Percussion

Roland has been pounding out electronic drums for decades, most recently going for a traditional kit look and feel. The latest V-Drums release is claimed to offer "the finest electronic drumming experience in its class."

Created as a visual element for stage performances, the latest project from Love Hultén is an audiovisual sculpture called Slagwerk-101 – a set of percussion instruments driven by MIDI-controlled solenoids.

One of the downsides of playing drums in a band is having to haul a kit around. Full acoustic kits are awkward to carry and take up lots of space in the van. The Drum Roller has been designed to help.

If you haven't seen the choreographed Japanese drumming known as Taiko, then you're missing out. It's loud, dynamic and fast-paced fun. Roland is looking to capture some of that traditional fire and bring it to modern percussionists with the Taiko-1.

Redison hit Kickstarter in 2017 with connected sensors that gave drum sticks a voice of their own. And now it's hoping for a repeat of that crowdfunding success with the Senspad, which wirelessly connects to a smartphone running an app that puts a kit at your disposal.​

An innovative percussion instrument has launched on Kickstarter which kind of puts a full drum kit on your chest. The KeyTam features a main drum where the head tension can be adjusted in real time using a lever on a wooden handle, and a number of mini cymbals for tambourine-like accompaniment.

​Music hardware maker Alesis has announced a new multi-tool for solo beatmakers, producers and kit-packing drummers. As well as performing electronic percussion duties, the Strike MultiPad can sample, edit and loop sounds and be used as an audio interface.​

​A few years back we tried out a "drummer in a stomp" system called the BeatBuddy, which offers real-sounding, foot-controllable accompaniment for solo performers and bedroom jammers alike. A robotic Cajon player called the Cabot follows along the same lines, but is aimed at acoustic players.​

Rather than bopping your head in time to the music coming through the headphones, what if your headbanging could actually control the beat? Engineer Andrew Lee has developed a system that does exactly that, triggering audio and setting tempo with a nod of the head.​

Boss has saved solo acoustic performers looking for rhythmic help from unreliable bongo players with the launch of the DR-01S Rhythm Partner. The portable all-in-one beat box has built-in grooves, a range of percussion instruments to choose from and an integrated sound system.

Simmons has released a new flagship electronic drumkit named the SD2000 Mesh Head Electronic Drum Kit, which features expressive mesh drum pads, multi-zone crash and ride cymbals, wireless hi-hat foot controller and a sound module packed with vintage and contemporary acoustic kit sounds.​

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a robot that uses deep learning to create its own compositions and then bashes them out on the wooden blocks. Do today's great (human) composers have something to worry about? Let's meet Shimon to find out.