Thanks to the excellent customer service of Tad Shaffer ,I think I got the best deal from the best dealers in Music stores (Sweetwater) !Im yet to explore the ocean on this.It doesn't come with many tones but being a sampler by itself is such an advantage that y9ou can add a lot of tones on it.Light weight but powerful.Roland manual is very limited & there are only a few videos on YouTube which sure did help.You would need accessories like pedals & stuff to get the best out of the SPD SX.

Just becoming familiar with my Roland drum sampler. I had a previous pad from a different manufacturer. As always pluses and minuses with new equipment. However, I like the ease with which you can program your own kits on your computer. I also really like the range in dynamics you get with each pad. On my other pad, while they advertised being touch sensitive, the range was about 1 to 3 (not much). I was constantly raising and lowering the volum on the job. With the SPD-SX, the range is much more vast (1 to 10). And it has the feel of a real drum. I'd definitely recommend it.

Very happy and grateful for their excellent service, initially with doubts when buying online, but now I feel confident in buying without any problem. Thank you so much!!!

i gladly insane to meet my new gear thanks you very much sweet water appreciate you

Mine came with 8GB internal memory. Note you can upgrade these yourself if you are handy, lots of you tube videos but I suspect a batch of these or all the new ones have 8GB as they probably can't get the little 2gig cards anymore. But you can go to 32 yourself if you are carefull and not afraid to open it.

Good quality and prompt delivery

This review has no reflection on Sweetwater! Sweetwater Rules! This refers only to the Roland SPD-X. I have always liked the quality and sound of Roland's hardware. I have a set of Pro V Drums... Love them! I have the SPD-30... Love it! However, The SPD-X is a pure disappointment! it's poorly constructed... Not even close to the SPD-30, which is of solid build quality! The sampling is good enough for performance, yet I would never use this for recording. I could go into deeper technical detail, but it would only be a waste of time. The unit often crashes when using several samples at once and layering rhythms. The internal sounds suck, so you really have to sample your own... which is fine. After all, it is a sampler. Overall... 2.5 Stars is being kind. Not sure if there's anything better out there in the market... I spent so much time programing this when I first got it, that I decided to keep it instead of sending it back. By the way, it's very user friendly. It works OK for limited performance use... but, unfortunately, i don't really trust it to be reliable. A Very Disappointing Piece of Hardware.

Simply a favorite! You can do anything with this machine and it is strong!
Save sets, sample live, playback... you name it! It is very stable!

This is a must have for any working drummer! I've used it for samples, backing tracks, triggers, and as a midi controller to run a light show; the possibilities are endless!

Works great with the RT triggers. Right now I have 4 triggers going into it with the 4 outputs set for kick, snare, toms together, and pads, so my drums sound great and I can still use the electronic samples I need.

As a midi controller, it can run my dmxis show buddy software which plays backing tracks and sends dmx to the lights. I can start and stop tracks, skip songs, etc. I don't even have to have the laptop on the stage!

It's also a great way to introduce electronics into your acoustic kit and add a level of dynamics to your playing that you've been missing. Definitely recommend!

This may be a state-of-the-art unit, fine. However, NOTHING about this unit "simple" or "easy". It is EXTREMELY complicated and definitely NOT for the average person. You definitely need some sort of degree to get this thing to work. Waste of money. BEWARE...

Hands down The Best.

What more can be said about what the reviews said? Theyr'e all true...got mine yesterday, and it SLAYS...the real point is this :

Jed and his customer service staff are the BEST in the industry that I've found. He spent over a month working with me to decide what was best for my kit and my band, and his knowledge was invaluable. I ended up spending more than I planned, but when I got what I ordered every penny was worth it.

I won't deal with any other companies after this positive experience (and I've dealt with them ALL and have quite a few bad ones). You really can't go wrong with Sweetwater!

Hands down the bed sampling pad. Has great presets, but there computer software makes editing and adding sounds and stems so easy! Any drummer that wants to expand there drumming THIS IS A MUST!

