Roland HPD-20 Digital Hand Percussion Instrument, 3-Inch

I've had this handrum for a couple of months now so I think I can review it fairly. My thought process in purchasing was to be able to practice and become so efficient with this device that I could play out with it someday. I also bought the kick and high pedals for it, but won't review those here. I will say they synced perfectly when plugged in. As for the handrum, its easy to play, tough to master. I play rhythm guitar so my timing is pretty solid, but I'm not a drummer. I'd read that even drummers that purchase this device still have a learning curve, so I figured I'd give it a shot. This thing is so much fun to play. 100 different preset kits to choose from and each kit can be tailored and preset pads can be swapped with other instruments and sounds. There are also open banks to create your own kits but I haven't got that far yet. The coolest feature I'm anxious to play with is inputting your very own custom .wav files via PC or USB, then assigning those sounds or voices to my pads. Imagine recording Zeppelin guitar riffs or your kid's voices and playing them as drum sounds! You can also change the sensitivity of the pads so you don't have to bang on them to get a sound. You can also hold down a pad with one hand and mute it while tapping on it with the other hand just like a real conga. I love that it has a headphone jack as well. Its an expensive toy, but rock solid and should provide years of enjoyment.

I waited a while to do a review. First, I have high expectations, especially at this price. I have tried so many drum pads. Being a guitar player and a finger tapper, I need a way to put down beats. This thing blows away all other drum controllers I have tried, and for the price I would have returned it if it didn't. I am only using this as a midi controller, so I paid a lot of extra money for features I will never use. That being said, as a midi controller, this thing is the ONLY drum pad I have ever used that worked well for me. The layout is much better than a traditional grid of squares. It takes some getting used to but it is awesome to work with. Changing the MIDI mappings to choose which note each pad triggers is easy. I mapped it to my DAW (ableton) drum sets in no time. If you are a guitar player or composer who needs to be able to tap out rhythms with accuracy this is the one. I will warn you that fast tapping is not that accurate on the same pad (like trying to do snare rolls). I can work around this by programming my fast stuff. It is annoying, but it is a limitation of the technology right now. On most tempos I can get 1/16 notes accurate. 1/32 are not. This may be a limitation of me and not the pad so I am still giving this 5 stars. I would give it a 4 because of price, but it is not Roland's fault I don't have use for all of the features. Cheers!

Works for me! Has a lot of sounds I won't use, but it has a lot that I will and do! Easy to learn, configurable, and awesome velocity/sensitivity. I can also play some melodic instruments like bells, gongs, santoor, crotales, etc -- all tuneable to whatever notes/scale(s) you want. Pretty much something for everyone with this and has the Roland quality. You can also set your MIDI to be master or slave so it can synch with any of your other devices. Generally better than the Korg Wavedrum, but honestly they have different enough sounds that you could have one of each and get a lot more options. If I had to only choose one, then the HandSonic would be my pick for sure (I bought both and sent the Wavedrum back after trying both out for a week.)

Roland makes excellent electronic instruments. My only disappointment is that I was hoping to use the module as a drum set, too. I bought the KD7 High hat and FD-8 bass pedal-trigger. The BT-1 trigger I purchased was to be the ride cymbal using a drum stick but the BT-1 uses the same input as the bass drum trigger.You really can't drum while trying to ride a cymbal on a tiny module pad with your finger. My suggestion would be to increase the inputs. Perhaps Roland does not want this Hand Sonic to compete with the Roland electronic drum sets.

This is really a lot of fun. I am not expert at using it, but I have a lot of fun with it and the variety of drums and sounds available is amazing. I do think it is over priced however, that is why I gave it a 4 in value.

He said he would give it more than 5 stars.

I bought this drum and within 3 months, the on/off switch started to have problems. After 6 months, the switch stopped working. I tried to call Roland and never could get anyone, so I registered the product and put in a request for repair. I got an email from Roland with an RMA number and an address to send it to. Roland does not pay for warranty shipping, so it cost me 35.00 in UPS to send it with 100.00 insurance for loss. If I had UPS pack it and insure it for the full value of 900.00, it would have cost almost 80.00 dollars to send it. Roland fixed the problem and returned the drum. Finally, a person from Roland called me and said that Roland does not pay for shipping even if the problem is a manufacturing defect. So, beware of buying equipment from Roland and expecting them to compensate you for warranty returns.

I am a table tapper. Always bopping out a beat with my finger on my desk at work and at the kitchen table. I play keyboard and guitar but always thought it would be cool to have an instrument to play with my fingers. (Yes, I have a sample pad machine with the square buttons but this is way better) When I ran across this item mentioned in a magazine article I investigated immediately and purchased one. I really enjoy it. Connected it to a JC-880 keyboard amp and am having a blast with this thing. A little on the expensive side. Perhaps price will drop once they sell more.