Drum Lights

[Irish614]

Hey guys, check this out- they look cheaply made so I'm skeptical on purchasing them because it looks like something I could easily make, and if thats the case I am game! haha. http://www.acousticlights.com/ . Let me know what you guys think.

[brandondrury]

I feel like I'm watching an old LA Gear commercial.

Brandon

[Irish614]

hahahaha I know right, def. not an experienced drummer on the kit but I was more interested in the lights not the drumming- It cant be that hard to make an electronic light do that- takes a light a little board and a switch to program its "sensitivity".

[brandondrury]

Yeah, it's probably very easy to make these if you had the right switch. I wouldn't have a clue where to start when selecting the kind of switch these need though.

Brandon

[samccart]

Weird how some things happen, or should I say wired!

About 29 years ago I played around with some junk from my dads shop trying to create something like this. I was a young teen and the skill level just wasnt there. However, the desire never left. Two weeks ago, while discussing an upcoming performance, I expressed this desire to my keyboard player who happens to be a machinist/mechanical engineer. He assured me that this was something we could easily make. Now this post!

Nice effect but I can see a few issues to be considered.
One, control of the effect. Either the drummer or support crew would need to be able to easily activate and deactivate the effect. I believe a 2 hour show with these lights could possibly instigate a migrain and while catchy I think prolonged use would cheapen the overall quality of the effect-my opinion.

Second, I use mostly ebony resonant and batter heads. Would the bulbs have a diminished effect or possibly no effect with this type of head. Perhaps an opaque resonant head would give the best effect to the audience while an ebony head help the strain on the drummers eyes (see point #1)

Third, durability! A loose connection or fragile electronic componant in connection with a severely vibrating drum looks like a disaster waiting to happen. I don't know about you guys, but my drums routinely shake severely during a show. It needs to be built tough!

Fourth, and usually controlling factor would be price. At $35 a pop plus another $35 for the power supply, this could add up rather quickly! In my case, over $400 just for this effect for my kit if I were to do all the drums. Doing half wouldn't make any sense to me This same money could go a long way towards other types of lighting gear that could be used for an overall effect or better recording and sound equipment

Thanks for posting this! I will try to nail the mechanical engineer down for some design stuff if you are interested in making these. Let me know!

I think if done right in the right conditions with the right heads and right price it could be a nice effect for a live show (perhaps a killer part of a drum solo).

[Irish614]

Originally Posted by samccart

Weird how some things happen, or should I say wired!

About 29 years ago I played around with some junk from my dads shop trying to create something like this. I was a young teen and the skill level just wasnt there. However, the desire never left. Two weeks ago, while discussing an upcoming performance, I expressed this desire to my keyboard player who happens to be a machinist/mechanical engineer. He assured me that this was something we could easily make. Now this post!

Nice effect but I can see a few issues to be considered.
One, control of the effect. Either the drummer or support crew would need to be able to easily activate and deactivate the effect. I believe a 2 hour show with these lights could possibly instigate a migrain and while catchy I think prolonged use would cheapen the overall quality of the effect-my opinion.

Second, I use mostly ebony resonant and batter heads. Would the bulbs have a diminished effect or possibly no effect with this type of head. Perhaps an opaque resonant head would give the best effect to the audience while an ebony head help the strain on the drummers eyes (see point #1)

Third, durability! A loose connection or fragile electronic componant in connection with a severely vibrating drum looks like a disaster waiting to happen. I don't know about you guys, but my drums routinely shake severely during a show. It needs to be built tough!

Fourth, and usually controlling factor would be price. At $35 a pop plus another $35 for the power supply, this could add up rather quickly! In my case, over $400 just for this effect for my kit if I were to do all the drums. Doing half wouldn't make any sense to me This same money could go a long way towards other types of lighting gear that could be used for an overall effect or better recording and sound equipment

Thanks for posting this! I will try to nail the mechanical engineer down for some design stuff if you are interested in making these. Let me know!

I think if done right in the right conditions with the right heads and right price it could be a nice effect for a live show (perhaps a killer part of a drum solo).

Yea most def. I agree 100% that over usage would be cheesy and lame. I saw that they were charging $35 per light then $35 for the power supply which powers 6 lights. Says the LED has 100,000 hrs of run time. I would def. be interested in building something that looks better than this and doesn't cost 35$ per light. It doesn't look that hard to put together. That's the reason I am interested in trying to build one. Good question about the ebony heads as well, I think as long as you have clear heads on the bottom they would reflect the light downward and still light upon impact, just wouldn't come through the top head. Ask your friend about it to see what he thinks, I have a friend of the family that is an electronic whiz, I'll have to run this by him to see what he thinks as well.

[brandondrury]

I have a friend of the family that is an electronic whiz, I'll have to run this by him to see what he thinks as well.

He'll see this as an easy task if he can find the right "switches / sensors".

Brandon

[DT Chris]

This kind of thing is only good for a spotlight during a show, or an intro, outro what have you. It's good for 'show' but that's about it.

It's kind of like that instrument that has the row of chimes... If you hear that more than twice per show, it's annoying. It's a gimmick instrument.