Roland TD-07DMK2 review | MusicRadar

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What is it?

Since the inception of the Roland Corporation in 1972 and the release of the TR-33, 55 and 77 Rhythm Machines, the Japanese company has become synonymous with electronic instruments. Following the release of its first full electronic drum kit (the a-DRUM) in 1985, Roland’s V-Drums technology has been at the forefront of e-drum design, catering to drummers of all ages and abilities, from practice rooms to stages alike. I for one wouldn’t be half the drummer that I am now without the copious hours spent behind my trusty Roland TD-8 as a teenager.

With a wealth of electronic drum set options now on the market, Roland strives to offer affordable packages whilst still developing and pushing the technology forward. The TD-07 series, initially released in late 2020, is a great example of this; relatively affordable kits, centred around Roland’s notoriously excellent hardware and aimed at providing drummers with the tools they need to improve.

With the release of this kit – the TD-07DMK2 – and the TD-07KV2, the five former configurations based around the TD-07 module have been streamlined to just two. The module itself remains unchanged, but both kits boast upgrades to pad hardware and a new rack system. The TD-07DMK2 which we have for review is the smaller of the two new kits, yet both share much of the same makeup.

Performance & verdict

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Roland TD-07DMK2 pads — (Image credit: Future/Olly Curtis)

With the TD-07 series targeted squarely at the beginner to intermediate market, there’s a clear focus on keeping things simple. This spans from general usability in terms of navigating menus and changing sounds on the module, through to how easy it is to put the kit together in the first place.

Unlike previous models (and most e-kits for that matter), the rack comes mostly pre-assembled in the box and only requires the two halves to be connected via a central pole. This is an extremely welcome development whether you’re embarking on building your own first drum kit or perhaps a parent dutifully assembling a kit for their child and looking to pull out as little hair as possible in the process. Once the rack is together, the snare, toms, cymbal pads and module can be attached to the relevant pre-installed mounting hardware.

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Because the same rack system is shared with the KV2 model which uses a second crash, you’ll find a spare cymbal arm already attached, eagerly anticipating a cymbal pad that it will sadly never see… that is unless you choose to expand the kit with a separately available add-on cymbal. An extra CY-5 pad will set you back around around $130/£100. And you’ll probably be wanting to make that upgrade sooner than later.

The final step in the kit build is to connect each pad to the module using the included cable loom and connect the module to power. Then all that’s required is a pair of headphones or a suitable e-drum monitor speaker. It’s one of the quickest e-kit setups I’ve experienced in recent years and will get new players drumming without excessive faff.

For the most part, the TD-07 module is intuitive to use. A scroll wheel or left and right arrows enable navigation through the 25 kit presets and empty slots for 25 custom creations. There are buttons for accessing kit editing, metronome and coaching modes, plus a large drum kit button for quick navigation back to the default kit screen. There’s also a Bluetooth button which opens up the pairing screen of which the backlit icon glows blue when a device is connected. Pairing is a quick and painless process.

When delving deeper into the menus to access the wealth of in-built multi effects and ambience settings, the navigation can take a bit of getting used to, but is relatively straight forward once you know where to look.

The kit presets themselves are of a good quality and a wide array of styles are catered for

The kit presets themselves are of a good quality and a wide array of styles are catered for. From rock kits such as Solid Rock and Arena Rock to Pop, Studio and Live Acoustic, there’s something for everyone. There are also plenty of processed electronic sounds alongside jazz, reggae and percussion kits.

The coaching functions are well thought out and offer five options for improving time keeping. These include a Time Check mode which rates beat placement, indicating whether the notes land early or late. Quiet Count which mutes the click for a set amount of bars and gives a score based on consistency of time, Auto Up/Down which accelerates and decelerates the click between two given tempos and Change Up which moves between subdivisions and really puts your accuracy to the test. Finally is Blast Beast, a newly added function which records a personal best for the most amount of notes played within a set time period.

As if these aren’t enough to keep any budding drummer busy, the TD-07DMK2 also comes with a free lesson pack for Melodics containing 40 lessons. Melodics is an app based tuition software which can actually connect to the electronic drum kit via USB and detect which drum or cymbal is being struck, and when. This is not only seriously clever but also makes for a lot of (quite addictive) fun, turning actual drumming into what is essentially best described as a video game.

Points are awarded for accurate beat placement and a star rating is given after each performance. Melodics is a subscription based platform but the included Roland Drum Pass unlocks several courses and individual lessons and is a real win for anyone picking up the sticks for the first time.