Will The Roland VAD706 Be Replaced Soon?

Roland is due for a new flagship module. With the mimic pro and strata prime available, they need to level up.

Roland really should design their new module with a bigger, interactive screen. They also should really upgrade their file system (the way you save or load backups, kits etc.) - it's pre-DOS.

Still playing my Td20k 21 years after buying it! 😂

Flagships are interesting because of the economic climate. Not a ton of disposable income is floating around right now for the hobbyist drummers to get the latest and greatest, and you have lots of small to mid-tier bands struggling to turn any sort of profit from touring. Not sure who the market is at this point for a $7 - $10 kit, especially if they already have something like the TD-50 or another brands flagship. And besides, what else could be put in a kit now that is not pure marketing?

I love 2Box to launch a new larger module. More inputs, more outputs, larger screen, use the newly developed compressed files with increased memory. If posibile allow inputs of the competitors hi-hat multi pin cables or USB digital hats.

I realize I’m off subject and a bit of an outlier, but I spent small dollars on a Yamaha TCS pad kit base model and having owned several Roland kit’s including the TD-30, I’d be hard pressed to give up the excellent Yamaha sounds and TCS pads for a Roland kit. Yes the Roland’s look great but I’m only using this kit for practice. Full disclosure, I cheated and swapped out the Kick with a Pearl 18”x12” and put everything on my Gibraltar chrome rack, so it looks great. Bottom line for me though is the amazing drum sounds coming through my Sennheiser NC headphones and the feel of those TCS pads. To each their own though.

Thomann has delisted all VAD-drumsets for some reason, there's just one B-stock set

Hey Justin, just want to say thank you for what you do. I'm a long time watcher and your reviews and take on things have been super helpful for me as I've slowly been upgrading and experimenting with my eKit for both home and live gig use. Cheers man, you do great work

As an EU VAD706 owner due to the massive price drop... I love it. But the Module feels ancient for sure! It's still very powerful, very logical. But from a UI perspective, I can see the drawbacks that other models are tackling like Zildjian, Strata, Gewa. Everyone loves touch screen and easy UI's these days, Roland UI almost requires a Udemy course to get true value out of it lol. They have some really powerful tech that others don't have like digital hi-hat/ride/snare but they lack positional sensing toms, 3 zone cymbals and a modern UI module and some other fancy gimmicks other companies might be doing. Has to be a new line coming but I think you make a good point about DWe breathing room. Can't even see them on sale in Europe at the minute and maybe that's what is coming out next. Can still buy Roland TD-50KV2's in EU for 6699-7499EUR so they still have flagship models available. It is actually insane to me that the VAD706 is cheaper than TD-50KV2, I know you get the extra tom pad but outside of that.... VAD kicks it's ass :D Good video man, even though I've bought my kit and won't be upgrading for a long time, I find all edrum news so awesome! Be interesting to see how well Zildjian can compete with DWe.

That´s all very likely to happen...and yes Pearl....the Mimic Pro module also seems to be discontinued, at least in Europe.

Great video as always Justin! One update is that the TD-50KV2 is no longer available from Roland in the USA. We sold our last one a month ago and can't get any more. The TD-50XEXP is also sold out and there are none left which just happened last week.

It must do because here in Germany all VAD706 kits sure sold out because they dropped it to €5000 at most e drum shops. When I e e kits. They told me they had bought all the stock from their stores. Great videos 👍🥁

I own the Roland VAD 706 kit and the DWe kit. What I would like to see is more of the DW Soundworks program integrated into the TD-50X or newer TD-XXX modules, especially the drum and cymbal sounds!!

ATV's coolest product is the AFrame. A similar product with robust positional sensing to drive effects and fully synthesized sound would be an amazing creative tool.

Thanks for the information I may get an e-kit next year not sure.

We need more wireless eDrums. DW has a model.

Touch screen module for sure. 120hz screen refresh rate.

the Behringer Syncussion SY-1 is not just for sequencers. I would make a rack for 3 of them, ( one for snare / rim , then kick and 3 toms, through an eDRUMIin ), and just use a sample pad for a cymbal module.

A wireless VAD. They can drop the DWE triggers in a VAD kit.

Editing is awesome