Day: June 5, 2026

Industry

Bjooks turns the spotlight on drum machines

Copenhagen-based music technology publisher Bjooks has announced its latest title, Beat Gems: Drum Machines in Modern Music, an illustrated history of the rhythm machines that transformed popular music over six decades. Written by electronic instrument historian Oli Freke, the book covers more than 60 vintage drum machines from the 1950s through the digital era, tracing the arc from early accompaniment devices like the Wurlitzer Side Man 5000 through genre-defining classics including the Roland TR-808, TR-909, Linn LM-1, Oberheim DMX and Akai MPC60, to obscure and overlooked instruments whose contributions to electronic music, hip-hop, house and techno have rarely been documented. Freke describes the project as more than a gear catalogue. Each machine is presented in its historical context, examining design […]

Industry, People

The architects of tone

The innovators who built the electronic drum world, one patent at a time The history of electronic percussion is usually told from the front of the stage — the stadium solos, the arena rock backbeats, the chart-topping loops. But behind every digital kick drum lies a parallel story of engineering obsession, corporate gambles, patent warfare and manufacturing breakthroughs that most drummers never hear about. Over almost 15 years of exclusive interviews, digitalDrummer has documented that hidden history, speaking directly with the inventors, developers and brand managers who built the technical foundations of modern e-drums. This is their story. Point Zero: The copper plate era The electronic drum pad didn’t emerge from a research laboratory. It was born of necessity in […]