Roland has come up with a superior product combining portability, great sounds, and most bang for the buck with the TD-3. The vast array of musical and intertainment applications makes me envious that after playing gigs for 30 years, which meant wearing out my back from heavey lifting, which could have been avoided had I owned this instrument. Also, the variety of sounds; GREAT sounds, is what many years of development produces in the Roland V-line drums.

The extremely efficient use of space, from the control module at your finger tips to the stereo mini jack in that allows you to play along with your i-pod, to the light weight construction, all make this set a must for the professional to the beginner.

The sounds that come with this are very, very good. I am still exploring the different sounds, which can be tweaked, but at this point, I don't see the need. The instructions are clear as to how to do this if needed.

The quality is excellent! The only thing I can think to suggest might be to somehow have to ability for the set to expand out a bit more for larger players. Maybe some sort of telscoping thing on the rack?

former active musician turned hobbyist

many

I was really blown away by the quality of this kit. At first I thought all the different drum kit possibilities were kind of a waste, but they are actually a lot of fun to play around with. The only reason I'm giving this an 9 is because I bought an extra cymbal and use it as a ride (and use the 2 cymbals that came with this as crashes) and I get a little bit of ride sound through my third tom. This might be a fixable problem, however.

I don't understand why it didn't come with a kick pedal. I had to buy one separately. I LOVE how I can hook up my MP3 player to it and play right along with my music.

This thing couldn't have been easier to put together.

I think this was made very well. Nothing was scratched or damaged when it arrived. I play pretty hard on the pads and I'm not afraid of hurting anything.

It's worth every penny.

I haven't had to deal with support.

I love the look of this kit. The fully rounded cymbals are what appealed to me the most.

Drummer of 7 years

J-rock

I was really impressed with the sound quality of the samples on the TD-3 control module. Considering this is Roland's entry-level unit, I really wasn't expecting anywhere near the kind of sound quality that I'm getting out of it. It's no TD-20, but for practicing quitely in an apartment, I find the sounds to be really authentic and enjoyable.

An abundance of features is the only department where this kit is really lacking. The TD-3 module is very simple and doesn't offer too much room for tweaking or customizing. The module only comes with 32 kit presets, and quite a few of them share samples, which means quite a few sound very similar with the exception of one or two triggers. If you're looking for something with lots of versatility for a range of live performance uses, this definitely isn't a kit for you, but if you just need something to practice on or to use for Midi control through a PC, this certainly has the features to do the job right.

It's a Roland product. Need I say more? Quality right out of the box was superb. Everything that came with my kit was in perfect shape and worked like a charm right when I hooked it up. The rack seems sturdy and very durable, although I wouldn't necessary go so far as to call it "road-worthy", and all of the triggers feel like they're going to last me a good couple of years.

You can't beat this kit as far as value is concerned. You get Roland sound and quality with a mesh snare for under a grand. None of the competitors have anything in this price range that comes even close to what you get with this kit.

Session Musician

Little Bit of Everything

The sound is amazing, i cant hear the sticks against the symbol like my old drumset.Also, the headphones i used were the cheapest Walmart had but it didnt make a difference with the sound of this set.

This drumset's symbols are my favortite part. they are fully rounded and nice and springy to use. the only bad part about this set is that the snare drum is a bit softer than most, therefor a little bit harder to make a roll with the drum, u have to hit it softer in order to get the full affect.

this is so easy to use and to put together. and take apart.

perfect and nothing bad to say. =D

worth every penny. this is great for the kids too. i never have to worry about my 12 year old daughter banging them really hard. she just started drums and this drumset is helping her throught the whole way.

never had to contact support

it feels smooth and comfortable

drum student

rock

for the price....Nothing

This is a great little set with tons of features for the price

Hobbyist

Rock

I owned one of the 1st Yamaha DTExpress kits about 7 years ago. It was about $2300, but had TONS more features. I am a little disappointed with the lack of sounds the TD3 unit has. I was hoping that after 7 years surely it would be packed with at least as many features and probably more. This was not the case. And, you will have to move up to a TD6 just to get the 2nd trigger on the dual-trigger pads to work ! I love buying things with capabilities I can't use.

Active Musician

Christian Rock / Pop

Most of the kits sound is precisely accurrate, but the ride is a little sketchy with the spots you hit it. For example, if I wanted to hit the bell, sometimes it would make a different sound that it is supposed to make. The mesh snare is AWSOME, and the rest of the kit is deffinetly worth the money.

