Unintentional Symmetry

There's been much ado about hardware in the drum cave as of late.

Up until recently I've been using my electronic kit for practice and group rehearsals, with the intention of using my aging acoustic kit for live shows. However, since being bit by the virtual drum bug, I've begun to loathe the thought of using the acoustics for anything of importance. The pros of the electronics just so far outweigh the cons. The sonic palette, the ease of recording, the overall reduction and control of raw sound output.. all very cool things. The only real con to using them is the look. Whether entitled to or not, some people still hold prejudice against the visual aspects of electronic drums.

So, to that end, I've decided to build out a second set of electronics, one that is identical in function to my rehearsal set, but with a more traditional look. This will involve converting existing acoustic drums into triggerable ones, and possibly the addition of bronze cymbal triggers. When complete, I'll have 3 drum sets in my arsenal: my old acoustic one, my current electronic kit (relegated to practice only) and the new electronic gigging one.

In going over my current setup, I've noticed a heavy sense of symmetry that hadn't previously occurred to me. While the size of my kit has waxed and waned over the years, the core of it has always been what is technically a 6 piece kit. With kick and snare, two rack toms and two floors toms (although also rack mounted). I like to have one of the floor toms to the left of the hat under my left hand, and a broad selection of cymbals to flail at – it's just my style. Anyway, I noticed that if you classify the hat and ride in the same category (as time keepers), then my kit is very symmetrical along the axis of the snare. In other words, the left side of the kit is roughly the same as the right. Take a look at my acoustic layout to see what I mean: The two rack toms fall to the left and right of the snare, the two floor toms the same. One crash and one splash on either side, one splash right up the middle. The hats and ride right in low and close to the snare. The only place the symmetry breaks down is with the china on the far right – although lately I've been using a sample of a wind gong on the left, so even that is sort of balanced.

While all this symmetry wasn't intentional, I wonder if it's somehow been subconsciously evolving over the years. It certainly makes filling a lot easier and more of a fluid process than it could otherwise be. It also allows me to use both my sides of body as more or less interchangeable entities, which can only be a good thing while striving for more limb interdependence.

Anyways, I thought it was kinda cool how this developed on its own. I notice the same symmetry is present in my electronic setups, although with some interesting twists, which I'll get into more in a post detailing my rig.

In other news, my band recorded its first demo this evening, although the consensus seems to be to trash it and start over again on Tuesday. Should have some nice demos up here soon I hope. Also, some shows are coming up near the end of the month. Rock!