The Roland Octapad SPD-30 blends the world’s most essential sounds with the latest percussion triggering technology. Roland wraps the Octapad in a road-tough package that’s ready for the most demanding performers.

Roland’s original Octapad profoundly changed the landscape of electronic percussion. The size of a briefcase, the Octapad offered drummers and percussionists the equivalent of an entire electronic rig in one self-contained unit—a new level of convenience and expression. Now, decades later, another exciting chapter in Octapad history begins.

The SPD-30’s pads are raised 1/4-inch above the shell, so it’s less likely you’ll whack the plastic housing accidentally when playing rim shots. More importantly, the SPD-30’s pads are soft, but offer plenty of rebound—a far better playing surface than the original Octapad had. When using sticks, I prefer this surface over Yamaha’s new Multimix 12 percussion pad, because the Yamaha pads feel spongier. Although that’s often better for hand drumming, it makes it more difficult to execute quick double-strokes when using sticks.

Overall, the SPD-30 is well designed and easy to use. The large LCD shows, at a glance, the playing or editing mode you’re in, which sounds are assigned to each pad, as well as the bar, beat, and tempo you’re using with the phrase looper.

The layout of the controls is intuitive enough for beginners to wrap their heads around. The master and headphone volume controls are on the face, with dedicated buttons for Play, Record, Erase, Mute, Set Loop/Next, and so on. It is unlikely that you’ll accidentally turned off the SPD-30, because it takes a fair amount of pressure to operate the power button. Together, the LCD, buttons, and knobs make it a breeze to do simple edits or create a list of favorite kits that you can quickly access. And for those of us that like to create highly customized setups, there are deeper parameters to work with.