The drum is one of the oldest musical instruments in the
world, and is thought to be one of the first known percussive tools for
communication and music. During the evolution of the drum kit, we have seen
hundreds and thousands of innovations and inventions that have turned a simple
beating of an animal hide into a precision art form that is quite literally the
beating heart of any musical band.
Whilst the acoustic drum has been with us for hundreds of
years in its modern form, the drum kit itself is an ever evolving part of a
range of percussive instruments that have continued to encourage better
manufacturing techniques, brighter and more acoustically defined sounds, as
well as better prices and availability.
Some of the electronic drum kits have come onto the market
in recent years that have blown away their predecessors in terms of sound
authenticity as well as range of functions, but it wasn’t always that way. The
first electronic drum kit is thought to have been created by The Moody Blues
drummer, Grahame Edge, in collaboration with Sussex University.
The idea of the electronic drum kit was that the electronic
pads were hooked up to a synthesiser that recreated both drum sounds and other
sounds. The electronic pads were positioned similarly to a regular acoustic
drum kit and were used solely as a trigger mechanism to playback the
synthesised sounds.
Innovation Built On Evolution
Modern electronic drum kits work in a similar fashion, but
there has been much innovation in getting to the modern-era kits. One of the
bigger innovations has been in the trigger pads themselves having a more
traditional feel to them thanks to the varying rubber and polymer surfaces,
allowing the drummer to get more feedback with each strike.
Whilst the move from transistors to integrated circuit
boards has meant that the synthesised sounds created by the large sound
generator units has all but disappeared, the size of the controller units have
shrunk and made it possible to produce tiny starter or beginner kits that are
contained in a single unit.
In the modern era, huge innovations have taken place to
produce some of the best sounding electronic drum kits available. The beginner
kits are often cheaply produced, never the less produce a decent sound, but the
professional grade electronic drum kits are manufactured and designed to create
sounds that are indistinguishable from a regular acoustic drum kit.
Professional Electronic Drum Kits
Kits such as the Yamaha DTX 950k series electronic drum kit
offer studio grade modelled drum sounds as standard and offer a huge range of
variations and other sounds in a sounds library. This allows users to
effectively “tune” the kit to their specifications and perfect the sound to
replicate just about any popular acoustic kit on the market. Add these studio-quality drum sounds and modelling features
to the reduced size of an electronic drum kit compared to an acoustic kit, and
you can see why they have become so popular.
Whilst playing an e-kit, there is a distinct noise coming from where the sticks strike the pads, but often these are manufactured to be muted as much as possible, whilst still providing effective feedback when playing. This offers the chance to play a full modelled drum kit on an electronic kit with a pair of headphones, to reduce noise in a domestic environment.
Built For Professional Studio Recording
The on-board software of many of the intermediate range kits
is highly realistic and professional sounding compared to regular acoustic
kits, but with the professional electronic drum kits, this leads to a higher
ability. Thanks to the latest technology, newer kits have added functionality
with computers that allow you to use the latest recording software such as
Cubase and allow for an added library of sounds and drum modelling to be used
in a recording setting.
With electronic drum kits you get a smaller kit to play with which is easier to transport and store, ability to use headphones for practise and reduced noise and the ability to hook your kit up to a computer and access the rich library of studio quality drum modelled sounds for a recording situation is like none other, making electronic drum kits one of the most versatile musical instruments and pieces of modern technology on the market.
For a new drummer who is still struggling to decide which drum-kit to choice, you can have a look at this : WHAT ARE THE BEST DRUM KITS FOR BEGINNERS
