Anyone got any questions? (Hand in Hand Distribution - UK)

[Scottie]

Hello Everyone

My name is Scott and i am from the company Hand in Hand Distribution in the UK. We have been working very closely with the guys at 2box, and have been involved with the project from day one.

There is a lot of speculation flying around at the moment, with regards to the DrumIt Five on other forums. Bengt at 2box sent us over a link to the new forum, and we thought it could be a good time to answer any questions that people might have.

So if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask, and we will do our best to answer them.

Congrats on the new forum, hopefully it can grow in to a nice community  

Regards
Scott

[puttenvr]

Hi Scotti

Great initiative to do this
There's only one question which intrigues us all: WHEN ?

[Scottie]

Hi puttenvr

I know this has been a question that everyone has been wondering. The release date has slipped a few times now, and we understand how frustrating this must be. We have been involved in the project from the start, which is coming up to 3 years now, and have seen it evolve from general ideas, to concept renders to actual hardware.

I truly think that if people realised just how much work goes in to something like this, they would think twice about starting a project of this size.
As people are probably aware 2box is a very small team at the moment, and there is only so much work that can be achieved. I know that they have literally been working around the clock to get the product here (as i have had many a conversation with Bengt at gone midnight!), but they wont compromise when it comes to quality, and there were a few bits that the team weren't happy with, so there were design tweaks that took place. We could have released the kits as they were, but we really do want to deliver something that will blow the end user away, and push the electronic drum market forward.

But i am please to say that we have everything now apart from the drum unit, which we should receive next week. The final hardware that we have here is looking great, and feels very natural to play! So for an ETA i would say that we are looking at the next 10 days for them to be in store. If we hear anything different to this, then we will let you know asap right here.

We would like to thank you all for your patience with this. I truly believe that once people play DrumIt Five, they will see just how much passion has gone in to this kit, and it will only get even better over time.

Thanks
Scott

[tim1987]

Hello Scott,

I'm from Morecambe and mines on order with Promenade Music. I have actually have rang you a few times regarding the drumit, sorry for the hassle! I think it'll be arriving when I'm on holiday by the sounds of it. Something to look forward to when I get back.

I'm proper excited about this. I actually bought a Ddrum4SE 6 months ago to replace my TD 20, but the archaic software meant none of the signature sounds that I wanted would go on to the module, due to me been on Vista. It ended up going back. I hadn't heard of the drumit five back then.

I think it's best to wait and have a system that will really be great/reliable. I have been without drums for a few months now and am developing withdrawal symptoms! Haha.

I now have a Mac and assume that the Drumit five will be ok with this? I think I have read that it will be.

Is the idea to be able to put any drum sample on to the module, so eventually, a sample of a Yamaha Maple custom kit could be loaded on to the module etc?

Many Thanks
Tim

 

[UC]

Hi Tim, thanks for joining in. While I can't say I approve of your choice of computer () you'll be glad to know you'll be well catered for as the Drumit software is dual-format. There's a bit of info on the software interface on page 3 of the 2box brochure which states:

Create your own kits: The Drumit 5 editor allows you to build and create your own sound’s. The software is designed to work with PC’s and Mac’s and is included with the Drumit 5 unit. The initial program will allow you to drag and drop sounds onto the various symbols in the editor to create your own personal kit. With a few clicks of a mouse, you will be able to adjust tuning, levels and panning. You will then be able to simply save the kit within your computer or send it to the Drumit 5 unit via the USB connector.
In the next revision of software ( to follow shortly ) there will be the provision to allow the drummer to drag and drop any Wave, Aiff or Rex files into the editor page. It will be possible to make your own multi level sound or just download loops straight into the Drumit 5 unit

It's the REX support that I'm eagerly awaiting - I produce trip-hop, downtempo, ambient dub tunes and whatnot, and I've got a pretty big library of REX loops - Recyle just eats up WAVs and AIFs and spits out ready-sliced hits as a REX file. It's almost too easy

[tim1987]

Well, some people don't like Macs, but they are so much more reliable then Windows. Within 3 months I haven't had it crash on me once, which was unheard of with my other Vista laptop.