This product did not come with any accesories, like drum throne or kick pedal, etc. The cymbals and everything come with their own accesries to set up and mount, so don't worry about that.

The easiest thing I have ever set up, you don't even really need to read instuctions if you have some experience with electronics. The module is the most difficult thing to master, but the directions describe everything perfectly so you will get used to it.

This thing can take a beating, I have lugged it everywhere and nothing is loose and everything still sounds perfect.

Its worth the money, just save up a little to get it.

I have not had any problems with this yet, but when you buy the TD-3 it comes with a warranty and everything is covered.

Even though they sound awsome, they don't look as good as an acoustic drum set, that is a good one.

Of course, if you comparet his kit to the TD-12 or TD-20, this kit isn't the most realistic one out there. But for a compact, low-priced, and low end set I am completely blown away by the sound quality of this kit. Very good choice for beginners and pros.

Im the kinda person who likes touchscreens, and a whole boatload of luxurious features on my instruments. So, from my perspective, this kit doesn't have many features that I WOULD USE, but others may benifit from them. Rythm coach, no touchscreen, oh well, very great kit.

I'm saying a ten cause I don't know how to edit, cause I just play this at the music store.

Seems sturdy. Wish all the pads were mesh.

There's two demo videos on the site, and more on youtube. I bet its pretty valuable!!! I'm serious.

Again I'm sayin a ten. Ive never used support from Roland, but they will help you!!! I ,accidentally, spilled Dr. Pepper on my Roland pedal once. It works like new still!!! Most likely you wont need support for a Roland product unless you completely destroy it. Or wont you?

I'll get it as my fist choice if thats all I could afford, but I'd rather have a TD-9, 12, OR 20.

Musician, (guitarist, keyboardist, starting drummer)

Everything but rap.

Sounds great; also, any trigger can be rigged to play any sound. I bought an extra bass drum trigger for double bass; reconfiguring a cymbal preset to the bass drum sound I wanted was priceless. Easy as setting a clock.

IMPORTANT::The drum brain has only ONE EXTRA INPUT for one other trigger. It is called "crash 2" and can be reconfigured to other sounds. So keep this in mind when you're planning your kit so you don't come up short of inputs. In retrospect, I probably should have gone with a really good double pedal, instead of an extra bass drum and extra single pedal. This would have freed up the extra input for a tom or cymbal. The rack is nice quality, simple to set up, all of the adjustments have integrated keys to turn; hardly even need a drum key after it's set up to change things around. You could easily fit the whole kit in a trunk or back seat with little fuss; although you'd need to remove the drum pads, and other triggers.

Hit "ON", pick a kit, or configure your own. Play. The play along feature sounds really cool, and the drum coach deal seems interesting, but haven't messed with that yet-just wanted to play. For everyone having trouble with the drum brain being right on top of you: 1.Take it off the stand. Set it someplace safe, now you have room. 2. Swap places with it and the high hat trigger, turn it sideways or rotate it upside down and away from you. Now you have more room, especially if you have a double bass setup.

Plays and feels pretty darn close to the real thing. Drummers at Roland definately had a massive say in this equiptment. It's unreal how advanced electric drums are now. If you're looking to buy some electric drums on a budget, say $600; dude just spend the extra couple hundred and never have to buy anything else. How do you save a few hundred by buying something that you don't want for $500-$600? Or why would you buy some cheap junk set that's going to break in a month. If you can save for it, I wholly reccomend this kit, or the comparible roland kits.

I used to be totally acoustic, had a mammoth set that took up a huge amount of room. I also used to think e-drums were weak. Noise ordinance violations tickets are TOTALLY weak-neighbors do not want to hear you; cops do not want to hear you. Also weak are the tiny little places in clubs where they let you set up your drums. So is carrying all the drums (by yourself-you know it's going to be you by yourself), breaking them down, setting them up, trying to fit them in your car, buying new heads, cracking cymbals, cymbals chewing your sticks to toothpicks, tuning, getting gigantic cases for travel, trying to figure out if you'll have your drums in your studio apartment or a bed. I'd take a serious look at e-drums if I were you; they sound great, the technology's better now, but the price should be lower than it is. Get a pair of composite drumsticks, and you probably won't need to replace anything for a very long time.

Der Trummler