The Roland Drum Difference
Roland Drum is regarded as a leader in the electronic drum market, and for good reason. The Roland V-Drum series offer a very senstive pad that feels great. Their V-Cymbals are cutting edge, making you almost forget that you're playing an electronic kit.
For this discussion, we're only going to focus on Roland's electronic drums as entire sets. Like a "package" deal for comparison to the other companies. You can read more details about Roland Cymbals Here and the Roland Drum Modules Here.
When reading about the Roland drum sets, you'll notice references to the number of triggers or zones (single, dual, triple). This means the number of electrical sensors (or triggers) used on the pad or cymbal to mimic sound variations found with acoustic drums.
 V-Compact Series
To start the line-up, Roland Drum has the V-Compact Series (Model TD-3). This kit uses a dual-trigger gum rubber pad for the snare, toms, and hi hat.
As you can see in the picture to the right, only two pads are given for toms. Don't fret though, a third pad can easily be added to bring up to a 5-piece kit.
Like many others, the hi hat is controlled by a remote foot pedal supplied by Roland. You have to provide your own bass drum pedal, which is the case with all of Roland's electronic sets.
The TD-3 drum module compliments the V-Compact drum set well. It's easy to use and has plenty of features to keep you busy. See the latest price HERE.
 V-Tour Series
The next step for Roland Drum is the V-Tour Series (model TD-6KV). This electric drum set is very similar to the V-Compact module with the exception of two upgrades: the drum module and snare pad.
Roland introduces their mesh drum head, called a "V-Pad" on the snare. It is dual triggered, with one on the head and one of the rim to execute rim shots or cross-sticking.
The drum module "upgrade" occurs for every step up the Roland Drum ladder. The higher you go in Roland's model series, the more complex the V-Drum parts (i.e. head, rims, cymbals, hi hat). More information coming in from the kit naturally requires a bigger brain. Here's great deal on the V-Tour.
V-Stage Series
Moving into the V-Stage Series (model TD-8KV), the gum rubber pads are replaced by mesh V-Pad. Alhough they look exactly like the snare pad, the toms are only single trigged, which is fine. How often to you hit the rim on your toms? (at least on purpose?)
The bass drum also gets a V-Pad for this kit. WHY? Because it allows you to adjust head tension to respond how you like it.
Like other Roland Drums, the module is upgraded to one with more bells and whistles to make use of this savvy kit.
The V-Stage series gets a cymbal upgrade for the crash and ride. The CY-12R has three triggers for amazing dynamics. Roland is truly ahead of the crowd with this baby! You can get a current price here.
V-Pro Series
The Roland Drum V-Pro Series (model TD-20K) is in a class all be itself. That goes for technology and price. Everything about this kit is a major leap up from the V-Stage Series (not that there is anything wrong with the V-Stage).
The "Professional" model of the Roland V-Drums is a 6-piece set with all mesh heads, including two 10" tom pads, two 12" tom pads, a 12" snare pad, and a 12" bass drum pad.
The mesh head pads used with the V-Pro are entirely different than the TD-8 in terms of electronics and the housing. Triggers are placed at the center and near the rim to create realistic tone changes as you play on different locations of the head. A third trigger is then included on the hoop of the snare for rim shots.
The most amazing part of the TD-20K is the hi hat (model VH-12). Unlike most other hi hats used on electronic drum sets, there are TWO cymbals on this one which operates on a regular hi hat stand (Thank you Roland!). If you will settle for nothing but the cream of the crop, you can get a great deal HERE.
Be sure to check out other offering by other companies Electronic Drums Page for links to other great electronic kits!
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