Roland TD-27KV2 First Impressions 

I just got one of these a few weeks ago from edrumcenter with the kd-180L kick drum bundle. So very happy that i can finally play drums again after living in apartments the last few years. The large snare, hi hats, ride, and kick really make the experience very “acoustic-like.” I really think this is the ultimate sweet spot as far as electric drums go.

The larger kick, snare and ride are the selling points for this kit. Those are must-haves.

Bought this kit and am very happy with it. Great technology, great quality hardware, great playing experience. A keeper for me.

Had this in my cart when it released and decided to not pull the trigger till you reviewed =). You are my impulse buy valve check! Thanks for the video.

Comfortably the best bang for buck on the market. To have class leading snare, ride and hihat on a mid range kit is usually unheard of

Great vid. I recently upgraded to the TD27KV2 and love it. Fantastic kit. Thanks for this vid Justin.

I got this kit very recently. It was a huge upgrade from my TD07kv and it’s hard to put into words how crazy different it is. I am a fairly new electronic drummer but I love this kit so much. You definitely know that most of the sounds of the kits are “massaged” sonically but a lot of the kits are great sounding and are very playable. The module is so powerful and the snare, hi hat and ride are top notch, as Justin points out. So far I am loving it

this is probably the drumset I would get if I was still using edrums. Just for having the digital snare, hi hat, and ride. I don’t like the sound at all but that’s what superior drummer is for IMO once you try it you don’t wanna go back to the internal sounds of any module

If I wasn’t broke I would 100% buy this.

Thinking of buying this and tossing the shells and rack. Building a large home built EDrum.

To me the sound settings on Roland kits is underrated. Just the muting settings alone, going from wide open, to a bit of tape, to a full on ring changes the sounds a lot. Then there is tuning and stacking. No matter what you always have plugins but it's amazing to have that customization on the module. The things they could definitely do better on their kits is stop making digital hi-hats that have to go on a standard stand in tiny 10"-12" sizes, the ergonomics just doesn't work and feels really off when everyone has played 14" or larger hats all their lives. Glad to see a 14" option on this kit. I have that bass drum pad and it's good but I just wish it felt 10% more solid - which is silly since on all these kits there are rack legs to either side and it would feel so much better to add a way to anchor that little pad to the rack rather than just having to make the kick big and heavy.

I'd totally pick one of these up. The builtin sounds seem excellent for a module and the drums you get are top notch.

I got this kit last month. I went from the Alesis DM 5 to this so it was a massive jump. I wanted to get the Roland kit as I cared more about how it played rather than how it sounded as you said you can easily use third party sample kits. I am very impressed with it so far. The snare is so much fun to play and it's nice to have "proper" cymbals and hi hat. I've not messed around with the sounds that much yet as I've just been playing it. I have copied a snare, hi hat, cymbals etc from other pre made kits to make my own kit so far. I really like the snare sound but haven't found a bass drum or toms I'm 100% happy with. Guess I'll have to learn how to edit the drums then!

a mild annoyance for me is these guys are STILL selling these kits without a HH-stand, snaredrum stand and bassdrum pedal ( for that price ) . I find to be pretty outrageous. Also : they should really upgrade that module screen to be color ( and maybe even touchscreen ) . You might think this all trivial stuff but these kits are quite expensive and if you pay premium you should GET premium

Hey Justin, many thanks for sharing with us! I have a TD25KV I purchased in 2015. I can't wait to upgrade to the TD27KV-2. Thanks again for your advice. Tom Pollock

Really astounding is the display. Still the old display they ‚ve been using since 90-ies.

Justin you have a very nice groove as a drummer. Very natural and relaxed.

I have the original TD27kv that I grabbed on closeout for a great deal at the beginning of the year, and updated it to the v2 firmware. I don't have the digital hi-hat yet, but do plan to upgrade in the future - I'm super happy with the kit. I agree that it would be awesome if the floor tom was 12", and the ride and snare are second to none. Love how small it is in my studio room as well.

I'm ordering this kit can't wait!!!

Liked the comparisons with the other sets. Thanks for using my kit in your last vid! Somehow I missed it when it came out originally.

