Electronic drum module

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A Clavia ddrum4 sound module, pictured in use with an acoustic drum kit with electronic "triggers" or sensors. Clavia ddrum4 SE.jpg
A Clavia ddrum4 sound module, pictured in use with an acoustic drum kit with electronic "triggers" or sensors.

An electronic drum module is an electronic or digital music device in an electronic drum kit that serves as the central processing unit and sound module. The drum module creates or produces the drum kit sounds or other sounds selected by the drummer. By itself, a drum module cannot play or sound drum beats. It only produces drum sounds when a performer strikes electronic drum pads or acoustic drum kit instruments that have electronic "triggers" (or sensors) attached to them. When the electronic drum pads or trigger-equipped instruments are struck, this sends a signal to the drum module, which produces the corresponding electronic drum sound (or other sound). Even when drum pads and/or triggers are connected to a drum module, the drum module by itself does not make any audible sound. Like other electronic instruments such as the synthesizer, the drum module only outputs an electronic signal. The performer can hear this signal by connecting headphones to the drum module (i.e., for individual practice) or by plugging the drum module into an amplifier and loudspeaker or PA system for audible practice or live performances. The drum module's output signal can also be patched into an audio console for concerts or sound recording. The nomenclature varies (see below). For example, electronic drum modules are called "percussion sound modules" in the case of Roland Corporation, or sometimes simply modules. A common colloquial term for this device is drum brain. (see below). [1] [2]

Contents

Electronic drum modules are included with most complete electronic drum kits (which include a drum module and a set of drum pads). Electronic drum modules can also be purchased as stand-alone units. In this case, the performer must also purchase drum pads and/or triggers which she can attach to regular acoustic drums. An electronic drum module is a special-purpose electronic device which accepts input from the drummer via external triggers that are hit with regular drum sticks. With an electronic drum kit, the player hits triggering devices as a synthesizer player would strike the keys of the synthesizer keyboard. Triggers may be pads or cymbal-shaped devices or piezo-electric pick-ups similar in function to a guitar pick-up. When the triggers are struck or activated by the vibration of a drum or other instrument, the electronic drum module interprets the signal and outputs the specific voice assigned to that trigger. The sound (or "voice") may be a sample or synthesized reproduction of any of a wide variety of drum, cymbal, percussion or other instruments, or even vocal sounds. It is similar in concept to modern MIDI musical keyboard workstations or synthesizers especially in that any sound available within a given module can be assigned to any trigger plugged into the module.

Most electronic drum modules come with a number of pre-programmed "kits" or "sets" - collections of drum kit voices assigned to specific triggers which emulate a traditional drum set (e.g., including drum and cymbal sounds). Many modules allow the player to save their own collections of sounds as additional kits and allow the player to recall them as desired. In effect, a single set of triggers may serve the same function as several traditional drum sets or collections of miscellaneous percussion instruments. Some modules may allow kits to be saved with labels such as: "rock kit", "jazz kit", and "hip-hop kit." Others simply assign a number to each saved kit. Modules may allow varying degrees of control over individual sounds such as the relative volume of each trigger input or add electronic effects such as reverb or other effects.

Most manufacturers also include more eclectic sounds in their modules, such as sounds from well-known drum machines, plus a large variety of ethnic percussion instruments, industrial music sounds, handclaps, and general percussion instruments or even vocal sounds. Manufacturers of electronic drum modules such as Roland Corporation have often built unusual playable sounds into the sound banks of their electronic drum modules to showcase the capabilities of the technology. [3] Electronic drum modules also provide advanced features such as the ability to drive digital samplers. When used in conjunction with an electronic or digital sampler, the sounds that can be played with a drum module are practically unlimited. A drum module could be used to make any type of musical or natural sounds, from a piano or violin to ocean waves or other sound effects.

