Q&A

A collection of popular articles from the TD-20 knowledge base
How Do I Set the Trigger Type for a Pad?.. 2 How Do I Prevent Crosstalk?... 3 How Do I Trigger Instruments in the Percussion Part?.. 4 How Do I Control Pattern Playback from the Pads?.. 5 How Do I Assign Instruments to the DIRECT OUT Jacks?.. 6 How Do I Find TD-20 Articles in the RolandUS.com Knowledge Base?. 7
2009 Roland Corporation US
TD - 20 How Do I Set the Trigger Type for a Pad?
Most Roland pads are compatible with theTD-20 and TD-12. For optimum trigger results, its best to match the trigger type with the type of pad being used. Use the following steps to choose a pads trigger type: Press the TRIGGER button. Press F1 (BANK). Hit the pad whose trigger type you wish to set. Press the + or - button or turn the VALUE dial to select the appropriate trigger type. For example, if the pad is a PD-105, select PD105. Repeat Steps 3-4 for your other pads. Press KIT when youre finishedyour settings are automatically stored.
How Do I Set the Trigger Type for a Pad?
TD - 20 How Do I Prevent Crosstalk?
When two or more pads are mounted to the same stand, hitting one pad may unintentionally trigger the other pad. This is referred to as crosstalk. Increasing the Crosstalk Cancel valueshown onscreen as XTALK CANCEL for a pad can help reduce the possibility of crosstalk. Heres how to adjust this setting: Press the TRIGGER button. Press F4 (XTALK). Hit the pad thats being inadvertently triggered by another. For example, if you hit one of the tom pads and it triggers one of the crash pads, youll want to increase the X-TALK CANCEL value for the crash pad. Turn the VALUE dial to adjust the XTALK CANCEL, from OFF to 80. Repeat Steps 3-4 for any other pads that need to be adjusted. When youre finished, press KITyour new settings are automatically saved.

How Do I Fix Crosstalk?

TD - 20 How Do I Trigger Instruments in the Percussion Part?
You can use pads to trigger the instruments in the TD-20s percussion part. This can be a useful tool when you want to create a separate percussion part in the TD-20s sequencer. Heres how to set up the TD-20 so pads are triggering the percussion part: Press SETUP. Press F1 (MIDI). Press F2 (GLOBAL). Use the CURSOR 5/6 buttons to highlight Local Control.
Note: By default, the Local Control setting is ON DRUM. Turn the VALUE dial to set Local Control to ON PERC. Press EXIT twice to return to the main DRUM KIT screen.
Note: The pads are now triggering the percussion part instruments. The percussion part is found in the sequencer section of the TD-20. For more info about the percussion part and selecting different percussion sets, refer to Chapter 6 (Sequencer playback) in the TD-20 Owners Manual.
How Do I Trigger Instruments in the Percussion Part?
TD - 20 How Do I Control Pattern Playback from the Pads?
You can strike one of the pads in a kit to start and stopor tap througha pattern. Use the following steps to assign a pattern to a pad: Select a kit. Press the INST button so its lit. Press F3 (CONTROL). Strike the pad to which you wish to assign a pattern. Turn the VALUE dial or press the + / - buttons to select the pattern you want. Strike the same pad again and the pattern starts playingstrike the pad again to stop the pattern.

Note: If you select a TAP-type patternfor example, 85 JAZZ ENDeach strike of the pad steps, or taps, through the notes of the pattern. Tip: Some of the TD-20s preset kits have a pattern already assigned to a pad. If youd like to turn off the pad pattern feature for that kit, follow Steps 2-4 above and, for Step 5, turn the VALUE dial counter-clockwise or press the - button to select OFF.
How Do I Control Pattern Playback from the Pads?
TD - 20 How Do I Assign Instruments to the DIRECT OUT Jacks?
You can assign instruments in the TD-20 to any of its DIRECT OUT output jacks. Heres how to do this: Select a kit. Press the SETUP button. Press F2 (OUTPUT). Hit one of the pads or press the TRIG SELECT 3/4 buttons to select the instrument to be sent to a DIRECT OUT jack. Press F2 (DIR 1-4) or F3 (DIR 5-8) to choose the group that contains the DIRECT OUT jack you want to use. For example, if you want the instrument youve chosen to be assigned to DIRECT OUT 8, press F3 (DIR 5-8). Turn the VALUE dial, or use CURSOR 5/6 or +/- buttons to select the desired DIRECT OUT jack. Repeat Steps 4-6 for any other pads youd like to assign to DIRECT OUT jacks. Press KIT when youre finishedyour settings are automatically saved.
How Do I Assign Instruments to the DIRECT OUT Jacks?
TD - 20 How Do I Find TD-20 Articles in the RolandUS.com Knowledge Base?
3 Point your browser to the TD-20 Support area on RolandUS.com. Click Knowledge Base. If youre not already logged into Roland Backstage, the Roland Backstage login appears. If youre: a Roland Backstage memberenter your email address and password, and then click the Login button. not yet a Roland Backstage memberclick Create New Profile to create a free new user account. As a Roland Backstage member, you become part of the online Roland US.com community and gain access to helpful tools and services. 6 Once youre logged in, click the large Knowledge Base button. On the Knowledge Base screen, enter TD-20 in the Product field. Click the Find button in the middle of the screen to browse the available TD-20 Knowledge Base articles.
How Do I Find TD-20 Articles in the Knowledge Base?

