TRX announces the LTD series, cymbals that bring the crash-ride cymbal to a more optimized level. TRX uses modifications on all three zones of their cymbal for a more dedicated crash-ride.
Remember Short Circuit? Now imagine if Johnny Five, instead of being a military sentry drone with a destructive, shoulder-mounted laser that achieves sentience, was designed to annoy the Soviets into submission though incessant tapping. Now meet the merchandising opportunity that could have been.
Sabian's Vault series is specifically catered towards designing new and unique sounds. The new Fierce Hats 13" designed for Jojo Mayer are the latest edition to this series.
Offsite Link: Visit the official Sabian website for more information
Drumlines everywhere can now plug in with the Roland RMP-12. It's an electronic marching percussion instrument that includes Rhythm Doctor, which will keep you in step even when your band director isn't drilling you.
We're at Sonic Palace with Matt Mercado, who understandably dislikes annoying frequencies invading his miking setup. Mr. Mercado cuts them out for a more pleasant sounding kit.
We're back behind the desk with Matt Mercado at Sonic Palace. Matt shares some of his snare drum recording knowhow with the camera as the beat goes on.
We rejoin Mahjongg in action, this time talking to their drummer Josh about combining triggered sounds with pure drums. It's too bad Josh is a drummer -- he has the perfect look for a Gearwire guitar reviewer.
Matt Mercado has been engineering drums for recording for 15 years now, and the technique he's developed is a blend of the traditional and the unorthodox. For example, have you ever heard of someone using an SM58 on a floor tom? If it works, it ain't wrong.
Pearl's New Redline Kits are a limited edition run of their acoustically advanced Reference series. We're assuming that the "redlining" the name is referring to is the legal practice of tracking changes made to a document during the drafting process, but we've been wrong about a lot.
Gearwire's Bill Holland goes 8 Mile with the Zoom SB-246 Streetboxx. Will Bill give up his rig and start making his beats on the SB-246? Probably not, but check out the beats you can make using this small groove machine.
Seth Vanek of the band Roommate and Milquetoast Sounds takes us on a tour of Milquetoast's "live room." It's chock full of vintage synths, acoustic pianos and percussive instruments.
The Drumit Five from Swedish Manufacturer 2Box is based around a uniquely open-architecture sample module, allowing users download samples from any source directly onto the module, allowing for completely customizable virtual kits. Also, it's orange, and that's cool.
Darin Holthaus plays drums for The Micah Walk Band, but with his Yamaha Custom Maple Absolute set, he could really be playing for any group regardless of style. Darin uses Yamaha and Zildjian and praises their sound and versatility.
Paul Smith plays drums for Dengue Fever, and in this interview, he talks about his Rogers Drums kit, Zildjian cymbals, and the fact that on tour, you're not always playing your own kit.
Sabian displayed the APX Guillotine at Winter NAMM 2008, and due to its popularity, the structure [a 12 foot tall guillotine with an APX cymbal instead of a blade] will be going on an international tour, so everyone can see.
Hammerax warns that their new Whipcrash cymbals are pretty freaking loud. And knowing Hammerax's tricks, that's not all that's great about it. Hammered Microcups allow drummers to rake the cymbal for a variety of strange tones.
We love freeware. We especially love freeware that delivers what it promises to do. The new SuperDrum FX may not be a KONTAKT or Battery Drum Kit, but it's darn good for being a freeware application for windows that's designed for use with e-drums.
Allen Sides of world renowned Ocean Way Recording [credits include Phil Collins, Kanye West, etc] recorded another Grammy winning album with his work on Mary J. Blige's latest uplifting effort. There's no doubt that his Ocean Way Drums [recorded in Ocean Way, of course] in conjunction with Sonic Reality bring his immense recording knowledge to life.
Say you want intelligible drum sound, but you don't have the dough to spend on a quality drum recording. Your DIY attempt is good, but its not good enough, and you don't want the mechanical, flawless digital feeling. What do you do?
I wouldn't call Ron Repple of the Cook County Ramblers a "rambling man." He keeps his comments about his Ludwig Accent CS Custom set with Zildjian cymbals pretty straight and to the point.
Tama's Superstar kits have been outfitted with Hyper Drive series toms for 2008. This gives them a more defined, unique sound that is unlike any comparably priced kit.
You'll have to be "Rich in a Ditch" to afford the Tama Stewart Copeland Signature Kit, but for the Stewart Copeland enthusiast, it might be worth it to have one of only twelve available kits in the USA. Also, for the severe enochlophobic, nobody will stand so close to you when you're surrounded by Octobans.
Alesis is doing some pretty cool stuff with electronic drums. First, they're shipping their DM5 Pro Kit with Surge Cymbals -- real brass cymbals without all the overhead noise. Also of note, their DM5 Kit is now available without the module with new USB features.
Dixon is releasing three new drum kits, aiming to please the deviant in every drummer. The Dixon Chaos, Dixon Demon, and Dixon Outlaw are Dixon's first actual drum kits -- up until now, Dixon stuck to drum hardware.
Roland's V-Drums are the Kleenex brand of electronic drums. The biggest name in electronic drums by far, V-Drums new TD-9 series brings a lot of excitement to electronic percussion.
Can't afford to record at Ocean Way's Studio B? Few of us can - but now you can record your drums there, or at least sound like you did. Ocean Way recorded 19 drumsets in the legendary studio, using their vast collection of quality mics.
