Roland TD-27KV Review

Roland TD-27KV

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The Roland TD-27KV is advertised as Roland’s mid-level electronic drum set. However, it feels and plays like a top-of-the-range E-kit. If you’re looking for an incredibly high-quality electronic kit with a proper hi-hat stand, large snare, and large ride pad, this is a fantastic drum kit to consider.

Roland TD-27KV E-Drum Set

Key Features

  • PureAcoustic Ambience Technology
  • Prismatic Sound Modeling Engine
  • Digital snare and ride pads
  • Responsive mesh tom pads
  • Expansive sound library
  • Several inputs and outputs

Scores

Sounds
4
Build Quality
5
Playability
5
Value
4
Module
4.5
Overall
4.5

90/100

The TD 27KV isn’t necesserily the most affordable electronic drum set in the world, but it certainly is a cheaper alternative option to the flagship TD-50 drum set from Roland. This premium electronic drum kit is designed to be compact, yet it’s large enough to feel like you have plenty of space while playing.

The Roland TD 27 drum module has two excellent design features on the module: the PureAcoustic Ambience Technology and the Prismatic Sound Modeling. Both of these features play a huge role in how the drums sound.

In this Roland TD-27KV review, we’re going to take a deep dive into the kit to see everything else it offers. We’ll also see how it compares to the other kits from Roland and competing brands.

Roland TD-27KV E-Drum Set Ratings

Sounds

4
4/5

Build Quality

5
5/5

Playability

5
5/5

Value

4
4/5

Module

4.5
4.5/5

Roland TD-27KV Sound Quality

All the sounds from the set come from the powerful TD-27 drum module. While the module has over 700 onboard sounds and a decent number of preset drum kits, the sound editing tools allow so much customization that you can get even more sounds by doing a bit of tweaking.

With the Prismatic Sound Modeling Engine, you can control the tone and tuning of each drum. You can also tweak the size and liveliness of the sounds. Finally, you can control where the mic placements are of the drums you’re playing, letting you choose just how natural or EQ’d you want the drums to sound.

PureAcoustic Ambience Technology is basically a fancy term for the reverb features on the set. However, you get more control over the balance of the drums than you do with a simple reverb knob on lower-quality Roland sets.

You have the ability to load in your own samples via an SD card. You can even layer samples to get unique multi-layered sounds. If you want even better sounds, you can always connect the TD27KV to something like SuperiorDrummer on a computer.

Overall, the stock sounds are great, and there is plenty of room for customization from the user’s side.

Roland TD-27KV Build Quality

The build quality from this Roland V-Drums TD-27KV is exceptional. The standout features are the digital pads, followed by the responsive tom pads, and the rack.

The two digital pads are the 14-inch PD-140DS snare pad and 18-inch CY-18DR ride pad. The snare pad is large, having the same dimensions as many acoustic snare drums. It has 8 sensors, allowing you to play the most subtle of notes followed by loud and proud ones. It picks up every bit of detail.

The ride pad is mostly the same, having multiple trigger zones that allow you to play any ride pattern you can think of. The size of this ride pad makes the kit feel a lot larger when you’re sitting and playing it.

Both the ride and snare pads are the top pads in Roland’s lineup at the moment, so it’s great that they come with this TD-27 drum set.

The Roland MDS Standard Drum Rack is what holds all the pads together. This rack is very sturdy and feels thick enough to secure all the drums very tightly. There’s an extra beam behind the snare and floor tom pads that adds a good sense of stability to the set.

One of the downsides in terms of build quality is the bass drum pad. The KD-10 is a great pad, but it would be excellent if the kit had a larger bass drum pad to match the snare and ride pads.

Roland TD-27KV Playability

This kit feels a lot larger than it looks when you sit down and play it. The large ride and snare pads are the main cause of this. However, it’s also due to the fact that the snare and hi-hat pads use dedicated hardware stands. It does feel fairly similar to Roland’s flagship TD-50 kit.

You’ll find that all the drums are incredibly sensitive and respond well to dynamic playing. If you want more sensitivity, you can easily adjust the settings of the kit for the pads to be even more responsive.

