History of Electronic Drums: Episode 1 (1960-1983)

[@peterkershaw4844]

This is Peter Kershaw of the short-lived Cactus Desert Drums. Seems like a thousand years ago. This was a great series even if it did bring back memories of 18-hour days designing circuit boards and assembling drum pads! I just play a Roland TD-17 these days, with an Alesis Strike Multipad.

[@HeartOfLightning]

Thanks for your contribution to that history! Glad to hear you're still enjoying some drumming. 👍🙏🥁

[@alexgraham46]

This is Alex Graham. I wrote the books mentioned here as the primary reference. I wrote the book Electronic Drumfax and also Thwak! The British Drums Age which both cover the Cactus Desert Kits, and your Electric Drummer design from E&MM is also featured in Rhythm Machines 2 - 1980s Drum Machines. My Cactus Mark 1 is still going strong, one Mark 2 even made it to New Zealand and featured in the movie Shaker Run 1985. I'm just writing a manual for the Cactus Desert Kit as mine didnt come with one.

[@peterkershaw6934]

That's amazing. There certainly was a manual, but I couldn't lay my hands on one now and I'm sure the electronic files would be unreadable even if I still had the floppy disk.

[@momtnz]

@@peterkershaw6934 Shame the sequencer never seemed to get released, the Ultravox one looked pretty good when they did live shows.

[@AlexBallMusic]

Excellent job, really enjoyed this. I have a Musicaid Simmons SDS-3 Drum Synthesizer that was found by a friend in the loft (attic) of a school he works at here in the UK. It was non-functioning but I bought it and got it restored to its former glory. Use it lots. I don't have the pads, but it's triggered from any incoming audio signal. In fact, it's intended to _mix_ with the incoming audio and that runs through the unit too. Works great with acoustic drums and drum machines for a monstrous dual sound. Really want one of those terrible sounding analogue Claptraps to complete the set, but as you point out, the prices are comically high. Also have a Pollard Syndrum Twin on loan, which is a different flavour. Also triggers from audio. Anyway, nice job putting this together.

[@guttula1961]

Thank you! You’re the one person I want this type of documentary from!

[@65Drums]

Thanks dude!

[@wolflover789]

Guttula, you're the one person I want this comment from

[@ImpulzReponz]

This is brilliant. Thanks so much for making this. Kudos on the animations! I LOVED the 80's intro.

[@khd17]

Great job Justin, this is an amazing amount of research compiled, extremely entertaining. Thanks for all you do for us electronic drum fans.

[@65Drums]

Much appreciated!

[@HeartOfLightning]

I'll second that - must have taken hours and hours. Appreciate the skill, effort and passion 💪🙏

[@davidmcaninch4714]

One of my favorite drummers, Rick Allen, uses an electronic kit!! I think he started out with a few Simmons pads and pedals after losing his left arm in a car accident. I actually got to see Def Leppard last week along with Journey and the Steve Miller Band. It was a dream come true for me!!!!!!!! And to actually watch Rick Allen himself play is just amazing in and of itself!!!!!!!!!! I can die happy now!!!!!!!!!

[@doubledragtap]

This is incredible!! I'll have to watch many more times, so much info. Editing is also great!!

[@paulussantosociwidjaja4781]

Very passionate of you, Justin. I only remember so far: Simmons caused by Thomas Vang's choice and Gilbert Medam's influence, Pearl system with the rack I am still using the rack module stand, the Boss little boxes tiu tiu tiu nearly all of the Taiwanese Top40 band used it, early Roland octagonal or hexagonal ??? forgot - and till now got to follow all of those brands as part of my office's lines. Please don't forget to take some of your passionate students who will carry on with your inherited passion. Love your approach, bro.

