The Simmons SDS V, SDS 5, or Simmons Drum Synthesizer was the first viable electronic replacement for acoustic drums. It was developed by Richard James Burgess and Dave Simmons, and manufactured initially by Musicaid in Hatfield, UK. After Musicaid went bankrupt, Simmons set up a new manufacturing company under his name, Simmons.
Burgess pioneered the use of the SDSV, triggering the prototype version with a Roland MC-8 Microcomposer in 1979 to make Landscape's groundbreaking computer-programmed futurist album From the Tea-Rooms of Mars... To the Hell-Holes of Uranus. Burgess's original concept had been to make a machine which could be played by a drummer as a replacement for acoustic drums. This idea was developed from dealing with the problems of audio spill via the microphones on a live stage and was fleshed out via an article he wrote for Sound International Magazine in 1979 called Skin and Syn. He finally recorded the first example of the SDSV to be played by a drummer in 1981 when he produced the Spandau Ballet hit, "Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)", featuring John Keeble on the now famous hexagonal pads and the first production SDSV 'brain', which immediately became popular with several 1980s musicians.
Contents |
Burgess had been triggering electronics from his acoustic drums both live and in the studio throughout the 1970s, but he really wanted a drum synthesiser that would stand alone and would allow adjustment of the individual parameters of the drum sound. For live applications he realised some sort of sound memory would be essential so they came up with the cost-effective idea of four (adjustable) presets for each module which were preloaded so, even without programming experience, something decent could be coaxed out of it.
The pads were made from extremely hard plastic material that was used in police riot shields. They were robust and could take a serious beating, but many drummers complained of wrist and elbow ache. Subsequent versions of the SDS line introduced rubber pads that were kinder on drummers but many felt that the later revisions of the electronics lacked the character of the original SDSV.
The futuristic hexagonal pads were Burgess's idea based on the idea of interlocking shapes and inspired by a honeycomb. Many other prototype shapes were tested including batwings and triangles, and there were a very limited number of production kits made that were known as the Rushmore headkits that featured fiberglass faces as the body/shell of the 'drum'.
The standard SDSV was loaded with 5 modules: Bass, Snare and three Tom Toms, which looked almost identical, with controls for noise level, tone level, bend, decay time, noise tone (a simple filter) and click drum control which added extra attack derived from pad impact. Each module's parameters were optimised for the drum it was designed to emulate. Optional Cymbal and Hi-Hat modules were also available with open and closed hi-hats controlled from an external pedal. There was also a mixer section with individual volume control for each module (only into the mono/stereo output) and controls for pad sensitivity.
Outputs were balanced XLRs for live and studio applications (pins 1 & 2 ground, pin 3 hot), however the XLR pad input wiring on the SDSV was unconventional - the User Manual states that pin 2 is hot and pins 1 & 3 are ground. Each module also had a 1/4" jack trigger input allowing triggering from various sources including the SDS6 and even audio (for example from a drum machine).
The subsequent SDS-7 was an analogue/digital hybrid that included sampled sounds on a EEPROM chip; users could create their own chips by purchasing an EEPROM burner. However, the SDS-7 was too expensive for most drummers. In an attempt to capture a larger market, Simmons released the simpler and cheaper SDS-8 which was then superseded by the SDS-800, an expandable system with 2 and 4 expander tom modules. There were several subsequent Simmons drums and a sequencer (the SDS-6), most of which were very expensive and none managed to captured the qualities of the original SDS-V. Simmons went out of business in 1994. After being acquired by Guitar Center in 2005, the new kits are no relation to the original company (1980-1994), because the original kits were SDS series, and the new kits are the SDK series. And the SDS series pads were hexagon, and the SDK series pads are circle. And the voices/sounds on the SDS series were synth, and SDK series are acoustic/other percussions/and SDS voices/sounds or sometimes called vintage, Simmons, or electronic. The new kits are SD5K, SD7K (or SD7PK), and SD9K, have drum modules, and amplifiers (DA50, and DA200S Monitor). Some drummers rarely or unknownly play the new kits either live or recording.
For devotees of the sound, the sound of the original SDS-V lives on. It was used prominently in the sound of the 1980s, and to this day, the theme to EastEnders, the UK's leading soap opera.
Skin and Syn, Sound International Magazine, 1979