Roland released a version update for their TD17 series in December 2022 (version 2.0) and May 2023 (v2.01). You’d want to check the new features and your currently installed version to see if you want to update.

Since the new version comes with a few bug fixes and most importantly some really nice-sounding kits and additional features to modify your sounds, I would say it is worth to update. Doing so is not exactly straightforward but still easy enough and there are detailed update instructions on the Roland website.

However, many users – including me – had afterwards the issue that the volume of the drums and of the audio that is playing for example from a connected phone was quite low. Fortunately, this is easy to fix.

Fix low drum kit volume

After the update, all your custom pad settings will have been reset. I recommend to not restore them from your previous version’s backup because this can potentially cause the loss of all new kits that are included in the new version. Instead, just go back to the “Setup” section to increase Sensitivity, and to adjust the Curve setting.

While these are global settings that apply to all kits, you can fine-tune the volume per kit by pressing the “Level” button and adjusting it per pad and kit. Additionally, pressing the “Other” button and then navigating down to “Volume” allows you adjust the kit’s overall Volume, as well as the cross stick’s and hi hat pedal’s loudness.

Fix low audio-in volume

(e.g. playing music from a Bluetooth-connected phone)

Press your “Drum Kit” or “Song” button and then navigate to “MIX VOL” on the bottom (both, Drum Kit and Song will lead you to the same menu).

The first item in that menu is called “Audio In”, which is what we need, because it controls the volume level of both the audio coming in through a cable to the “Mix In” port, as well as the audio coming from Bluetooth devices. Just increase the value using the dial until it is loud enough.