For the February 3, 2001, Carleton College Mid-Winter Dance, Roseville Big Band drummer Jim Foster included a Roland Octapad (visible at lower left in the picture) for electronic drum sounds in his setup. Besides expanding our set of Latin percussion sounds, Jim used the realistic tom-toms and other sampled drum sounds to add more punch to our up-tempo tunes.
Perhaps the most novel uses of the device came on Jim's solo on "Sing, Sing, Sing", which included, among other things, the tune of "Christopher Columbus" played with orchestral hits (i.e., the sound of a full orchestra playing a note in several octaves) triggered by the drum pads. Jim ended the solo and the entire song with a sampled Chinese gong, thanks to the Roland's sounds and Jim's creativity.