I've had three drum sets built around 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18 inch roto toms. Once, in the mid-70's, again, in the early 80's, and last time, about 2003/05.
Alright, that's the main question. I was thinking in getting roto toms, but not really to add more toms, I'm looking for a more latin, jazzy, reggae kind of addition (or to add sound elements from those genres to my general playing).
In the course of 35+ years, have you seen a lot of latin, jazz, or reggae bands using roto toms?
And 200 and some bucks for THE roto toms seems a lot cheaper
Just because something is "more affordable" does not necessarily mean it's gonna make a good substitute.
and easier to set up than some bongos or congas, or timbales;
This is where Remo should step in and make cases for the darn things. They are simply a "pain in the @$$" to transport, unless you have some kind of case (homemade or custom).
do you think they can be used to achieve this kind of sound?
Not really. Roto toms are pretty much "one trick ponies". They sound like roto toms. If you're serious about "adding" color to your sound, look into a Roland SPD-S. Then you'll have your bongo, conga, timbale
and roto tom sound, plus about 150 others.
Another question: What about micing for live and recording situations?
They definitely need to be mic'd.