[@MrRezRising]

The guy in the DDrum ad at :45 seconds...sold me my first snare drum in 1988. That's Marko. He worked at Sam Ash drums on 48th street in NYC for decades. Sometimes he wotked across the street at Manny's Music, both legendary music stores, long gone now. I even remember that ddrum ad in Modern Drummer. It never occured to me - at 18 - that Marko had a band! Great time to learn the drums.

[@Prisha-so6rm]

This is so well produced! Cheers man!

[@TheeDrumWorkshop]

Awesome! Well done, man! A huge undertaking and it's paid off - brilliant first episode, can't wait for the rest!

[@65Drums]

Thanks dude! Glad you can tell the amount of work that went into it :D

[@WoutScheper]

This is very high quality stuff man! Very interesting

[@showthepainharold9827]

Great video! That's the most insight I've seen in a youtube video for a while! really nice intro BTW

[@IDK-ko8ej]

Way more interesting than I thought it would be. Great job man.

[@markitux]

good job, man!! lots of interesting info and history! very entertaining, btw greetings from Chile

[@mikosoft]

11:07 For anyone wondering what Synare sounds like, it's that clap-like sound of the 80s. If you want a shining example, listen to the song " Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes.

[@earldrum]

Great documentary! I remembered almost all of these edrums! Thanks

[@alexm66]

Good to see you back Justin!

[@andrequimpo9363]

Awesome, Justin! Brings back memories of seeing these on TV and in magazines! Well done!

[@camilo.venegas]

wow you're back Justin. Very well made and comprehensive, congratulations!

[@rhythmantic]

Fascinating! Good job in producing this documentary, Justin. I started in the 1980s with the horrible Simmons hexagonal shaped drums. Then from there, I used the first Roland Octapad triggering an Alesis HR-16 drum machine.

[@johndef5075]

One of your best videos! Cant wait for the rest!

[@ZaxDrumsGolfandMore]

Justin very cool documentary!! I agree you are the right person to do this!!

[@TryptychUK]

Excellent article. I had a friend who worked for Musicaid/Simmons and he told me the actual pads of the SDS3 were made from riot shields. I spent a bit of time with Kajagoogoo who used an SDSV triggering the Movement Drum Computer (based on the NASCOM micro computer) in a big orange box, (not like the one you showed.), it was good while it worked, but was very unreliable and would often crash.

[@brianjezuit4085]

Justin, you really outdid yourself!!! This iZ absolutely amaZing. You have tought me so much about electronic drums. I watch your videos all the time and I really enjoy them. I recently bought an Alesis Nitro Mesh Kit and so far, I love it. I play it for a couple of hours a day and thatZ it. I'm not trying to get into a band or play out anywhere... I just want it to play by myself in my room. ThankZ again, Justin. Keep teaching me.😆☕🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁

[@terrytk9398]

Great research- well done!😀

[@arko_s]

Great info! Interesting!

[@natevart4156]

Such a good series! Also I would definitely say a huge percentage of customers for edrum are people who need it to be quite but still get a drumming experience

[@Jono_]

Great video! I'm glad this is being recorded concisely somewhere. Definitely looking forward to the next part(s)!

[@pedrummer]

Nothing short of AMAZING! A very thorough research. Well done bruv!

[@brothermike5598]

Massive unbelievable thorough terrific job

[@yikelu]

Really cool! Love history. Also that intro is SLICK AF.

[@65Drums]

Thanks man!

[@yikelu]

@@65Drums NP! Your channel has been my go-to source of info on EDrums.

[@burmupro]

👏🏽🙌🏽👏🏽🙌🏽👏🏽 Thank you for your attention to detail, Justin! As an old musician, I remember the hype on some of these units. Looking forward to your continuation on this documentary! 👌🏽🎶

[@123450301]

Nice one Justin! Thanks 😃

[@velonaut303]

Excellent work Justin. Look forward to part 2.

[@matt_doesstuff]

This is so cool to watch! Thank you bro! :D

[@rolderdrummer2448]

Many thanks Justin... Really good Work and dedication on educación of this Great instrument...

