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CY-12R/C pads handle crash and ride duties

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Painless operation

Also commendably unfussy is the operation of the excellent TD-12 itself. For such a complex, capable unit, it proves relatively straightforward to use, even without recourse to a manual. Delving into deep editing - for which there's plenty of scope - clearly requires some reference reading, but in terms of getting some sounds happening and tweaking them to suit your needs, it is all pretty intuitive.

The big old LCD screen on the face of the unit helps enormously on this front - there's no deciphering of cryptic characters here - and on a dark stage the screen will be a real boon. Other front panel features are also included to make stage use a painless experience; six faders are provided to give instant control over the volume of kick, snare, toms, hi-hat, crash and ride and the +/- buttons used to call up different kits are large enough to be whacked with a stick between songs.

The display also helps you out a fair bit - the function buttons beneath it take on different roles depending on what page you are editing, making it fairly simple to navigate and tailor effects settings, drum parameters and so on.

Choosing which parameters to edit is rather more taxing, given the vast choice on offer. As with the TD-20, the TD-12 allows you to pick from a massive palette of COSM-modelled parameters, from shell size and material to head and muffling options for each drum in a kit. Then there are other things to consider like mic positioning, room type, reverb options and so on and so forth.

Electro excellence

The good news is that all this choice amounts to a wonderfully flexible kit. It's not as all-conquering as the TD-20K, but the TD-12K punches above its weight. Thanks to features like Interval Control, which subtly changes response the faster you strike a pad, rolls and swells with acoustic sounds are pleasingly three-dimensional. And, as always, the selection of electronic tones within the TD-12 is fab - predictable given Roland's long-standing pre-eminence in electronic percussion.

It’s never just a case of deep, subby 808 and 909 kicks; there's a decent array of one-bar dance/ drum'n'bass/techno-ish loops to mess around with, often assigned to one of the cymbal pads. It's fair to say that hardcore dance music fans wouldn't dream of using something as pre-packed as these in a tune, but for solo practice and pure pounding pleasure they're good fun.

Rather more of a mixed bag are the play-along songs offered by the TD-12. Again it's a predictable state of affairs, but a chunk of them are a bit cheesy. Still, it beats playing along with just the clink-clonk of a metronome.