Simmons SD7K Electronic Drum Set

Remember those funky-looking, British-made, hexagon shaped electronic drums used by so many New Wave bands of the Eighties? Those radically designed, otherworldly instruments made the name Simmons synonymous with cutting-edge electronic percussion technology. After all, this is the company that built a custom drum kit for Def Leppard's Rick Allen (who, in his prime, lost his left arm in a car accident), so that he may play again.

Unfortunately, the original Simmons is no more, but their name and legacy lives on with a new generation of electronic drum sets. The SD7K is an affordable electronic set that has many different voices, attractive features, and is easy to program and customize. But the most important thing about these 'fake drums' is that they sound and feel pretty durn close to the real thing.

With 4 drum pads, 2 cymbal pads, a kick pad, and a hi-hat pad, the Simmons SD7K is pretty much modeled after the typical five-piece shell kit. Each drum pad has a synthetic rubber striking surface which allows the sticks to rebound naturally, giving them a feel very similar to acoustic drums. The three tom pads and kick pad have a single trigger, meaning they will only make sound when struck on the surface. The snare pad has two triggers; one on the striking surface and the other in the rim, giving the drummer the ability to create realistic-sounding rimshots as he would on an actual snare drum.

The kick pad does not come with a pedal, but will work with any type of pedal (our test kit had Pacific Drums DP402 Double Bass Pedals on kick drum duty). The cymbal pads, constructed of durable black plastic with a gray rubber striking surface, even had some actual 'give' to better simulate the feel of real metal cymbals. Finally, the hi-hat, similar in construction to the cymbals, comes complete with its own pedal, and is surprisingly expressive, too. These 'virtual hats' can be pedaled, choked, and even have a pretty realistic 'half-open' sound!

The black plastic control module, mountable on either end of the rack, has large buttons with easy-to read captions written in white. Along the top of the unit, the 9 volt AC power supply connects beside the 'Output' jack, which sends the signals into an amplifier (in this case, an old 40 watt Univox with a 12" speaker). Nine inputs accept the supplied cable that connect to each component of the SD7K.

On the left side of the unit, a USB jack allows the SD7K to be connected to a computer, while another jack connects the unit to any MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) compatible device. Of course, there's also a jack for headphones for silent practice.

The module has 300 different percussion sounds stored within. Additionally, the SD7K has 20 preset sound schemes and 30 which are user-customizable. Each striking surface (including the rim on the 'snare') is easily programmed by toggling through the sounds until the desired tone is reached. Each drum and cymbal can also be edited for tone, volume, pitch, and even panned to the left or right if bi-amped in stereo. As a bonus, the module also contains a metronome and 50 pre-recorded songs to jam along to.

Yeah, but how do they sound? The sound bank of the Simmons SD7K houses realistic-sounding samples of over 300 percussion items. Of course, there's the classic 80s Simmons sounds, the obligatory hip-hop/dance kit, and industrial junkyard/trashy-sounding kits, all very excellent. In our situation, we needed the most natural-sounding acoustic drums possible, and with the SD7K, we got 'em! Several VERY nice snare sounds exist, and most importantly, are velocity sensitive. With this capability, natural-sounding dynamics are possible, since the harder the drum us struck, the louder the resulting sound.

The quick response of the triggering mechanisms allow for more fluid, natural-sounding rolls, and makes playing accented rudiments like paradiddles and flams possible. The cymbals, however, are somewhat dynamically deficient. They seem unable to detect a tap from a full-on crash, and the ride cymbal has only one sound, with no distinction between the sounds of the edge, body, or bell of the cymbal. Still, with all the other capabilities of the SD7K, this limitation is of little consequence.

The SD7K seems like a durable enough set, as our test model is almost 4 years old, and has seen plenty of gigging and practice. The clamps that hold the pads in their place have demonstrated the ability to hold on tight, even after being torn down and reset hundreds of times. The centers of the pads (where the sticks strike them the most) have shown very little wear in spite of countless beatings, and the cymbal and hi-hat pads are still as responsive as the day they came out of the box!

While some sets can reach as much as $1,000.00, such outlets as Musician's Friend and Guitar Center carry the kit for about $600.00; a real bargain compared to similar sets with similar features and capabilities. though more professional quality electronic drums exist, the Simmons SD7K cannot be matched as far as the value for the price. These very realistic, durable, and affordable electronic drums would make a great addition to any practice room or home recording studio, and would be a great backup set for drummers of all ages or experience levels.