Possible to get good tom sounds on a TD4?

[Purplestrat]

I have seen some quick comments leading me to belive Roland is not know for good toms. Is this so? I can't seem to get very good tom sounds on my TD4. Maybe theres some tricks?

[BWaj]

I don't know that module, I'm happy with what I get on my TD30 but not my TD9. The best tricks I can offer other than tweaking as best as possible in the module is to add a parametric EQ in line to see if you can get a better sound and add a good FX unit. But, by the time you start doing all that, you might be better buying another module.

Another option would be to trigger something like http://www.xlnaudio.com/addictivedrums if the TD4 allows for it.

[Slim]

Hi,
To get really good sounding toms with a TD-4 I had to trigger sampled drums as above and started with Addictive Drums. It worked with them really well. You will need a MIDI to USB device with an ASIO driver or an external sound card with ASIO driver and a reasonably good computer otherwise you will sense the delay from hitting to hearing the drum sounds. I used an old Core 2 duo (mac and PC) and still got reasonable results though. Even the latest Roland modules don't have great acoustic sounding toms in my opinion. The United Pop add on pack from Addictive is really good.

Addictive drums 2 is on sale at the moment, I would go custom and choose United Pop and listen to the other samples depending on your taste if you choose to buy. There's a limited demo also I think.

[Purplestrat]

I know I need to go that route and I will. Can someone help me at least put a word on what is missing on the toms? I feel like they only do the right deeper frequencies. There is a "thwack" missing if that makes sense. Listend to a 2Box module and it nails it.

[yzf125]

Thats because ALL Roland sounds are synthetic and have been the same over all the modules with tons of effects to mask the fake sounds... so to get a good tom sound you are referring to comparing with the 2box module is not possible unless you trigger VST's or buy a 2box at this point in time unfortunately..................

[Pulsc]

A solution over using a PC to run samples could be adding a TM2 module to your setup. Whether you're up for spending the money is obviously a factor, but you can find tom samples you like, stick them on an SD card then midi trigger these samples in place of the toms on the TD4 (providing the TD4 has midi out, I haven't checked).

Personally I've done this before, just had the toms on my module sending no sound then set the midi numbers to that of the toms on the TM2. You get the same latency-free triggering as your drum module this way.

It also has "elements" as built-in samples which can add to the sounds already being played (such as additional top-end frequencies, harsher attack sounds or extra harmonics). There's always a chance they could help solve your tom problems by adding in the parts of the sounds you feel are missing.

[Peter Warren]

I know I need to go that route and I will. Can someone help me at least put a word on what is missing on the toms? I feel like they only do the right deeper frequencies. There is a "thwack" missing if that makes sense. Listend to a 2Box module and it nails it.

The TD4 toms have no midrange.They are very synthesized top and bottom sound.

The Td4 is a great midi trigger. I have been using it with BFD instead of the TD30. I bought a Steinberg UR22 used for $80 and connected it to a 3 year old $300 laptop. It works perfectly down to 64 samples even with very high GB libraries. I have almost every imaginable sample library and BFD with Modern retro and also Platinum samples Evil Joe Baressi are the best performers for me. I look for libraries capable of producing details and Stewart Copeland type hi hat playing,plus having very high quality mix sound.

[Purplestrat]

You right. I tried to run a guitar eq before the bass amp I am using but then the cymbals sounded bad. Out of curiosity what brands besides 2box are better with toms?