In 2004, Roland redefined electronic drumming once again with the new flagship drum kit, the V-Pro Series TD-20S. This evolutionary leap forward in V-Drum technology has had an incredibly positive response from the drumming community. Today, Roland offers a new addition to the V-Drums family — the V-Stage Series TD-12S. This new set puts the amazing sounds and playability of its big brother into a more compact yet very powerful package. Let’s grab some sticks and check it out.

Easy Setup
Setting up the TD-12S couldn’t be easier, thanks to the MDS-12BK stand. Simply unfold the stand, attach the pad and cymbal mounts, and you’re ready for the drum and cymbal pads. The stand comes with all the cables you need neatly concealed within the stand’s tubes. The cables are conveniently labeled, so there’s no confusion as to which cable connects to which pad or module input. This makes setup quick and easy. There are also three cables (that end in female connectors) on the right front post for the TD-12’s Crash 2 and two Auxiliary inputs. These make expanding the TD-12S easy when you want to add more pads.

Now that the setup is complete, let’s explore the kit.

Compact Impact
Power up the TD-12 Percussion Sound Module, and from the first few hits you’ll know that this is a serious drum kit. The TD-12 has the same deep, rich, and punchy sounds found in the flagship TD-20. The acoustic drum kits simply sound incredible, and the playability lets you bring out all the nuances V-Drums are famous for. The TD-12S is a more compact kit than its big brother, and it will easily fit into any live, studio, or practice situation. However, even though the pads of the TD-12S are smaller, there is no sacrifice in playability. It’s really a blast to play.

The snare pad is a 10” PD-105 dual trigger Mesh V-Pad. It’s a great size for a snare drum and very comfortable to play. The PD-105 triggers evenly and expressively all the way around on both the head and the rim, and allows you to take full advantage of all snare drum techniques, including rim shots, rim clicks, and even cross stick. Everything from the lightest ghost note to the fullest rim shot is there. The pad and module’s positional-sensing feature brings out more “ring” in the snare tone when you play toward the rim. This same positional feature also enables rim shots that range from full crack to shallow depending on how close the tip of the stick is to the rim. Buzz rolls are no problem, thanks to the TD-12’s new Interval Control feature, which changes the attack of the sound depending on the speed of your strokes. This allows smooth and even-sounding snare rolls and cymbal swells.

For the toms there are three new PD-85 8” mesh V-Pads. These are also dual trigger so you can play on the head, rim, or both. They also have a cool new look, with chrome mounting hardware. The kick is a new KD-85 V-Kick trigger pad that can easily accommodate a double-kick pedal. Since the tension of these mesh pads is easily adjustable with a drum key, I’ve made my snare pad nice and tight, with my tom and kick pads progressively looser. This gives the kit a great acoustic drum set feel.

Cymbal Innovation
One of the stellar innovations of the flagship V-Pro Series Set was the introduction of the first full motion hi-hat pad. This year Roland adds the new VH-11 V-Hi-Hat pad to the V-Cymbal line, and it’s included with the TD-12S kit. The VH-11 has a clever one piece “floating” design that mounts easily onto a conventional hi-hat stand for full motion capability and natural hi-hat play. It’s a dream to play on, with all the movement and expression of an acoustic hi-hat.

The TD-12S also comes with two CY-12R/C V-Cymbal pads that are perfect as crash or ride cymbals. These enhance the playability of the set even further. Plug one into the Crash 1 input of the TD-12 using the pad’s Bow/Edge connection, and you can play both top and edge crash cymbal sounds. You can even perform cymbal chokes by grabbing the pad’s edge. The ride pad uses both jacks for three-way ride capability. Playing the pad’s bell brings out the bell sound, and laying into the edge brings out a ride edge sound. Play on different areas of the bow of the pad and the ride sound subtly changes — positional sensing at work again. Playing this kit is amazingly realistic!

Tap Into Tap Patterns
Roland percussion modules with built-in sequencers allow you to assign patterns to any pad in any kit. You can start and stop the patterns just by hitting the pad. Tap Patterns are a type of pattern that let you, the player, control the rhythm of the pattern. When a Tap Pattern is assigned to a pad, playing the pad will step through the notes of the pattern one at a time, with each successive hit. You can actually “play” a whole melody or chord progression on one pad.

Tons of Fun!
There are a variety of great acoustic, electronic, percussion, and effect kits in the TD-12’s 50 presets. All kits are easily customizable too, thanks to an icon-based editing system on a generous LCD display. You can tweak to your heart’s content with powerful COSM-based parameters that V-Drums are famous for.

There’s much to explore in the sequencer section of the TD-12. It’s packed with patterns that cover a wide variety of musical styles — they’re just begging to be jammed with. You can record your own patterns a well. Many of the kits have patterns already assigned to the pads. Just hit the pad to start the music and play along. Some of the kits have Tap Patterns on the pads (see sidebar). These let you play an entire melodic line on, say, the rim of a tom. There are even a few kits that have patterns that loop, and several Tap Patterns assigned around set. You can sound like a whole band as you play the drums, the chords, and the melodic parts, all at the same time.

With so many great sounds and features, the TD-12S is just way too much fun to play!