Simmons drums begins with the founder, Dave Simmons, who began creating his first electronic drum products in the 1970s as he made custom electronic drum products for experimental musicians that wanted to add electronic sounds to their acoustic drum kits.
“It started with Baz Watts (who subsequently played drums for Paul Young, Q-Tips, Adam Ant and Jon Foxx).
He was the drummer in our former band, and he wanted something different. Bolting together parts from an ARP odyssey into a radical arrangement of ‘trigger pads’ on a cut down piece of tubular bell, the first instrument was born.”
~ Dave Simmons, founder of Simmons
1978
While working for the company Musicaid in St. Albans, England, Dave Simmons developed a device with similar capabilities to other single-pad analog drum synthesizers, which he called the SDS3. The SDS3 featured four drum channels and a noise generator, and it was soon followed by a functionally similar two-channel version, which was named the SDS4. The drum pads were round at this stage, with wooden frames and real 8-inch drum heads.
“The bits and pieces I’d bolted together for Baz in the band had morphed into the SDS3, a 4-channel synthesizer that we’d managed to put into short production runs in the garden shed. We’d make five, sell five, make 10, sell 10, etc.
The SDS3 although it had a drum head, it could make some particularly ‘drummy’ sounds. Unfortunately, most people used it to mimic the high-pitched ‘doooo doooo’ sound of the Syndrum — the USA-produced equivalent to the SDS3.”
With help from drummer and music producer Richard Burgess and musician Dave Lawson, Dave Simmons took the best bits from the SDS3, combining two channels to produce an electronic facsimile of the acoustic counterpart, which was punchy and powerful.
Adding pre-settable memories, making the system modular, and tweaking the modules to make the Kick Snare and Tom variants helped to complete the design. The drum kit was shown at the British Music Fair in London and was offered with three variations of pad design; Batwing, Hearts and Hexagons. The Hexagon won.
1981
The SDS5 (also known as the SDSV) was released commercially. The SDS5 was the world’s first fully electronic drum set, and it featured the famous hexagonal pads. It became an instant hit, with Simmons endorsing several drummers, and the distinctive pad shape soon became an icon of the 1980s.
The first recordings on the SDS5 were made by Richard James Burgess on Landscape’s “From The Tea-Rooms Of Mars”, “Chant No. 1” by Spandau Ballet and “Angel Face” by Shock. These were all recorded by Burgess before the SDS5 was introduced commercially.
“To promote the product, I commissioned a design for the pad from local sculptor Colman Saunders, who produced two clay models of heads, one for the kick drum and another for toms and snare.
This was the kit that was used alongside the Lyricon on Landscape’s hit single “Einstein a Go Go” in 1981. The head kit featured on their appearance on ‘Top of the Pops’, the UK’s premier music TV program at the time.”
Other songs that featured the SDSV include “Visions Of China” by Japan, “Everything Counts” by Depeche Mode, “I Would Die 4 U” by Prince and “Talk Talk” by Talk Talk.
Also available this year was the SDS6 drum sequencer, which was used to great effect by artists such as Howard Jones. The SDS6 was a computer sequencer designed specifically to trigger existing Simmons modules.
1983
SDS7
Following the success of the SDS5, Simmons expanded their range to the SDS7. The SDS7 was another modular rack-based brain, which featured digital sampling sounds on EPROM for the first time, expandable up to twelve modules, and redesigned pads, featuring a skin of rubber to make playing a little easier.
SDS8
Simmons also produced the cheaper analog-only SDS8 in 1983, featuring a single, non-expandable desktop-style brain with one unalterable factory preset and one custom user preset for each channel. The SDS8 kit was supplied with four tom pads and a bass pad, using similar hardware to the earlier SDS-V, but in a more budget style.
1984
Simmons began to expand their product line with smaller kits and pads, including the SDS1 (a single pad with a built-in EPROM reader for playing a single drum sound sample), and the all-analog SDS 200 (2 tom system), SDS 400 (4 tom system), and SDS 800 (bass, snare, and 2 tom system). These products were aimed at acoustic drummers who wanted to add a couple of Simmons pads to their kit on a budget.
Simmons SDS 800
1985
Simmons introduced the SDS9, a hybrid digital/analog brain with three changeable EPROM channels (kick, snare and rim) and analog-synthesized toms. It combined realistic sounds in an inexpensive, compact brain and was the first drum kit that had a built-in MIDI interface.
SDS9 & SDS1000
Another brain was introduced in 1986 called the SDS1000, which was, in effect, the same sounds as the SDS9 (without the ability to change the EPROMS) in a slim 1U, MIDI-enabled, rack mountable unit.
The snare sounds, however, were more realistic and clear than the SDS9. The SDS1000 also included a “second skin” feature, which simulated the sound of dual-headed drums.
