Building a virtual drum kit

avatar

It seems that drummers spend a lot of time figuring out how to arrange and enhance their kits. There are so many items you can buy and the sky is the limit on cost. You can pay £30 for a cymbal or £600, if you want. There will be differences of course, but the usual law of diminishing returns may apply. My own acoustic kit looks something like below.

Drumstructor Tama Club Jam

You can see my actual kit in my previous post. This image was created in Drumstructor which is a web-based app with the sole purpose of designing drum kits. Someone had already done this version of the Tama Club Jam with a different snare drum. BTW the Tama web page looks like it was designed for phones, so looks terrible on a big screen.

I think I heard of the app from this guy.

Of course people do to town with an app like this. Lots of kits used by famous players have been build such as this one used by Terry Bozio. If you click through you can pan around the kit in 3d and click on each item to see what it is. The editor is very comprehensive, but I have not had time to play with it. I ought to be actually playing my drums instead.

Drumstructor Terry Bozio kit

A kit like that would cost as much as a very nice car and you need a truck plus some roadies to get it around. I will stick with something much simpler.

I am currently working on a tune for the next Drumeo collaboration. It is not the most complex bit of drumming, but I may do a variation as I cannot quite handle the speedy footwork it requires. I aim to do a video playing the acoustic kit, so that may be up next week. I need to get it done by then to be included anyway.

I also want to do another song for the Vibes contest. I have one I wrote that is suitable, but it takes time to get a video together.

I am off to get a bit of practice in before bed. Having to work a full-time job gets in the way of my music.

Rock on!



0
0
0.000
20 comments
avatar

I have never gave this a though, bet more than 300 pieces on that last image, not even considering custom parts, design, colors, ppl can really spend a fortune on this setups

0
0
0.000
avatar

If you have a big tour then maybe you can justify the cost, but I've seen people play pubs with thousands of ££ in gear and they won't get paid much. We do it for the love of music.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I can imagine the crazed imaginations at work with that app. A basic kit is a good thing as long as you have a cow bell 😀😀

0
0
0.000
avatar

I think I'll have to get a cowbell. I just don't think I can hide my lack of skills with more drums.

0
0
0.000
avatar

That is cool! That is a cool kit, but not cheap I bet! All instruments cost a fortune anymore...

0
0
0.000
avatar

That looks like a really cool app. Is there a practical purpose for it, or is it more for fun?

0
0
0.000
avatar

It could have real applications in planning a kit. It's like those apps for designing your house.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Ah, okay, I understand now.

0
0
0.000
avatar

the third photograph has a lot of drums, if it possible to use all the drums at the same time. That would be awesome.

Fulltime jobs are demanding I won't object, I don't get enough time to do things I used to do before and It can be exhausting though. But passion stays no matter what.

0
0
0.000
avatar

So the kits you’d have depends on how much money you’ve got
That’s awesome and the rich ones will have better kits then

0
0
0.000
avatar

The app will definitely aid the development of the skill in drumming

0
0
0.000
avatar

I love this, it is utterly brilliant, helps visualise so many different setups.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Just need a VR version that lets you play them.

0
0
0.000
avatar

It's a lot like modulargrid.net for mod synths, that shows other people's configurations for inspiration and also costings.

0
0
0.000
avatar

That looks like a fun app and could be quite useful for anyone who has to plan a kit that fits in to a specific space. I don't know who Terry Bozio is but frankly he just has too many drums and cymbals. He must have extraordinarily long arms like Mister Tickle!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Terry played with Frank Zappa and Jeff Beck. There are some ridiculous kits out there, but Ringo played on one a lot like mine. If I had more drums I'd have to justify them with better playing. I may add a few bits along the way for fun though.

0
0
0.000
avatar

Ah thanks for the information. The kit you have is a nice compact size. Having a second mounted tom might be useful for variety in fills and wouldn't take up extra floor space and a cowbell is quite useful as a hi-hat alternative.. although they are usually far too loud and so they need to be a lot less frequent in a groove than a hi-hat.

0
0
0.000
avatar

I want to keep it as portable as possible. There are various types of cowbell and similar percussion elements. I need to try some to see what I think will work.

!PIZZA

0
0
0.000