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The amount of onboard memory means you could theoretically load an entire drum kit and still have room to spare for a vast variety of samples needed for any live performance. Significant onboard effects and real-time performance application of those effects is another live performance feature of the SX. The ease with which you can start and stop a loop, merely by tapping the pad, is incredibly friendly to live performances. Also, you can assign a loop to play for a specific number of measures, then stop.
Not So Good Things
The pad settings are global, not kit-by-kit. For Roland users, this is a given and might not be a big deal. However, some will find that different samples or stock sounds react differently when a pad is struck; in one case, it might be too “hot”, in another, too “cold”. It’s a real Goldilocks dilemma when you can’t fine-tune each pad to account for those differences. The Sub Output can’t be used along with the Main output for velocity-based multi-samples. For example, you can assign a .wav to the “Sub” in order for a pad to play two sounds simultaneously. However, that combined sound can only go out through the Master outputs or the Sub outputs, not both simultaneously. It’s a small thing, but might be a deal-breaker for some.
Ergonomics for hand usage isn’t ideal. The pads are not tiered and even if the SX is angled to the percussionist, it’s hard to get a good slap on the pads with anything but your fingertips, and whacking the bar pads with your hands is doubly hard because… The bar pads (1-3) have poor sensitivity. Each took a decidedly hard thwack with the stick shank to get a response. Even after cranking the sensitivity and lowering the threshold to nothing, stick hits on the bar pads needed a strong hit. That depended in part on the sample selected but with hand play, this got old really fast. There is no variable HH support – a step back from the SPD-S. On really long samples, if synced with the internal click, a “creep” issue results where the two move away from each other.
The Bottom Line
The SX is not designed as a mini-drum kit, although with its storage capacity, you could sample an entire kit from any number of VST packages. Its usefulness for a performance lies in the ability to have a slew of customised samples, or even the onboard percussion instruments, available in a small 18
Specifications:
Pad Section: 9 built-in pads, 1 foot switch Max Polyphony: 20 voices (aka “notes”) Sounds (voices/instruments): 650
Drum kits: 16 preset; 84 user-defined
Effects variation: 20 presets that include delay, reverb, chorus, flanger, etc; 4-band EQ Flash memory: Mono/.Wav or AIFF
Flash memory file capacity: 10,000 files .Wav file sample rate: 16bit/44.1kHz Sequencer Capacity: N/A Note resolution: N/A
Recording method: Real-time overdubbing Patterns: None
Interfaces: MIDI; USB Wave memory: 2 GB
Click tempo range: 20-260 BPM Inputs: L and R ¼” mono
Outputs: 2 L and R ¼”; ¼” headphone
package to either the acoustic or e-drummer. The added ability to tweak those samples on the fly might also appeal to live performers or DJs because it is very easy to do. Short loops work flawlessly. Longer samples that depend on staying synced to the internal click remain a problem. Finally, the Kit Chain feature means you can take a 100-song library and quickly set up a set list. The sampling feature seems to be aimed more at the non-professional musician or up-and-coming songwriter who’s not using a computer to generate and edit samples. However, the ease with which a sample can be recorded, then exported to a USB drive and then edited on a computer is also appealing in that you don’t need to drag a computer somewhere to record samples; simply do it on the SX, then transfer it over to the PC. The onboard sampling edit features are simple and easy to learn, whereas editing audio and creating samples on a computer can be daunting to those just starting out.
If you own an SPD-S, chances are you won’t find the SX enough of an improvement to warrant an upgrade. However, if you’re looking for a sampler with decent onboard sounds, easy edit functions and far better software/computer interface, the SX could be in your future. www.digitaldrummermag.com