I bought this last year and I love it, I have had TD 30, TD 17, and the first edition TD 27, this kit really does it for me, the kit sounds and digital hi hat are by far better and make this worth the money, I added a second kick tower and kick pedal, I don't like that small kick tower, get yourself a roland KC 600 keyboard amp and you are ready to rock.

Super happy to see this review come out. Great video!

I tried this and the td17kvx2. It wasnt even close. This thing feels like a real acoustic kit. Costs a lot more but you can see what that extra money gets you.

I bought this kit from Edrum center with the replacement bass drum KD 180. I'm happy with this kit.

Great information as always!

Basically Roland is the best in E-Drumming 🙌 down. I advise everyone who can’t afford a $1,000+ e-drum kit to buy a used Roland kit online like the TD-11, TD-9, etc. I bought my TD11-KV a couple years ago in great condition for just under $500 at Guitar Center online. This kit is better than many of the $1,000+ Alesis, Simmons, KAT, etc kits. You can’t go wrong with Roland when it comes to E-drums.

This is on my save to buy list! Definitely the best for the price!

I think your playing has gotten better!

Random observations: 1. This is the best, most informative review of a E drum kit I've seen. You don't just regurgitate Roland's website (you don't sound like a shill). 2. I clearly saw someone blasting on that kit,. I'd love to hear what he thinks about this kit. 3. I really appreciate your insights on the experience of playing this kit. And your advice to play it and see what your gut reaction is to the sounds and heads, cymbals etc. As you may be aware though, finding an E drum kit that is actually in stock and playable in person is getting very hard to find. 4. I use double kick a lot in my playing. Do you feel the stock tower is stable enough to handle that (maybe ask your blasting friend from the footage :) ) 5. Thanks for making the review I was looking for.

Nice one, looking forward to the part two

I'm not a drummer. My brother was packing up my nephew's TD9 he bought a long time ago after he moved out and I asked him to let me use it just to mess around with. One day my nephew said he wanted to get back into drums so I gave it back to him but was left without a kit. So I got this one. For the casual drummer I can't think of a better overall e-kit. The hi-hat is everything people have said about it. The only problem I've had with it is that the hi-hat would randomly trigger the choke and I would have to restart the kit. Then, after a while it would do it again. There wasn't much online about this problem. The best I could gather is that it was a firmware issue. I didn't upgrade my firmware. I just disabled the choke on my hi-hat and no problems since then. Who chokes their hi-hat, anyway? Here's the only video I've found explaining how to do this. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-D9hF1_KtgLY.html

I bought this a couple years ago from Sweetwater. Got a bundle for a extra $100 with an extra tom and their sound stick/bar.

Great. Thank you for your content. Justin

For anyone interested, axetrak sells a drop clutch for the vh-14d. It’s been very nice on my 507.

Wonderful and insightful video.....Thank you.

I have the td 27 first gen the updated software make a big sound difference. I wish i had the vh14d though thats a huge update. keeping my eye on a used one. superior drummer is definitaly the best way to use the kit. I would love to see you do a in depth vid on how you would set up a kit for sd3. thanks justin!

Thanks for this! I’m seriously considering one of these to replace my 25-year-old TD-10 kit. The cymbals, hi-hat, and cross-sticking capabilities are key upgrades for me. The OG TD-10 module still sounds great (looks like they haven’t changed the display much!), but I’ve been living with those stupid cymbal pads for too long. 😂

that's a very compelling package in terms of both trigger pads and module features, especially with the firmware update

About the 3-ply mesh-head: I read somewhere what roland uses them for 14" and up is reduce rebound but uses 2-ply up to 12" since smaller sizes naturally have less rebound with mesh heads.

Nice review Justin. I gave my son my eFnote 3x for his birthday present. I still have the Yamaha dtxreme bitsa kit downstairs that I'm trying to sell. I'm sold on efnote. I think the module is great for what it does but I have a mac book pro to run soft on. At the end of the year I'll just buy another 3x unless they come out with a new version. I'm rather tempted by the pro line as you get all the extra inputs and no snake.

Thanks for the video

great review thanks!

They really need to include hardware for this price.