Sturdy. You can indeed hit it with sticks, unlike another reviewer said.
Edit your samples in Audacity or ProTools etc... Drag and drop them via the Roland s/w. Yes, the s/w feels more like a Roland in-house tool for testing. Indeed the s/w has its quarks, but suffices.

I just wish I could tell what pad has what on various single shot/drops. A personally find the UI display crappy.

It does what it sets out to do though, and is works great for longer samples/play-alongs.

Best sampler on the market

My son has been drumming since 7 yo. He is 16 now, self motivated and loves to drum. He worked hard this summer and wanted to upgrade his drum kit. He didn't make quite enough. So he went on to Sweetwater.com and spoke with some of his instructors to decide what would compliment his kit. He did his research. He decided on the Roland SPD-SX and so far, we are all impressed with its functionality and how much it adds to his repertoire. He loves speed metal mostly. But this has added so many new options. I can't thank Nathan, what we consider our personal sales engineer, enough for his assistance, encouragement and guidance in each of the purchases we have made from Sweetwater.com. We understand there are options to purchase equipment out there. You all just seem to make it fun, cost effective and part of the team in helping a young drummer improve on his gig. Thank you.

sounds great easy-to-use setup it works

I must say the Roland SPD-SX is a amazing Instrument, not only a great Percussion Pad but a Fantastic sampler which is very user friendly. What is even more impressive is the great Staff at Sweetwater. I have been a client of David Mikautadze for more than four years and in that time I must say David has been there for me when ever I decided to purchase or ask advice about any product that Sweetwater carries. It's great to know that if you have a problem the Staff at Sweetwater in all departments are great to work with before the sale as well after which is even more important to me. That's why I consider them to be the number one on my list for all my Music needs.

What a great sampler , I have never used one before and I find this unit very easy to use and lots of fun also. it adds so many things to my td-30 drum kit Never have to worry about being board I'm always finding new things to sample and ways to use them . I said it once and I'll say it again , I LOVE YOU ROLAND thanks for great products

The item is good. But not user friendly. The company should provide us some detailed video on the settings and all, so that new user can learn how to use this. Now, it is just like "a dog got a full coconut and it can't eat".

I'm a heavy-hitting drummer and moved to the SPD-SX as my primary instrument. I love being able to load-in drum samples -- rock sounds, hip hop sounds, dubstep sounds, any sounds I want. It's really great.

However, I've had 2 units die while on stage. The rubber pad on top came undone on both units (I ended up having to duct tape it down). Then the little LED covers in the rubber get lost under the rubber, causing the whole thing to get lumpy and mis-trigger. I had to carefully shake the loose parts out of the device. Then later, one of the pads stopped responding so I had to re-assign pads mid-gig. Then eventually, the whole unit died while on stage (happened twice, one time on stage in front of 800 people - I had to beat-box the rest of the set (true story)).

If you buy this, 1) play it lightly. Don't use mallets or heavy sticks. 2) Get the an extended warranty (usually that's a waste of money, but not with the SPD-SX -- it will end up breaking if you play it like a real drum set most likely).

Pros:
- Good computer software for loading in samples via USB
- Easy to program
- Responsive pads
- Activity lights on pads are a nice touch
- Huge 2GB memory -- you'll never run out of space
- Real-time effects knobs are awesome, a game-changer (envelope filter!)
- The stand (sold separately) is great. I play it standing up.

Cons:
- Fragile, will break
- Rubber pad comes undone with normal usage & is hard to re-attach
- Built-in sounds are not good (you'll want to buy/load in your own samples)
- I wish the volume knob were bigger/easier to see like the effects knobs

I'm getting a third unit (third time's a charm?) and will try playing it more lightly. If it fails again, I'll take a look at the Yamaha DTX-MULTI 12 (which looks like better hardware, but only 64MB of memory and no real-time effects knobs).

