Hey Giles,
I know you live fairly close to me, so if you want to pursue this idea of a gigadrum module, let me know.
Having played electronic drums back in the early nineties with an old alesis brain and now in 2000 with a DTXpress (budget brain!) I know just how far we've come. I think the biggest differential between e-drums and e-guitars though is that an electronic guitar is just an input source, any effects you want come from an effects box as a seperate entity. I know subtle changes can be gained from an e-guitar by changing between pickups etc, and that most amps have a nice row of twidly nobs, but the real heart of an electric guitar is the pedalboard.
Why aren't drums the same?
Let's have a few basic kit setups in a brain unit, each with a very wide response, and then be able to layer effects over the top from a different source. Electronic guitars are so simple, it amazes me that e-drum technology hasn't gone the same route.
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From: Giles Hearn
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2000 4:15 PM
To: DTXpress@egroups.com
Subject: [DTXpress] the future...
Sanctum's raised an interesting point here. The fact
that e-drums don't sell very well is due to their lack
of realism and from competition by machines and
samplers. I agree. But things have come a long way -
we all remember those ugly Simmons pads from the 80's.
The DTXpress sounds would have been unimaginable back
then. In another 10 years, we should be getting near
to acoustic drums. The biggest problem is not the
playing surface, but in the dynamics and resonance of
real drums. A snare drum will sound different every
time you hit it. A cymbal is even more complex since
it may still be vibrating when you hit it again,
causing an additive effect. e-drums are nowhere near
this level yet, but the memory technology to store all
these variations exists today. I'd joyfully give up
all the presets and songs on the DTXpress if I could
have just one massive preset of a "real" acoustic kit.
This has been done with Gigasampler/GigaPiano. They
sampled every note on the piano at every concievable
volume and came up with something nearly 2Gb big. But
it sounds amazing. Almost like the real thing.
Why can't this be done with drums?
I realise it would take about 10Gb to sample 90% of a
drumkit's personality, but it would be worth it - and
you can buy 10Gb for the price of a decent night out
these days...
What do you think about the future of e-drums. Will we
ever see the death of the acoustic??
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