[@habanerat]

GLAD YOU'RE BACK BRO!

[@philippes1987]

Great video, very informative...and good production value, you've upped your game!

[@aycaramba9540]

5:43 This model's full name was IMPAKT B0085, very soft to touch, but you know the hooks in the middle were hard

[@mfournier01]

Wow Justin you have outdone yourself with this amazing documentary of E Drum history! I wasn't familiar with a few of the 60's and 70's brands but was aware of most of the 80's and on...I used to take drum lessons in the late 80's from an older Jazz teacher who had a studio in his home and was a Sonor dealer and began carrying an electronic brand by the name of Ultimate Percussion (model K2X). It was a 5 piece kit with triangular shaped pads (large for the kick and the remainder about 10-12" long toms/snare) Everything plugged into a brain which created the sounds that were similar to the Simmons sounds of the era. I brought it to college as it was ultra portable and volume adjustable. I have to admit though it was more of a novelty as the brain was so limited. We've come a long way! Cheers

[@65Drums]

Thanks for sharing your history with edrums! And I'm glad you enjoyed the first episode of this documentary :D

[@bobjohn9787]

nice work

[@1drummer2]

Great work hugely professional with excellent research editing and commentary. Good job. Look forward to further episodes.

[@cresshead]

excellent work, great video... so... i had a jhs clip on drum synth in 1981-82 for my maxwin silver 7 piece drum kit and also an amdek drum machine ( boss dr 55 clone) also bought one of those MPC 'the kit'... one of the hi hat buttons fell off and i replaced it with a coin! i remember seeing the MPC kit 2 in the shop...never bought it though. i remember playing one of those mattel percussion pad things.. it think the pads were orange... sounded pew pew! looking forward to ep 2

[@NLind]

1: good to see you back and 2: my firs ever encounter with electronic drums was a Syndrum CM I got to play when a local band performed for my sister's wedding reception and the drummer let me play on his kit (only one oad, rest was a normal acoustic set. I also had one of those Synsonics pads, then Yamaha DD series (5, 6, 7, 14) before finally getting a used TD-8 set and now my TD-20 module with the TDW expansion card and the pads I used from the -8.

[@joseruiz9781]

Loved it, I remember everything from the Moog drum synth on, but it was nice to see and hear the very first commercially avalilable electronic kit, the toms sounded really nice and interesting!

[@65Drums]

Thanks for watching! That's really impressive that you heard of pretty much every drum listed here. Check out the other episodes in the series, maybe I'll have a few you hadn't seen before :D

[@lobbyrobby]

I bought my first drum set several months ago. A Roland kit. I never paid attention to drums before this. I had no idea edrums were this old. I thought they were within the last 10 years or so haha

[@miker5233]

Justin thank you for all the hard work you did I am impressed that you found all this information I didn't even know they made this many electronic drums and I was a kid in the eighties Justin I must say you run the best electronic drum site

[@genefidz2426]

Awesome! Loving the history lesson, thank you for putting all the work in

[@ArchieBC]

Very nice, Justin!

[@jackpat4069]

hi mate, Nice job there ! if I could add a few precisions on the Simmons SDSV pads, according to Dave Simmons, there was no special shape decided to be produced at first, they would make several different ones, it happend that the Hexagon has been the Main request. The hexagon shape is actually even credited to Richard Burgess as far as I know. He also helped very much developping the SDSV as you mentioned. The fact that Simmons stuck on Hard surfaces pads, Dave Simmons explained that , from a triggering point of view, that was what would produce a pure electric impulse so that's what they needed for an accurate triggering. Hope that Helps .

[@demonicsweaters]

aaahhh now I see why you've been so MIA lately! Making this freaking awesome video!

[@65Drums]

Yup I've been working on this series for months, glad you liked it!

