The fact is, no one knows what idea will stick and what won't. Percussion instruments are the oldest musical instruments, and yet the drum set, which is what most people think of when you say "I'm a drummer," is roughly 100 years old in it's recognizable formation...and things like the hi hat pedal are even younger...I want to say around 70 years old.
The Wavedrum is the most responsive electronic instrument I've ever played...a thousand times more responsive than the best e-kits I've tried *(like the TD20, etc). It's simulated djembes, congas, cajons, etc, can be played with the exact same techniques as the actual drums, something that has never been able to be said about an e-drum before. So maybe the actual Wavedrum isn't the future, but the tech there is. Pearl just released an e-kit with full shells, so it has the "sex appeal" of an acoustic kit. It's visually almost the same as any other Pearl kit.
Look at the guitar...in the time since the electric came out, the acoustic hasn't become obsolete, but they have become something that is essential for all guitarists to have both of, and understand the nuances and differences between them. In 1932, the first electric guitar was used...and now it's the most commonly purchased musical instrument out there. Les Paul didn't invent the first solid body one until 1940, and solid body electric guitars weren't commercially released until 1946...so from 1946 until now, the solid-body electric guitar blew past it's acoustic predecessors and became the best selling instrument in America. And yet, back then, a lot of the guys mocked it and said it wouldn't last.