Percussion Sound Module Welcome
Congratulations on your purchase of the Roland TD-20. This TurboStart contains step-by-step instructions that will quickly introduce you to a few of the TD-20s major features. Note: This TurboStart discusses the use of the TD-20 as part of the Roland V-Pro Series TD-20S-BK.

TurboStart

Selecting Instruments in a Kit
Any of the TD-20s drum kits can be customized. Instrument tuning, changing the apparent shell depth of a tom and adding the sound of rivets to a cymbal are just a few of the things you can do. Choosing your own instruments for a kit is a good place to start. You can select different instruments for each of the pads within a drum kit. Use the following steps: 1. Press KIT so its lit. 2. Turn the VALUE dial to select the kit youd like to edit. 3. Press INST so its lit. 4. Press F5 until H & R is not shaded. 5. Hit the pador portion of the pad, such as the head or rimthat contains the instrument you wish to change. 6. Turn the VALUE dial or use the INC+/DECbuttons to select the desired instrument. 7. Repeat Steps 5-6 for the remaining pads. 8. When youre finished, press KIT. Your customization is stored automatically.
Setting the Hi-Hat Offset
The open/close range for the VH-12 Hi-Hat is set by the Offset parameter in the TD-20. Adjusting the Offset parameter is crucial for ensuring that the VH-12 performs correctly. Once its set, you wont have to worry about it again unless you perform a factory reset on the TD-20 or decide to install the VH-12 pads on a different hi-hat stand. To adjust the hi-hat open/close range: 1. Loosen the clutch of the top hi-hat pad, letting it rest on the bottom hi hat. 2. While pressing and holding the KIT button, press TRIGGERTRIGGER starts to flash. After a few seconds TRIGGER stops flashing, the Offset value stabilizes and the adjustment is complete. 3. Press KIT to exit, and then re-adjust and tighten the hi-hat clutch. Tip: If you wish, you can further adjust and customize the Offset settings and other hi-hat parameters to match your playing style. Refer to the TD-20 Owners Manual for more information.

Playing the Patterns

There are 100 preset patterns in the TD-20s sequencer. Use the following steps to select and play them: 1. Press PATTERN so its lit. 2. Turn the VALUE dial to select one of the preset patterns. 3. Press PLAY. 4. Press STOP when youre finished. Note: If you select a TAP pattern, press the PLAY button repeatedly to move, or tap, through the pattern. Tap patterns are identified by || shown below the P in the display.
Selecting and Auditioning Drum Kits
There are 50 drum kits in the TD-20, ready to go. Use the following steps to select and try out a few: 1. Press KIT so its lit. 2. Turn the VALUE dial or press the INC+/DECbuttons to select 8 UNIVERSE. 3. Play the pads. Try performing some rim shots with the toms. 4. Now turn the VALUE dial counterclockwise or press the DEC- button to select 2 Slamin. 5. Play the pads. Strike the bow of Crash 2this starts one of the patterns in the TD-20 using a feature called Pad Pattern, described later in this TurboStart. 6. Strike the bow of Crash 2 again to stop the pattern.

TBS210

2004 Roland Corporation U.S.

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Percussion Sound Module Pattern Recording
You can use any of the 100 user pattern locations in the TD-20s sequencer to record your playing on the pads. Use the following steps to record a basic pattern. Note: By default, the TD-20s pattern time signature is set to 4/4. To learn how to change it, or to adjust other pattern parameters, refer to the TD-20 Owners Manual. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Press PATTERN so its lit. Press F5 (NEW). Press RECthe metronome starts. If you wish, press TEMPO, and then turn the VALUE dial to adjust the tempo. Press PLAY. The TD-20 provides a one measure countoff. - -1 appears in the display for the duration of the measure. After the countoff, play the pads in time with the metronome. When youre finished recording, press STOP. Press PLAY to hear your new pattern.

Mix Edit

You can adjust the volume levels of instruments using the TD-20s faders. The Mix Edit feature provides a visual representation of volume and effect levels in the display to make quick adjustments easy and precise. Heres how to use Mix Edit for adjusting volume: 1. Hold MIXER and press FADER. 2. Press F1 (VOLUME). 3. Slide the faders up and down to adjust the levels of the instruments as desired. 4. Press KIT when youre finished.

Starting Over

If youd like to redo the TD-20s settings from scratch, you can use the following procedure to clear the TD-20s internal memory and reload its factory settings. Caution: When you perform the following steps, all USER information will be lost. Be sure to back up any information you wish to keep first. 1. 2. Press SETUP so its lit. Press F5 (F RESET) three times.

6. 7. 8.

Pad Pattern
As we noted earlier, you can hit one of the pads in a kit to start and stopor tap througha pattern. Use the following steps to assign a pattern to a pad: 1. Select the desired kit. 2. Press INST so its lit. 3. Press F3 (CONTROL). 4. Hit the pad to which you want to assign a pattern. 5. Turn the VALUE dial or press the INC+ / DECbuttons to select the desired pattern. 6. Strike the same pad again to start and stop the pattern. Tip: Some of the TD-20s preset kits have a pattern already assigned to a pad. If youd like to turn off the Pad Pattern feature for such a kit, follow Steps 2-4 above. At Step 5, turn the VALUE dial counterclockwise or press the DEC- button to select OFF.

Note: When you perform a factory reset, be sure to perform the Setting the Hi-Hat Offset procedure at the beginning of this TurboStart before playing the VH-12.

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