Thank you for this video i was always curious about what you thought of it. I bought this back in Feb and I love everything about it except the sounds the hard ware is some of the best out there but the sounds are not the best ive messed with them and still cant get them where i want them so I'm getting superior drummer 3 here real soon. Other than the sounds this is a great drum set.

I wish there was more time spent talking about/demoing the digital pads, since those are the main selling point of this kit

I bought the so called digital upgrade pack - the TD27 modul, the 18" ride cymbal and the 14" snare - and put it on my VAD306 and am very happy with that. I found the TD27KV kinda unimpressive and the VAD504 kit to be just too big for me. So I settled for what I thought to be the best mix.

It’s about time. You’ve been slacking 😅

They should 100% have made the floor tom bigger. Wish I could afford a kit like this!

nice Dope Stickz. Tasteful

Justin can you make s video comparing older thinker tdkv1 crashes with newer thinner crashes on tdkv2 in terms of playability and choke control.

It sounds pretty good! I still have the same issue I often have with Roland. In Canada this kit is $5000. You can build a great kit and use software for half that price. Having the name Roland on it is just far to expensive

the biggest upside for these this the hi-hat - getting a hi-hat that feels and triggers as naturally as possible is something I think the latest Roland tech does best. Are there others that do it well?

Love the video man! But I was wondering what your thoughts are regarding the TD27 kit adapting to multilayered/multi sample plug ins. Would they sound as good as in a Yamaha DTX8 for example?

Nice in-deep review. I had a td-9, I played a td-3, after years I had the possibility to play drums in a band again and I opted for a td-17. My first impression was “wow, nice sounds, but I could recognize them from my td-9”. Same here with the td-27. Nice sounds but I can hear they are kind of fake and kind of the same with previous models. Since I had to play every time we practice and live, I switched to a 2box drumit 5 (first one, not the mk2), I modded to have more storage and never looked back. I kept the roland td-17 pads (I upgraded them but with roland pd105x, 125x and 125xs and kd-140) and the cymbals are roland too. The Drumit 5 as a sound module is still now miles away and forward from roland. No, it doesn’t have all of the possibility to edit the sounds. And it’s getting old. But it sounds like you are playing with superior drummer. Real drums recorded. The cymbals and the drum kit are the same of my acoustic drum, sabian hhx and Tama starclassic, I was lucky to find them.

Excellent video as always. I’m in the market for a new high end to replace my td17 and these are really useful videos. I am looking at the td50 or the best vad but I’m also hesitant because Roland might release a new platform around Christmas

alright, now not so upset tht i didn’t know about the original td-27kv coming out right after i got my td-17kvx, cuz now i can plan on working towards upgrading to the tx-27kv2 lol

Now that Roland owns DW I think they will start shipping PDP hardware with the TD kits...well hopefully!

Nice to see Rob Thomas of "Matchbox 20" endorse V drums. Lol

i'm liking this kit and more'n interested in upgrading from my TD-25KV. what I'm not hearing is the ride cymbal sounding like hitting on rubber; which is unnerving!

11:26 - You always know it's a module (specially Roland modules, keyboards and every instrument) when they do their thing with sounds. Instead of just using regular samples, they throw these crazy high-quality sound samples into a processor, that converts it to a mathematical approximation of a sound using something called Fast Fourier Transform. No matter how fancy their math gets, our ears are like super calculators in comparison. It's seriously mind-blowing how our brain hears stuff and how fast it makes stupidly hyper complex calculations. And hey, even though it sounds kinda nuts, this math trick becomes seriously handy in a live gig. Think about it, there's a ton of noise, distortion, high volume and crazy sounds going on on a live set. That's where you need a top-notch sound engineer to clean the useless frequencies coming into an acoustic drum mic, and there is where the FFT applied in those drum modules comes in handy. So, you're left with these simplified Math-clean sounds that just slice through the whole mix without breaking a sweat.

Justin, how does this compare to the efnote 3x? I’m looking for something without the acoustic look. What are your thoughts

Hey Justin! I’m looking to purchase the Alesis strata prim or the Roland TD 27KV2 and was wondering was the Alesis snare as sensitive as the Roland since I do a lot of buzz rolls, Thanks for your help! Jamie

Very nice explanation and video. Thank you. I have a TD-30 kv and I'm thinking about updating to the Td-50 module so I can, eventually, to use digital pads. Do you think that this module (TD-27KV2) could be a good choice to go for before to give the big jump to the Td-50?