[@duncanparsons]

The first commercial single to use electronic drums was Dancing In The City by Marshall Hain in 1978 (in the UK at least!) Some people I work for have an SDS6 - it even works! I have acoustic Meazzi Hollywood drums, their snare drums were fantastic, like a old Ludwigs. Alas, I haven't ever had the Tronics - but they were endorsed by Max Roach of all people :-)

[@matthewpaluch777]

Great job! Can't wait to see the next episode. FYI - The original Moog 1130 Drum Controller was built with a LUDWIG drum. The pearl versions came in the late 70's.

[@65Drums]

I'll mention that in the next video, thanks :)

[@vampirelogic]

This is brilliant! You have come a long way from that first TD30 review.

[@johnmiller4553]

GREAT DOCUMENTARY JUSTIN 🤙🤙🤙🤙🤙🤙

[@ryandonohue152]

I had the Pearl Fightman. Lost them while moving in 86. Went years without knowing what brand they were. Thanks for solving the mystery..

[@BADD400]

This is really interesting. Thanks for putting it together

[@codythompson1900]

So this is what he’s been working in for 2 months. Honestly, I can’t be upset

[@MashMashMusic]

You know what is really missing in your documentaries? SOUNDS! I want to know how all this stuff sounds like! I mean, I have most of the stuff as samples, but not every one of them.

[@munsongeek]

Can't wait for episode 2!

[@arnoldsretrokeys189]

Realy awesome video👍👍👍

[@marcosdepaula3593]

Great video, I was nice to learn a lot of things I didn't know about electronic drums

[@cmd_f5]

Welcome back!! This is fascinating stuff.

[@scottyg5403]

Wow! You did your research! Excellent! Thanks

[@65Drums]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@Drumaddict63]

Fantastic work you've done here Justin. Well done!

[@bannanateam]

Well done

[@Dadedrums]

This is an awesome effort from you! Thanks for this, really, made my day Justin.

[@65Drums]

Glad to hear it! :D

[@reubenk7331]

This series is so freaking cool!

[@65Drums]

Glad you liked it! It took ages to put together

[@reubenk7331]

@@65Drums I am really enjoying it! I can't even imagine how long this took to put together!

[@assafbarkat7593]

That looks really good!

[@iternityhuman1782]

Very well done hats off 2 U!!!!

[@the_rustydoornob1164]

You’re much much better tHan that one French guy, his video goes over the entire industry in 15 mins, this is the first part and it’s half an hour, you’re awesome m8, I love it

[@65Drums]

He didn't do a bad job on the video, I enjoyed it. I just spent several hundreds more hours than him on this project lol

[@the_rustydoornob1164]

65 Drums lol yes, and some of his accent was weird

[@rs9217]

Loved it. Also note I’m gonna say that Simmons nowadays are well made to detail like toms and cymbals. Like d1200..

[@mu_zines]

Very cool! A well-researched piece of work..! ;) I *sooo* wanted a Simmons SDS1000 kit back in the day - the closest I could get was the brochure on my wall... heh!

[@65Drums]

Hey Ben do you work with Mu:zines? I used that website a lot during my research :)

[@mu_zines]

@@65Drums I *am* mu:zines - hence the comment! :)

[@65Drums]

@@mu_zines Thanks so much for all your hard work! Digitizing magazines is incredibly important for writing books and documentaries. Otherwise, I would have had to spend thousands of dollars to buy all of them off ebay, and still have no way to search for words or phrases. thanks again :)

[@mu_zines]

@@65Drums Thanks - you're welcome. I love it when people use this resource for this kind of thing, and wouldn't go to the effort if I didn't think there was value in this stuff. I really enjoyed the vid - thanks!

[@zaxzaxx4561]

A fine piece of work that clearly involved a massive amount ot time and effort. I'd pay to watch this. In fact, I think I will.

[@65Drums]

Thanks Zax!

[@carlosbido6436]

You're the man great documentary

[@gwugluud]

I used to lust so hard for a Simmons kit. I wish electronic kits still looked that way.

