'How To' Articles, Product Guides

The Easy Solution To Playing Electro Drum Sounds

The drummer’s role as the timekeeper and driving force of the band has evolved over time.

Expectations are high for us to enhance both the tightness of the band’s performance and its sonic impression. For a conventional acoustic drummer, the technical side of this task can seem daunting.

Asking for some “80s” sounding snares and hi-hats might seem like a simple enough request to the singer. But drummers know that reproducing those sounds on an acoustic kit is impossible without some serious electronic assistance! Luckily, a new box does the trick.

Contributed by Simon Ayton for Roland Corporation Australia

Keep It Simple Stupid!

The SPD::ONE ELECTRO is a single zone trigger pad with 22 built-in electronic percussion sounds. Included are claps, snares and EFX for quick and easy use in performance.

The heavy-duty metal shell allows you to stomp on it by foot, or hit it with sticks. It’s also sensitive enough to be played with hands.

Integrating It Into Your Setup

The SPD::ONE ELECTRO functions on the floor or tabletop. It also comes with a mounting plate, allowing it to be clamped like a cowbell to your kit.

On the side of the SPD::ONE are Sensitivity and Threshold controls, for quick adjustment without having to dive into complicated menus.

Headphone and audio outputs on the back provide a connection to your onstage monitoring and front-of-house mixer respectively.

In Use

Four chunky front panel knobs and a small button allow you to choose a sound or a variation/alternative. Adjust the Pitch, add some Reverb or Delay and off you go!

Adjusting the Sensitivity allows you to control the dynamics of the sample. The Threshold allows you to eliminate accidental false triggering.

The SPD::ONE can be externally powered or used with the included batteries, to reduce cable clutter or when busking.

This Goes To 12

For those times when the exact sound is required, Instrument slot 12 is free for your own custom WAV sample. This can be up to 5 seconds long. As with the internal sounds, this user sample can be velocity dynamic and you can change its pitch and add effects to it too.

Importing the user sample into the SPD::ONE is a simple case of connecting via the included USB cable and dragging and dropping any 44.1 kHz, 16 bit WAV file into the SPD::ONE. A simple button push on the SPD::ONE finalizes the import. The user sample will remain in slot 12 for your next gig, even when powered down.

Wait, There’s More!

The USB integration allows the SPD::ONE to be recognized as a MIDI input device by any MAC/PC sequencing program.

This means that you can program note performances directly from the SPD::ONE. It’s much more fun than using a keyboard and often produces more authentic results!