Nomenclature

"Drum Brain"

While manufacturers such as Roland use "Percussion Sound Module," such a term only describes a subset of the device's functions. "Drum brain" is a term used by drummers, equipment sellers, and other industry professionals to be more descriptive. The term "drum brain" is used to denote the fact that its primary function is to act as the central logic device within an electronic drum kit. [4] [5]

Electronic drum modules vs. "drum machines"

Furthermore, an electronic drum module is not to be confused with a drum machine, which is an earlier innovation. Similar to electronic drum modules, drum machines reproduce drum sounds and programmable sequences of drum patterns. However, they are essentially limited to this purpose. "Drum machines" were introduced in the 1980s as an accompaniment device, essentially, an "artificial drummer". In contrast, an electronic drum module is designed to be an integral part of an electronic drum kit—an interactively playable device, played (usually live) by an actual drummer as part of his or her electronic drum kit.

Electronic drum modules vs "sound modules"

Technically speaking, an electronic drum module typically contains its own "sound module". Although Roland refers to their electronic drum modules as "percussion sound modules", the term sound module is misleading in this context. In its purest sense, a sound module is a device that merely contains its own unique variety of sounds. The electronic drum module referred to in this article may be considered to contain a sound module; however the distinction of an electronic drum module is that it contains the logic circuits to serve specifically as a conversion device: its first goal is to "read" drum play, its second task is to convert that "play" into audible sounds. It may be considered a combination of two components: an analog-to-digital converter, which converts the drum play (analog) into digital signals, with the latter task alone being the domain of a true "sound module".

Examples

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MIDI Means of connecting electronic musical instruments

MIDI is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and related audio devices for playing, editing and recording music. The specification originates in a paper published by Dave Smith and Chet Wood then of Sequential Circuits at the October 1981 Audio Engineering Society conference in New York City then titled Universal Synthesizer Interface.

Drum machine electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments

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Music technology (electronic and digital) Music technology

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Analog synthesizer synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog computer techniques to generate sound electronically

An analogsynthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically.

Modular synthesizer synthesizer composed of separate modules

Modular synthesizers are synthesizers composed of separate modules of different functions. The modules can be connected together with patch cords, a matrix patching system, or switches by the user to create a patch. The output (voltages) from the modules may function as (audio) signals, control voltages, or logic/timing conditions. Typical modules are oscillators, filters (spectrum), amplifiers/gates (amplitude) and Envelope generators.

General MIDI is a standardized specification for electronic musical instruments that respond to MIDI messages. GM was developed by the American MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA) and the Japan MIDI Standards Committee (JMSC) and first published in 1991. The official specification is available in English from the MMA, bound together with the MIDI 1.0 specification, and in Japanese from the Association of Musical Electronic Industry (AMEI).

Reason (software) Software for creating and editing music

Reason is a digital audio workstation for creating and editing music and audio developed by Swedish software company Reason Studios. Reason emulates a rack of hardware synthesizers, samplers, signal processors, sequencers, and mixers, all of which can be freely interconnected in an arbitrary manner. Reason can be used either as a complete virtual music studio or as a set of virtual instruments to be used with other sequencing software in a fashion that mimics live performance.

MIDI controller MIDI-capable hardware or software

A MIDI controller is any hardware or software that generates and transmits Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data to MIDI-enabled devices, typically to trigger sounds and control parameters of an electronic music performance.

Electronic drum modern electronic musical instrument

An electronic drum is a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit or other percussion instruments. An electronic drum consists of an electronic or digital sound module which produces the synthesized or sampled percussion sounds and one or more electric sensors or sensor-equipped pads to trigger the sounds. Like regular drums, the sensors or pads are struck by drum sticks or by the hands and they are played in a similar manner to an acoustic drum kit.

Sound module Externally controlled electronic musical instrument

A sound module is an electronic musical instrument without a human-playable interface such as a piano-style musical keyboard. Sound modules have to be operated using an externally connected device, which is often a MIDI controller, of which the most common type is the musical keyboard. Controllers are devices that provide the human-playable interface and which may or may not produce sounds of its own. Another common way of controlling a sound module is through a sequencer, which is computer hardware or software designed to record and play back control information for sound-generating hardware. Connections between sound modules, controllers, and sequencers are generally made with MIDI, which is a standardized protocol designed for this purpose, which includes special ports (jacks) and cables.

Roland V-Drums

V-Drums is a variety of electronic drums, drum brain modules, and related electronic percussion product manufactured and trademarked by Roland Corporation.

