Electronic Drum Trends of the 1980s

Legendary pop/RnB session drummer Bernard Purdie was apparently the distributor (!) of the MPC line of electronic drums.  Purdie is best know for inventing the distinctive shuffle groove that would later appear in hits such as ‘Rosanna’ by the group Toto.  He also replaced Pete Best’s drumming on an early US-market Beatles release.  “But you wanna know something else?”   This man loves life.  Check it…

A few electronic-drumming odds and ends today from various issues of MUSICIAN magazine circa the mid 1980’s  (see here for previous MUSICIAN mag coverage on PS dot com).  Sampling drum machines, electronic drum kits, and live cymbal-effects processing were all new technologies at the time, and like all things 80s, they were delivered in a bright, bold, technology-YES manner.  Put down that snare drum.  Don’t be a square. Come on.

Simmons SDS8 electronic kit.  “Our mission (is) to bring drums into the 80s.”  

The Linn 9000 drum machine.  Linn was the first company to make drum machines that played back ROM (read-only-memory) samples of actual recordings of acoustic drum hits rather than simply triggering analog synthesis circuits that made ‘drum sounds.’  By the 1990s you could not buy a new analog drum machine, and the ‘Rompler’ drum machine was industry standard, but Linn was a true innovator at the time and these things were crazy expensive, making them relatively uncommon today.

Zildjian cymbal miking system circa 1987.  Let’s say you are a family who has been making cymbals for, oh, 400 years.  All of sudden this new technology (sampling, synthesis) comes along which COULD make your product obsolete.  Better get in the game, buddy.  Basically a set of electret-condenser mics that clip to cymbal stands combined with a small mixer with effect loops.  “Flange your ride cymbal at the same time you add a slapback echo on your hi hats.”

And in case you were wondering what Digidesign was doing prior to Changing-The-World with its Pro Tools digital audio recording/editing/mixing/processing software/hardware systems, well, here you have it.  Digidesign presents: Digidrums!  New ROM chips that you can stick inside your drum machine and get news sounds outta them!  Make your drum machine sound more like real drums!   And 18 years later Digidesign gives us…. Beat Detective!  Make the drummer sound like a drum machine!  Man vs Robot, the epic battle unfolds so slowly…