I've also had an Alesis SamplePad. It's great and indestructible, and uses external memory (so you can have unlimited samples). It's also a lot less expensive. But the SamplePad doesn't have polyphony -- if you hit 2 pads at the exact same time, only one of them will play. Which makes it pretty much unusable as a primary instrument (it may be okay as just an add-on to your regular drums). I wish Alesis would make a unit with polyphony and more pads.

Still, I'm gonna try the SPD-SX again. Really, the only thing keeping me away from the Yamaha, is the Yamaha's lack of real-time effects knobs. I didn't think I'd need those, but turns out they're crucial if you play any kind of dance music (crank the envelope filter, then slowly decrease, then - BAM! turn off the filter for the DROP, crowd goes wild).

I hope Roland is reading this and improves this device, which has a ton of potential.

If you want to buy this because it has more memory or looks better than the SPD-S, then go ahead. On the other hand, if you want this because of the "software" that supposedly makes managing the samples a breeze, forget it. The software is so painful to use that it only makes the SPD-SX marginally better than the SPD-S at best. Completely rigid sample requirements (must be 44.1khz 16bit, and even then sometimes it is picky), defensive user interface ("are you SURE you want to do what you just tried to do?" on almost everything you try to do, even de-assigning a sample for example), clunky previewing of samples (you can preview a single sample but not a pad where you layered two samples?), lack of any batch operation (like clear sample assignments on all pads for example), just to mention a few things that come to mind right away. There isn't a better peer to this on the market that I know of, and its very cool on many levels, I just wish the software was more modern and much more friendly for setting up lots of new kits quickly. The process can be so slow that it gets quite tedious clicking "yes i am sure i want to de-assign this sample" over and over. All that being said, the SPD-SX is still far better than other attempts in this space. The software team could benefit from expanding their usability tests to include making bulk operations faster and more convenient. The faster it is to make vast amounts of new patches, the better value the SPD-SX offers. A big software UI upgrade would be great!

I bought the SPD-SX as an upgrade for an older SPD-S. I've used a drum pad as part of my live kit for at least seven years and I went with the SPD pads because I absolutely have to have the ability to load my own samples. So far the SPD-SX is performing great. The pads do have a slightly spongier feel than the SPD-S, but It didn't take too long to get used to. I really like the ease of the metronome feature and the expanded size of the sample memory. It's easy to program, and the sample management software (Mac & PC Compatible) makes it a snap to get your own sounds loaded into the unit and assigned to the pads of your choice. I knocked off a half a star because of the power cord. I'm just not a fan "lump-in-the-line" power cords. Overall though the unit is everything I expected.

so much cool stuff to do with this. your own samples and then easy transfer makes creating unique and cool sounds a breeze. the effects really turn it up for the live game.

I use this as an accessory to my V Drums for live shows. This is the missing link. The only reason I didn't give this a five star rating is the controls are near the playing surface, which is a little intimidating if you're playing hard and want to strike a sample to play, I usually assign them to the top row so I strike with the side of the stick to play. I also purchased the MIDI cable to connect my Roland TD-10 and can play the sampled bytes by striking a V Drum pad or rim. (I'm surprised their isn't a shatterproof cover that folds down over the controls, one bad hit and it would be game over).

I just received my SPD-SX and I am very pleased out of the box. The onboard sounds are great and the sampling capability should meet most player/composer needs. It is light weight, yet very sturdy. The pads are soft gum, quiet and have a nice feel. I have feeling I will have to work very hard to exceed the capability of the unit. Clearly I will need to leverage external storage at some point.

My only reason for giving 4 stars versus 5 is ease of use and control layout. This is not to suggest that the product is not easy to use, but I think we have become very use the Steve Jobs/Apple model of simple, easy and intuitive. For example, I immediately was looking for a start/stop button. I pushed start, but it controlled the click track.

My comments are meant not to discourage people from purchasing the product, but rather to encourage Roland and other companies to aspire for amazing simplicity and ease of use.

With said, I think Roland has set the new standard in this category and I imagine Alesis and Yamaha will not be far behind.

Thanks to Ryan Murphy and the team at Sweetwater for the great customer service!

Peace, love and drums! David