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tarrtime « Great e-drum trigger converter »
Published on 03/07/13 at 11:07I purchased the Roland TD-3 module as part of the TD-3 e-drum kit. I have been really happy with out the module has working for the past several years. In my set up, I have e-drum trigger pads that go into the TD-3. Then I use the module to turn the trigger information into MIDI notes. I use the MIDI out from the TD-3 to go into my DAW interface to record my drum performances.
It took a while to get the module set up to trigger correctly with the pads. Things like pad sensitivity and threshold need to be set based on how hard the drummer hits the pads. The TD-3 is not the most intuitive interface for making this changes. I had to look through the manual to figure out how it works. Since then, I haven't had any problems with incorrect triggering or cross-talk or anything.
My opinion is that the drum sample sounds in the TD-3 are unusable. They basically suffer from the "machine gun" effect where every drum it sounds the same. This makes the drums sound fake. My recommendation would be to use e-drums to trigger a drum sampler on a computer (superior drummer, BFD2, Steven Slate Drums 4, addictive drums, NI Studio Drummer, etc.) rather than using a drum module. This way you will have a much better sounding drum performance than using the stock sounds in the TD-3.
The TD-3 has lasted me for many years, and I fully expect it to last for many more years. It is made of plastic which does seem to be a little less reliable that a solid metal chassis. Nonetheless, if you take good care of it, I doubt that it will break.
It took a while to get the module set up to trigger correctly with the pads. Things like pad sensitivity and threshold need to be set based on how hard the drummer hits the pads. The TD-3 is not the most intuitive interface for making this changes. I had to look through the manual to figure out how it works. Since then, I haven't had any problems with incorrect triggering or cross-talk or anything.
My opinion is that the drum sample sounds in the TD-3 are unusable. They basically suffer from the "machine gun" effect where every drum it sounds the same. This makes the drums sound fake. My recommendation would be to use e-drums to trigger a drum sampler on a computer (superior drummer, BFD2, Steven Slate Drums 4, addictive drums, NI Studio Drummer, etc.) rather than using a drum module. This way you will have a much better sounding drum performance than using the stock sounds in the TD-3.
The TD-3 has lasted me for many years, and I fully expect it to last for many more years. It is made of plastic which does seem to be a little less reliable that a solid metal chassis. Nonetheless, if you take good care of it, I doubt that it will break.