A Bit Of This, A Bit Of That, A Lot Of Fun

It’s been a while since we saw a new electronic offering from Yamaha, but its latest product takes drumming to a new place, as Allan Leibowitz found.

- Allan Leibowitz

TAKE A DRUM trigger and a couple of mics, join them together with a nifty module and a recording/sharing app and you have an innovative hybrid solution. That’s the basis of the new EAD10 acoustic/electronic offering.

What’s in the box

The EAD10 system consists of an EAD sensor, an EAD module and a free accompanying iOS app.

There are two parts in the sensor – a piezo pickup and a stereo microphone pair.

The compact module has inputs for the two sensor leads plus four additional triggers (or one dual-zone plus two single-zone inputs). You can also use a traditional external kick trigger in place of the inbuilt one – which is handy because the current set-up requires a full-size bass drum hoop to attach to. So, for example, if you’re using a jungle kit with a tom hoop on the bass, you can’t use the inbuilt trigger. You can also split the kick input to accommodate two mono inputs.

Setting up

To use this system, you need an acoustic drum kit. It can consist of as many pieces as you like since only one drum – the bass drum – is actually ‘connected’. The rest are captured by the inbuilt mics.

To get started, all you need to do is attach the sensor unit to your bass drum hoop, connect two cables (clearly labeled A and B) and plug the other ends into the module. Plug in the power cable and a pair of headphones, and you’re good to go.

If you’re more adventurous, you can add some triggers.

Once in place, the sensor unit serves two purposes – the pickup detects hits on the bass drum and triggers samples while the inbuilt mics capture the rest of the kit (and anything else in their path, including heavy breathing, loud vocals or, as I found in a live public demo, even the drum kit 5 m away on stage!).