ROLAND SPD SX SAMPLE PAD

GEAR REVIEW
| JANUARY 2012 WWW.RHYTHMMAGAZINE.CO.UK
120
GEAR REVIEW
£585 An exclusive fi rst look at Roland’s new sampling pad
R
oland’s spanking new SPD-SX is
the replacement for the excellent
SPD-S sampling pad, which has
been with us now for around nine
years. The new model has inherited many of
the great features of its predecessor, but now
boasts infi nitely more sample memory, USB
sockets, larger graphics display (with a raft of
on-screen wave editing features), improved
sound routing, more responsive pads,
intuitive menus, innovative sampling and a
host of signifi cant system enhancements and
design refi nements.
The SPD-SX has nine playable pads with
two dual input sockets, allowing up to four
additional external pads, drum triggers or a
combination of both. Due to its ease of use
and user-routable sound outputs (headphone/
main out or sub out), the SPD-SX is equally
happy on stage and in the studio. Having 2Gb
of sampling memory available will give
around two hours of stereo (six hours in
mono) – it is feasible to sample a whole gigs’
worth of music in CD quality.
Included with the pad is Roland’s Wave
Manager app for the PC (XP, Vista or Windows
7) and a copy of the pre-loaded samples on CD,
80-page manual (PDF version downloadable
from Roland’s website) and power supply.
ROLAND
SPD-SX
SAMPLE PAD
WORDS: DAVE HOLMES
and EFX2, and three selectable parameter
buttons for ‘padvol’, kit FX and tempo. Many
of the functions such as tap tempo, kit
increment/decrement, FX on/off etc, which
would normally be performed by a foot
switch, can also be assigned to any of the
pads or additional triggers.
Once a sound is triggered, a dedicated LED
(bottom right of each pad) illuminates with
varying intensity, depending on the peaks of
the waveform. This is extremely useful as a
visual guide as to which of the pads are
sounding. Initially I begin striking each
pad in turn, triggering one or more of the
longer pre-loaded samples, pressing the
‘fi lter’ button and twiddling the ‘control 1’
CONSTRUCTION
SPD-SX is made from
ABS with contrasting
brushed aluminium trims
SMALLER PADS
Three smaller pads are
designed to be struck with
the shoulder of the stick
1
YAMAHA
DTX-MULTI 12
We say: “As an
out-of-the-box,
onto-the-stage
solution, it presents
a very convincing
argument.”
2
ROLAND
SPD-30
We say: “For
drummers looking to
add electronic sounds
to an acoustic set-up
with the minimum of
fuss, the SPD-30 is a
great choice.”
Also try…
Build
The rectangular-shaped SPD-SX is constructed
from ABS and fi nished in matt black with
contrasting trims of brushed aluminium. Inset
into the casing is a thick, durable rubber,
covering 80 percent of the uppermost surface.
This is divided up into nine velocity-sensitive
pads, consisting of six equal squares (taking
up much of the playable surface) and three
smaller pads (to be struck with stick shoulder)
sited along the uppermost edge.
Sited below the playing area is a range of
controls within easy reach of the performer.
These include power, volume for master,
phones (the SPD-S had this sited to the rear)
click level, start/stop button for the click and
the essential ‘all sound off’ button. One of the
most useful features for a live performance is
the ‘pad check’ which mutes all sound apart
from through the headphones.
Hands On
A second or two after powering up (following
a brief, animated ‘SPD-SX’ on the LCD display
and a cool ‘sweeping’ display of the nine pad
LEDs), the machine is ready to go. The display
shows the last selected kit and is large enough
to provide a variety of useful information such
as kit name/number, signal level, tempo, EFX1
WITH MANY OF ITS PREDECESSOR’S
GREAT FEATURES, IT NOW BOASTS
INFINITELY MORE SAMPLE MEMORY
RHY198.gear_roland.indd 120 11/24/11 10:21:32 AM