DWe, I think that I now realize why Roland REALLY wanted DW...

[bpaluzzi]

I was being facetious. I agree with your comments. Although clearly there is a trend towards wireless across many devices, platforms, etc.

The internet: undefeated in not conveying tone since 1983.

Sorry!

 

[Tornado]

That is pretty incredible.

 

[DrummBumm89]

Sad the link is down. Cables & the lack thereof are half the reason I took up drums to begin with!

 

[mebeatee]

There are no cords in the future

Ya only need 3 c(h)ords anyway.....
Besides...... https://aerodrums.com/
bt

 

[zenstat]

The cymbals especially were _awful_

That's what I thought too. Listening on ATH-M50 headphones on an iMac not some tinny computer speakers, so I don't think it is my end.

 

[Rivot]

What a horrible presentation of a (potentially) groundbreaking technology. Wow. I get that they wanted to do something "live", but wow, this was really, really bad.

They didn't sound good. The cymbals especially were _awful_, but none of the drums sounded great.

They didn't present the ideas clearly. From the sounds of things, it's only going to work with their library, and not be a general trigger-to-MIDI conversion in the little box hooked up to your computer (hope I'm wrong about that!). No power cords means AA batteries in each drum, which I'm not thrilled about.

Honestly, I don't get the desire for wireless electronic drums. We're not moving around with drumsets. We don't use wireless microphones for drums, why do electronics need to be wireless?

I agree with what you have stated the sounded terrible the vid to me was totally crap and looked rushed im no fan of that at all DW is going downhill I hope other drum companys don't go on that road.

 

[cornelius]

That's what I thought too. Listening on ATH-M50 headphones on an iMac not some tinny computer speakers, so I don't think it is my end.

The sound system in that room was pretty terrible - they were having all kinds of issues. I have a feeling the e drums sound better than what's in that video.

 

[dboomer]

Why? There's cost associated with all of that tech, both actual $$, as well as in terms of power consumption, spectrum allocation / interference, reliability, etc. Moving something to wireless "just because" is silly. Are you going to have wireless power for washing machines? Is your 65" TV not going to plug into the wall?

You might be surprized. Digital wireless is much less expensive to produce than analog was. I worked with Marcus at Line6 for 8 years developing wireless technology. And although I knew nothing about this project I’m sure some of the technology has been borrowed from what we accomplished with Line6 and Relay wireless products.

There is a cost associated with mics and cables and the time necessary to drag them out every gig. So comparing the two, if the cost, reliability and performance was the same who wouldn’t want the convenience of wireless

The sounds you heard on a two minute demo don’t weight heavy to me. If they are good enough for Wackerman and Lange they can’t be all that bad. Besides … it’s easy to manipulate the sound quality to be whatever you want. Obviously by the threads here comparing drums themselves a well as heads and thousands of cymbals, everybody has their own personal belief on what they should sound like.

 

[TheElectricCompany]

Edit: Never mind

 

[Murat]

I have pitched this idea to my Yamaha guys for years Obviously everyone here at some point thought about this I am sure but the answer that I got was always regarding wireless frequencies and conflicts ...I wonder how Roland/DW solved that problem.

 

[Sinclair]

I watched most of the stream last night. I wasn't expecting the audio to be great. It's a device you need to work with to understand the capabilities.
Each sample was recorded with multiple mics. 15 each I think Don said. So for each drum you can choose a close mike or room mic or combine them with the actual acoustic sound from the drum.
Also mentioned was the double A batteries for the wireless system will last a year because they're being used for only millisecond it takes to relay the sound. Also zero latency.
No wonder Roland shelled out for this. Kudos to DW.

 

[logogogue]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=492945886101417

Found the link.

 

[equipmentdork]

Love the concept. That video was a great idea, but not well-executed. The sounds are awful(but will improve). It's not ready yet, nor will they be the only ones entering into the arena. I expect that Yamaha and Pearl(who seem to make a new e-kit every year) gave their marching orders to their R&D departments.

And, I cannot even imagine that these kits would be priced anywhere near what a gigging drummer would be able to afford, but let's see.

Ultimately, DW deserve to be recognized for being the first ones out of the gate. Well done!



Dan

 

[KingLudwig]

Going wireless too!!!

 

[dboomer]

Also zero latency.

Actually what Marcus said was latency 10x faster than midi. There is always some latency with things digital and there will also be some additional latency added by the soundcard/interface of your computer.

But 10x reduction in latency from the midi spec is damn fast!

 

[hsosdrum]

I currently own forty-three snare drums. This technology coupled with DW sampling their drums will allow anyone with a DWe kit to have an Edge, Super Solid, Carbon Fiber, concrete snare, or anything else. Some day my snares will be as dusty as my CDs.

Only if you decide to stop playing 'em...

 

[hsosdrum]

Why? There's cost associated with all of that tech, both actual $$, as well as in terms of power consumption, spectrum allocation / interference, reliability, etc. Moving something to wireless "just because" is silly. Are you going to have wireless power for washing machines? Is your 65" TV not going to plug into the wall?

This right here. The more wireless stuff on stage the more the available spectrum has to be carved into ever-smaller slices. It's completely silly to use a big chunk of that spectrum for 8 (or more) channels of drums when they could be more effectively routed through wires.

Talk with touring sound guys about how valuable each piece of the wireless spectrum becomes when you're on tour.

 

[Tornado]

I didn't catch how the internal triggers are powered. Do you have to take heads off to change batteries?

 

[bpaluzzi]

DWe, I think that I now realize why Roland REALLY wanted DW... (At least this is some of the reason...)

Last night DW started their fiftieth anniversary celebration and unveiled a wireless drum kit. It is pretty amazing technology. It starts at 38:18 The original link on Youtube went away, here is a link to the same video on DW's Facebook page...

www.drumforum.org

 

[dboomer]

This right here. The more wireless stuff on stage the more the available spectrum has to be carved into ever-smaller slices. It's completely silly to use a big chunk of that spectrum for 8 (or more) channels of drums when they could be more effectively routed through wires.

Talk with touring sound guys about how valuable each piece of the wireless spectrum becomes when you're on tour.

You would be correct if these kits broadcast in the 470-608MHz UHF TV band (for USA people). But as of now that is an assumption. The FCC has opened up additional bands in the last few years that no one is using for wireless mics (yet). If they use a different band it will have zero impact.

We’ll also need to consider the bandwidth required. The “width” of a wireless mic channel is directly related to the frequency range required. So with music you need something close to 40-15KHz bandwidth. But as was stated the DW system is only sending a tiny pulse (say 1 or 2 Hz wide) it may require less that 1/1000% of what a wireless mic requires. It will remain to be seen.