Show off your Zendrum!

Bo Eder

Platinum Member
Obviously, there's not alot of us who play these things, but I'll start (this is a semi-parody of the "show off your (insert favorite brand here)" threads.

Anyway, here's my new Zendrum rig that I've slowly been building up to debut in live performance this coming weekend. It's a beautiful zebrawood Zendrum Z4, and with it is my portable PA rig that I'll be using with it. The Zendrum gets plugged into it's merge box for power via the MIDI cable, and that gets plugged into my Roland R8-M rack mounted drum module. I'm collecting different ROM sound cards for it, and so far I'm using the Jazz, Jazz Brush, Electronic, and Dry ROM cards in addition to the 68 sounds that come on board, so I can theoretically create up to 32 different types of kits, or more if I actually set up different trigger maps on the Zendrum, but I think 32 will be quite enough to begin with. The sound module then plugs into a Mackie ProFX12 mixing console which in turn goes to my Crown power amp and lastly to my Yamaha speakers (15" woofers with horns).

I also run a mic for myself to sing if necessary. Getting back into playing with just my fingertips has been a cool break from all the stick work I've been doing up until now and I finally feel I've gotten back enough to go live in two days from now. I'll do a video of what I do with it soon, but I thought I'd show the rig first. Enjoy!
 

Attachments

  • Zendrum-Rig.jpg
    Zendrum-Rig.jpg
    53 KB · Views: 1,118
Very much looking forward to that video Bo. What kind of show are you doing? Context, etc?

I've had a few weeks off gigging, but back at it tonight. Could do with a bit of Zen for that :)
 
Must...not...be...jealous. Too late, I'm jealous.

That thing is a work of art, and the possibilities in sound creation are endless. I love MIDI and the range of ideas and convenience it brings to the musician. The videos on youtube of drummers playing the Zendrum are really cool. I checked them out when you posted your first thread about getting back into the Zendrum. Glad you made the plunge, it has to be a blast to play.
 
Very much looking forward to that video Bo. What kind of show are you doing? Context, etc?

I've had a few weeks off gigging, but back at it tonight. Could do with a bit of Zen for that :)

Well, I'm forcing it to go live with that high school show choir job first. Somewhere where I'm hidden behind a wall of kids. We just got done upgrading the keyboard player's rig and between the two of us there's like $8,000 worth of stuff on stage! So we're set to do a show this coming week so that's the first time out for this rig. But my usual solo act stuff will get priority with this stuff too, really, anywhere I'd normally play real drums, I'll bring this out instead.

But my acoustics are always at the ready. In fact, my Granstars are living at this high school so I could switch back and forth if I have to, but I might not have to ;) Or I'm not giving them a choice.
 
Must...not...be...jealous. Too late, I'm jealous.

That thing is a work of art, and the possibilities in sound creation are endless. I love MIDI and the range of ideas and convenience it brings to the musician. The videos on youtube of drummers playing the Zendrum are really cool. I checked them out when you posted your first thread about getting back into the Zendrum. Glad you made the plunge, it has to be a blast to play.

It is a blast, but don't be jealous. There's definitely another way to thinking when I play this contraption. For instance, I automatically always play ghost notes on regular kit, and that's not really gonna happen with this, but as the fingers get more limber and retain the muscle memory, I suppose I could more, but the same MIDI note softer doesn't really qualify as a ghost note. So, I play less. And not having a bass drum foot (at least) means heavy four-way coordination isn't really happening either - meaning no fast mambos or sambas or any of that stuff either. But there are other things you can play. If anything, playing the Zendrum is really like a Zen Experience - you learn how to do more with less, and play essentially what is needed. And so far my experience has been that other musicians like it because they're not hearing all the extra racket a regular set drummer might play to clutter everything up!

Just recall when Phil Collins and Hall & Oates cranked out all those hits with simple drum machine beats - the Zendrum is like a musician being the beat box. More groove and less clutter. It's a nice change of pace. If anything, my drumset playing may be suffering a lack of ghost notes because of it ;)
 
I've got 3 different rigs depending on my musical situation. My main rig is the “Papa Bear” Zendrum ZX rig, which consists of a 2.16 Ghz Intel MacBook Pro with GarageBand ’11, BFD2 and iDrum, a Gator Laptop Tray, Tascam 1800-USB MIDI interface, an SKB Gig Rig & Roto Roller with Gig Wing, a Mackie 1202 Mixer and 2 Mackie SRM 450 monitors, Alesis Quadraverb, Alesis DMPro, and a Roland TD-7.

The “Mama Bear” rig is a 10 x 10 Raxxess Converta Rack, with Gator tray, Mackie 1604 Mixer, Yamaha Rev 5, Alesis D4 and a Fastlane USB MiDI interface. For light travel, I “Baby Bear” rig; an SKB Studio Flyer with a M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R, a Zendrum Battery Box by Futureman’s tech Chris DeHaas, MIDI Jet Pro wireless and an Alesis D4.

zendrum_rig.jpg
 
I've got 3 different rigs depending on my musical situation. My main rig is the “Papa Bear” Zendrum ZX rig, which consists of a 2.16 Ghz Intel MacBook Pro with GarageBand ’11, BFD2 and iDrum, a Gator Laptop Tray, Tascam 1800-USB MIDI interface, an SKB Gig Rig & Roto Roller with Gig Wing, a Mackie 1202 Mixer and 2 Mackie SRM 450 monitors, Alesis Quadraverb, Alesis DMPro, and a Roland TD-7.

The “Mama Bear” rig is a 10 x 10 Raxxess Converta Rack, with Gator tray, Mackie 1604 Mixer, Yamaha Rev 5, Alesis D4 and a Fastlane USB MiDI interface. For light travel, I “Baby Bear” rig; an SKB Studio Flyer with a M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R, a Zendrum Battery Box by Futureman’s tech Chris DeHaas, MIDI Jet Pro wireless and an Alesis D4.

zendrum_rig.jpg

That is very cool! I'm only playing a Roland TD-10 with my Zendrum now (its a big step up from the ol' Roland R5 and R8 of 20 years ago) so I'm really happy with it. I use an older PowerBook for iTunes control of my MIDI tracks instead of running a sequencer and modules like I used to - less hassle!

But my main PA consists of a couple of Yamaha A15 cabinets, a Crown XLS1500 power amp and an Allen & Heath ZED10FX mixig console (the cute small one - it's super clean in the sound department). It's good to see what others guys are doing with their Zens and how they work with them. Thanks!
 
Back
Top