Roland TD30 Easy Operation Guide

Easy Operation Guide

Before using this unit, carefully read the sections entitled: “USING THE UNIT SAFELY” and
“IMPORTANT NOTES” (Owner’s Manual). These sections provide important information concerning
the proper operation of the unit. Additionally, in order to feel assured that you have gained a
good grasp of every feature provided by your new unit, Owner’s Manual should be read in its
entirety. The manual should be saved and kept on hand as a convenient reference.

Copyright © 2012 ROLAND CORPORATION

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in
any form without the written permission of ROLAND CORPORATION.

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2

Start by Setting-Up

This Easy Operation Guide explains basic use of the TD-30.

Before you proceed, read “Setup” (p. 35–44) in the “TD-30 Owner’s Manual,” and set up, connect, and
adjust the TD-30 as directed.

Choose a Drum Kit

Drum kit screen

The TD-30 contains 100 dierent drum kits, and you can switch between them simply
by pressing a button.

1

Press

2

The drum kit screen will appear when you press the [KIT] button.
This screen shows the drum kit name and other information.

See the Owner’s Manual “Setup” (p. 35–44)

Drum kit number Drum kit name

Eect on/o

Function buttons (F1–F5)

What are drum kits and instruments?

On the TD-30, a “drum kit” is a set of
sounds (instruments) assigned to the
various pads. The sound you hear when
you strike a pad is called an “instrument.”

Drum Kit

Instrument

“Kit Chain” — great for live performances

“Kit Chain” is a function that recalls drum kits in the order you specify. This is very

useful when you are performing live. For details, refer to “Specifying the Order

in Which Drum Kits will be Recalled (CHAIN)” (p. 51) in the Owner’s Manual.

Press to select a
drum kit

3

Adjust the Volume

On the TD-30, not only the overall volume but also the individual volume of each pad can be easily adjusted from the
front panel.

Volume controls

Here’s how to adjust the overall volume of the entire TD-30.

Headphone volume

Output volume

The [MIX IN] knob adjusts the volume of
the device that’s connected to the rear
panel MIX IN jack.

If you connect your portable
audio player to the MIX IN
jack, you can enjoy practicing
the drums while listening to
your favorite music.

See the Owner’s Manual “Selecting a Drum Kit” (p. 46)

Adjusting the volume of each pad

Use the group faders to adjust the volume of each pad.

It’s a good idea to start by setting the faders to the “0” position before you start
adjusting the volume.

By pressing the [FADER]
button, the function of the
faders changes as shown in
the chart.

An LED will light up at the
upper and lower left of the
faders, indicating which set
of sounds is active.

See the Owner’s Manual “Using The Group Faders” (p. 28)

Upper indicator

KICK Kick volume

SNARE Snare volume

TOMS Volume of all toms

HI-HAT Hi-hat volume

CRASH Volume of all crash cymbals

RIDE Ride cymbal volume

AUX

AMBIENCE Amount of ambience

Lower indicator

AUX 1–4

CLICK Volume of the click sound

PATTERN Pattern playback volume

USB SONG USB song volume

AMBIENCE Amount of ambience

Volume of all pads connected to the AUX 1–4 jacks

Volume of individual pads connected to the
AUX 1–4 jacks

P

I

S

T

Pad

Head shot

Rim shot

Cross stick

Playing with
brushes

Various Performance Techniques

Hi-Hat

Hit only the head of the pad.

Change the nuance by the strike position

For a snare drum, the tone will change naturally as
you move the strike location from the center of the
head toward the rim.

Strike the head and the rim of the pad
simultaneously.

Change the nuance of the rim shot

With certain snare and tom sounds, slight changes
in the way you play rim shots changes the nuance
of the sound.

Only strike the rim of the pad.

With snare sounds, you can produce separate sounds
with the rim shot and cross stick techniques.

To play the cross stick, be sure that you only strike
the rim of the pad.

