Roland TM-2 Acoustic Drum Trigger Module

Let me start by saying that I absolutely love this thing. I play in a death metal band (Boarcorpse), and I use a combination of single strokes and double stroke rolls with my feet. (My doubles are heel-up, not feathering) I was using the Alesis DM5, which most of you reading this probably know is the bottom of the barrel trigger module, but it's used by almost everyone at some point. I knew the sounds on the DM5 were garbage, but I didn't realize how inaccurately it was triggering, until I bought the TM2. I'm not exaggerating at all when I say, switching from the DM5 to the TM2 made a HUGE difference in my kick skills. It's just so much more accurate. Yes, it only has 2 trigger inputs (1/4 inch), so it wouldn't work with an entire electronic kit, but it's perfect for a hybrid kit. (All acoustic drums and either a triggered kick drum, or an electronic kick drum) I use the Roland TD120 as my kick. When I started messing with the TM2, I found a setting on it that let's you select either a type of trigger or a specific pad model. So I was able to select "TD120" within the TM2, and it immediately started triggering perfectly with what I was playing. I can't stress enough how big a difference it's made having a brain that accurately represents what I'm playing, I LOVE it. I should mention that when I ordered this, the description made it sound like it ran on batteries (even says batteries required in the description) and it does NOT mention coming with an AC adapter. So I ordered an aftermarket AC adapter when I ordered the TM2, only to realize that it DID come with an AC adapter when it arrived, it's just also capable of running on batteries. I'm not 100% sure why you'd want to use batteries with it, if you're using it, you're plugging the output into an amp or PA to amplify the sound, so obviously you have access to electricity.... anyways, I guess the battery thing is an interesting option, I just think it's unnecessary. Oh, you can also load your own sounds onto it. That's huge in my book. I haven't gotten around to doing it yet, but even without that option it's a 5 star product.

Just another great Roland product that does it's job perfectly and with ease. I wouldn't recommend using it with batteries as it will just shut off on its own when they are getting low. Easy to find a good sound and modify that sound to suit your tastes. I'm using it for my double kick drums with Roland triggers.

The Roland TM-2 is a great trigger module. I use it on the kick drum. You can upload a custom wave file downloaded to an SD card for your unique custom sound and it has ready to play sounds. Dimensions are 5 1/4 by 5 1/4 by 2 1/4. It's battery powered too, I use the power supply that comes with it. It has 2 trigger inputs and outputs. You can add more with Y cables. You can connected the left mono output to a interface input for recording to a computer software or out to a DI box to a mixing board for live. Setup was very easy to program and save my uploaded settings (SD card). You don't have to, I would make sure all your settings are good with your playing style. Easy to custom go to new kit and set. Everybody's setup will be a little bit different take time and learn yours. Curve- liner is ok (regular) loud 2 is better for me (it's louder then liner). Threshold- might loop if to high or low (stops double hits from happening). Sensitivity- (might not pick up your hits if it's not set high or low enough). X talk cancel I leave at the (default). Instrument edit is important too. Here Level is set to 100 (maximum output) and Dynamics is set to- Max not liner. Max elemonates all dynamics so all hits are the same for my kick drum. Make sure your drum heads are tuned right so you sound good acoustically and digitally! Good luck in drumming and finding your sound!

I dont know what a product need to have five stars. I gave it four, just because I always think that something better could exist. But actually this module is really great. It has cover completely my expectations. It is a simple, robust and very fast module. Its sounds are from good to very good quality, being the ones from "element" and "other" groups the more noteworthy ones. Maybe, because is the idea of this module, putting a second layer on your existing sounds (whether they was acoustic or electronics). Im using it connected to a TD4 by midi, and there is no latency. The response is awesome! You can choose the ratio of TD4 and TM2 sound just with the volume knob. If you are used to using Roland modules, the operation is very easy, super intuitive for Roland users. If your idea is to use it like your main module, it could be a little short, because it has only 2 stereo jacks for triggers. So, with a split cable (2 mono jacks to 1 stereo jack) you can get 4 mono pads (for example bassdrum, snare, close hihat and a crash). If this one is your idea, is important for you to know, it has no hihat controller jack. So, as a unique module, in a electronic drum set is not its best use. I know that too many drumers like to use this modules wiht Addictive drums or similar VST insruments. Im not too much of that idea, I try not to connect the drum to the computer, so Im not able to do a review in this aspect. Instead of this, I would like to stand out the presence of the SD Card slot. This one is other awesome feature of this module. You can load any .wav archive in the card and add it to your set (this could replace, a little, the use of a VST instrument, beacause you can load the samples in your card and use them in your set). I have just tired it with short samples, like bassdrums and snare sounds, but not with complete songs or long sounds to loop. With short sounds, the load time of each set is perfectly short, just the same of sets without card sounds. It has various setting options for sounds (even they are internal or from the card) like loop, effect (distortion, wah wah, eq, radio, etc), mute group, level, pan, and some more I cant remember now. The box brings the AC adapter and the typical Roland mount system (you need a clamp). The module has the option of being used with 4 AA bateries, but I have not tried this. If I have to choose again, I would definitely buy it. Well, I tried to make the most complete review I could. Because, when I have to buy my drum stuff I read a lot of reviews of the products in order to choose if I buy it or not, or to choose between 2 options. So I consider user reviews the best weapon we have to really know the product in advance. I hope it was usefull to you. Bye

I was looking to enhance my live sound with triggering my acoustic drum set. I wanted a certain sound with the bass drum and snare. I even downloaded a few sample sounds prior to receiving the unit. I found the preset bass drum sounds lacked presence and power. The were more of a background layering effect. Snares the same. I compared the presets to my 15year old Roland TD3 and there was no comparison. Cant beat it. It is a great layering module, however, trying to use the drum sounds 100% were disappointing.

This thing is so great! My wife got me this for Christmas, and I am now using a hybrid kit for the first time. You can upload sounds via an SDHC card (not included, but I got an 8gb for something like $6 on Amazon-that's probably enough space to store thousands upon thousands of sounds). Also, even though it only has two inputs, you can use a splitter wire and set up four pads-that's how I have mine rigged. Thanks to Roland for listening to your customers and not making us buy a $500-$1000 brain to add some electronic percussion to our drums!

Constant problems when triggering acoustic drums, although that is what this module is designed for. Even though I use the most expensive Roland RT 30 HR and RT 30 K triggers. The programming is extremely complicated and a constant source of frustration. The module is suppose to save your settings once turned off however, at times the settings change and that changes the sounds. The support from Roland isn’t great either…although they do reply, their solutions hardly ever solve the problems…and there’s nobody to actually speak with. It’s all txt msgs. I’ve wasted close to $1,000 for this module and because it’s not a popular Roland product, trying to sell it is almost impossible. At this point it has become unusable!

This thing is addicting. Unlimited sounds in a small footprint. The problem you will initially face is spending a lot of time looking for kick/snare sounds for each song, but it's a lot of fun! Works well with the Roland RT triggers out of the box. My kick initially did not have any muffling inside, so I was experiencing retriggering with my RT kick trigger. Putting a small pillow in the kick solved it. You don't necessarily need to deaden the kick sound by putting tons of blankets or pillows, but just enough so that the batter head's vibration allows a decent decay. Other than that, I didn't have to do any x-talk or threshold adjustments on the TM2 - all are factory settings in my current setup. The extra time I needed to setup this thing (with the triggers and cables) is well worth it.