There are lots of different associations that can be made with the word “drum.” Depending on your age, where in the world you are from and what kind of music you listen to, you may picture anything from a Caribbean steel drum to a Chinese “fou” drum when you hear that word. Yes, there are a great many faces to the instrument commonly known as “drum.” But I must admit would be curious to know how many people, when asked what they associate with this word, would come up with the electronic drum.
Whereas a traditional drum of any vintage uses acoustic vibration to produce sound, an electronic drum uses an electronic waveform or sampler. Instead of being an instrument with a shell and a drumhead, these instruments have electronic drum pads. These pads contain either piezoelectric transducers (transducers that use crystals to generate electric potential in response to applied mechanical stress) or force sensitive resistors (two-terminal electronic components that can oppose electric current by producing a voltage drop). While this is perhaps more than most people want to know, the upshot is that when one of these pads is struck, a voltage change is triggered in one of these components. This produces signals that are then transmitted to an electronic drum module, or “drum brain.” The brain translates the signals into waveforms, which in turn produce the percussion sound that corresponds to the pad that was struck. So leaving aside all the technical jargon, electronic drums are used exactly like regular drums, except that you have to plug them in first.