I have Strike pro SE, and Td-27 kv. Both very nice, but for best looking large bass drum, this is KV-27 really missing 😊

How big of an upgrade are the 2 piece hi hats compared to something like the VH-10 that comes with the TD-17kvx? Not in the market for the whole kit but those hi hats look like a compelling upgrade

Very nice

Hey Justin, thanks for all the great info on this channel! Thinking of getting the TD27 module for an acoustic to electronic conversion. I won't be using all of the cables on the wiring harness, at least to begin with, and wanted to know if it will work just to leave some of the cables unplugged? Is this a bad idea for other reason? Thanks again!

looks ands sounds great

Maybe a little of topic for this vid but I watch all your content and love it..that said. Is it an option to midi out your module to ez drummer, then run that plug-in through a PA speaker setup just to get that processed sound live? ?

For recording purposes with a vst like Superior Drummer or EZDrummer, would you advice a td27 or an Efnote 3x? Would it make much difference?

why is there no through the rack pad cable routing? It's just drilling a few holes and installing grommets.

Still sounds crap. I dont understand the problem to make a module to sound like drums?

Which snare and high hat stands would you recommend?

This is a great video, thanks. I'm pretty sure the Roland TD27 KV2 is the best option for me, since I'm hysterical about feel and responsiveness, however the sounds of the Roland seems off to me. Can anyone confirm for me whether the Roland TD27 KV2 paired with a computer and these mentioned plugin modules will be a good solution? I feel that the great hardware of the TD27 is more important than the software part.

Love your channel. I bought the Roland VAD504 but my biggest complaint is not feeling like a regular drum set from a head tension perspective especially the kick. Do you have any suggestions on how to make it feel more natural?

If I’m mostly going to use ezdrummer 3 would you still recommend this kit overall or would you recommend a lower kit?

I'll buy this drum but how it works with vst? The hi hat, snare and ride experience are the same with de moudle sounds and the vst like SD3 or EZDrummer

Efnote 3X or this one, Justin?

Where can I buy this kit and how much does it cost?

I disagree with you about the "Roland Sound" in this module. They sound great and there no reason to use other software to get good sound. Just do some editing in the module and they sounds perfect.

Hey Justin, I've had a td25kv since 2014 and have been really happy with it, I even added a second floor tom, do you think it's worth upgrading to the 27kv? If so do you think it better to flip the 25kv and get the 27kv or to sell some of the parts from the 25 (hi-hat kick etc) and keep some of the toms or cymbals to add to the 27kv( I'm assuming they are compatible)?

I've been away from the drums for too long now & am itching to play again. I already have a Pearl acoustic kit, but I currently live in an apartment and have nowhere to play. Not being able to play & practice enough has always been a problem. I often wonder how much better I might be if I had been able to practice as much as I'd have liked to. So I've just begun looking into electronic drum kits to see if they have finally gotten to a level yet where I'd be comfortable buying one. I've been watching every video on Electronic Kits that I can find and I'm down to either the Yamaha DTX-8K, or the Roland TD27-KV2. I really love the look & sound of the Yamaha DTX-8K, but from what I understand it doesn't have a digital Hi-Hat, a digital Snare or a digital Ride Cymbal. I know that the Roland TD27 does have these features & I'm wondering how much better they are? The Hi-Hat of electronic drums has always been an issue. Very difficult to replicate an acoustic Hi-Hat. But the digital, position sensing Hi-Hat of the TD27 sounds like it could finally be the most accurate so far. Okay, given you have played on both these kits, I'm wondering which one has the most accurate feeling Hi-Hat? And is the digital Snare & Ride of the Roland TD-27 really much better than the Yamaha DTX-8K? Having played both, if you could maybe explain the difference between the Yamaha DTX-8K & Roland TD27KV2, I would greatly appreciate it.

Can you please advise Roland TD-27KV2 is right choice for a beginner??

Could this kit take some abuse and keep up with regular practicing and rehearsal/band practice? I play in a hardcore punk band. It's fast, and i hit yard.

