Category: Gear

Gear, Performance

Ed Ziehm: How I Use E-drums

Ed Ziehm took his singing and drumming show across the US on a motorcycle, thanks to e-drums. I make my living doing something unusual: I sing lead vocals and play drums at the same time while running the rest of the production myself. Since launching Eddie Z – The One-Man Singing Drummer Band in July 2023, I have developed it into a full-time career, performing more than 200 shows each year. On a normal engagement, I use acoustic drums with an iPad running produced tracks, a compact mixer, microphones and a Bose sound system. I am simultaneously the drummer, singer, bandleader, sound operator and stage crew. My acoustic set-up works well when I am travelling by car, but last year […]

Gear

DruML review: The brains move into the drum

Editor’s note: Most digitalDrummer reviews focus on evaluating a product. This one also explores a new architecture for electronic drum triggering. If you’re simply wondering whether the S1 is a good snare, the short answer is yes. If you’re interested in where e-drum technology may be heading, read on. DruML’s S1 isn’t just another premium electronic snare. By moving trigger processing out of the module and into the instrument itself, it challenges one of the longest-standing assumptions in electronic percussion. We spent weeks testing the technology across VSTs, modern USB-equipped modules and legacy MIDI systems. The results reveal both the considerable potential of this new architecture and some connectivity questions that we are still investigating. It’s hard to believe that […]

Gear

Simmons Titan 90: Next level

Simmons Titan 90

At first glance, the new Simmons Titan 90 looks like an upsizing of the previous flagship kit, with bigger toms, cymbals, and a two-piece hi-hat. But as we discovered, the changes are more than skin-deep. What’s in the box The T90 kit comes in a large, heavy box containing a 12” mesh snare, four 10” dual-zone mesh toms, a 7” kick pad, two 12” triple-zone crashes, and a 14” triple-zone ride. The toms and cymbals are all 2” bigger than those on the T75 they supersede, while the ride grows from 12” to 14”. The biggest physical change is the 12” TruMotion hi-hat—a moving hi-hat that mounts on a conventional stand, giving the T90 a familiar acoustic-kit configuration rather than […]

Gear

Yamaha expands EAD range with new EAD20

Yamaha has expanded its Electronic Acoustic Drum (EAD) range with the EAD20, a new system designed to sit between the original EAD10 and flagship EAD50. The EAD20 retains the core concept that has distinguished the EAD family since its introduction: capturing the sound of an acoustic drum kit with a remarkably simple setup, then combining that natural sound with electronic sounds, effects and processing. At the heart of the new system is a newly developed sensor unit and a main unit powered by the same advanced sound chip used in the EAD50. Yamaha says the combination delivers an “optimised, balanced sound” from an acoustic kit without the complex microphone placement normally associated with recording drums. The sensor unit attaches to […]

Gear

Will Medeli’s DHS30 topple Yamaha’s EAD?

Medeli has officially entered the bass drum-mounted acoustic hybrid market with the release of the DHS30 Drum Hybrid System. Currently shipping across Asia and Oceania, the all-in-one unit mounts directly onto an acoustic bass drum hoop to capture an entire kit while simultaneously triggering internal sounds and processing live audio. The launch takes aim at a market segment almost exclusively defined by Yamaha’s ubiquitous EAD10. However, Medeli’s architecture introduces a few notable operational tweaks, including expanded trigger connectivity and flexible internal signal routing. Miking, triggering, and onboard DSP At its core, the DHS30 combines a stereo microphone capsule, designed to capture ambient acoustic kit sound, with an integrated kick drum sensor at the mounting point. The unit processes both acoustic […]

Gear

Millenium adds MPS-1500 Hybrid-X

Millenium has unveiled the MPS-1500 Hybrid-X, an electronic drum kit that combines full-size acoustic-style shells with an unusually compact approach to the brain of the instrument: instead of a conventional drum module, the system is powered by the company’s Nexus Multi-Percussion Pad. That decision is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the new kit. While the Nexus can function as a conventional sound module, its nine integrated pads make it a playable multipad in its own right, effectively putting the kit’s control centre and an additional percussion instrument in the same package. The Nexus packs 3,622 sounds and 160 kits, comprising 80 presets and 80 user kits, with a 4.3” colour display providing access to kits, effects and trigger settings. […]

Gear

New Aux triggers put to the test

Auxiliary triggers have been part of the electronic drumming landscape for decades, providing a simple way to add another sound without squeezing another full-sized pad into an already crowded kit. And they are certainly not new territory for digitalDrummer. Since our launch in 2010, we have tested scores of aux triggers, from compact bars and blocks to electronic cowbells and other specialist designs. Those reviews have involved a wide range of drum modules, giving us a good idea not only of what makes a useful additional playing surface, but also how differently apparently simple piezo triggers can behave when connected to different trigger inputs. Our latest test brings together three very different takes on the aux trigger: the Thumpoddity Electronic […]

Gear

Yamaha EAD50: Next-generation hybrid engine

When Yamaha launched the EAD10 in 2017, it fundamentally changed how a great number of acoustic drummers approached practice, recording and content creation. Clamp a stereo microphone/trigger unit to the bass drum hoop, plug in headphones and the kit suddenly sounded bigger, tighter and more polished. But while the EAD10 excelled as an all-in-one practice and recording tool, it had obvious limitations in professional environments. Multiple microphones, numerous triggers, multitrack recording and front-of-house routing quickly exposed the limits of its architecture. The EAD50 takes that concept several steps further, evolving it into a professional hybrid sound processor, digital mixer and trigger module aimed at touring drummers, educators, hybrid performers and serious studio users. Built around Yamaha’s new SWX100 platform, a […]

Gear

My Monster Kit: Mark Schierholz’s Overkill

Monster kits aren’t unusual at drum shows. Hybrid monster kits are, however, more rare. Built over six months by Las Vegas custom builder Mark Schierholz, Overkill combines acoustic drums, vintage electronic percussion and the latest Roland technology into a sprawling performance rig that celebrates almost four decades of e-drum evolution. Towering above the exhibition floor at the 2026 Las Vegas Drum Show, the colossal hybrid creation quickly became one of the event’s biggest attractions. Visitors gathered to photograph it, study its intricate layout and, in some cases, take a seat behind what is surely one of the most ambitious electronic/acoustic drum kits assembled in recent years. Schierholz, who operates the Las Vegas Drum Store, describes Overkill as a 60-pad electronic/acoustic […]

Gear, headphones, in-ear, Monitoring

beyerdynamic DT 30 IE review

While lower-priced in-ear makers seem totally focused on the number of drivers they can pack into each earpiece, established brands are concentrating on choosing a capable driver and tweaking the response to meet musician needs. So it’s no surprise that the latest offering from German audio pioneer beyerdynamic, the DT 30 IE, boasts just one active sound source: an 11mm dynamic driver. What’s in the box The DT 30 IE ships in a small, elegant black box containing the driver units, a 1.4 m Kevlar-reinforced detachable cable with MMCX connectors, a 3.5 mm three-pole plug, three pairs of silicone ear tips (S, M, L), and three pairs of foam ear tips, a set of foam cerumen filters, a quick start […]