The HPD-20 comes with 850 onboard sounds that are instantly accessible and ready to play. At your command is a library of ethnic percussion instruments from around the world, as well as melodic and orchestra percussion. Traditional drum kit sounds are also on tap, plus a large selection of electronic tones for current music. All the sounds offer a range of dynamic expression, thanks to the combination of Roland's SuperNATURAL sound engine and the sensitive response and unique functionality of the HandSonic pad interface. The HPD-20 provides 200 total kits, including 100 kits filled with ready-to-go setups, and you can freely modify any kit just how you like for any style or playing situation
In addition to its built-in sounds, the HPD-20 gives you the ability to import up to 500 of your own WAV sounds and play them from the pads. Just load up a USB flash drive with your favorite sounds from your computer, then connect it to the HPD-20 to import them, assign them to pads, and create your own kits. The types of sounds you can use are not limited to short percussion strikes. With up to 12 minutes of time available, you're able customize your HandSonic with audio phrases, sound effects, backing music, and more. Once your sounds are in the HPD-20, you're free to use them just like the onboard sounds, with complete editing and effects capabilities at your disposal. This includes the ability to continuously loop beats and other rhythmic sounds and start/stop playback with the pads
Inside the HPD-20 is a full set of tools for creating sounds. When building user kits, it's possible to edit every instrument individually by modifying its volume, pitch, decay, and more. You can also layer two sounds together and assign parameters to blend or switch them dynamically based on your playing velocity. Three independent multi-effects engines, each equipped with 25 different effects, provide sound-shaping options from standard chorus and echo to intense effects such as distortion, filter, and bit crush that are ideal for dance music and electronica. The Realtime Modify knob allows you to tweak pitch and effects as you perform for expressive sound shaping on the fly, and ambience effects and EQ can be applied to an entire kit for final sweetening
