In 1985, Simmons released the SDS9 electronic drum set, a five-piece kit that won the NAMM Most Innovative Product award in 1986. Over time, Dave Simmons’s unmistakable hexagonal pads and modular drum synths shared the stage with some of the most recognizable drummers of the ’80s and ’90s, including Phil Collins, Alex Van Halen, Rick Allen (Def Leppard), Danny Carey (Tool), Bill Bruford (Yes, King Crimson), and Roger Taylor (Queen). and in 1987 I decided to make the leap.
me a lot of versatility that I didn't have with my acoustic kit. Finally, I eventually added an Akai S900 Sampler, Akai's first truly professional sampler. Released in 1986. Its sampling specifications were pro-quality at the time: 12-bit stereo sampling, 7.5kHz to 40kHz variable sampling rates and a maximum of 63 seconds of sample time at 7.5kHz. Up to 32 samples could be created and stored to disk along with any edit settings.
The S900 was one of the first rack-mount samplers to use a built-in disk drive to loud sounds from the drive. As time passed, I picked up a number of disks with sampled acoustic drum kits, percussion instruments, orchestral hits, and even several sampled Pee Wee Herman phrases. Sounds could be triggered through the SDS9's MIDI capability, assigning notes to the SDS9 pads and setting the
I had hesitated to make the transition to an electronic drum kit but finally took the plunge for several reasons. First, it was much easier to tear down, transport, and set up at gigs. Second, recording was much easier than recording with an acoustic kit without having to mic and tune the drums. I still used my arsenal of Ziljan cymbals, but micing them with an overhead mic and another for the high hats was quick and easy.
Next, although this kit couldn't perfectly replicate an acoustic kit, it came close. The Simmons SDS9 "brain" was a hybrid digital/analog unit with three changeable EEPROM channels (kick, snare, and rim) and analog-synthesized toms. It also featured 20 factory and 20 user programmable presets and a built-in digital delay. This gave
desired sound to the same MIDI note on the sampler.
The downside to the Simmons kit was the rigidness of the pad surfaces. Even though the SDS9 pads had been redesigned to include floating surfaces independent of the frames, after a few months I developed "Simmons wrist" - a pain in my wrist when I hit the snare pad. At the end. of a gig, it hurt. My solution was to integrate the Simmons kit with my acoustic kit, replacing the Simmons snare pad with my acoustic snare. Or, when I wanted to create a monster drum kit, I would merge both kits together into one creating an enormous drum set with five rack toms, two floor toms and a double kick drum.
Here's a video of Bill Bruford, former Yes and King Crimson drummer, putting his Simmons drum kit through its paces during a 1989 concert, illustrating the versatility that Simmons offered drummers in the late 1980's.