TD-6 review, Pt. 2

[Mick Wade]

Well, I've finally got my greedy little hands on it and after reading the manual and setting it up with my existing kit I've basically come to the conclusion that the TD-6 is basically just a TD-8 with a few less features. I'm totally happy with my purchase. In fact, it would really be a lot easier for me to detail the differences between the TD-8 and the TD-6 as opposed to their similarities. And on that note.....

1. All 9 of the TD-6's jacks are dual-trigger with the exception of the 5/6 and 7/8 jacks, which are set up for use with an insert cable, and the 1 Kick jack, which is single-trigger.
2. The Mix In and Phone jacks are 1/8" instead of 1/4".
3. The four demo songs (Creole1, Creole2, TC R&B, and Snag Ltn) are different than the ones on the TD-8.
4. The TD-6 has no scroll wheel, which makes moving through kits and songs a bit of a pain in the ass, but it's nothing MIDI won't solve.
5. Page 36 of the manual gives a table of recommended parameters for all the pads that Roland currently manufactures. Both Basic and Advanced trigger parameters are listed.
6. The click sound can be changed, but it cannot be routed to "headphone only". The click comes through both the headphone jack and the main outs.
7. Many of the patterns and songs from the TD-8 are present in the TD-6, but they are all referred to as "songs" in the TD-6. There are 150 preset and 100 user slots. All of the available stand-alone patterns used can be found on the TD-8, but there are a few songs that are unique to the TD-6 contained as well.
8. The pitch scale is +/-480.
9. The TD-6 does not have the "Beach" ambient setting.
10. The TD-6 has 10 preset percussion sets, and their contents cannot be changed. There are no user percussion sets, compared to two on the TD-8.
11. This might be a typo and I haven't checked this on the module itself, but the maximum number of recordable measures for a given song is 999 (!).
12. All the V-editable sounds that are on the TD-8 are present on the TD-6, except that the sound editing parameters are the same for everything: Level, Pitch, Decay and Pan.
13. Mesh pads are compatible with the TD-6.

And that pretty much covers it. I just wanted to point out some things that possibly hadn't been mentioned in other TD-6-related posts so as to not repeat a bunch of information. Don't let the color or shape fool you--the TD-6 is a good piece of gear. It's even working great with my Dauz pads, much to my surprise....

So, once again, if you guys have any other questions about the TD-6, you know where to find me!

Cheers!

Mick

[João Veríssimo]

Thanks again, Mick.
After reading the other review you sent, i ended up ordering the TD-6K. I think i´ll have it in about a week.

Mick, Harlock, and Drummersdad: thanks for having answered my questions.

I´m really excited about this... after all, it´s my first electronic kit. I´m going E-!

Thanks.

[cpgrossman]

Mick: can you post page 36 here. It would be a help. Thank you ---Clay

[@oM]

Hey Mick, thanks for the reviews.
When you have some time left, could you maybe record some mp3's?

Have lots of fun with your td-6!

[cliff]

The PD-120 is not dual zone even in the snare input. I tried this out and called Roland and they confirmed.

[MPCman]

Mick you rule

[Mick Wade]

Clay, ask and ye shall receive. Here is the table of recommended parameters on page 36 of the TD-6 manual:

KEY: TT=Trigger Type, S=Sensitivity, T=Threshold, XC=Crosstalk Cancel, ST=Scan Time, RC=Retrigger Cancel, MT=Mask Time, RS=Rim Sensitivity

All Trigger Curves are listed as Linear.

KICK TRIGGERS

KD-5: TT:KD-7, S:8, T:5, XC:20, ST: 2.0, RC:5, MT:8
KD-7: same as KD-5 above
KD-80: TT: KD Type, S:10, T:4, XC:20, ST:2.0, RC:5, MT:4
KD-120: same as KD-80 above

PADS

(Note: Retrigger Cancel and Mask Time for all pads are listed as 3 and 4, respectively. With the sole exception of the PD-120, which has a value of 20, all Crosstalk Cancel settings are 40.)

PD-5: TT:PD7/9, S:8, T:3, ST:0.5
PD-6: TT:PD6, S:7, T:3, ST:1.0
PD-7: same as PD-5 above
PD-9: same as PD-5 above
PD-80: TT:PD80/100, S:8, T:3, ST:1.0
PD-80R: TT:PD80R, S:8, T:1, ST:1.0, RS:11
PD-100: same as PD-80 above
PD-120: TT:PD120, S:9, T:1, ST:1.6, RS:7

CYMBALS

CY-6: TT:CY6, S:10, T:3, XC:30, ST:2.0, RC:3, MT:8
CY-12H: TT:CY Type, S:10, T:3, XC:0.5, RC:3, MT:8
CY-14C: same as CY-12H above
CY-15R: same as CY-12H above

OTHERS

TT:Other 1, S:8, T:3, XC:40, ST:1.5, RC:3, MT:4
TT:Other 2, S:8, T:3, XC:40, ST:3.0, RC:3, MT:8
TT:AcDrTrig, S:12, T:5, XC:40, ST:3.0, RC:3, MT:12

There you have it, gang! Hope this helps. I have a funny feeling we're going to be referring a lot of people to this chart ......

Cheers!