1986
Simmons began to expand their product line with smaller kits and pads, including the SDS1 (a single pad with a built-in EPROM reader for playing a single drum sound sample), and the all-analog SDS 200 (2 tom system), SDS 400 (4 tom system), and SDS 800 (bass, snare, and 2 tom system). These products were aimed at acoustic drummers who wanted to add a couple of Simmons pads to their kit on a budget.
“The R&D team at Simmons grew and we worked on all sorts of projects such as the SDS6 step sequencer, the SDS9, which won the NAMM award for most innovative product in 1986, the SDS8, 800, 400, 200, the Clap Trap, the EPB sampler, the SDS7 Digital / analogue kit, the Silicon Mallet, the SDS1000 kit and SDE FM Synthesis expander, TMI and MTM trigger to Midi converters, the Trixer and Portakit, and finally the SDX.”
1987
In 1987, Simmons launched the revolutionary SDX. The SDX introduced new features that were unheard of in other electronic drums, such as “zone intelligence” and “pad layering”, and it also included a built-in sampler.
“The company grew. In three years we went from 5 people to 60 and peaked somewhere in excess of 100. Sibi Siebert took the drums to Germany, while Glyn Thomas took them to California and introduced them to Guitar Center on Sunset Boulevard.”
“The SDX had a ‘massive’ 8 meg of memory, had an in-built 16-bit sampler and sample editor, a 20mg hard drive, a 9” CRT screen, 16 x 16 bit sample replay channels, top quality VCA and VCF audio path, multichannel real time sequencer and high resolution FSR positional pads triggering multi-layer samples.
It took 6 computers to run and it took every penny the company had to develop, but its core features are yet to be reproduced by any electronic drum kit to date. We made 250 SDXs and they were used by some of the biggest names in the industry and appeared on many records of the day.”
1988
In 1988, Simmons released a MIDI tuned percussion instrument called the Silicon Mallet. The Silicon Mallet consisted of a three-octave set of velocity-sensitive pads laid out in the same way as bars on a vibraphone, and designed to be used with either sticks or mallets. Attached to the pad surface was the Voice Module (brain), containing the sound generation system and the trigger-to-MIDI converter.
1989
As Simmons shifted focus from drum synthesis to drum triggering and MIDI control, products such as the Trixer were launched.
The Trixer was used as a drum brain, to trigger any of 4 on-board kits electronically, via MIDI or via audio trigger. It was also used as a drum mixer, to mix an acoustic kit with the on-board electronic samples.
1990
The Trixer was followed by the ADT (acoustic drum trigger). The ADT was able to convert any kind of signal such as drum mic, line signal or ordinary trigger pulses into clean midi signals without cross talk.
Drum Huggers were small clip-on acoustic drum pads with integrated trigger to midi conversion that were mounted on the rims of acoustic drums. With the Drum Huggers, you could adjust midi channel and midi note and the sensitivity for each pad.
2006
The Simmons name was relaunched by Guitar Center in 2006, which led to a new selection of Simmons electronic drum kits hitting the market over the next few years.
These included the SD5K, SD7K, SD7PK and SD9K (shown here).
2012
Simmons’ innovation with best-in-class sounds and even more advanced feature sets continued as new kits including the SD1000KIT were introduced.
Cutting-edge V.A.R. technology combining more internal memory, custom hi-res sounds, intelligent sample triggering and multi-position hi-hat control for increased natural dynamics.
Simmons also launched electronic drum monitors such as the DA50 and DA200S.
2014
The SD1500KIT continued Simmons’ innovation and became the latest breakthrough model featuring new sounds in an expansive, hi-res sample bank, and an amazingly robust hex rack.
2017
With Dave Simmons back in the fold, Simmons brought back the iconic hexagonal look with the SD2000 Mesh Head Electronic Drum Kit.
The SD2000 featured tension-able mesh pads with variable attack response technology for expressive performance and nuanced playability, providing unprecedented creative control. The SD350 and SD550 followed soon after.
The Simmons Signature Sound Library was introduced, featuring sought-after acoustic drums, world percussion, and vintage Simmons sounds taken directly from Dave Simmons’ personal library.
2019
Simmons continues to innovate, including the addition of the SD600, the first Simmons kit to feature wireless Bluetooth MIDI connectivity to computers and iOS devices.
Simmons also launched the SD1200 — a premium, all mesh kit with a distinctive shell design and tension-adjustable mesh. The DA2012B electronic drum amp with Bluetooth made its debut with a monster 2000-watts of peak Class-D bi-amped power and 5 simultaneous stereo inputs.
2022
The Titan platform was launched in 2022, marking another big leap forward by Simmons. Sporting tension-adjustable mesh heads and an all new no-slip rack system, the full-length drum sounds with studio room ambiance on Titan is setting a new Simmons standard.
