Last updated LogoThe SDS 5 Electronic Drum Kit, ca.1981.Simmons SDS 5 front view
Simmons is an electronic drum brand, which originally was a pioneering British manufacturer of electronic drums. Founded in 1978 by Dave Simmons,[1] it supplied electronic kits from 1980 to 1998. 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.
Single-pad analog drum synthesizers, including the Pollard Syndrum and the Synare, were introduced in the 1970s, but their unrealistic sound made them generally more suitable for use as a percussion effect than as a replacement for traditional drums.[citation needed] They became a popular element in disco records, especially after the release of music from Star Wars, and can be heard on songs by The Jacksons and Rose Royce.
Around 1978 while working for the company Musicaid in St Albans, Dave Simmons developed a device with similar capabilities to the Syndrum and Synare, which he called the SDS-3. The SDS-3 featured four drum channels and a noise generator;[2][3] the SDS-4 was a functionally similar two-channel version.[3] At this juncture, the drum pads were round, with wooden frames and real 8-inch drum heads.[4] Musicaid was also the distributor for the Lyricon wind synthesizer as played by John L. Walters of Landscape. Walters introduced Richard James Burgess to Simmons and Burgess began using the SDS-3s and SDS-4s live, on stage, with Landscape. Recognizing the potential for a fully electronic drum set that could replace the traditional acoustic set rather than supplement it, Burgess began collaborating with Simmons. They mocked up the sounds and flowchart using an ARP 2600 synthesizer. Since Burgess was using the instrument in a live setting, they developed the four customizable preset buttons. The distinctive hexagonal shape came about after triangles and bat-wing mock-ups had been tried. Burgess finally decided that a honeycomb shape would fit together ergonomically and be simple yet distinctive in appearance. A limited edition of what Simmons referred to as the Mount Rushmore Head sets were also built. Burgess has two of these sets. The basic descending tom-tom sound was modeled after the way Burgess tuned his Pearl single-headed concert tom kit on which he would loosen one tension rod, causing a wrinkle in the head and creating a descending pitch after the tom was hit.
Burgess had recorded extensively with the prototype of the SDS-V on the Landscape album, with Shock and Spandau Ballet before the SDS-V (5), was introduced commercially in 1981. The world's first fully electronic drum set, the SDS-V[5] featured the famous hexagonal pads[6] and distinctive sounds heard in countless songs by 1980s bands, including Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet. The standard configuration consisted of an expandable rack-mountable "brain", containing the various drum sounds, and pad modules for bass drum, snare, and three toms. Two spare slots are available so that cymbal or extra tom modules can be added; drummers may choose to use acoustic cymbals rather than the Simmons sounds, which have been compared[by whom?] to that of a trash can lid. Connections to the unit were by XLR plugs, and it can be interfaced with a drum sequencer.[citation needed] In Germany and the rest of Europe, Simmons had also a great success. Sibi Siebert counterpart of Baz Watts, both clinicians for Simmons, was travelling from Stockholm to Barcelona to show and play the kits. He played more than 700 workshops and had great success with his band Twelve Drummers Drumming (Phonogram), where the SDS-V was featured live and on lot of TV shows (e.g. Rockpalast)
The SDS-V's biggest disadvantage was the use of solid polycarbonate heads on the pads. Simmons chose this material for its durability, but the heads' lack of "give" often resulted in wrist discomfort. Soon after, Simmons began shipping pads with softer rubber surfaces. The SDS-V became an instant hit, with Simmons endorsing several drummers, and the distinctive pad shape becoming an icon of the 1980s.[citation needed]
With the agreement of Simmons, Group Centre Inc. became the sole distributors of all Simmons Electronics products in the US. After visiting and demoing the SDS-V to music stores in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Chicago, he secured orders from them all. Manufacturing was ramped up quickly in time for the NAMM Music Expo in Chicago and after staging a series of demos featuring Bill Bruford, dozens more music store owners from all over the country signed up to this electronic revolution, and that expansion quickly established the Simmons name in the rest of the US.[citation needed]
More models
Simmons models:
MTM: 8 ch MIDI-Trigger Converter
SDS 7: Modular sample player with analog filters
(Tama Techstar TS305)
SDS 800: 4 ch analog drum synthesizer: (bottom right)
During the lifetime of the SDS-V, Simmons also produced a compact trigger unit about the size of a suitcase, containing seven small pads.[7] Used in conjunction with the SDS-V brain, this allowed players to add Simmons sounds to an existing acoustic kit without incorporating a set of full-size pads. This unit was used extensively by New Order at the time.
