Überall im Netz "toben" gerade die Diskussionen nach der Vorstellung des TD-50. Es gibt eigentlich nur zwei Lager: Die, die sagen, dass hier echt ein Fortschritt gemacht wurde und die, hier alten Wein in neuen Schläuchen vermuten.
Ich werde hier mal einen sehr ausführlichen Post von Michael Schack himself veröffentlichen, der sich (ich glaube) im v-drums-Forum geäußert hat. Schack hatte sich schon am Launch-Tag selbst vorher aktiv in die Diskussionen eingeschaltet. Gut, er ist Roland-Endorser, insofern nicht wirklich unabhängig, dennoch interessant:
"Hello everyone,
I have been reading all these posts a bit. Lots of questions, opinions, and as expected some ranting as well.
1/ Audio
Of course audio on YouTube clips is not representative for what you'll
hear in your headphones or speakers at the dealer as soon as TD-50 will
land there. Just give the TD-50 benefit of the doubt before you go
"final verdict". I'm already totally hooked and found it a bit difficult
to go back to the TD-30 over this past weekend for some festival
performances, and believe me, I'm quite a sound addict
2/ Sound
Please allow me to add two thoughts to Drew's info to Alan regarding
sounds, which apparently was most welcome in clarifying some rumors.
Indeed, it's new sounds. There's not one of the new acoustic type
sounds that have been "refurbished" from TD-20/20X nor the TD-30.
They were recorded in a couple of separate sessions :
- quite very intense "cymbal" sessions, also at one of the very best
studios in London, for all the cymbal sounds. There's not one single
internal TD-50 'acoustic' cymbal sound that has been "recycled" from
older modules. There's also a full, and I must say a bit daring
selection of all kinds of stacked cymbals, in order to invite and
inspire future TD-50 owners to go totally wild with their cymbal choices
and the internal layering feature.
- Simon Ayton from Roland
Australia and Yusuke Tanakadate, the Japanese leading sound engineer for
the TD-50 project, recorded all kinds of very special drumsets,
including snares, toms, kicks and their natural recording room
reactions. These drumsets include some very rare collector's items. I
leave it to Roland Japan to disclose some photos and video footage from
those recordings.
3/ Triggering
Think like 64-bit compared to
32-bit. It indeed includes HD MIDI, with a velocity reach going way
beyond the maximum of 127. This is why the TD-50 is a re-design from the
ground up, not an "evolution" of the TD-30.
Anyone who has a bit of experience in computer motherboard technology can guess what has happened :
- new sounds and new HD MIDI processing means one needs quite a
powerful new processor architecture to be able to keep latency as low as
with the TD-30.
- this also means that the complete motherboard,
with the addition of a user sample utility including user sample memory
and fluent data flow architecture while keeping down the latency and
audio buffer problems to the audio converters, needed to be redesigned
from the ground up. Also, a more powerful processor not only needs more
power to work, but also needs to be situated and managed in such manner
that TD-50 doesn't need fan cooling. You don't want noisy fan coolers on
a silent room and stage drumset
- the increased internal data flow,
also triggered by what's all new in the user interface/editing
possibilities etc., needs to be silent as well. Just hook up an internet
cable to an older laptop and listen to all the noise that comes out of
the headphone or audio out when not using an external sound card.
4/ Kit set listing - kit transitions during (live) performances
This is how you can check on the real power of a drumming module with
user sample import : how much time does the module need to load a new
kit?
ATV : 2,5 seconds
Your Superior Drummer powered laptops, or
Steven Slate Virtual Drums, Native Instruments Battery etc. etc. : all
depends on your computer setup, the presence of internal SSD disks, the
internal memory of your computer...
And this is why Roland
TD-20/20X/30 and especially the TD-50 totally outpowers any brand/model
of the competition : there's NO latency in changing from one kit to
another, not even when using those user samples with TD-50 now. And that
is also why I cannot play a Netsky, Milk Inc, SquarElectric or my solo
SmashUp concerts with any other module than the TD-30 : after the intro
with a first drumset, I need to be able to step on that footswitch and
immediately change to the full 1stVerse/Chorus kit. At Drum'n Bass
tempo, in the middle of playing a fill, at 175bpm, with the cymbals
nicely ringing through that transition. Of course this is not the
majority's daily use of the drumset, but it is a musical instrument that
should be useable on today's and tomorrow's live performance stages as
well. Otherwise, TD-50 wouldn't be a Pro flagship...
5/ Artist/demo music choices
I've never been a Roland employee, nor has Roland instructed me to play
this or that during any music fair event nor video shoot.
My music
choices for the Roland performances is totally independent as I see fit
to demonstrate the power and possibilities of the drumset. Of course I
do show many of the preset sounds during demos as well, and in many
occasions base my own designed sets on them. So don't shoot at Roland
regarding the music you heard during any of the live stream performances
or any of the upcoming video footage for that matter.
I'm sure
these thoughts won't clear out the many questions etc. you all still
have, but I hope it at least clears out some of the rumors/guesses you
guys have been discussing here.
One thing's for sure : your ears
won't fool you and it's very difficult to discuss sound and music
tastes. It's all good, as are your opinions. But true personal opinions
based on the true technical facts are always the best!)
Cheers,
- Michael"
- ich liebe offensichtlich akustik drums. Aber hörbar (ich will mich nicht wieder wiederholen) ist da manches, selbst bei Youtube.
)
