The topic of today is should you buy the TD-17 drum module or the Roland TM-6 Pro, and also another option for under $1000 which I'll talk about at the end of the video.

Now the reason why I want to bring up this topic is because a while ago I got a message from someone saying, hey Justin I've got a conversion drum set, I've already lined up the mesh heads, the shells, the cymbals, everything's good to go in the shopping cart but I want to know, what drum module should I buy?

I know I can get the TD-17 for $600, or I can spend an extra $200 and get a drum module that's labeled Pro, it has individual inputs, multiple outputs, it's got sounds from the TD-50, it has all kinds of different things that I want out of a drum module for only an extra $200.

Should I go for the TM-6 or should I stick with the TD-17?

So that's what today's video is all about.

These two drum modules, it's not really even like a sound comparison, unfortunately I don't have footage of both of these, I got plenty of footage of the TD-17, but I only have photos of the TM-6 Pro, I got to play it but I don't have any legit audio of it.

But the sounds aren't even really the big distinction between both of these drum modules.

Really it's the way they're built from the ground up.

It's the inputs and outputs on it, it's the way the interface is designed, and the type of sounds that are inside of the drum module.

So starting off with the TD-17, it comes with about 310 multilayered samples.

That's not a huge number of sounds inside of a drum module, and not all of them are amazing, but there's enough really good sounds in there for the price tag of this drum module.

Meanwhile the TM-6 Pro only has 268 multilayered samples, they have an additional 501 shot samples.

And these sounds are basically mixed to work well with acoustic mic'd drums.

The whole point of the TM-6 Pro is that you're supposed to use it in a hybrid setup.

So you have an acoustic drum set, and then maybe you want to plug in a snare trigger, a kick drum trigger, so you can layer different samples that you recorded yourself.

Or you can use one of the 500 one shot samples that are specifically mixed and designed to help beef up your kick drum, your snare.

And then of course there's lots of other sounds, you can have like an 808 snare, if you want to have a mesh pad to the left of your acoustic set, maybe an electronic cowbell.

That's what this drum module is designed to do, and that's why the sounds reflect that.

Moving over to trigger inputs, the TD-17 definitely wins right here, because it has 10 trigger inputs, the ability to handle 10 pads.

And you can split all those pads with cable splitters, so basically you can double the amount of pads that are listed right there.

Meanwhile, the TM-6, it has individual inputs, which is a big win for the TM-6 Pro, but unfortunately you only get 6 inputs.

You can split those to, you know, 12 pads, but that's 12 one zone pads.

If you have a regular electronic drum set, that's probably not going to be enough for you.

Another really big difference between the modules is the outputs.

So the TD-17 has bare bones, exactly what you need and nothing more.

Right and left outputs, and then of course the headphone jack.

Meanwhile, the TM-6 Pro gives you 4 direct outs, 2 master outs, and then a headphone jack.

This is designed to be used in live environments, and you have to have direct outs when you're using something in a professional situation.

That's why the drum module has that.

Okay, so the next feature is Bluetooth.

The TD-17 has it, and the TM-6 Pro does not.

Now, you can get this feature just if you go buy a Bluetooth receiver, and these are like $30 or $20 on Amazon or Best Buy.

I got this one from Best Buy.

I made a whole video about this and how to use it if you want to go check that out.

Just go search it.

It's like just a couple of videos ago.

So yeah, this isn't a really huge feature, but it's one of those nice to have things.

And the Roland TD-17 even has a slot to put your phone on the top of the drum module.

Now you have to be careful whenever you're buying a TD-17 drum module, because there are versions with and without Bluetooth.

If you buy them like new on Sweetwater or something, it probably does come with Bluetooth.

But if you buy a used TD-17 drum module, you don't know where it came from.

If it came from a TD-17KL drum set, they just like removed it and then upgraded their drum module, that module, that version of the module doesn't have Bluetooth.

There's no Bluetooth icon on the front faceplate.

Meanwhile, if someone took it from like a TD-17KV or KVX, it will have Bluetooth.

So just make sure you look at the photo and make sure it actually has the Bluetooth icon on the front plate.

All right, so now that we've talked about the specs and the guts and the internals of these drum modules, I want to talk about the button placement, how these things are laid out.

Now this TM-6 Pro and the TD-17, they don't even look like each other at all.