Also available at the same time was the SDS-6 drum sequencer,[8] used to great effect by artists such as Howard Jones.
Following the success of the SDS-V, Simmons expanded their range in 1984, with another modular rack-based brain called the SDS-7,[9] which features digital sampling sounds on EPROM for the first time, expandable up to twelve modules, and redesigned pads, featuring a skin of rubber to make playing a little easier.[10] The unit uses 8-bit samples and a programmable memory, but is prone to malfunctioning and loss of memory, making it unpopular in a live context.[citation needed]
The same year, they also produced the cheaper analog-only SDS-8,[11] which featured a single, non-expandable desktop-style brain with one unalterable factory preset and one custom user preset for each channel. The SDS-8 kit was supplied with four tom pads and a bass pad, using similar hardware to the earlier SDS-V, but in a more budget style, such as using jack leads instead of XLR connectors.[12] The sounds were similar to the SDS-V, but, to the discerning ear, not up to the same quality. However, the kit has remained a popular alternative to the SDS-V for those seeking analogue Simmons sounds.
Also available at the time were a number of smaller devices, such as an SDS-EPB E-PROM Blower[13] to write samples onto the chips, a Digital ClapTrap unit,[14] which is a digital clap sound device, a sound very popular in 1980s music.
Simmons began to expand their product line with smaller kits and pads, including the SDS-1,[15] which was a single pad with a built-in EPROM reader for playing a single drum sound sample, and the all-analog SDS-200 (2 tom system),[16] SDS-400 (4 tom system), and SDS-800 (bass, snare, and 2 tom system).[17] These products were aimed at acoustic drummers who wanted to add a couple of Simmons pads to their kit on a budget. Some of these products also feature the run generator, which allows drummers to play a descending drum roll with a single pad hit.
In 1985, Simmons introduced the SDS-9,[18] a hybrid digital/analog brain with three changeable EEPROM channels (kick, snare, and rim) and analog-synthesized toms. It also featured 40 presets (20 factory and 20 user-programmable) and a built-in digital delay. This kit was yet another well received product for Simmons as it combines realistic sounds in an inexpensive, compact brain. Following customer feedback, Simmons also produced a new series of drum pads using "floating" drum heads and changeable shells.[19] The snare drum had an extra trigger for the rim. Again, this improved the playability of the kit.
Another brain was introduced in 1986 called the SDS-1000,[20] and was, in effect, the same sounds as the SDS-9 (without the ability to change the EPROMS) in a slim 1U, MIDI-enabled, rack mountable unit. The snare sounds, however, are more realistic and clear than the SDS-9. The SDS-1000 also includes a "second skin" feature, which simulates the sound of dual-headed drums.
The SDX
In 1987, after the SDS-9, Simmons decided to enter into the high-end professional market and created the revolutionary SDX.[21][22] It introduced new features that were unheard of in other electronic drums such as "zone intelligence" and "pad layering". Some of these ideas were not revisited by other companies until nearly 15 years after the SDX.
Zone Intelligence allows for up to three samples to be assigned to different positional locations on a pad for a more realistic sound.[23] With pad layering, up to nine different samples can be triggered via different strike velocities and positions, selecting samples from a 3 by 3 matrix. The samples can also be further manipulated by applying positive or negative values on a matrix (routed to both position and dynamic), simultaneously affecting the following aspects of the sound: volume, pitch, brightness, panning, noise element, and sample start point. All or any of these aspects of the sound, are both programmable and continuously variable dependent upon strike position and strike velocity and were user programmable in the extreme. The SDX is the first Simmons kit since the SDS-7 to support cymbal sounds, using pads called "Symbals" which simulate the swaying motion of real cymbals with a swivel rod.[23] The SDX include a built-in sampler with a floppy disk drive, internal SCSI hard disk drive and optional external SCSI ZIP or Syquest drives as the methods of data storage. The SDX introduced a new way of modifying sounds. Rather than knobs and switches, it features a 9" monochrome CRT screen with a GUI controlled by a trackball, similar to the early Mac OS. SDX OS allows users to fully modify sounds with an easy-to-use interface. It also features a full 64-track real-time sequencer with the ability to nondestructively quantize recordings and sync them to MIDI.
