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Boom Theory. |
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The Saga |
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 Pictured left, is a 1981 Gpz1100 (or the
remains there of)  I’d been toying with the idea of an acoustically formatted electronic drum set since my first set of Tama Techstars in the early 80s. Unfortunately, the Techstars took their toll on my wrist and elbows after playing them for a few months. From there a secession of pads entered and exited my studio. Roland, Simmons, Casio, Pearl and some that I can't even remember the names of.  DDrum were my last pads. They were the best feeling and best playing E-drums, ever! And the Ddrum Studio Series was hands down, the best sound module made. (I still have a DDrum "AT" sitting on my rack)  I’d probably still own the Ddrum pads had I not tried to use them live.
They false triggered so badly during one show that I had to crank the crosstalk so high and the sensitivity so low that only my hardest strikes would register. I was shattered. Two days later, in a fit of disillusionment, I sold them. Motor Memory So I’m back in my studio the next morning staring at a pile of Pearl mlx chrome over wood, stacked in the corner. I'd been screwing around with electronics so long that I had completely abandoned my acoustics.  I figured,
OK, I’ll just play the old tubs till I can find the killer eletcric set, right? Wrong! I was still passionate about the creative aspects of electronic drums, but
the bullshit this industry was handing drummers had now come home to roost and it pissed me off! Who was designing this crap? Were they
even drummers? Do they know what a drum is supposed to feel like? Do they know how hard we work to get
our chops happening or care that they're killing careers
because of carpal tunnel and tennis elbow that their products are causing? The acoustics’ were up so I set
out to experiment with head and shell mount triggers. Again the same problem I’d had with the Ddrum’s occurred.
The minute ambient noise increased the drums started playing themselves. I mean 70 or 80 dbs and you had to crank the threshold
and lower gain. This sucked. I'd been doing studio projects for years
(dumb little jingles, stuff like that) and experimenting with the head mount triggering systems. Results were dismal
at best and I kept returning to what ever availible e-kits I could piece together and make perform well enough for a session.   I'd recorded an industrial soundtrack using a Roland Octapad to interface
several of their flying triangles. It was a total nightmare! There was no way to accurately sequence the performance
data that I was trying to record. Dynamics were lost and I ended up having to step write most of the percussion and bass
parts. That was the last straw! I'd been dicking around with this project for three years
and it was time to finish it, once and for all. Acoustically Formatted Triggering By mid 1989, I had several working prototypes and had been testing with every sound module made and every
interface that was on the market.
I
was constantly running into American Music in Seattle's Fremont district and grabbing
new pieces off the shelf to "demo loan" and test with.
I wanted Spacemuffins® to look, feel and play like real drums so they'd have to mimic what a real drum does. Bottomless follow through (enough depth to allow for the natural compression and rebound) and in the shallower design, incorporate both batter and resonant heads.The insert had to move inside like air, yet be a solid entity that dampened vibrations while triggering accurately and dynamically in a high db environment. And now came the second great epiphany...Sympathetic Vibration! |
Now, drumheads relate to Sympathetic Vibrations like a sail does to wind. Bigger sail catches more wind, greater
surface area catches the more vibrations. I had increased surface head area by 100% over any pad that utilized a single sided
"real" drumhead and my bass drums, to this day, are unprecedented. No one had ever made electric drums in this format
or configuration that worked. I've
now invested so much time and money into prototypes that there was no turning back. I was in debt up to my ass and had maxed
out my credit cards with unsecured cash loans to finance R&D. It took years to restore my credit ratings but I did
it! (drummers always pay their bills : ) The Day The instant this red-hot iron hits, a massive plume smacks
me in the face. I had been holding my breath to steady my aim for the center and as soon as it touched, I let out a breath
and was inhaling when the smoke hit me. I make it outside to fresh air and regaining my senses, but notice smoke filling the hallway. I go back
in to unplug the iron (which has now melted a hole in the carpet) and down the hall to the bathroom. I start splashing my
face with cold water and praying the throbbing in my head will stop long enough for me to puke again. That's
when I look in the mirror. I won’t go into details of how this episode affected my digestive system for the next 3 days, but let
me assure you, I now know the exact location of every public bathrooms in the Greater Seattle area .  I eventually call my
buddy, Kali, at the foam distribuitor and tell him what had happened. Live and learn! It was episodes like that
(among many others) that led me to the eventual discovery of the baffling system that I named the Digital Trap Set Baffling
System (or Digi-Trap®) for short. The Digi-Trap system is the culmination of three years R&D. Three years of cutting shells of
every possible depth and diameter. Stuffing them with every type and density of foam, resonant boards, sonic reflectors and
piezo sensors. Waiting for them to dry and test, then rip apart again to find out why it didn't work as well as the ones
I made the day before. It’s a baffling system
of simplicity and sophistication. I refer to it as being intelligent in its ability to recognize the difference
between airborne and impact vibrations. It’s upgradable; it’s patented "It's the shit". OK kids, I'm tired
of typing so, at this point I’ll direct you to the other areas that focus on product pictures, spec’s and applications.
But, before I bail let me answer the single, most repeated customer inquiry of the past 10 years. “When will you build “the Muffins” with mesh heads?”
The very companies who told me in 1990 that my stuff would never work (let alone be awarded 4 utility
patents) now offer their own version of Spacemuffins. These are
the same people who said "if this is such a good idea, don’t you think we’d have done it by now" or
"there’s just no market for an acoustically formatted electronic drum set". After all, when ‘industry
leaders” validate your vision and direction by copying your ideas, I guess it's a good thing? “Imitation,"
they say, "is the most sincere form of flattery!"  Spacemuffins® are now and always
will be, an entity onto themselves. They were never designed to be completely silent or stuffed in the basement as a practice
kit (even though they’re the best practice set ever made) They live for LIVE! I designed Spacemuffins™ for drummers to access digital technology without sacrificing the look,
feel, sensitivity or dynamics of their acoustic set and to make the transition from acoustics’ to electric’s as
seamless as possible. For those reasons, Spacemuffins will never incorporate a mesh head. I'm still committed to making this product as acoustic like as possible and a mesh head isn't
part of the process So, there
you have it! I'm outta here (Got Drums to build : ) xo Alfonso M.
Adinolfi President A.P./Boom Theory |
