Once you´ve exhausted all your options in terms of the stand-alone kits (something that will take approximately 12 years, we reckon), you can spice up your life by playing along with the TD-6´s backing tracks. This last feature allows the user to change the sound of the kit as a whole by selecting different virtual settings for the current kit - options include studio, living room, bathroom, garage and stadium types - and it´s a great feature that alters the basic character of the sound in subtle (or not so subtle) ways. Basically, there's a little more squinting, menu-surfing and button pushing required here than on the TD-20, but there´s still an awful lot of tweaking and editing available in the TD-6 module.Ĭustom kits can be created, sensitivity of pads adjusted, pitch and pan altered and ambience fiddled about with. In an ideal world, we'd be working with a data wheel and huge, full-colour HD screen, but such trimmed corners are no biggie considering the cost of the rig. In terms of functionality, the TD-6KW doesn´t disgrace itself, although the way in which it works is limited by the fairly small LCD screen and increment/decrement buttons. Inevitably some of the presets are better than others (we´ve yet to come across a metal kit that quite does the business, for example) and those with lots of hands-on experience with real tablas and brushes will find the TD-6 offerings approximations rather than accurate emulations, but in the main it is an immensely accomplished collection of noises. This really is a setup you can totally lose yourself in. From the off, kit number one - Rosewood - impresses with a lovely ‘bloom´ to the kick drum, deep toms and a crisp, full snare, and scrolling through the rest of the stuff on offer reveals the majority to be highly rewarding to play. In partnership with the TD-6´s complement of pads, all of which are dual-trigger devices, the kit is extremely expressive for such a well-priced setup and even straight-ahead acoustic kit presets are wonderfully natural-sounding. Add that to the fact that Roland´s general sound synthesis credentials are second-to-none (as evidenced by the success of its all-conquering JV and XV ranges) and it´ll come as no surprise that the TD-6KW is a particularly impressive performer in terms of tone. But it's always been at the forefront of such developments, which is why it´s hard to escape the perception that the firm´s gear has a head start over competitors in terms of sonics. It's difficult to review a Roland TD kit without harking back to the company´s glorious electronic percussion past. The head can be tensioned, and although a bigger pad would further add to the natural feel, the PDX works just fine in this context. The PDX does more to get close to the response of an acoustic drum and is an ideal improvement on the previous TD-6. The CY-5 might be on the rack itself, but it plays nicely with the FD-8 hi-hat controller pedal, and while it doesn´t try to emulate the feel of a pair of real hats, it does enough to be perfectly satisfying. Part of this homeliness is down to the upgrades bestowed on the new kit over its predecessor, namely the bigger CY-5 dual-trigger hi-hat pad and mesh-head PDX-8 snare. This done, the TD-6KW will make you feel at home right away. Ultimately, you're best off approaching this kind of rig differently than you would a regular-sized acoustic kit and adapting accordingly. The TD-6KW gives away its affordable nature with features such as the simple, rack arm-mounted hi-hat pad - more upmarket types now come with hi-hat stand-mounted units - but this doesn´t make for too many playing compromises. The TD-6KW is a relatively compact setup (something that counts strongly in its favour), but there´s still scope to tailor the positioning of pads to suit, unless you're a gorilla-armed type with the legs of Jimmy Krankie. The clamps might be plastic, but there´s plenty of torque available from the big old wingnuts to ensure that you can set and forget.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |