Roland HPD15 Hand Percussion Pad
The HPD-15 HandSonic is an electronic hand percussion multi-pad with triggering capabilities derived from breakthrough V-drums technology. Divided into 15 parts, the HPD-15 allows hand percussionists to play up to 600 realistic acoustic and electronic percussion sounds -- 15 simultaneously -- with all the sensitivity that the Roland V-drums are famous for.
Electronic hand percussion pad with triggering based on V-drums technology 10-inch rubber pad with 15 parts for triggering up to 15 sounds simultaneously Built-in pressure sensor allows for realistic muting and pitch control of sounds Main pad supports Positional Sensing for realistic timbre changes depending on area of pad hit Built-in sequencer with 300 percussion and drum sounds from around the world Onboard effects include dedicated reverb and multi-effects processors Realtime control via D-Beam* Controller, dual ribbon controllers, three control knobs, *D-Beam controller technology has been licensed from Interactive Light, Inc. MIDI In/Out plus dual-trigger input and hi-hat control jack After spending just a few hours with the Roland HPD-15 HandSonic, most of us here had the same question: “Why didn’t someone think of this sooner?” That’s because while electronic drums have been around for about 20 years now, hand percussionists have never really had an electronic instrument like the HandSonic to let them play using their natural techniques. And even for folks who weren’t hand percussionists, the HPD-15 offers some amazing drum and percussion sounds and controls that can be tapped into for great rhythm recording and programming. Different by DesignThe playing surface of the HPD-15 is what makes this product revolutionary. Designed to emulate the feel of a conga, the 10-inch circular surface is divided into fifteen pressure sensitive rubber pads that are used to trigger sounds. These incredibly tactile pads facilitate both muting and pitch bending. And, depending on where or how hard you strike the pad, you can produce different volumes and sounds. You can even vary the length or timbre of a sound by continuing to press the pad after it has been struck, or even by striking a pad while dampening another. In other words, there are countless ways to play this instrument. With these features you have the ability to create open sounds, closed/muted sounds, heel sounds and slap sounds in much the same way you would on an acoustic conga. With the HandSonic's two built-in ribbon controllers, you can even simulate the wailing sound a conga makes when rubbing a dampened finger along the head. This technique takes a long time to perfect on an acoustic conga, but can be done immediately on the HPD-15. And to take this instrument to another level, Roland has included a D-Beam Controller which can be used to produce or control a sound by passing your hand over an infrared beam of light. Finally, as if eighteen controls weren't enough, you can even connect a kick pedal, hi-hat pedal or external pads for even more control. A Massive Sound SetWhile the conga emulation alone is amazing, it’s only a fraction of what the HandSonic can do. This instrument has a remarkable array of onboard sounds-—600 to be exact. There's everything from clave to clavinet, from guiro to distorted guitar. And to make it easy to find whatever sound you’re after, they are divided into nine sound groups: Latin, African, Indian, Asian, Orchestral, Drum Set, Dance Sounds, Effects Sounds and Others. Each group contains instruments associated with the region or style (the category marked Other is an assortment of guitar, bass and synth sounds). For example, the Latin group includes a variety of congas, bongos, cowbells, claves, shakers, timbales and the like, while the African group includes djembes, talking drums, kalimba, log drums and more. The Indian group contains tabla, tambura, bell tree, santoor, and sitar—you get the idea. If you had to carry this many instruments to a gig or session, you’d h