I still luv my yam.dtx3 extreme b4 they went to white pads back in 2007 2006.or so..$3600 total.. 2 sat speakers n bass amp.b 67 nstill play hrs..got my 68 lud white marine pearl..ringo did 4me feb 64..started lessons in 3grade.these new sets r great .but i dont wana fix thats mot broken .i search for sat speakers .amps.etc can u please review what great thku

what makes the high hat, snare and ride better than any other in the industry? is it the accuracy of the triggering? because that alone would make it worth getting over anything else. otherwise, fnote looks gorgeous and I like the simply module more natural sounding kits.

Thanks for the review. How the hell do you do those quick triple bass drum kicks at 9:44??

Hey justin,could you also do a review of the millennium mps-1000?

i have been following some reviews and must say that i value your reviews b/c of your integrity and point blank statements! that being said, i know you tend to do full kits (brains/rack/padded heads) - i am wondering if you have ever reviewed pintech drums (they have no modules of which I am aware)?

I wish there was a simple inexpensive MIDI interface where you could plug in all these nice digital pads without the bloat of onboard kits/sounds/editing/etc. I agree with the notion that you always kinda know you're listening to a module; it always sounds "Roland-y". I have a lower-end Roland kit and I use EZdrummer 3 with it, I never touch the module sounds. I want to upgrade to something with digital pads (the large pieces in this kit really tick the boxes for me) but I'm hesitant to also have to spend money on a module that has the necessary connections, but has a bunch of stuff I'll never want to use that jacks up the price. Or maybe there IS something out there one could plug this stuff into and I just haven't come across it yet heh.

Justin, I would like to upgrade. I want to play the Roland digital hihat, ride and snare. But I only use the TD 50 as a MIDI device to play EZ3 from my MacBook. Hey, do I still have the full dynamics and all the advantages that the Roland digital pads offer?

I’m buying soon this kit. But I need some help. Does this kit support the TD50 module? I’m not buying this module soon because I’m not a professional player already, but I need to know if the module TD50 Is compatible with this kit. And what Hi Hat pedal I Need. Any Hi Hat pedal works or I need an Special One

Also, I really respect your opinion so I wanted to ask about something. I have a friend wanting to trade me his near brand new TD-30, PD140DS, CY18DR and VH13's for my TD-30, PD128S, CY15R and VH12's. The main thing I'm worried about is the module. What is your opinion on the TD-27 versus the TD-30? Thanks man!

I ordered vad 307 snd sfter sering this video i cancelled it and biught the TD-27KV2 instead 😀 Got the kit today but the hihat stand, kick and snare stand comes next week 🥹

I just bought the yamaha dtx6k3-x

Do you think Roland will ever get away from the cable snake on their mid-level modules?

The alesis strike pro se should have made the comparison. After buying a hi hat stand and snare stand, the Roland is almost 1k more. You can spend that money to upgrade to lemon cymbals with an edrumin as the hi hat controller, still be 500 bucks cheaper, get better sounds, big bass drum, bigger drums, multi layered sample import, and on and on I've been a happy strike owner since it was released (came from td9) and there is nothing anywhere near the price point that comes close

Justin, recommendation for a 12” replacement for the 10” floor on the 27KV2? Thank you!

i have a rather large drumkit with multiple snares and multiple rides . would it be possible to utilize both the the digital ride input AND the standard ride inputs... for two rides ....or are you using both the digital input and the standard inputs for just one ride ? im on a strike kit so , i have no idea how digital snares or digital rides work

Do you have a video that teaches how to set up and use EZ drummer on a Roland set ? Or the new DW software that comes with there wireless kit ? I want a kit for enjoyement or practice. But i need top level sounds for recording. I have the money to buy a top end Roland kit but i wonder if it really matters if i am going to use EZ drummer. I wish i new the perfect setup for practice and studeo. Help would be appreciated. Is it worth buying a twice as expensive kit than the 27 if you are just going to use external sounds ? I do wish the 27 had a bigger floor tom. And i wish i didnt need to use external sounds but for some reason Roland cant do what EZ drummer or superior drummer can do. Or the new DW wireless set from a company that Roland owns. It just makes no sence.