Sales of the SDX were limited due to its high price, costing around $10,154. The factory sounds included with the SDX did not match the quality expected for a system of such advanced technology, so many drummers chose to sample their own sounds.[citation needed] In 1988, the SDX software was updated to make SDX suitable for use with MIDI keyboards, thus offering a sound source rivaling the Fairlight CMI for a fraction of the price. Approximately 250 SDX Consoles were sold.[citation needed]
Primary users of SDX included Bill Bruford with ABWH, Peter Gabriel, Jean Michel Jarres' drummer and King Crimson and also Danny Carey with Tool. The SDX also featured on Pip Greasley's The 5k Pursuit Opera C4TV [1991] where it was played by Bruce Mason.
Decline
By the time of the launch of the SDX, the company had seen a dramatic fall in their sales as drummers abandoned electronics to return to their acoustic kits. Additionally, due to expensive R&D and manufacturing costs of the SDX, Simmons was losing money.[citation needed] Their final kit was released in 1989, called the SDS-2000,[24] featuring sounds from the SDX library, digital effects, further refined pads,[25] and a new company logo. Along with the SDS-2000, Simmons manufactured pads with real drumheads called Hexaheads,[26] along with Minihexes, smaller-sized pads sometimes used as cymbal pads.[27] This system saw a commercial decline in the face of competition from companies such as Roland and Yamaha, and the evolution of musical styles from the 1980s into the 1990s.[citation needed] During the 1990s, Simmons shifted their focus from drum synthesis to drum triggering and MIDI control, with products like the ADT[28] (acoustic drum trigger) and Trixer[29] (triggered electric drums (digital samples) from acoustic drum mics), Drum Huggers (small clip-on acoustic drum triggers/pads), and the Silicon Mallet (a xylophone-style MIDI controller). One of Simmons's last products, the Turtle Trap,[30] is a MIDI controller made from the shell of a bass drum pad, with the pads being the surfaces of Minihexes. However, all of these products sold poorly compared to the company's peak period.[citation needed] In 1999, the company closed.
Relaunch
In 2005, Guitar Center acquired the rights to the Simmons trademark and began marketing affordable Chinese-manufactured electronic drums (commercialized under other names in the world) under the Simmons name and original logo. These kits have no relationship to the original company. However, some of the kits' designs feature traces of the familiar hexagon shape, similar model numbers, and built-in samples of the classic Simmons sounds.
In 2017 Simmons announced the new SD2000 series with a planned release for retail on Aug 4, 2017, while simultaneously making public the return of Dave Simmons to the company.[31] The SD2000 is a top-to-bottom redesign (with the exception of the included HEXX rack), and will be available in five-piece (11″ triple-zone SimHex snare; three 9″ dual-zone SimHex toms; 9″ mesh bass drum with nonslip stand; 13″ dual-zone chokeable crash; 15″ triple-zone ride; 12″ hi-hat) and seven-piece (add one 9″ dual-zone SimHex tom and one 13″ dual-zone chokeable crash to the 5-piece) configurations. The additional tom and cymbal units can also be purchased separately as an add-on, however it does not appear that there is additional room to add components beyond upgrading the 5-piece. (The upgraded 5-piece is, when upgraded, identical to the 7-piece; photos of the control unit indicate that this occupies all the available inputs.) This newly designed kit employs mesh heads - the first in the Simmons line to do so - which are tensionable with a standard drum key. The pre-programmed sound bank includes classic acoustic kit samples, sounds pulled from vintage Simmons kits like the SDS-5, plus world percussion and effect sounds (e.g. handclaps, cowbell, etc.). Additionally users can add their own samples to the library.
The control module includes full-color LCD, built-in mixer, and a USB port that allows playback of WAV and MP3 files from a USB drive, plus recording in WAV format back out to a thumb drive. At the time of this writing the SD2000 has not been publicly released, thus potential features like midi over USB or USB out to a computer (either for kit-to-machine recording or machine-to-kit programming) have not yet been evaluated. Country of origin has not yet been made public.
As a visual cue/callback to the classic Dave Simmons-designed systems offered in the 1980s, the SD2000's round, tensionable, mesh heads are mounted in hexagonal frames reminiscent of the SDS-5 aesthetic.
Eric Carr of Kiss used electronic toms on all of his drum kits from 1985 until his death in 1991.
After drummer Dennis Wilson's death in 1983, The Beach Boys added a Simmons drum kit to their tours and began using electronic drums in the studio and on the road. They used one acoustic drum kit and one Simmons kit (which replaced their previous percussion setup), and touring drummers Mike Kowalski and Bobby Figueroa rotated between these kits for most of the 1980s.
