I've never been able to play a smooth roll in which the initial drum hit isn't pretty heavily accented..... then one day I made a discovery.

I began rolling my hands... IOW... I'd play in a circular motion so that each initial stick strike was coming into the drum head at an angle....high on the head then rolling down the head toward me. Those initial accents became much less pronounced.

I still wasn't good at it and couldn't come close to pro's who play it in the standard fashion BUT... it was much improved, for me.

Just watched a video and made an astounding discovery. My technique is called a "Whipped Cream Roll" made popular by New Orleans drummers and adopted by Buddy Rich who taught it to Ed Shaughnessy who made the video I watched. IOW... i discovered, on my own, a technique used by Buddy Rich!

So on my "Drum Scorecard" I get an "F" for being a good studious drummer, (I should have know about this).... but an "A" for creativity.