TD-30 capabilities

[downrod]

Does the TD-30 module give you the capability to build a kit by copying intruments from other TD-30 kits?
For example- If I like the bass drum sound on one kit and the snare drum sound from another, can you copy those instuments from kits and piece together your own user kit with those instruments?

[SiliconDrummer]

Yes, you can use the copy instrument function. See page 63 of your TD-30 owners manual for instructions on "Copying an Instrument"

-SD-

[TangTheHump]

Yep. On the front panel of the TD-30, hold the Shift button and press the USB Mem button. The functions for copying an instrument from one kit to another are found under these pages.

[downrod]

Excellent! Thanks. I read through the manual and find the instruction there, to be vague. Do I have to set up an empty user kit first and then copy the instruments into that kit? The manual only speaks to generic copy souce and copy destination. I will play with it tonight and see what I can come up with. Appreciate the info very much!

[TangTheHump]

downrod,

The copy instrument functions (found in the Copy pages accessed by pressing Shift + USB Mem) allow you to copy instruments from user kits and from ROM storage. The destination can be any instrument of any user kit. Thus, you can copy instruments from kits that aren't even loaded (i.e. from the ROM, such as default kits for the TD-20, TD-20X, and TD-30). You can also copy instruments from any user kit so if you've modified an instrument and want to use it elsewhere, this is possible. The critical thing to be careful of is the destination. If you copy an instrument to the wrong destination, whatever was there previously is blown away. There is no undo mechanism and hence no way to get it back... well, unless you have backup of your module. Make sure the destination is correct before going ahead with the copy operation.

Edited to add:
The USB memory management and copy functions are grouped rather oddly, and it doesn't help that Roland removed the dedicated Copy button that previous flagship modules had. I use the Copy functions to copy instruments and other settings all time - this is probably one of the most used functions on the TD-30. Thus, I'm surprised Roland removed the dedicated button, which obfuscates this feature.

You make full module backups and individual kit backups using the USB Mem button. You can restore either type of backup using this same button. However, if you want to restore an individual kit from a full module backup, you have to use the Copy function (which is found by pressing Shift + USB Mem). To make matters even more confusing, if you want to backup and restore sequencer patterns, this isn't found under USB Mem or Copy. And it's not found under the USB PTN button either! You have to go into each sequence, press the Edit button for that sequence, and that's where you'll find functions for backing up and restoring sequence patterns. Confused yet? I sure was. It would have been nice if all the backup, restore, and copy functions were found in one place so it's no wonder the manual confused you a tad.

Before you copy instruments around, I highly recommend making a full module backup. Use the USB Mem button to do this. While copying instruments, if you accidentally bugger up a kit, you can reload that kit from your backup using the Copy function, found by pressing Shift + USB Mem. The functions for copying instruments are also found under Shift + USB Mem. Hope this helps. :-)