]

Hey! Do you know anything about sync tempo (for loops) like spd sx?

[@bruceperkins2921]

is that screw on mount included? i just bought one from sweetwater!

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

No, the screws are included but the mount isn't. I bought mine from a store in the UK that does cheap models. Roland's own mount plate model number is G2147101 according to a quick search, or they sell the plate and a multiclamp together as the ACP33. Gibraltar make a mount called the SC-EMMP and a few other sites have cheaper alternatives in Europe (Thomann has the Millennium E-Drum Mounting Plate, for example), so I'm sure the US will have some alternatives around too.

[@bruceperkins2921]

@@TheeDrumWorkshop really really shitty roland doesnt include that in the purchase.

[@bruceperkins2921]

thanks tho. your a real service to the edrum community. im looking forward to peppering you with spd sx pro questions....lol. just kidding

[@lostintabla]

How to increase tempo..

[@lostintabla]

How to increase tempo in rolandspd-sxpro ?

[@SouthTTM]

Can you post the link to the screen protector you purchased? I'm not finding that item on Amazon.

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

Sure! - brotect 4.3" Anti-Glare Glass Screen Protector for Camcorders with 4.3 inch (10.9 cm) [96.5 mm x 55.3 mm, 16:9] - Anti-Scratch Protection Matte amzn.eu/d/etQm29b I'm not sure whether it's available in all regions but that's the item.

[@tendingtropic7778]

its horrible that there is no mounting plate included!

[@awskamal1458]

Only 6 pads 😅, the 3 top ones only for music loops, the best is Spd-30

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

You can put any sounds on the top 3 pads.

[@mohitdamami4364]

Price with modal

[@bhavikdabhi6960]

congratulations

[@mostafaeltaiyp3775]

How much is it now

[@robrig55]

Can you plug it into a laptop and do live editing?

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

You can with the app, yeah!

[@garciamoses95]

Can you make a video using the spd sx pro as a module using acoustic sounds ? Would want to see if it could replace a td-17 or td27

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

I'll have a think about the best approach to a video like that, sure! The "spoiler warning" response though is that I don't think it would be the best replacement for a TD-17 or TD-27, to be honest - it's just not as dynamic as a full drum module. That said, using it as a mini-kit for basic stuff could be good fun, so I'll try out as many options as I can before landing on the video idea.

[@garciamoses95]

@@TheeDrumWorkshop what about in a hybrid set up. You think it would replace the tm-6

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

Yeah, it would be very well suited to that. It can do pretty much everything the TM-6 Pro can do with far more memory. The only thing the TM-6 has that the SPD-SX Pro doesn't have is some V-Drums instruments with extra dynamic layers. But the SPD-SX Pro has a lot of other features that the TM-6 doesn't, so I think it's probably got the edge for most uses.

[@garciamoses95]

They should’ve made it with the dynamic layers. Kinda ordered the spd pro thinking it could replace the tm-6. Do you think you can mention it in one of the videos if you ever do a video about using the spd pro as a kit.

[@chriscuthbertson]

Is there an easy way to move your sounds and presets from the spd-sx to the new pro?

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

I haven't had a chance to try anything like that out yet but my assumption is that old backups won't load on the new software (going off previous Roland experience.) I'll try to confirm when I'm back at the studio.

[@SouthTTM]

@@TheeDrumWorkshop Correct. The backup format from the SPD-SX is not compatible with the PRO. 😞You have to manually recreate kits from scratch on the PRO.

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

@@SouthTTM Ahh, thank you for confirming!

[@jezusmylord]

whaaaat a wall outlet with a switch to turn it on?! i need that.

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

Be prepared to pay top dollar!

[@SubrataDas-zg4pv]

Made by chaina/malasiya/japan?

[@grooveincorporated]

excelent

[@arbogast4950]

Yes! I can't wait to ditch my Alesis 🤣

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

Not been a fan?

[@arbogast4950]

@@TheeDrumWorkshop There are things that I absolutely love but it seems like the Roland has all of those features. The top bumpers are way less sensitive. The hi hat control is bad. There aren't any trigger presets. There still isn't a file manager app. The workflow of the unit isn't terrible but the fact that we can't go to a computer for a faster experience is just embarrassing. Setting up a kit from scratch is a painful experience.

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

Fair enough. Sounds like a bunch of good reasons to swap out to the SX Pro! I didn't realise there wasn't a software/kit editor for it, I assumed there was since there is for the Strike module. Dropped the ball there.

[@jezusmylord]

why it has cake sprinkles on the box

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

it's fancy

[@immagood2]

atta boy, Luke!

[@Hongcranker]

Cbat sample? Lol

[@HassanAli-hb8wu]

Hey brother roland spd sx best systems loops tempo sync up down best system sx pro no loops tempo sync up dwon system ❌👎❌👎❌👎❌👎❌👎❌👎❌👎❌👎❌👎❌💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔👎