Drum Machines Have No Soul

Electronic drum kit

Simmons SDS9

Play the SDS9’s bass, snare and three tom pads and three kinds of sound generation answer: a software-generated bass drum, sampled snare and rim material, and analogue toms.

The digital drum boom →
SDS9 kit and controller — September 1985September 1985 · Home & Studio RecordingSource & credit ↗

The SDS9 appeared in 1985. Bob Henrit’s July review reported an April launch.

Pads & performance

Simmons SDS9 — the hexagon learns to give

The SDS9 puts five familiar hexagonal pads around the drummer, then gives those pads new ways to respond. Floating playing surfaces move under a strike; the snare distinguishes centre and rim gestures. Inside the controller, software-generated bass, sampled snare material and analogue toms form a kit whose sounds can be edited, stored and recalled.

Sources (3)
  1. Simmons SDS9 ↗
  2. Simmons SDS9 ↗
  3. Simmons’ 9th ↗

Where the hand meets the circuit

Andy Duncan found the new pads quieter and more yielding than those of the SDS7 and SDS8. Their rubber playing surface carries a backing board without fastening that board rigidly to the shell. The bass pad has a movable central area for the beater. These mechanical changes matter before any sound setting is chosen: they change the surface the player strikes.

Sources (2)
  1. Simmons SDS9 ↗
  2. Simmons SDS9 ↗

The snare has one sensor beneath the head and another near the rim. A centre stroke, a rim stroke and a simultaneous head-and-rim strike call on different combinations of sampled material. Sensitivity adjustment lets the player balance the response of the two areas. The result is a snare played through gestures as well as force, with cross-stick and accented rimshot possibilities.

Sources (2)
  1. Simmons SDS9 ↗
  2. Simmons SDS 9 User Manual ↗

Three kinds of sound in one kit

Bass settings separate click from thump, allowing their pitch and duration to be shaped. The analogue toms offer pitch, sweep, bend, decay and noise/tone balance. Copy Tom transfers the high tom’s settings to the lower drums at descending pitches, while Second Skin adds modulation to their tone. The sampled snare material lives on replaceable EPROMs; making new chips requires a separate EPROM-writing system, not sampling into the kit itself.

Source (1)
  1. Simmons SDS9 ↗

The mixture divided the reviewers. Henrit welcomed its playing response and facilities; Duncan liked the snare triggering but found the tom sounds dated. Both were addressing an instrument that retained analogue synthesis while adding sampled gestures and programmable performance settings.

Sources (2)
  1. Simmons SDS9 ↗
  2. Simmons SDS9 ↗

A kit that can be reset for a song

Twenty factory kits and twenty user locations make sound changes repeatable. Arrange settings within a bank and the footswitch cycles through its five kits; the panel selects the bank. Auto-trigger can cycle voices while the player adjusts them, and programmable echo retriggers a drum for single or multiple repeats. Cassette storage saves settings, while individual outputs and MIDI connect the kit to a larger recording or performance setup.

Sources (2)
  1. Simmons SDS 9 User Manual ↗
  2. Simmons’ 9th ↗

In Britain, the July reviews listed £1,600 in One Two Testing and £1,190 RRP in International Musician & Recording World; August’s Electronics & Music Maker gave £1,199 including VAT. The package and tax differences remain unresolved.

Sources (3)
  1. Simmons SDS9 ↗
  2. Simmons SDS9 ↗
  3. Simmons’ 9th ↗

Kit memory

Twenty factory kits, twenty player spaces.

A footswitch steps through five kits in the selected bank. Twenty factory kits and twenty user locations keep sound settings ready for a performance. This diagram explains the layout; it does not play audio.

The kit continues to find hands

In Bob Gourley’s 2022 interview, Rare DM’s Erin Hoagg describes a BeatStep Pro triggering her SDS9 alongside other synchronised hardware. More audio inputs let her keep sources separate and jam across the setup, an approach she connects with her background as a drummer. The SDS9 becomes a sequenced sound source within that larger system. She does not assign it to a named release.

Source (1)
  1. Rare DM talks about her creative process and use of technology ↗

The pads also had a working life beyond the SDS9 controller. MusicRadar’s history identifies SDS9 pads in Rick Allen’s Monsters of Rock return setup, describing them as triggers for an Akai S900. That is a reported performance association for the pads, not a credit for the SDS9 module’s sounds on a Def Leppard recording.

Source (1)
  1. Electronic drumming pioneers ↗

Recording and working accounts

Explore 2 source accounts
Quick reference: kit, controls and period prices
01 // Hybrid electronic kit for acoustic-drum workflows

A Simmons kit with mixed voices

Play the SDS9’s bass, snare and three tom pads and three kinds of sound generation answer: a software-generated bass drum, sampled snare and rim material, and analogue toms. The floating pad surfaces can move under a strike. On the snare, separate centre and rim sensing supports centre hits, cross-stick and combined rimshot gestures, giving the player more than one way to address the sampled sounds.

Simmons’ 9th ↗ Simmons SDS9 ↗

02 // Hybrid electronic kit for acoustic-drum workflows

A kit with its own library

Twenty factory kits provide starting sounds and twenty user locations hold edited setups. A footswitch cycles through five kits within the selected bank; changing banks needs the panel. Cassette storage preserves user settings, separate outputs allow different mixer treatments, and MIDI lets pads trigger external instruments or a sequencer play the SDS9. Snare sounds can be changed through replaceable EPROMs; recording new chips requires external equipment.

Simmons SDS 9 User Manual ↗ Simmons’ 9th ↗ Simmons SDS9 ↗

03 // Hybrid electronic kit for acoustic-drum workflows

What it cost to step up

The SDS9 occupied the space between the lower-priced SDS800 and the more elaborate SDS7. Its UK reviews printed different prices: Henrit gave £1,190 RRP, Andy Duncan’s July review £1,600, and Nigel Lord’s August datafile £1,199 including VAT. Their package and tax bases do not resolve into one price. The instrument itself combined a played five-pad kit with programmable sounds and performance recall.

Simmons SDS9 ↗ Simmons SDS9 ↗ Simmons’ 9th ↗

04 // Hybrid electronic kit for acoustic-drum workflows

A player’s verdict

Henrit welcomed the pad response and the kit’s new working facilities. Duncan also liked the separated snare gestures but was less convinced by the analogue toms. Their different verdicts reflect the SDS9’s mixed ambitions: more expressive playing, recalled setups and room to shape electronic drum sounds, rather than a uniform move to samples.

Simmons SDS9 ↗ Simmons SDS9 ↗

Explore further working accounts

Working accounts

Pads, controllers and later working methods.

Reported association

Rick Allen / Def Leppard / Monsters of Rock return performance

A MusicRadar history identifies Simmons SDS9 pads in Rick Allen’s return-to-stage setup at Monsters of Rock.

Read Electronic drumming pioneers ↗

Sources

  1. Simmons SDS9
  2. Simmons SDS9
  3. Simmons SDS9
  4. Simmons’ 9th
  5. Simmons SDS 9 User Manual
  6. Simmons range advertisement
  7. Simmons Electronic Drums Virtual Museum — manuals index
  8. Rare DM talks about her creative process and use of technology
  9. Electronic drumming pioneers

The visual archive

Further visual evidence.

These displayed records are labelled by their documented role, date and source; source-only records are listed separately below.

Simmons SDS7 and SDS9 range advertisementMay 1986 · Simmons / Sound On SoundSource & credit ↗
Sources for images shown earlier (4)
Additional visual sources (5)

Original publications and related image sources.

  • Simmons SDS9 ↗
    Jul 1985 · One Two Testing · Simmons hexagonal drum pad from the dedicated SDS9 review, with Simmons marking visible.
  • Simmons SDS9 ↗
    Jul 1985 · One Two Testing · Complete Simmons SDS9 electronic kit from its dedicated contemporary review, including hexagonal pads, cymbals and brain.
  • Simmons SDS9 ↗
    Jul 1985 · One Two Testing · Simmons SDS9 electronic kit product photograph from its dedicated contemporary review.
  • Company Report - Simmons ↗
    Jun 1985 · One Two Testing · Clearly marked Simmons SDS9 hybrid drum controller from the contemporary company profile.
  • Electronic Percussion Checklist ↗
    Jul 1985 · Electronics & Music Maker · Simmons SDS9 drum brain with Simmons branding and the distinctive five-channel control layout visible.

Machine Museum image viewer

Period image shown in the dossier.