New Roland VAD103

Doraemon

Well-known Member
vad103_front_main.jpg
https://www.roland.com/us/products/vad103/
This is interesting, I can see this becoming popular. Acoustic style setup with a basic TD07 module. I've seen many people on the net looking for a simple setup like this. However the price can be a problem (preorder shows $1999), which is not enough discount from the VAD306 (only $600 more with two extra pads and a much better module). Or if you compare it to the normal TD07 which costs half. Would you pay double just for the looks?
 
I would think $1500 is about the right number for this?

But this set up is exactly what I need....
 
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I would think $1500 is about the right number for this?

But this set up is exactly what I need....
I agree that would be a reasonable price. And they would sell more of them...

The acoustic design surcharge based on Sweetwater prices (rounded):
TD17kvx $1900 -> VAD306 $2600 +37%
TD27kv $3100 -> VAD506 $4900 +58%
TD50k2 $5400 -> VAD706 $8000 +48%
TD07 $1030 -> VAD103 $2000 +94%
 
But if they did that, they would have to add a $1k realistic proportion fee 🤣 + a 35% price hike for good measure.
lol, roland really needs to get their sizes sorted out though. 300 bucks for a 12" crash is outrageous, even though it is a good cymbal it is way too small. 16 should be the minimum crash size if they're trying to mimic real drums and price them better. all the respectable manufacturers are undersizing pads and holding back on features and introducing them really slowly while alesis experiments with bigger pads and sometimes crazy ideas while sacrifising quality. a real shame though, electronic drums would get far more praise and less frowns from most people if they looked the part and not like something out of the 80s techno scene
 
what's wrong? it's better than a mesh kick. feels just right.
On first look I thought the entire Roland bass drum head was playable, almost like a hybrid acoustic. After seeing the Alesis Strike Pro and trying it at GC, it seemed pretty cool that a while bass drum head could be meshed.

so I’m kinda lost here, how does that Roland bass drum kick pad with some fake drum look make it a $1300 piece?
 
On first look I thought the entire Roland bass drum head was playable, almost like a hybrid acoustic. After seeing the Alesis Strike Pro and trying it at GC, it seemed pretty cool that a while bass drum head could be meshed.

so I’m kinda lost here, how does that Roland bass drum kick pad with some fake drum look make it a $1300 piece?
because it has a lot better sensing and also because it's the best e kick drum out there period. feels better than mesh, has extremely accurate triggering, looks better than all the other e kicks and the fact that it is produced in limited quantities all "justify" its pricetag even if insane. there's no product out there like it. and what's the point in having the whole 20" surface playable when the beater is going to hit a 1" spot in the middle of the head all the time? it's pretty much a KD9 inside a real bass drum and costs a lot, but who else makes an alternative? exactly.
 
because it has a lot better sensing and also because it's the best e kick drum out there period. feels better than mesh, has extremely accurate triggering, looks better than all the other e kicks and the fact that it is produced in limited quantities all "justify" its pricetag even if insane. there's no product out there like it. and what's the point in having the whole 20" surface playable when the beater is going to hit a 1" spot in the middle of the head all the time? it's pretty much a KD9 inside a real bass drum and costs a lot, but who else makes an alternative? exactly.
*I was thinking KD8 when I wrote the following below.. I’m not sure if the KD9 is bigger than the KD8.

For the price tag surely it should feel better than a KD9. A double pedal barely fits on the KD9. The point in having a whole 20” head rebounding would be replicating the acoustic head rebound. Picturing yourself behind a bass drum with a whole head that rebounds, creating the acoustic feel, do you think that would give a more energetic feel or just against a KD9 wrapped in an shell? I’m just surprised they didn’t do a whole mesh head that’s all.
 
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Maybe a huge mesh head would make it too trampoline-y.. But the price is a bit extreme, I bet it costs them a fraction. The above kit only has the KD-180L which sells for $549. They also have a converter pack, I wonder if it's made of the same parts.
 
*I was thinking KD8 when I wrote the following below.. I’m not sure if the KD9 is bigger than the KD8.

For the price tag surely it should feel better than a KD9. A double pedal barely fits on the KD9. The point in having a whole 20” head rebounding would be replicating the acoustic head rebound. Picturing yourself behind a bass drum with a whole head that rebounds, creating the acoustic feel, do you think that would give a more energetic feel or just against a KD9 wrapped in an shell? I’m just surprised they didn’t do a whole mesh head that’s all.
kd8 is rubber, kd9 is different. more squishy and eats up rebound, very good feel. have you tried a 20" mesh head? it's awful. better to have a good but small area than a big but horrible feeling pad. mesh is nothing like mylar, the rebound on a mesh head is too much for a kick drum. it doesn't have an "acoustic feel" at all, it just feels cheap. not to mention the crazy bad sensoring a 20" playing surface would have. I'm plenty happy they went the small surface approach, because the drum looks better than a kd9 but feels better than a big mesh kick. best of both worlds.
 
My thing is if I want drums that look like drums I'm just going to bring my real drums. If I'm gigging, rehearsing, recording, etc and I'm choosing edrums for the job it's because of their sound and eq potential (vs dealing with acoustic drum bleed, white noise, micing, etc) as well as portability vs real drums. That Roland kit looks cool, yes, but if I need to lug around a bass drum and toms and separate stands I would rather just bring acoustic drums.

Smaller pads (be it rubber, silicone, and/or mesh), the cymbal pads, the pedals, the 'brain', and the wires, can be stacked in a large rubbermaid storage container and a rack can be folded up and set on top of the container. You can transport an entire ekit in one trip that way.

If money was no concern and I was not moving the kit around, sure I would get something like the above.
 
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