Roland Introduces Hybrid Drum System, Lets You Use Acoustic Drums As Sample Controllers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vmSLAXapNs

At the 2014 NAMM Show, Roland is introducing their Hybrid Drum System, based on the TM-2 Trigger Module. The system is designed to let you augment a traditional drum kit with electronic percussion, but lets you load your own sounds – so you can use drums as sample playback controllers, too.

The TM-2 Trigger Module offers two trigger inputs, supporting a wide variety of pads and drum triggers from Roland. The canned sounds are optimized for augmenting live acoustic drums. You can also trigger your own custom WAV sounds, loops, and backing tracks via an SDHC card.

By combining the TM-2 with products such as Roland’s BT-1 Bar Trigger Pad, KT-10 Kick Trigger Pedal, or RT-series acoustic drum triggers, you can create a hybrid drum kit that blends acoustic and electronic elements together.

This video provides an introduction to their Hybrid Drum System.

roland-tm-2Features:

  • Compact trigger module for acoustic drummers looking to enhance their kits with electronic percussion
  • Over 100 ready-to-play professional sounds, ranging from acoustic drums and percussion to modern electronic instruments
  • Includes many sounds and tonal elements designed for layering with acoustic drums, providing enhanced, high-impact sounds for playing live drums through a PA system
  • SDHC card slot lets users trigger their own WAV sounds stored on SDHC media, from one-shot samples and loop phrases to complete backing tracks
  • Two trigger inputs that support both single- and dual-trigger pads
  • Simple and intuitive user interface for creating and selecting kits
  • Process kits with powerful effects such as reverb, flanger, delay, and more
  • Compatible with Roland RT-series acoustic drum triggers and Roland percussion pads, including the BT-1 Bar Trigger Pad, KT-10 Kick Trigger Pedal, V-Pads, and V-Cymbals
  • Powered by batteries or included AC adapter; runs for up to four hours on four AA-size batteries
  • Included mounting plate allows the TM-2 to be attached to a hi-hat stand or drum rack with a standard multi-clamp
  • MIDI I/O for triggering sounds in external sound modules, capturing MIDI data in music software, and playing the TM-2 from other devices

Pricing and availability for the Roland TM-2 are to be announced.

14 thoughts on “Roland Introduces Hybrid Drum System, Lets You Use Acoustic Drums As Sample Controllers

    1. To be fair, they are dual inputs, so it is a whopping four triggers! Enough for a kick, a snare, a tom and a miscellaneous. I wonder how many of the 100 sounds are indeed miscellaneous. Battery-power is kind of handy, and the SD slot is a nice touch.

      It really is hard to imagine how this one got past the very first proposal phase without someone saying “where are the rest of the trigger ins?”

      Two more dual-ins and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

  1. wow 2 trigger inputs and 100 sounds …

    but aim still happy, when i read “roland … hybrid drum system … lets you use acoustic drums as .. controller” i thought this is about the new 808 and there was a biiiig WTF in my mind

    but in this case ..

  2. I just did this to my acoustic drumset with an arduino mega and 8 piezos. I used schematics from
    http://todbot.com/blog/2006/10/29/spooky-arduino-projects-4-and-musical-arduino/
    with a combination of his code and code from
    http://www.spikenzielabs.com/SpikenzieLabs/DrumKitKit.html

    It’s quite cool really, sends midi to my computer so I can trigger whatever sounds i want to.

    2 Inputs is absolutely moronic. Why bother?? Come on Roland… I would like to see the trigger modules though and where they recommend placing them

  3. -two triggers only is extremely limited
    -does it support multisampling?

    -if they can do this with 6-8 triggers/outs, it would be a lot more functional and wouldn’t need to be a whole lot bigger…don’t see how it gets on stage except in speed metal bands…

  4. Yea, even if they did the triggers with some kind of breakout cable, it wouldn’t have added to the size much.

    And good point about velocity switching on multi-samples, seems like that should be a must these days.

    Thanks, Timmm, for the links on your arduino build. That really does seem like a pretty powerful way to go. I’m now looking disapprovingly at my poor Raspberry Pi.

  5. So it’s like an Alesis SamplePad with only 2 trigger (instead of 5) but you can dislocate them in 2 points around the drumset? .. let’s wait the price.

  6. Let’s hope the price is reasonable… Two inputs doesn’t seem like a whole lot but I think they might end up pitching it as a way to beef up live kick and snare sounds.
    I can actually imagine this proving really useful if it winds up being a cheapish way of triggering samples with the kick in a live setting, might find a lot of use with live sound guys. Or you’d always have the option of adding a couple of bar triggers or whatever to add some synthy percussion sounds. I imagine the presets might have some velocity switching but I doubt you can add your own multi-velocity samples but we shall see. Colour me interested.

  7. I see this as more for gigging drummer that wants to beef up his snare and kick and add a few samples here or there, nothing too crazy. The battery power and small size are nice for a gig where you may have 10-15 mins carry and set up your kit and don’t want a bunch of extra cords. If you look into it a little more, it also has some “element” sounds that let you add more ring to your snare, or attack or sub-bass to your kick drum. I would like more trigger inputs, but since each trigger can be split, there are actually 4 triggers inputs. Would also be a good way to expand an existing setup.

  8. This would be interesting product for me IF it enabled the user to load their own velocity-layered samples. I think the unit might simply a basic “volume” algorithm to a single sample based on trigger velocity, but that’s not good enough for my needs. Velocity-layered custom samples, please!

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