The Score Magazine - Archive August 2015 issue! | Page 33

A WORLD OF PERCUSSION
ROLAND recently introduced the new Octapad SPD-20X percussion pad with new
features and sounds as an upgrade from the still popular SPD-20. Featuring all the
original sounds from its predecessor plus a large selection of new sounds for Indian
percussion styles, Octapad SPD-20X has eight cushioned rubber pads that provide a
great feel and accurate triggering. The travel-friendly OCTAPAD SPD-20X is a ready
companion from small groups to large-scale ensembles.
Interestingly, the SPD-20X features over 700 total sounds and 99 patches including
percussion instruments from around the world, acoustic and electronic drum sounds
and many sound effects. The pad also includes 45 Indian percussion sounds newly
recorded for the SPD-20X.
For all percussion board users, SPD-20X comes as a good news, especially for SPD-
20 users since the board is just as easy to operate and comes with the addition of a
friendly matrix menu on the top panel that makes navigation a breeze and an LCD
that shows patch/sound names and other information with buttons are illuminated
for visibility in dark playing environments.
A versatile, self-contained percussion instrument which is briefcase size for easy
travel, the SPD-20X includes a broad selection of world percussion, with eight
cushioned rubber pads that provide even and accurate triggering with excellent
isolation between pads. They are connect-compatible accompanied by ROLAND pads
and pedals to the four trigger inputs to create a mini drum kit or expanded percussion
setup. It is also easy to enhance percussion sounds with the six onboard effects.
The SPD-20X also includes an SD card slot, a feature not available in the original
SPD-20 which allows players to store patches and setups for different gigs, and to
share them with other SPD-20X users.
Among the effects, reverb and delay are on hand for rich spatial ambience. There’s
also a chorus effect for adding width and depth, as well as a flanger for achieving
all kinds of tonalities. The SPD-20X also includes compression and EQ and other
powerful tools for adding studio-quality punch and polish to your percussion sounds.
The OCTAPAD SPD-20X gives you a diverse arsenal of top-quality percussion sounds
in one portable instrument. You have sounds for any musical situation at your
fingertips, all of which are freely assignable to the pads in any arrangement you like.
There’s no need to hau l around a large collection of acoustic percussion instruments
anymore—the road-tough SPD-20X has everything you need in a convenient,
briefcase-size package.
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