"Feel" and "Expressive" Differences between Roland TD-20, TD-12 , TD-9

[delta]

So after more waffling on purchasing a new kit, I came across the newest Roland TD-9 with the mesh heads all around. Pretty nice. I love the ability for it to monitor your time keeping with the LCD screen. I was curious if there was a difference between the feel of the heads or expressive-ness between the three e-kits, TD-20, TD-12, and TD-9. Do you get more granularity or bigger range of expression/dynamics with the more expensive kits, or are the mesh heads on all of them pretty much the same? Any info from people with experience with these kits would be great, thanks!

[rmandelbaum]

there are differences in all of the brains. As you get higher in the line you get more ability to tweak. The TD-20 does not have any of the training stuff built in other then a metronome.

The advice I usually give is this. If you are simply going to play and practice then any of them will do this and do it well.

If you are going to use it for recording then the TD-20 is the only way to go. It is all about outputs. The TD-20 is the only one that has individual outs:
Kick - mono
Snare - Mono
Hi-hat - mono
Ride - mono
Crashes - Stereo
Toms - Stereo

With the rest is stereo out.

As for feel, I tune my heads a little on the loose side(Roland does not recomend this) and they feel very close to acoustic drums. I like that much more then rubber pads or the mesh heads tuned up to feel like a tennis racket.

[LtCakes]

Hey, quick question. Why does Roland not recommend tuning your mesh heads loose?

[rmandelbaum]

if they are to loose it can damage the piezo (pickup). Mine are not real loose, just loose enough to have more of a real feel to them. I have had my kit for 2+ years now with no problems at all.