Roland SPD-SX Sampling Pad Set with Stand

Sampling, Importing, and Triggering Audio Files

The SPD-SX gives you a whole universe of sounds at your fingertips. Trigger a full track, a song part, effect, click track, or one-shot sound from a single pad. You also have full control over how audio files are played back. Whether you’re performing cover versions in clubs or reproducing your own productions on stage, the SPD-SX delivers studio-quality sound to your live shows.

Velocity-Sensitive Pads

The SPD-SX features nine velocity-sensitive rubber pads that you can assign any sound to. When you tap the pads lightly, the sound plays quietly. The harder you hit, the louder the sound. You can also set a pad to a fixed velocity value if needed, so a sound always plays at the same volume regardless of how hard you strike the pad.

LED Indicators

Each SPD-SX pad has a red LED for stage visibility and pad status indication. Depending on your performance needs, you can set how the LEDs behave. You can choose for the LEDs to be always on or off, only light up when the sample on the pad is playing, or dynamically react to the audio signal, similar to a level meter on a mixing console.

Memory and Sounds

You can never have too many sounds, right? With 16 GB of memory, the SPD-SX holds 25 hours of stereo audio material (50 hours mono) in 44.1 kHz/16-bit WAV/AIFF format. The pad comes with 210 pre-installed samples, including loops, one-shots, and melodic phrases. There are also 100 kit memory slots for your own layouts. The factory includes 16 preset kits. In the Roland Cloud, you’ll find a huge and constantly growing collection of samples and loops for every music style.

Powerful Sampling Features

With the SPD-SX’s deep sampling features, you can quickly and easily create your own unique sounds. Connect a microphone or mono/stereo line-level device to the analog inputs or link a computer via USB. Using the Basic Sampling function, you can sample a sound and assign it to a single selected pad. Multi-pad sampling lets you assign and save audio samples across multiple pads. The SPD-SX even allows you to re-sample an entire performance including effects.

Playback Types

Once your sounds are recorded and stored, you control playback via three customizable modes: Single, Phrase, and Loop. Choose Single for simple percussion sounds like drum hits and claps. Phrase mode is ideal for longer samples that play fully to the end. Loop mode also plays files from start to finish, then seamlessly restarts playback.

Trigger Types

Need even more control over your audio playback? No problem. The trigger type setting determines how a sample plays when a pad is struck. “Shot” plays the sample as soon as the pad is hit. “Alt” starts or stops playback with each pad hit. For maximum flexibility, trigger and playback types can be combined. Plus, the lightning-fast trigger response ensures you always stay on beat without distraction.

Integrated Audio Editing

Life on the road can be hectic. Sometimes you need to tweak sounds quickly and easily. With the SPD-SX’s built-in editing functions, you can edit samples without using a DAW. Trim samples, set start/stop points, adjust volume and pitch, and more. You can even cut multiple samples simultaneously or split a single sample into several and assign them to different pads.

Add Effects

The SPD-SX taps into the power of three effect engines. You can use two effect engines simultaneously: master effects and kit effects. The master engine affects all kits and includes 21 different effect types to enhance your performance. The three general master effect presets on the front include filter, delay, and short loop, affecting all audio signals playing through the pads at that time. The two assignable kit effects only activate when you hit a pad within a selected kit patch. You can also turn kit effects on and off.

In and Out

Live players need plenty of connectivity options. The SPD-SX makes it easy to get sounds in and out of the pad. Discover a variety of outputs for simple mixing and monitoring. Use the USB connection with SPD-SX Wave Manager software to import, organize, and record sounds. You can also expand your rig with up to four external pads, two footswitches, and more accessories.

USB Audio/MIDI

Connect your SPD-SX to your computer via USB cable to record your sounds and performances in a DAW. The USB cable also transmits MIDI data. The standard MIDI in/out allows control of software instruments, additional stage equipment, and automation software like Ableton.

Easy Sound Import

There are two ways to quickly load audio files into the SPD-SX. You can load files onto a USB flash drive and copy them to the pad. Or use the free SPD-SX Wave Manager to drag and drop audio files from your computer onto individual pads. The software also includes intuitive tools for backups and organizing kits for different gigs.