So the word that Roland was finally coming out with the much anticipated module update to the TD-20 has kinda knocked me off my footing. I've been waiting (sometimes less than patiently) for over 2 years now for this card to come out and you'd think I'd be overjoyed now that it finally has, but somehow the final product just doesn't seem like it'll live up to the waiting. At this point, I'm not even 100% sure I'll pick one up.

Don't get me wrong, the TDW-20 does add a lot of new features -- but the MSRP of nearly $500 doesn't quite seem justified. The only features that I truly know I'd be interested in are the enhanced hi-hat resolution and support for fitting all of my kit collection onto one compact flash card. The rest of it, while nice, just doesn't blow my skirt up. I really was hoping for positional sensing and interval control on the toms, and while the unit does have 300 new sounds, I've yet to see a list or hear samples of what they actually are. Historically I've only ever found about 10% of Roland's sounds useful anyhow, so chances are there are only a few new ones I'd be interested in.

*sigh*

Maybe I'll pick one up if they drop below say $299. Paying anything more just doesn't make sense to me right now.

Digging into the waaaaaay back machine this time... all the way back to 1994.

Listening back to these certainly conjures up a certain "cringe factor" -- and I'm sure that's why a lot of artists try to bury their early work. But hey, I like to think I'm thick-skinned enough to take it :)

So here you go, 4 tracks from the early 90's group Wallace Hartley (scroll to the bottom).

Just please try and go easy on me :)

While I completely disagree with the preachy anti-copyright law ending, this is still an interesting history lesson on what is easily the most popular drum beat ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SaFTm2bcac

Warning -- this is long, 18 mintues long.

Kinda short notice, but if you're in the Santa Rosa area next Tuesday (3/18/08), drop on by the Last Day Saloon! I'll be playing drums for Dan Lavorel, starting around 7:30pm.

Details.

This time it's some tracks dredged up from the turn of the century. This was for Brooke Ratliff back in Detroit. I'd worked for her once before around 1994 in a group called Motion Control. That sorta petered out, but I got a call from her in late 1999 to lay down the drums for her new album. It was all new material, but at least I already was familiar with her style, so I agreed.

While I had been working with a click during my practice routine, I'd never before done it in a studio environment. Needless to say this was quite an experience and I'm very glad I did it. The click has become such an important aspect of my rehearsing and recording as of late, and I really think it's helped my meter and continues to do so.

For personal reasons however, this would be the last I'd play drums for nearly 6 full years before jumping back on the wagon in 2006.

Tracks are here under '2000'.

I've added some tracks from a group I recorded with last year. A synthy, poppy dancey sorta thing which was rather fun while it lasted. You can it on the audio page, under '2006'.

I've added a new section to the site for archiving audio recordings. I've got stuff going back as far as 1994, if I ever get off my hinder and encode them all to mp3.

For now you'll have to settle with my most recent stuff, from Hadley Hill. I promise to get some of the older, more embarrassing stuff up soon! :)

A permanent link to the audio section can be found in the sidebar, near the link to my profile. You can also get there by clicking here.

This article details step-by-step how to fire off a TD-20's percussion samples from an SPD-11 or SPD-20. The concepts work pretty much the same if using other modules or pad controllers as well.

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We took the munchkin to Chuck E. Cheese's yesterday for the first time and I realized I hadn't been there since about the time I first started playing drums, about 25 years now.
While I like to think that my playing has aged gracefully, I'm sad to say that the mouse has not. What happened Chuck E.? Your place used to drip to 'cool'.. now it just drips toddler pee (literally).

Also, a sonnet to the redneck that cut in front of a line full of kids just so he could buy a beer...

"..oh dearest redneck that cut in front of a line full of kids just so you could buy a beer....
You suck."

Started work on converting the 13" snare from the Chameleon kit. I don't anticipate running into any major problems with this one, seems pretty cut and dry. I am however looking forward to applying some of the lessons learned from my first attempt, with the 10" tom.

Here are some pics of the snare before I started:

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