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Any drummers here ever own a Simmons SDS-V?


fraroc
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http://www.normans.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/simmons-drum.jpg

 

 

Yep, I'm talking about those hexagons we saw all over the 1980s which produced a sound that I can only describe as "heavenly thunder". If you don't believe me, listen to Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out For A Hero and you'll see what I mean. It's a shame Simmons went belly-up, because these drums are pretty hard to find nowadays and of course, demand OUTRAGEOUS prices on eBay or Craigslist. Hell, the brains alone are in the thousands....

 

 

My question is, if there are any drummers here, have you ever owned one of these kits?

Edited by fraroc
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Not a fan BTW but here it is. Those were horrible days for music for the most part. Just my opinion of course. This kind of stuff and stuff like Flashdance... Wow :blink:

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Not a fan BTW but here it is. Those were horrible days for music for the most part. Just my opinion of course. This kind of stuff and stuff like Flashdance... Wow :blink:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLNCX84-kfA

 

 

Sweet Jesus those tom-tom sounds.....

Edited by fraroc
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It seems like in the 1980s, every electronic drum was a geometric shape. Roland's vintage drums were triangles, Dynacord's drums were pentagons, and we all know Simmons were hexagons. But now every available electronic drum on the market is a boring old circle. Hell, the new Roland electronic drums look just like acoustic drums.

 

Most new electronic drums already have the 80s Simmons-sounding samples, but no one ever utilizes them. Instead, they'd just rather use the acoustic sounds. What's the point of even buying an electric kit (besides cost efficiency) if you're not going to be at least somewhat radical with it?

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I have a buddy who uses triggers with whatever flavor of the month drum sampler program. He's had endorsements from ddrum and Yamaha (electronic kit) then went to 2Box and uses electronic kits for rehearsal and home practice. He triggers samples instead of mics for some gigs which is wierd to me.

 

But I agree the whole point to electronic percussion initially was using non standard type sounds. Having grown up in the age of the drum machine one would think that those kinds of tones would be more utilized by electronic drum users. Nowadays guys use electronics to augment acoustic drums which is pretty cool. I've judged several of the Guitar Center Drum Offs over the years and quite a few guys have used Pad-8's or something like it to trigger sequences and unusual sounds in their performance.

 

The first electronic drum I ever saw was in 1978. My drum teacher had a pair of Syndrums and we spent hours playing around with those things.

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I have a buddy who uses triggers with whatever flavor of the month drum sampler program. He's had endorsements from ddrum and Yamaha (electronic kit) then went to 2Box and uses electronic kits for rehearsal and home practice. He triggers samples instead of mics for some gigs which is wierd to me.

 

But I agree the whole point to electronic percussion initially was using non standard type sounds. Having grown up in the age of the drum machine one would think that those kinds of tones would be more utilized by electronic drum users. Nowadays guys use electronics to augment acoustic drums which is pretty cool. I've judged several of the Guitar Center Drum Offs over the years and quite a few guys have used Pad-8's or something like it to trigger sequences and unusual sounds in their performance.

 

The first electronic drum I ever saw was in 1978. My drum teacher had a pair of Syndrums and we spent hours playing around with those things.

 

I've seen a few 80s tribute bands, and what I've noticed is that most of the time, they have a mostly acoustic 4-5 peice drum set, and when a 1980s Simmons tom-tom sound is needed, they usually use one of these things.

 

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/KrEEP6_DAjc/maxresdefault.jpg

 

Honestly, even though most people hate the Guitar Center takeover of the Simmons name, I wish that they would release sort of a "reboot" of the SDSV with the classic hexagon shape, the classic sounds, only made out of a more comfortable material and digital.

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I'm not even a drummer, and I've got an SDS-V ;) Bought it a long time ago while looking for 80s drum sounds to play with my synths. Mine has the typical modules for bass, snare, and three toms. I use a red SDS-7 kit with it though, since the SDS-V kit was notorious for being physically painful to play.

 

Each module can be dialed in like a mini-synth - pitch, noise, amount of bend, decay, etc - so you can make a good variety of sounds with it. Of course most people ignore this and just dial up "that" sound ;) Been trying to convince a fellow Rush nerd drummer to buy them off me for P/G jamming, but no luck yet ..

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Been trying to convince a fellow Rush nerd drummer to buy them off me for P/G jamming, but no luck yet ..

 

I never liked the electronic drum sound at all. Never owned any, and never wanted to.

 

Even though I love the Grace Under Pressure album now (and I think Power Windows is really good, too)...at the time I felt like Neil's use of those drums was such betrayal! :P

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Been trying to convince a fellow Rush nerd drummer to buy them off me for P/G jamming, but no luck yet ..

 

I never liked the electronic drum sound at all. Never owned any, and never wanted to.

 

Even though I love the Grace Under Pressure album now (and I think Power Windows is really good, too)...at the time I felt like Neil's use of those drums was such betrayal! :P

How about Alex VH using them on 5150? :facepalm:
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