Roland Drums & Percussion Resource Guide
13
their acoustic drums — like keyboard player and guitar players have had for years — we would be
successful.
Nishi: In order to get a good and natural feeling, we agreed that we should use something like lm or
skin as head material for the pad.
One day, our Mechanical Designer, Mr. Yoshino, visited a do-it-yourself shop — a supermarket for
carpentry and gardening goods — and coincidentally found
a small trampoline, which used a mesh-type material for the
bouncing mat. He had an inspiration: Roland could use a
mesh surface for the drum pad.
Although we could not nd any good subcontractors to
produce the mesh head in Japan, fortunately Mr. Kakehashi,
the Founder of Roland, introduced us to Mr. Remo Belli, the
Founder of Remo. We asked him to produce the mesh head
for us, and he agreed.
Fisher: We did extensive testing with different types of mesh, weave patterns, densities, and
combinations. We discovered that a certain kind of mesh, in two layers with the weave patterns at
45-degree angles, was the best — and we were able to patent it.
While developing the mesh head, we became
aware of Remo’s Acousticon material used in
their drum and percussion shells. That’s when
we switched from the original steel-shell idea to
the Acousticon shell. The Acousticon material not
only gave us the desired “acoustic” drum look,
it provided us with the ability to make any shell
size, depth, and thickness. Also, it’s extremely
strong, and we weren’t wasting any natural wood
resources.
Although the mesh head was quiet, playing rim
shots weren’t. One day while playing the prototype
upside-down, we discovered that the rubber pour
on the bottom of the shell felt great and was quiet.
We asked Remo if they could also put a rubber
pour on the top counterhoop. They made custom
molds, and, sure enough, it worked great! It kept the whole performance of the drum quiet, which was
a key benet of electronic drums.
Nishi: At this point, we had completed two missions: to utilize the COSM technology for the sound
module, and to improve the look and feel of the pad.
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