Roland VAD516 V-Drum Kit

I have to admit that when I ordered the kit - I was thinking there's 70% chances I'm going to return it. Here's my in-depth review after 10 days:
- The Roland sound is complete garbage - and I would have returned it if DW didn't save the day. I travelled to Thomann Germany (2.000km) to test the kit (not available but the 716 was) and testing with Roland sound was a complete disaster. Honestly full garbage - in a really bad way. Unusable. And you can really see that going to the shop by playing kits ones after the others. Unfortunately DW sounds were not installed so I was not able to test that. The possibility to download the kits from DW makes the kit usable - so it's big big value
- The kit itself is pretty well build - and delivers on the core promise : you can play without having your neighbors knocking on your door in rage- it really does work. I bought a simple carpet + noise eaters - haven't seen any neighbors for 10 days - despite the fact I'm playing at 10PM (ok very quietly but still...) - and during the day - sometimes like a madman. Still no neighbor
- on that note, the kick drum is quite loud - but you can lightly touch it and you'll get kind of full sound - not like a real one so it works.
- Don't buy this kit if you intend to play live - it's most likely going to break down - anything electronic kind of does - you probably don't want to explain to paid concert goers they have to come back in 2 weeks because some guy threw his beer on the unit...

So far I've been having a ton of fun playing - so you'll probably have too but these are real issues :
- the tech is not completely there yet - we're maybe 5 years away from nailing down the small details that would make the promise of electronic drums realistic : ability to play in near silence while being able to change kits on the fly with great sound and identical feeling as if we were playing a real drum. We're close but we're not there yet.
- let's be honest, the V51 module is total garbage - the UI is a total disaster - I mean they saved on costs so much that you can't even put an SD card inside it - it doesn't work - you have to put a 5-10 years old card 32G max.
- V51 : it's really badly done - I mean where is big screen ? No touch screen - no way to re-order the kits you're using - you'll constantly scroll between kit number 89 and 97 - because the first 70 kits are completely useless - it's so bad I haven't used any of them. I really hope the next iteration of the 716 (I plan to buy the next gen) - will have a decent touch screen with iPhone like experience - we're in 2026 - every electronic musician has that (C-DJ 3000x, Denon DJ...) even guitarists have pedal effects with touch screens ; but apparently Roland decided that sweaty hands won't make that work (I guess DJ playing on console facing drunk dudes all night long that throw their cocktails on their equipment works for DJ but not for drummers...)
- The Roland kits: useless - please Roland delete that - I'm saving you the kits with space sounds because they thought they needed to fill empty space
- the possibility to edit the kits => honestly useless - I'm a drummer not a sound engineer
- the hardware : really decent - nothing to say about that - very solid
- cymbals : they work and deliver ok experience
- snare : ok
- hi-hat :ok
- toms : ok
- at the end of the day - it's a different instrument than a real drum ; and there are a lot of subtle nuances in real drums that you don't have here

IMPORTANT NOTES :
- you will need to buy 2 other cymbals - because you can't hit 2x the same cymbal right after. It works for sure but it sounds like garbage - it's a thing. It's one of the differences with a real instrument - it really doesn't sound good if you do that. So solution : get 4 cymbals and don't hit 2x the same one
- you'll need to buy a good headphone - and consider the costs for that ; I bought a 3K one - yes you need something really nice - why ? Because you need to hear every detail. It's not like a real drum. If you play a real concert and turn the volume on for real you're going to hear a ton of small details that - oh were not there when you were playing with the 35€ headphones... So yes it's important to hear precisely what you're playing - otherwise you're headed for bad surprises the day you decide to play on stage with that one (if you decide that)

- One advantage of the kit is you can record (well that is if you find a 10 year old SD card).

- You'll get a trail of small headaches - from cymbals that you need to put a specific way - like facing you - otherwise the won't work - to the cable-hell - and other bad surprises but overall it's fun to play and I didn't return the kit

Ah one last thing : Roland states you get 6 month Roland cloud => NOT TRUE - the discount code give you only 3 month. You'll need to purchase the DW kits anyway - so count 200€ for that - but with an additional 700€ of cymbals + stands + minimum 1K headphone (but really 3K if you want to enjoy life) - it's just a detail at this point...

Ce nouveau modèle de Roland répond à toutes mes attentes. La qualité de fabrication est parfaite, les pieds et supports sont cossus et ergonomiques. Le toucher de jeu est très proche d'une acoustique. Le design est juste magnifique... Le module V51 présente des possibilités énormes, tout est configurable, il faut encore que je me familiarise avec toutes les fonctionnalités. Petit bémol sur le choix des banques sons qui n'a rien à envier à mon ancienne TD4, mais il suffit de re travailler les kit sons à son goût. Enfin le budget est quand même élevé, mais ça vaut le coup...

Obwohl ich erst seit einem Jahr Schlagzeug spiele, habe ich mir das VAD516 V Drum Kit gekauft. Die Optik ist schon mal super und man merkt keinen Unterschied zum Akustischen Kit. Die Verarbeitung ist sehr robust und hochwertig. Die voreingestellten Soundkits sind für mich erstmal ausreichend gut und ich muss sie nicht sofort bearbeiten. Ich spiele es täglich und es macht riesen Spaß. Fazit: der Preis ist etwas hoch, dafür hast du ein Gerät, das auch optisch dein Zimmer aufwertet und dich täglich zum Spielen einlädt. Du fühlst dich jedes mal wie auf einer großen Bühne. Top!