Hint

If you want to use the cross stick technique, press the [F5]
(XSTICK) button while the drum kit screen is displayed to
highlight the “XSTICK” as shown in the illustration.

* Some snare sounds do not support cross stick.

Scrape the head with a brush.

When performing with brushes, select the

“19 Brushes” drum kit.

* Use nylon brushes.

Open/closed

Pressure
(VH-13, VH-12)

Bow shot

Edge shot

TD-30 produces the full dynamic range of the sounds being played, from the most gentle ghost
notes to powerful rim shots. Positional sensing, cymbal chokes, cross-sticking on the snare and
delicate buzz rolls are all possible.

Cymbal

Move the hi-hat pedal up and down,
and strike the hi-hat.

The sound will change smoothly between open and
closed.

You can also play the foot closed sound (playing the
hi-hat with the pedal completely pressed down) and
foot splash sound (playing the hi-hat with the pedal
fully pressed and then instantly opening it).

From the closed position, advance
the pedal even farther and strike the
hi-hat.

This lets you play closed sounds that change
according to how strongly you advance the pedal.

Hit the striking surface of the top
hi-hat.

The head sound will play.

Use the shoulder of the stick to strike
the edge of the top hi-hat.

The rim sound will be produced when you strike
the area where the edge sensor is located—the
area marked with a dashed line in the illustration.

* Striking directly on the edge (i.e., exactly from the side) will not produce the correct

sound.

* Do not strike the bottom of the top hi-hat, and do not strike the bottom hi-hat.

Bow shot

Edge shot

Bell shot
(CY-15R, CY-13R)

Choke play

* Some pads do not support all of the techniques listed below (such as strike

position detection). For details on the techniques supported by each pad, refer to
the table in “Selecting the Pad Type (BANK)” (p. 126) of the Owner’s Manual.

Hit the striking surface of the
cymbal.

The head sound will play.

Change the nuance by the
strike position

With certain ride sounds, the nuance of the
sound will change depending on where
you strike the bow section.

Use the shoulder of the stick to
strike the edge of the cymbal.

The rim sound will be produced when you
strike the area where the edge sensor is
located—the area marked with a dashed
line in the illustration.

Strike the bell area.

The rim sound will be produced when
you strike the bell area, as shown in the
illustration.

Strike the bell somewhat strongly with the
shoulder of the stick.

Roland logo

Choking the cymbal’s edge with
the hand immediately after
hitting the cymbal makes the
sound stop.

Choke the location of the edge sensor
shown in the gure. If you choke an area
where there is no sensor, the sound does
not stop.

Newly Developed V-Drums SuperNATURAL Sound Engine

Roland takes digital drums to a new height with the implementation of its exclusive SuperNATURAL
concept. The best electronic drums in the world just got better. Improved dynamics and sensitivity make
every nuance of playing drums feel even more natural, no matter what your musical style might be.

Playing feel and sound

The TD-30 features vastly improved trigger response, dynamics, and positional sensing. The result is an
even more obvious and natural reaction between the player and the sound.

Snare drum

A smoother transition in sound reaction between head shots
and rim shots. The snare drum perfectly responds to exactly
how and where the drummer plays. The dynamics, positional
sensing, and even the transition between full and shallow
rim shots has become smoother.

Crash cymbals

Be it delicate playing, swell rolls, or powerful crash shots, the
contrasts in dynamic sound reactions are more discernable
than ever.

Ride cymbal

Enhanced dynamics and positional sensing make for a
wonderfully natural feel and sound variations, be it up­tempo jazz playing or straight-on rock.

Smooth response for
cymbal edge rolls

Snare roll/playing position

Drum sound reaction

When playing fast open rolls, ams, or ghost-style, single
handed buzz rolls, the sound remains continuous in-between
each hit. And press/closed rolls sound even smoother with the
snare buzz resonance reacting in a natural way.