The kit has the Roland PDS-100 pads for the toms. These mesh pads feel fantastic to play on, and you can trigger multiple sounds from them for a bit of variety. They’re 10-inches in size, meaning they’re slightly larger than the tom pads on any Roland kit beneath the TD-27 line.

The fantastic thing about this kit is that if you’re not a fan of how it feels and sounds to begin with, you can adjust the tensions of the pads and the sounds on the drum module to fit your preferences. It will just take a bit of time, and you’ll end up having an electronic kit that is perfect for you.

Roland TD-27KV Value

You’re going to be paying over $3000 for this set, which is an expensive purchase! You could buy a pro acoustic drum set with top-quality cymbals for less. However, high-quality electronic drums are always more expensive, so you need to take that into account.

The other electronic drum sets on the market that have similar price tags are the Alesis Strike Pro SE, Roland VAD306, and Yamaha DTX8K-XRW. The most similar kit to the TD-27KV is the Yamaha set. It has a slight advantage in that the pads have acoustic shells. However, the ride and snare pads on the TD-27KV are far superior.

The Alesis Strike and Roland VAD306 arguably fall into a different category as they’re hybrid drum sets that are intended to look like acoustic sets. The Alesis set is a top contender in the electronic world thanks to its price. Although, the sounds aren’t near as good as the sounds on a Roland kit.

This leads to the Roland VAD306 and the TD-27KV being the closest in competition. They have most of the same sounds, with the Roland TD-27KV having a slight edge thanks to the larger ride cymbal and superior drum module.

After all those comparisons, I’d say that the TD-27KV has excellent value, and it’s one of the top choices on the market if you’re looking for a relatively compact electronic drum set that feels large to play on.

Roland TD-27KV Module

We’ve gone through most of what the TD-27 module offers already. I can happily say that the module is very streamlined, making it quite easy to figure out how to use it. There are also extensive coaching features, giving you useful tools to practice and improve with.

One of the most impressive things about the module is the number of inputs and outputs on the back. You could use this module to create a mega kit if you wanted to. There are also multiple ways of connecting the module to any device.

The audio travels through USB to a computer, and you can record up to 28 tracks through that one cable which is very impressive.

The Bluetooth capabilities allow you to stream songs through your phone. This feature is fairly standard with most Roland modules nowadays, but its usefulness should never be understated.

Verdict

If you’re looking to buy a Roland kit in the $3000 price range, you’re going to be choosing between the TD-27KV and the VAD306. I’d say that the TD-27KV is the better option, purely because of the snare drum and ride digital pads.

Roland has put a lot of work into these pads, and you can feel the sheer quality of them when you play the kit. After playing the 18-inch ride pad, you’ll find yourself not wanting to go back to anything smaller.

Something to note, though, is that the kit doesn’t come with a snare drum stand or hi-hat stand. If you don’t already have those, you’ll need to purchase them separately, adding to the overall price. However, paying extra for those stands is well worth having an electronic drum kit that feels sturdy.

Overall, the Roland TD-27KV is an excellent drum kit. It’s expensive, but it’s worth every penny you pay for it.

What Comes In The Roland TD-27KV E-Drum Set Box?

Here’s everything you get in the Roland TD-27KV box: 

  • 14” PD-140DS digital snare pad
  • 3 x 10” PDX-100 mesh pads
  • KD-10 kick drum tower
  • 12” VH-10 hi-hat pad
  • 12” CY-12 crash pad
  • 13” CY-13R crash pad
  • 18” CY-18DR digital ride pad
  • Roland TD-27 module
  • Roland MDS Drum Rack

Roland TD-27KV E-Drum Set At A Glance

Pros

  • Professional electronic drum set that feels excellent to play on
  • Digital snare and ride pads elevate the quality drastically
  • Prismatic Sound Modeling Engine and PureAcoustic Ambience Technology allow for extensive sound editing
  • The kit is compact, yet feels large when playing
  • Hi-hat and snare use dedicated stands

Cons

  • Expensive
  • Snare and hi-hat stand not included
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