Traditionally at the Winter NAMM Show, Roland holds her press conference on the Wednesday before the show officially starts. This year located in a complete new section of the Anaheim Convention Centre. Strangely enough, the new drum products were not mentioned during this year's press conference. Of course we have pictures and info of the new TM-6 PRO Trigger Module, and a video of the opening, and yes - why not, one of guitar god Steve Vai's speech receiving the Roland Lifetime Achievement Award. In a later article we'll show a TM-6 Pro video demo with Michael Schack.
Roland opening at NAMM 2018
The Roland TM-6 PRO Trigger Module The professional way to trigger sounds and complement your acoustic drums onstage
Basically, you can layer your acoustic sounds with samples from the TM-6. Those can be the pre-installed samples, or the ones you import into the module.
The TM-6 PRO is the newest Roland product for hybrid drumming. It features 500 sampled sounds plus 268 expressive V-Drums sounds, 80 ready-to-use kits, and inputs for connecting up to 12 pads and/or drum triggers.
It has four assignable audio outputs, a click track, headphones monitoring, and more. You can assign, mix, and modify sounds, apply built-in effects, monitor trigger status, and more. It's also possible to play backing tracks directly from SD media, and use the TM-6 PRO as a USB audio interface and trigger-to-MIDI converter for a computer DAW.
Besides all that, the M-6 PRO features six dual-trigger inputs that can accommodate up to 12 total trigger devices when using Y cables. Available Roland devices include V-Pads, RT-series acoustic drum triggers, the BT-1 Bar Trigger Pad, and more. There's also a hi-hat control input for connecting an FD-8 hi-hat pedal.
Introducing the Roland TM-6 PRO Trigger Module
RT-MicS Hybrid Drum Module With the new TM-6, Roland releases the RT-MicS Hybrid Drum Module: a new hybrid percussion product that makes it easy to trigger electronic sounds from any acoustic snare or tom. It combines a piezo trigger, microphone, and sound module in a small battery-powered device that mounts quickly, with no tools required. The RT-MicS comes loaded with eight high-quality sounds, and also supports loading user samples via USB.
The preloaded sounds in the RT-MicS include handclap and snare variations designed to layer with acoustic snare. Using the free RT-MicS Sender software on a Mac or PC, players can replace the factory sounds with custom WAV sounds. Each can be up to 10 seconds in length, enabling the triggering of sustained sounds likes gongs, cymbals, timpani, and even sound effects. Via the software, sounds can be assigned for triggering from the rim only if desired.
Electronic sounds are selected from the playing position with a large button on the RT-MicS. Sounds can also be muted/unmuted easily, and a dedicated control is on hand to adjust the trigger sensitivity as needed.
With its integrated microphone, the RT-MicS allows the user to amplify their acoustic snare or tom sound through a PA without having to use a separate mic. Individual ¼-inch outputs are provided for the mic and electronic sounds, and it's also possible to blend the two sounds inside the RT-MicS and send them to a single output.
Roland Lifetime Achievement Award And like every year, during the Roland press conference, an artist get honoured with a lifetime achievement award. Last year it was The Police guitarist Andy Summers, and this year guitar legend Steve Vai and electronic artist and producer Thomas Dolby.
We recorded Steve Vai's speech, who was truly humbled and happy with this recognition. And he shares a great story...
Steve Vai's Roland Lifetime Achievement Award Speech
