Which Roland Electronic Drum Kit is Right For You?

Ahoy there, drummers! Right here at the start of this blog, I can tell you’ve already made three great decisions. One: you want a new kit and you’ve decided on an electronic one. Two: you’ve already figured out that Roland make the best digital kits. Three: you’ve clicked on this blog to help you decide on which kit to buy.

Go, you! So far, you’ve smashed it, and I aim to help you continue this winning streak. Whether you are a beginner, an experienced player or a professional drummer, I’ll direct you towards the appropriate kit (or kits) that’ll meet your actual needs, not what I think I can convince you to buy.

So why trust me? Well, I’m mostly known for playing guitar and keys, but I have also been a drummer for over 20 years, and sold digital drum kits for years on the guitarguitar shop floor. I’ve played kits from all major brands and all price points, and I’ve used this experience to inform my opinions and advice today.

I think Roland make the best digital kits, and that isn’t because I’m either paid or forced to say that. It’s what I’ve learned from using these things, and for those reasons, I hope that instills some trust in me, from your point of view. I’ll tell it to you straight, and you can use all of that to help make your decision if you like.

I’ll split today’s blog into three sections, one each for beginners, intermediates and professionals. Jump to the section you want or stay for the whole show.

Shall we commence, fellow tub-thumpers?

So, if you are starting out, you may be tempted to go for a cheap digital drum kit. There is a difference here between a cheap drum kit and an affordable drum kit, and it’s worth making that clear.

Cheap kits are absolutely fine to begin on. They are, but you might find that, relatively soon, you’ll have advanced past the limitations and need an upgrade anyway. It may be due to slightly flimsy construction, or it may be to do with the less-than-convincing drum samples. Or the lack of subtlety or dynamics. It could be any number of things that inexpensive drum kits need to be in order to come in at a low price. I get it, but some of them feel like fancy toys, not musical instruments. The point is, your excitement and satisfaction from playing and learning might suffer if you don’t have a kit sitting there that’s actually fun and rewarding to play.

This is why I reckon the Roland TD-02KV is the one for you.

Here’s why.

Firstly, the construction is more robust than other brands around this price mark. The drum pads don’t slip when they get hit, and the actual frame itself is small enough without being tiny and child-like. I’ve encountered this a lot, and it’s important for the kit size (no matter how small a footprint it can be folded away into afterwards) to at least resemble the future kits you’ll be playing, size-wise.

Secondly, there is a mesh snare. This is a deal breaker for me. The snare is the most important drum in the kit, so having one with a good realistic feel and bounce back is crucial when you are building your technique. Mesh heads on all drums is even better, but concessions have to be made for the price, and this is a smart concession. Snares without mesh padding just give you nothing at all to work with, and that’s depressing. Avoid, if you can!

Thirdly, the sounds are very good. It seems crazy to even mention that, but don’t assume that all kits will sound automatically amazing due to them being samples, because they flat-out don’t. Roland give you 16 kits here, and whilst they are not customisable like those on more expensive kits, they are good, proper V-Drum kits, and that’s worth talking about.

The Roland TD-02KV has lots of extra features too, like USB connectivity (record your drums on your laptop eventually), onboard coaching functions for getting practice sessions in, and various other helpful additions. Most significantly, it provides you with a solid, dependable, good sounding kit to base your drumming technique on, where you’ll learn good habits that won’t have to be unlearned when you eventually move on. Instant success!

For drummers who’ve been playing for a while, and want a good quality instrument for practising and playing, I recommend the Roland TD313 electronic kit. 

There are several big upgrades here, when comparing with the TD-02KV we just looked at. I’ll jump into some bullet points just now, and maybe develop some areas further afterwards. Here’s what makes this a great choice:

So, to put it simply, the TD313 is a more realistic kit, with more complex technology onboard to deliver a more dynamic and satisfying sound and experience. The V31 module allows for detailed EQing of each drum sound, plus you can add compression and deep edit in more ways. You can import samples to create custom kits with your own sounds, which really opens things up for creativity. 

There’s even a record function, which saves onto an SD card. You can make professional sounding drum recordings and share them with your band, or upload them to your computer for using in your favourite recording software. 

The opportunities are vast, but the immediate pay off here is a much better feel that is reactive to your playing. It’s a noticeable step up in every way, and would be the perfect choice for the serious player who is on their way to being a pro, as well as a hobbyist who has put in the years and wants that reflected in every session they play on.

Now we’re talking! This is a pretty exceptional kit, and it’s not even the top-priced kit from Roland either! I chose the Roland VAD516 because this is the point where full-sized, full depth drums come into the picture. Things are now looking very close to a natural acoustic kit here, which can make a big psychological difference for some drummers, but we’re also in top-tier digital drum land too. 

Some drummers will want the absolute top-priced kit, and so they should head for the VAD716 Flagship kit in its various permutations, but I feel like this one delivers an impeccable performance for a good couple of grand less.

The Roland V51 sound module is an upgraded take on the V31 module we saw previously. It’s superficially similar, but there’s a lot more happening behind the scenes here. This thing can detect your hand position over the snare, and when you cross your sticks, and adjust sounds for realism. The crash cymbals are realistically chokable, and the hi-hat operates extremely convincingly, in terms of half-open sounds and every increment of that that’s adjacent. 

You can also connect the kit via USB to a computer, and enjoy separate racks for each drum or cymbal, for a no-compromise recording session. No more micing up the kit!!

Great, but what’s the real reason for paying all that extra cash?

That’s a simple question to answer. Feel. You walk up to this, sit down and begin playing. It feels like you’re on an acoustic kit. It reacts to you; you react to it. Then you change sounds, bring up samples, and all the rest of that side of things that’s only available to the digital drummer. It’s really the best of both worlds, and equally convincing at both. A kit like this will bring out the best in your performance day after day, year after year. I think that being able to rely on that consistent factor is something that’s worth paying for.

If you’ve spent years honing your technique on an acoustic kit, the last thing you want is to be restrained by a tiny set of plastic frying pans that give nothing back when you play them. You have put life into your performances, and you expect the kit to give back as good as you give it. This is why I think you need something like a Roland VAD516.

Downsides? Only the usual weird decision by Roland (and most electronic drum companies) to NOT include the hi-hat stand, the snare stand or the kick pedal. You need to buy these separately. I’ve never fully understood it, but it’s an industry thing across the board. At least it means you can choose your preferred stands etc, and in fact probably already own them, if you’re looking at this pro-level price point.

So, those are my choices for digital drum kits. Roland are the brand to beat, and whilst not necessarily the cheapest, they do deliver on quality, feel, sound, reliability and consistency, all of which I believe are worth paying for.

As I said at the beginning of this blog, I’m not a Roland endorsee or anything else like that. I’m simply a musician who has played more than their fair shame of electronic drum kits, and sold a bunch too. I think the Roland stuff beats the competition, but you check out other brands, compare them, and see how things lie with you.

Did this blog help you out at all? I hope so. Whatever you do, keep playing, because the world needs more drummers!

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