Roland TD-25K-S Review

The Roland TD 30 is unfortunately not available at this time, so we've reviewed an alternative, below.

The Roland TD-25K-S is a beautiful electronic drum-kit, modeled on the highly sought after Roland TD-30.

It features some tremendous integrated additions from other electronic drum developments. The company has been producing in other series lines since it is a newly upgraded model.

Unlike the mac-daddy 30 models, it doesn't feature full shells, but this allows it to follow in the footsteps of the other smaller at-home models. This kit can be regarded as a space-saving solution, as its footprint is pretty compact.

It is has a high-end feel centered around a compact great-quality 5-piece set-up. The kit consists of a responsive bass drum trigger pad, a PDX-100 snare pad, an artificial floor tom response pad, and twin mounted toms.

The bass head is a KD-9 model which is made from cloth. The drum head has a solid response; the toms and snare are mesh pads. Their intuitive software allows them to reproduce tonal changes faithful to the playing style.

The snare pad, in our opinion, is this kits crowning glory as some electronic snare pads aren't authentic enough in terms of playability.

The snare on a traditional acoustic drum-kit is such a versatile piece. It can highlight a multitude of expressions in the many ways it can be played, many electronic versions on the market fall-short.

It has a decent surface area to rest your sticks upon for rim clicks. How each mesh head is mounted gives it a decent bounce which adds to the authenticity.

On top of the initial 5-piece core, you get one ride and one crash cymbal and a pair of hi-hat cymbals. All of which are all very well designed and programmed to harbor a realistic feel and reaction.

They benefit from edge and bow sensors (the ride also sports an additional bell sensor). This means they can respond dramatically by how they are played, and each has a choke control.

This makes playing them less synthetic and triggers appropriate sounds to match the percussionists' nuances.

Each is easy to put together with a little know-how and guidance from the manual. All mounts are included except for the hi-hat stand and pedal. It is important to note that you will need to invest in a comfy throne and a bass pedal for the KD9 bass pad as well.

The stands and mounts allow for future expansion and upgrades; they are solidly constructed and easy to adjust.

The real reason the kit shines is down to its virtual mapping and vast array of presets built into its drum module.

It is a user-friendly interface which boasts Roland's SuperNATURAL technology with Behavior Modeling that the TD 30 model relies on for its lifelike reproduction. It offers positional snare sensing and allows for realistic hi-hat playing.

You can dial in a specific genre to select a kit and then fully customize the sounds. You can do this by tweaking the tuning, individual pad volume, and muffling independently. All of which auto-saves but can easily be rectified if you change your mind.

You can play along to your tracks via the USB port; you can loop the playback to practice specific parts of the song. You can also record yourself playing.

The interface also has an integrated coaching function to help you develop your drumming skills and techniques. It has a USB host port allowing MIDI connection with your preferred DAW.

Roland TD-25K-S

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