I'm really just wanting a realistic acoustic sounding kit. The TD 20 just didn't have the sounds that I wanted, they just sounded too "electronic", and the COSM wasn't very convincing for me personally.

[UC]

I was only kidding - some of my best friends use Macs - and anyway, Vista doesn't count (it's in the same slop bucket as Windows ME )

[Scottie]

Hi Tim

No problem at all with the calls, that is what we are here for Good choice with Promenade Music, they are a great store.

The idea will be that you can load any sound that you want in to the Unit. The files types that can be used are: wav, aiff and rex files. The unit has 4GB of on-board flash memory, so you have a very good size storage to play with.

At the Frankfurt Musikmesse show we had DW and Yamaha kits loaded in to the Unit, so you wouldn't have any problems loading a custom sample of a Yamaha Maple kit in.

The editor for the Unit will not be available as soon as the DrumIt Five ships. This will be a download off of the 2box website that will follow shortly after. I am hoping that we can give you a more solid release date very soon. This will be available for PC and Mac.

Thanks
Scott

[drumbeats2003]

Hello Scott,

Thank you for following up with us here. Getting info has been spotty at times. I was curious is there is anything in the works to release the kit in the US or if Hand in Hand will ship one here? As a long time Ddrum user I've been eagerly following the product.

Sincerely,
Cliff

[petercatherine]

I have the same question about US distribution. Is this certain that the hardware is here already and the modules are almost ready? We have heard this a number of times and are hoping they will really be available soon.

Can they make some demos of the most mix friendly kits with grooves? I still have not been able to tell how the kits sounds from the videos. I am very interested in it,and need to know how well it will work in a band setting.

Peter

[Scottie]

Hello Scott,

Thank you for following up with us here. Getting info has been spotty at times. I was curious is there is anything in the works to release the kit in the US or if Hand in Hand will ship one here? As a long time Ddrum user I've been eagerly following the product.

Sincerely,
Cliff

Hi Cliff

With regards to the US, there are plans in place and we will be able to start giving out more details very soon. Sorry i can't give anymore information at this time, but rest assured things are moving forward with the US.

[Scottie]

I have the same question about US distribution. Is this certain that the hardware is here already and the modules are almost ready? We have heard this a number of times and are hoping they will really be available soon.

Can they make some demos of the most mix friendly kits with grooves? I still have not been able to tell how the kits sounds from the videos. I am very interested in it,and need to know how well it will work in a band setting.

Peter

Hi Peter

The details i have given about the hardware and modules is 100% correct, i have the production hardware sitting in front of me. Please be aware that this is not the same for the US though. We will be giving out more details soon on when it will be shipping.

New media will be available for the DrumIt Five. As you can probably imagine the team is currently flat out with other things at the moment, what with the launch of the kit so close now.
Once the new media is here i will give you a heads up on when it will be added to the website.

Have you heard the sound demo on the 2box website: http://www.2box.se/Downloads/Drumsolo.mp3 this should give you an idea of how the kit sounds, my opinion though is that it is sounding even better now.
The team at 2box have a long history when it comes to products that are used by the performing musician, so the DrumIt Five will perform very well no matter what situation you would like to use it in.

Regards
Scott

[puttenvr]

... i have the production hardware sitting in front of me. Please be aware that this is not the same for the US though.

The US will have different hardware ? 

[Scottie]

... i have the production hardware sitting in front of me. Please be aware that this is not the same for the US though.

The US will have different hardware ? 

Hi puttenvr

I should have been a bit more clear with what i was trying to say there. The US doesn't have any hardware sitting there at the moment. All hardware will be the same, just different voltages. 

[Perico]

Hi Scottie,
You're talking about different voltage.
Is the DrumitFive 100-240V compatible?
Thx.