Hi-Hat control

When playing the hi-hat from a fully open position and slowly
closing it, a perfectly smooth transition in sound is achieved.
Playing in the half-open position or even in a slightly open
position, the sound remains constant. And the foot-closed
sounds and foot splashes are easier to control.

The new V-Hi-Hat VH-13 features an improved motion sensor.
Combined with advances in trigger technology, the VH-13
provides an even more natural response.

What are SuperNATURAL Tones?

Taking advantage of Behavior Modeling Technology, SuperNATURAL is
Roland’s exclusive sound set that achieves a new level of realism and
expression that were dicult to realize with previous sound generators.

Ambience section

How the drummer hears himself and how the drum sounds are heard within the music have been given
priority, and by taking advantage of enhanced DSP power, a new ambience section has been created.
On the front panel of the TD-30 there is a dedicated fader for the overall ambience balance.

Overhead mic

For recording drums in the studio, placement of the overhead mics is a
must to guarantee a natural presence and brightness in the sound.

Room ambience

You can adjust the room size and the room mic position within a choice
of room types that include a concert hall, studio, club, arena, etc.

Reverb

A customized reverb has been specially created for the snare, kick, and
toms, helping them to musically blend together inside the music in an
even more natural way.

Behavior Modeling Technology

Not only physical modeling of the instruments, Roland takes it a step further by modeling the
instrument’s distinctive behavior that responds to how the performer plays, resulting in true-to-life,
expressive sounds in realtime.

With 1,100 sounds on board, a huge choice of ways to modify them by using individual eq, compressors, kit ambience, multi eects, mic position adjustments etc, the

4

Create a Drum Kit

TD-30 oers a sound creation potential for all aspects of drumming performance, be it in the studio or on stage.

Basic procedure Select a pad

Easy Operation Guide

Cursor

Return to the upper-level screen.

Move the cursor in the
display.

Execute the function shown in the bottom of the display.

Change the value at
the cursor.

Select an Instrument

You can change the sound (“instrument,” such as snare or kick) played by each pad.

1

Press

Select a pad

2

Refer to “Select a
pad” in this guide.

Select an Instrument

3

The instrument group is shown above, and
the instrument is shown below. Use the cursor
buttons and the dial to make changes.

The edit screens for each pad (for example the screen that appears when you press the [INST] button) show the number and name of the trigger
jack to which the selected pad is connected. Here’s how to select the pad that you want to edit.

This is the number and name of the trigger jack. The initial character “H” or “R”
indicates whether the settings are for the head or the rim of the pad.

You can press the [H & R] (F5) button to edit both the head and rim values simultaneously.

To make settings for a pad, you can
select that pad by striking it.

The [LOCK] button locks the pad
selection for editing so that it won’t
change if you accidentally touch a
dierent pad.

You can also use these buttons to
select a trigger number. The number
will increment or decrement each
time you press a button.

The “rim” is selected if the [RIM]
button is lit, and the “head” is
selected if the button is unlit.

What are the head and rim?

Head Rim

How do I return a drum kit to its factory settings?

You can restore it to its factory settings as follows.

Press the buttons in the following order:

[SHIFT]+[USB MEN] (COPY)

In the screen that appears, specify the “Preset” that you want to restore and
the number of the writing­destination “User” kit.

[F1] (KIT) [F2] (PRESET).

See the Owner’s Manual “Selecting an Instrument” (p. 54)

Edit an Acoustic Drum Sound (V-EDIT)

You can edit the sound intuitively just as you would for an acoustic drum; for example you can select your favorite head, tune it, and attach muing (mute).

1

Press

+

Select a pad

2

Refer to “Select a
pad” in this guide.

See the Owner’s Manual “Editing an Instrument’s Settings (EDIT)” (p. 56)

Edit the Eects

The TD-30 provides ve types of eects as described in “What each eect does” at the right.

Turning each eect on/o

1

Press

+

Press [F1] – [F5]

2

to turn ON/OFF

Editing each eect

Press the button shown in the illustration to access the corresponding eect screen. For details about editing procedure, refer to “Eects” (p. 67) in the Owner’s Manual.