Mick

[Mick Wade]

Good information as always, feefer. I have to concur with what cliff said about using a PD-120 with the #2 Snare input jack--it does not support rim and head triggering both. I tried it out with my own PD-120. I then plugged the cord into a PD-7 pad and got both triggers. So, as feefer said, in order to gain rim and head triggers using the Snare input on the TD-6 you must use a piezo/FSR pad (PD-7/9) as opposed to a dual-piezo (PD-80R/120) model.

However, just for kicks I plugged my PD-120 into the #4 Tom 1 jack and got a layered tom and cymbal sound which triggered from both head and rim! Now, I realize that this may be a result of the factory settings being used in combination with this particular type of pad, but it poses an interesting paradox nonetheless:

If the TD series modules are intrinsically unable to do layering of sounds, how was what I accomplished possible? Assuming that it was just a result of improper trigger settings, then the question becomes; why would Roland make the PD-120 dual-trigger compatible with a tom jack and not a snare jack? Granted, Roland has some curious philosophies about drum module manufacture , but this one strikes me as a little too curious.

The manual is very misleading about this whole PD-120/Snare input thing. In fact, it states (twice, even!) on page 37 "when using rim shots on the PD-80R or PD-120, connect the pad to TRIGGER INPUT 2 (SNARE)."

All right, more controversy! It's good to see that some things just don't ever change around here!.......

[naz]

Can anybody tell me how the sonic output quality on the new TD-6 is compared to the TD-8? I am curious to know if Roland is using 16-bit, 18, 20, or 24-bit samples and if the new TD-6's D/A convertors on the audio outs offer any improvement over the TD-8 or TD-10. Thanks.

Jack

[Mick Wade]

Originally posted by naz:
Can anybody tell me how the sonic output quality on the new TD-6 is compared to the TD-8? I am curious to know if Roland is using 16-bit, 18, 20, or 24-bit samples and if the new TD-6's D/A convertors on the audio outs offer any improvement over the TD-8 or TD-10. Thanks.

Jack

The only adjustment I've made to my TD-6 since I got it Friday is to have it receive Program Change messages from my TD-8 and sequencer, so everything I've done so far is with its settings straight out of the box. What I'll tell you based on that is that the TD-6 is firing nice, hot signals and that the sounds are the exact same ones found on the TD-8 both quality and quantity-wise. So if you like the TD-8 in that respect, then you won't be disappointed with the TD-6. I'm afraid I don't know what the bit resolution of the sounds is, and I haven't found it in the manual yet....

Okay, here's the deal on the PD-120/TD-6 thing: it seems to definitely come down to matching the right type of pad with the right type of input. I plugged my PD-120 into every jack on the TD-6 and then did the same thing with a PD-7, using a stereo cable in both instances.

The PD-7 triggered head and rim in all the pads it was supposed to (i.e. Snare, Hi-hat, Tom 1, Crash 1, Crash 2, and Ride). Jacks 5/6 (Tom 2/Aux) and 7/8 (Tom 3/Tom 4) are set up to be single trigger or to work with two pads per jack if an insert cable is used.

The PD-120, on the other hand, would only get rim and head sounds using the 5/6 and 7/8 jacks. It would appear that this is because the PD-120 is a dual-piezo pad as opposed to being a piezo/FSR pad like the PD-7. So, if you want to use a PD-120 as a snare pad in conjunction with the TD-6, my advice is to plug it into one of these jacks.

I need to make a correction to one of my earlier posts:

"However, just for kicks I plugged my PD-120 into the #4 Tom 1 jack and got a layered tom and cymbal sound which triggered from both head and rim!"

I found out I was actually plugged into the 5/6 jack and I suspect that the "layering" effect was just a result of the improper trigger settings being used. Again, I've yet to make any adjustments to my TD-6 in that regard.

I apologize for the error and for any confusion this may have caused .

Mick

[ToBiMaN]

That "layering" may be crosstalk of the 2 piezos in the pad.

[Drummersdad]

Thanks much for the reviews, Mick! Although the TD-6 sounds great for many purposes, it is a shame that it has been ?purposely crippled to not work fully with the PD120 as snare. This really limits the upgrade path for newbies, don't you think? Instead of creating value, sounds like Roland created some frustration at this price point.

[MPCman]

Originally posted by Drummersdad:
Thanks much for the reviews, Mick! Although the TD-6 sounds great for many purposes, it is a shame that it has been ?purposely crippled to not work fully with the PD120 as snare. This really limits the upgrade path for newbies, don't you think? Instead of creating value, sounds like Roland created some frustration at this price point.

I think the TD-6 has very much value already, it has all the TD-8 sounds. The price difference got to be noticable somewhere!

[cliff]

Harlock,
The PD-120 has been tried already and does not work. The first thing I did when I demo'd the TD-6 was to plug in the 120. I even called Roland and they confirmed my findings which I immediately posted on this group.

[Drummersdad]

Originally posted by cliff:
The PD-120 has been tried already and does not work (with the TD6).

Yes I know - we heard it first from Cliff! I thought you must have been smokin something when you first reported it! Seems like a very odd way to cripple the unit so that it did not compete with the TD8/10. I will cease and desist from recommending it to ANYONE.

You want to know what would have been a cool way to position this product? Make it like a TD8, but without the extra inputs for 2nd crash, 4th Tom, Aux - and then offer a side mounted expansion box with tons of inputs that could make it a TD8++ for an extra $250. Now that would have been value to a person starting out. Sort of like selling a 5 piece kit and giving you an option to upgrade to a monster 9 piece kit later on. Don't start out by selling an unexpandable 5 piece kit with a non-removable toy snare.