Simmons SDS-V
The 1981 released first commercial successful Simmons SDS-V drum was made up from the main unit with the electronics (called "brain") and the famous hexagonal pads seen all over in the pop music of the early eighties.
I am only owning the "brain". It is a standard configuration without the cymbal and the hihat modules. So there is, from left to right:
- Bass drum
- Snare drum
- 3 Toms
- Original there were 2 blank panels
Now there is a MFB SEQ-02 sequencer installed to make this a self contained electronic drum machine. - Mixer module with a column of pots to adjust the pads sensitive and another for the volume of each drum sound
On the back there is the mains in, the mains switch, 7 XLR inputs to connect the Simmons pads, 7 XLR outputs for the individual audio output of each module, 2 XLR left and right audio outs and a mono XLR output. One XLR input to connect the special hihat pedal to get open and closed hihat sounds. And there are 7 1/4" inputs for up to 15V triggers from synths, other drummachines or sequencers.
Each drum module got 4 different sound available: a internal factory sound set by trimmers inside, 2 sounds adjusted by user reachable trimmers on the front plate, and one sound adjusted by the column of knobs of each module. The different modules got different parameter ranges to serve best for the intended usage for the drum sound it should serve. The parameters of the rare Cymbal and Hihat modules were very different due to the very different parameters needed to get these sounds electronically.
The factors sounds are the sound we all heard before from the Simmons SDS-V. My Boss DR-220 E got these factory Simmons sound in its samples.
The MFB (Manfred Fricke, Berlin) SEQ-02 is connected to the internal 15 Volts via a few diodes to limit the voltage to 12 Volts as needed for the SEQ-02 sequencer. The SEQ-02 is a programmable step sequencer for 6 gates and 6 CVs or 12 gates and no CVs. It got 16 steps per sequence, but you may use 2x16 steps in one sequence if needed.
The first 5 gate outputs are internally hard wired to the 5 drum modules of my SDS-V. So I can use the sequencer without patch cables. I often use the 6th gate to connect the sequencer to my modular system.
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