Ambience

Multi-eect

You can use a “group fader”
to adjust the amount of
ambience.

Press the buttons in the
following order:

[F5] (COPY)

How do I return all drum kits to their factory settings?

See the Owner’s Manual “Restoring the Factory Settings (F RESET)” (p. 122).

[F5] (EXECUTE).

What each eect does

Compressor (COMP)

The compressor can be applied to each pad individually.

It can be used to obtain a more powerful-sounding tone.

EQ (equalizer)

This is a three-band (high, mid, low) equalizer that can
be applied to each pad. It’s used to adjust the tonal
character.

Ambience section (AMBIENCE)

This produces an ambience (room reverberation) that’s
ideal for drum sounds. You can adjust the overhead mics
(mic position), the room ambience (type and size of
room), and the reverberation.

5

Compressor

EQ (equalizer)

See the Owner’s Manual “Eects” (p. 67)

Master compressor

Adjusting the Volume and Pan of the Pads (Mixer)

You can adjust the volume and pan of each pad individually for every kit. While the “Group faders” explained on the other side of this guide are used to make
temporary adjustments to the TD-30’s overall balance, the mixer allows you to save settings for each individual kit.

1

Press

Play Back WAV or MP3 Files from a USB Flash Drive

Select a pad Adjust the

2

Refer to “Select a
pad” in this guide.

3 3

volume

Adjust the pan

The TD-30 can play back WAV or MP3 les from your USB ash drive. You
can use this to practice the drums while listening to your favorite music.

Multi-eect (MULTI EFFECTS)

This is a powerful multi-eect unit that you can use to
modify your sound, for example by distorting it or by
adding depth and spaciousness.

Master compressor (MASTER COMP)

This eect is used for mastering. It smooths out the
peaks when recording, making the overall tonal
character more consistent.

See the Owner’s Manual “Mixer” (p. 65)

Before you continue, use your computer to copy the audio les (WAV or MP3) to the root directory of your USB ash drive. For
details on the formats that can be played, refer to “Song Player” (p. 85) in the Owner’s Manual.

1

Press

How do I change the speed?

1

Press

(SPEED)

2

2

Press
to select
“USB”

Adjust
the speed

3

You can view a list of songs

Select
a song

+

You can even use a foot switch or pad to play/stop the song

You can use a foot switch (separately sold) or pad to select a song from the USB ash drive,
and start or stop playback. This is ideal for live performance.

See the Owner’s Manual “Assigning a Function to a Footswitch or Pad (CONTROL)” (p. 117)

See the Owner’s Manual “Song Player” (p. 85)

Playback

4

Use V-Drums Friend Jam

V-Drums Friend Jam is a drummer’s

social networking tool that lets you
use the V-Drums and your computer
to enjoy practicing/competing
with friends around the world.
Practice songs can be automatically
downloaded from the internet, and
you can upload your score to Twitter.

Access http://vdru.ms/ and
download it.

5

Stop

Using your USB ash drive

In the V-Drums Friend Jam
screen where you select a
song, click the [Save the

data of this box] to save the

MP3 les. Copy them in the
root directory of your USB
ash drive, and then you can
play them back as practice
songs on the TD-30.

6

Listen to the Patterns

1

How do I change the tempo?

1

Press

Press

2

2

The TD-30 contains phrases called “patterns” which you can easily play back. By letting a preview pattern play while you switch kits, you can audition the sounds without having to
strike the drums yourself. It’s also convenient to leave a pattern playing while editing a kit’s sounds or eects.

Press
to select
“PTN”

Adjust
the tempo

3

Select
a pattern
(song)

How do I sound a click?

1

+

4

Turn the
click sound
ON/OFF

Playback

Stop

5

See the Owner’s Manual “Pattern Sequencer” (p. 89)

See the Owner’s Manual “Tempo” (p. 81)