Let me start by saying that electronic drums are not new to me. I have been incorporating e-drums into my playing and recording since 1994. It started while creating music with Suspicious Hooligans, which needed hip-hop drums and percussion. Way back then, I added a trigger module (Yamaha TMX) into my Tama drumset, and taped triggers to my drum heads for recording and live performances.

Also, during the peek years of the Rock Band video game, I purchased some Roland drum pads and connected them to the Yamaha TMX (and right into my Xbox 360) for some real'ish drumming in the game. So much fun!

I even took my e-drumming a step further in 2018 as I drummed with the (mostly) cover classic rock band, Power Surge. I wanted unique percussion sounds; tambourine, cowbell, snare drum hit but reversed. That's when I added a Roland SPD-SX, to add infinite sounds to my live drum set.

In the newest installment, I am struggling to play my beloved SJC drum set while at home, during the pandemic. Lots of other people in this house, working/schooling....and real acoustic drums are darn loud. I am lucky if I play 1 or maybe 2 hours per week, often less. I have been so restricted, that I spend more time learning piano and guitar, due to my lack of drumming.  Also, ask any of my musician friends, my drums skills have suffered. I'm not the drummer I once was...and that's no good.

I recently added a new e-drum module, Roland TD-17. This is a state-of-the-art drum system. I have many options to explore with this. Such as reusing the rubber Roland drum and cymbal pads I used to play Rock Band. I've been testing these out on my live stream (Twitch.tv/MusicBySV).  

But, I always like to experiment, and not just use things as they were intended. So, I took my practice mesh drum head (RTOM Black Hole), and put that on my real wood snare drum, and then added a Roland RT-30HR trigger to the mesh head. First, the Black Hole, allows you to play a real snare drum, while reducing 80% of the volume. That's a win-win. Placing the trigger on the mesh head, allows me to connect this new quiet snare drum to the Roland TD-17, and then configure any snare drum sound for live playing or recording.

Now, I just started experimenting this week. It is far from dialed in, but there is real hope that I can play my real drums, keep the volume reduced, and still get quality recordings.  Possibly even some very new sounding recordings, thanks to the endless possibilities that come with e-drums and MIDI sounds.