Micky Dolenz of The Monkees occasionally played a Simmons electronic kit during the band's mid-to-late 1980s reunion tours.
Simmons made a special kit SDS9 for Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen following Allen's loss of his left arm in a car accident. Allen and Simmons spent over a year developing a kit that used foot pedals to compensate for his missing arm.[citation needed]
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals, and sometimes other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The drummer typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks or special wire or nylon brushes; and uses their feet to operate hi-hat and bass drum pedals.
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A drum machine often has pre-programmed beats and patterns for popular genres and styles, such as pop music, rock music, and dance music. Most modern drum machines made in the 2010s and 2020s also allow users to program their own rhythms and beats. Drum machines may create sounds using analog synthesis or play prerecorded samples.
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).
The Roland TR-909 Rhythm Composer, commonly known as the 909, is a drum machine introduced by Roland Corporation in 1983, succeeding the TR-808. It was the first Roland drum machine to use samples for some sounds, and the first with MIDI functionality, allowing it to synchronize with other devices. Though a commercial failure, it influenced the development of electronic dance music genres such as techno, house and acid house.
Ableton Live, also known as Live or sometimes colloquially as "Ableton", is a digital audio workstation for macOS and Windows developed by the German company Ableton.
Pearl Musical Instrument Company, simply known as Pearl, is a multinational corporation based in Japan with a wide range of products, predominantly percussion instruments.
Electronic drums are a modern electronic musical instrument, primarily designed to serve as an alternative to an acoustic drum kit. Electronic drums consist of an electronic sound module which produces the synthesized or sampled percussion sounds and a set of pads, usually constructed in a shape to resemble drums and cymbals, which are equipped with electronic sensors to send an electronic signal to the sound module which outputs a sound. Like acoustic drums, the pads are struck by drum sticks and they are played in a similar manner to an acoustic drum kit, albeit with some differences in the drumming experience.
The Yamaha DTX series is a range of electronic drum kits and percussion controllers manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation. They currently cover levels from beginner to professional. DTX kits use sampling for their sounds, meaning each kit has built-in digital recordings of real drums, and cymbals. When the drum or cymbal pads are hit, the digital recordings are played back to replicate what is being played.
Akira Jimbo, also transliterated as Akira Jinbo, is a Japanese jazz fusion drummer, best known as the drummer for the Japanese jazz fusion band Casiopea in 3 separate stints. Aside from his work with Casiopea, Jimbo has also participated in side projects with Keiko Matsui, Shambara, and Brian Bromberg.
V-Drums are a line of electronic drums by Roland Corporation which were first launched in 1997.
Clavia Digital Musical Instruments is a Swedish manufacturer of virtual analog synthesizers, virtual electromechanical pianos and stage pianos, founded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1983 by Hans Nordelius and Mikael Carlsson. Since 1995, Clavia's keyboards have been branded Nord.
The Simmons SDS 5, SDSV, or Simmons Drum Synthesizer was the first viable electronic replacement for acoustic drums. It was developed by Richard James Burgess and Dave Simmons, manufactured initially by Musicaid in Hatfield, UK, and commercially released in 1981. After Musicaid went bankrupt, Simmons set up a new manufacturing company under his name, Simmons.
John Fell is an American drummer. Born in New York City in 1961 to academic parents, he came into prominence in the early 1980s playing with rock/reggae/Latin band from Miami named "Watchdog". He is the co-owner of Main Drag Music located in Williamsburg. There, he creates custom snares, and repairs and sells drums. He has been listed on a number of lists of great drummers.
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" 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. 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 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. 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..
Drum hardware is the set of parts of a drum or drum kit that are used to tension, position, and otherwise support the instruments themselves.
In drumming, a trigger is an electronic transducer that can be attached to a drum, cymbal or other instrument to enable it to control an electronic drum unit or similar device.
The Boss DR-220 Dr. Rhythm is a series of two budget-priced digital drum machines developed and manufactured by Boss Corporation beginning in 1985.
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 is a drum machine manufactured by Korg from 1987. Introduced at the 1987 NAMM Convention, it is a 1U rack-mount unit featuring expansion card slots and a 5000-note drum sequencer.
References
Bibliography
Henrit, Bob (1987), The Complete Simmons Drum Book, London: Wise, ISBN978-0-7119-0933-5 .
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