[@darrenburtoft1792]

Brilliant!👍🏻

[@66meikou]

Kudos. A well researched history. I recognised many of the names. I had the Synsonics thing I bought from and electronic show. I also had a sds 8 and sds 9 as well. Right now I'm still playing a dtxtreme II with multiple pads but I hope to seel it for something newer.

[@rolandserna7805]

I was the one that requested Wirecooly to make a video about the Musicaid Simmons SDS3 at 9:35.

[@harlichkrebs7453]

Cool one ...👍👍👍

[@Rhythmic1]

Very cool! Hats off to you for doing all that research. It must have been a lot of work. Very interesting and informative. Well done.:)

[@65Drums]

Thank you very much!

[@harlichkrebs7453]

The intro is allso real good....realy good story on e drums

[@Sabian63]

Just so you know - everplay is a product name used by Premier for their heads and hardware.

[@PaulBirm]

Well Done Sir!

[@rydmarkdelacruz5676]

Very nice content :)

[@overwatchh]

glad to see you back!!! we missed you so much! but why aren't you coming to discord that you made years ago? we have people across all over the country so you can ask us some questions and we will be great to see you there. We love you!

[@65Drums]

I will log back in some time soon. Making a documentary, running a large Facebook group, and the regular Facebook page, and the Instagram page, and the patreon page takes a lot of time. I've unfortunately not spent as much time on the Twitter and Discord pages

[@metinosman9842]

Hello Justin! You heard something about Meazzi Vintage Hollywood drumset President Tronic 1960? I have a picture with this set

[@daskasspatzle2396]

Well done :-) Cheers from Bulgaria

[@dvamateur]

Simmons SDS V is certainly the most desirable drum system. It'd be interesting to get the insights of Roger Rizzitelli's Simmonds drum set at Jarre's Concerts in China. He seems to have the full rack of SDS V sound modules, two Simmons kick drum pads, one Simmons kick drum pad laying flat in the floor tom position, close to a dozen of regular Simmons pads, and a pair of Pollard SunDrums pads, probably. Not sure if Dex Audio will ever get there with their Alban pads. They already have a nice selection of the standard Simmons pads with various hitting surface and even featuring XLR outputs, but they lack the Simmons style kick drums. They also seem to have the SDS V sound modules, not sure if they are in Eurorack format. Anyway, I find it interesting that the analog synthesizers have had a major resurgence of the past 2 decades, and analog drum sets have not. Drum machine sounds of the TR-808/909 type also had a resurgence, while the Simmons drum sounds did not. Not sure why there isn't much desire nowadays for the best '80s Simmons style pads and the analog sound.

[@jakerau8804]

Intro had me air drumming 🍻🤙

[@doctorrudiments6022]

great documentation

[@looseburdens4259]

19:15 - some company needs to bring back those head shaped drums, or at least some kind of 'spiritual successor'

[@ejeckk]

I still have an SDS5 set. I am going to break it out and see how it still sounds.

[@maxmatson1578]

I could totally see cEvin Key of "skinny puppy" rocking those human skull Simmons drum pads!!!💀💫😵👌😎👍 That's one electronic drummer You should definitely do a video on? He's one of my musical Heroes! BrAp oN!!¡!

[@michaelmalodrums9674]

Carl Palmer on the brain salad surgery album (1973)had one of the first that I can remember electronic drum solos , I don’t know who developed his electronics but they were fitted to his huge stainless steel kit ! I’m surprised you didn’t mention this iconic use of electronic drums .

[@stanfordkoch1271]

I had one of those simmons drums, miss them :-)

[@gasparitow]

Great Video!!!!

[@65Drums]

Thanks!

[@crazyclownstudioaudio3122]

THANK YOU 👍👍👍

[@bogarricsi6188]

Hi! I like ddrum turbo and Roland R8. Do vou know something these types?