Zendrum Instrument

A Zendrum is a hand-crafted MIDI controller that is used as a percussion instrument. The Zendrum was influenced by the "Drumitar," invented by Future Man. There are several Zendrum models that are well-suited for live performances: the Z1, ZX, EXP, ZAP series, LT and the Mallet Pro series and Melodic Finger. The Zendrum ZX and Z1 can be worn like a guitar and consists of a triangular hardwood body with 24 touch-sensitive round MIDI triggers. The EXP has 29 triggers and additional controls. The Zendrum LT can also be worn with a guitar strap, and has 25 MIDI triggers in a symmetrical layout, which provides an ambidextrous playing surface. The ZAP series is designed more for table top use or on a drum stand, with the ZAP1 having 19 triggers, and the ZAP2 having 25 triggers. The triggers are played by tapping or slapping with the fingers or hands. As a controller, the Zendrum does not make any sound by itself. It uses an electronic interface called MIDI to control synthesizers, samplers, drum machines, sound modules, computers or other electronic drum devices that generates the musical and percussive sounds. The Mallet Pro Series is laid out and played like a traditional mallet instrument, like a marimba. The Mallet Pro series has naturally resonating solid walnut bars as triggers.

Simmons (electronic drum company) electronic drum brand

Simmons is an electronic drum brand, which originally was a pioneering British manufacturer of electronic drums. Founded in 1978 by Dave Simmons, it supplied electronic kits from 1980 to 1994. The drums' distinctive, electronic sound can be found on countless albums from the 1980s. The company closed in 1999 and the Simmons name is currently owned by Guitar Center.

Trigger pad

A trigger pad is an electronic sensor on a drum that produces a certain sound assigned from a sound module once the head has been struck. This device allows drummers to play at a constant dynamic regardless of the physical force used.

Guitar synthesizer music instrument

A guitar synthesizer is any one of a number of musical instrument systems that allow a guitarist to access synthesizer capabilities.

Forat F16

The Forat F16 is the first 16 bit digital sampler optimized for use as a "drum brain" or electronic drum module. It dynamically responds to trigger inputs from MIDI and/or audio signals. With a response time of 0.1 milliseconds, the F16 is the fastest audio triggering digital sampler ever sold. It was manufactured by Forat Music and Electronics, introduced in 1987 at a list price of $5200 and was discontinued in 1994. An optional Remote Control and SCSI capability was available for $1385.

Digital accordion

A digital accordion is an electronic musical instrument that uses the control features of a traditional accordion to trigger a digital sound module that produces a synthesized or digitally sampled accordion sounds or, in most instruments, a range of non-accordion sounds, such as orchestral instruments, pipe organ, piano, guitar, and so on. Digital accordions typically encode and transmit key presses and other input as Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) messages. Most digital accordions need to be plugged into a keyboard amplifier or PA system to hear their sounds. These are not to be confused with "accordion hybrids", which are a standard acoustic accordion with sensors for all the keys and buttons to interface with electronic sounds. This allows the instrument to be played totally acoustically, with no electronic sounds, or, operated to just use the electronics. Combined, there are a myriad amount of sound combinations, and require a trained ear to play properly mixed sounds. These hybrids also require an amplifier and sound module, of which some models have said module mounted inside the acoustic instrument along with the reeds.

The Roland DDR-30 "Alpha Drum" is a digital PCM drum module built by Roland, in early 1985. It was introduced during 1985 Summer NAMM industry trade show in New Orleans.

The Korg DRM-1 Digital Rhythm module built by Korg, in late 1987. It was introduced during 1987 Summer NAMM industry trade show in Chicago.

References

  1. ↑ "Electronic Drum Brains and Modules", Bananas At Large, 2007, archived from the original on 2007-09-28
  2. ↑ "Interview with HATE ETERNAL", Maelstrom :: Issue No 40, 2007, archived from the original on 2013-02-22, retrieved 2007-05-14
  3. ↑ "Roland TD-10 Percussion Sound Module :: Details", www.roland.com
  4. ↑ "The History Of Roland" (PDF), www.rolandus.com, 2005, archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-03-08
  5. ↑ "Studio SOS", Sound On Sound, Media House, Cambridge, UK, 2004
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