Even though they're at a similar price point, they look like they were made by separate companies.

And the only thing that really says this is a Roland drum module, aside from the logo, is the tiny little screen that Roland loves using on all of its drum modules for some inexplicable reason.

On the TD-17, it's got more of a classic drum module layout, and they've really started to refine this.

They've made so many drum sets that they've made it easy to get around.

You don't have to go through a ton of different menus.

There's a level button, a user sample button, tuning button, muffling button.

I like the way this is laid out.

And of course, a little slot up top for your smartphone.

Meanwhile, on the TM-6, it's sort of trying to draw your attention to certain features that both the drum modules have, but the TM-6 makes it more obvious.

They want you to use these.

So for example, they have three multipurpose knobs up here, so you can change the pitch in real time.

You can change the decay, the volume, transient, attack, release, and the multi-effects control.

You can still do stuff like that on the TD-17, and of course, you can import samples onto both of them.

I want to make that pretty clear in the video.

I don't want to make it sound like the TM-6 is the only one that can do that.

But you can do those features on the TD-17, but it's less obvious.

Over here, you have all these 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 buttons right here.

That's so you can assign sounds to the individual ports without having to plug in a drum trigger.

If you're on the bus, on the way to a gig, and you want to change out some sounds, it's very easy to do that without actually having to plug anything in.

And the funny thing is, you can do the exact same thing over on the TD-17, but it's way less obvious.

There's a little button right here in these little rows of lit up letters and numbers that let you change the sounds independently without actually having to plug in some pads.

But again, they're trying to make it more obvious on the TM-6 Pro because of the use case.

Okay, so that's all well and good, talking about the theory and everything, but let's take it back to some real world use.

For the regular, everyday electronic drummer who has an older drum set, maybe something with like a Roland TD-3 drum module, a TD-4 drum module, and you want to make an upgrade.

You don't want to spend 2 grand on a TD-50 or a Pearl Mimic Pro, but you want something that sounds a little bit nicer.

The TD-17 is the perfect drum module for that.

Or even if you're making a conversion drum set, sort of like building a PC, you're buying all the components you need, mesh heads, triggers, the rubber cymbals, and you need a drum module, the TD-17 is a good drum module for that.

The only real gripe that I have with it is that it has a cable snake instead of individual inputs.

But again, it's a $600 drum module.

So the TM-6 Pro is really good for hybrid drumming if you want to add electronic elements to acoustic drums, the TD-17 is great for everything else.

Now moving on, I do want to talk about one other drum module for around this price range, and that is the Alisa Strike.

This might surprise a couple of people that think that I don't like the Alisa Strike.

My gripes are more with the Alisa Strike drum set because you have to mod some of the pads just to make sure that they don't break in a few months.

If you do the mods, the drum set's okay, I guess.

And I'm not going to go into all the reasons right now, but I've always been a fan of the Alisa Strike drum modules because they keep updating these darn things.

They keep adding more sounds, they've upgraded the user interface, it's got faders on it.

Like this drum module is a powerhouse for the price that it's selling at.

Now the tricky thing about buying an Alisa Strike drum module is that it's not officially sold separately by most websites.

You can buy it separately from like drumtech.com, but what I feel like they're doing over there is just buying entire Alisa Strike drum sets and then selling all the parts separately.

They're not actually getting individual drum modules from Alisa's and then selling them on their website.

Most people, especially in the United States, you're probably going to buy one of these things off of eBay, and the prices range, obviously, but I've seen a brand new Alisa Strike module for $750, and I've seen it used for like $615 on eBay with an SD card and the latest firmware already installed for you.

So the prices on these things are very, very good, and if you have somewhere around $600 to $800, you should take a look at the TD-17 drum module, but you should also take a look at the Alisa Strike drum module because it's a very, very good drum module, and it has the best sounds in the class.

Okay, so that's it for the comparison.

I hope you guys enjoyed it.

By the way, just wanted to mention that I did start selling official 65 Drums t-shirts on Teespring, so if you want to go check those out, this is a brand new shirt design that I just made.

I'm really happy with it, and I've also got some other different 65 Drums stuff over there.

Go check out the link below.

Anyway, have an amazing day.

Thank you guys so much for watching, supporting the channel, and I'll see you in a few.