The musical instrument engineers of 2Box happen to be the same people behind Clavia\'s former electronic DDrums. Not surprisingly, 2Box\'s new line of products starts with an electronic drum system. It\'s called DrumIt Five.

Now that Ddrum is solely producing acoustic drums, e-drummers around the world will probably be excited to hear about the successor (well, in a way) for Clavia\'s successful Ddrum 4 model.

Roadworthy hardware
The specialy designed rack stand is focused to be light-weight and easy to set-up. It allows you to adjust the pads and cymbals to your particular playing style with a flexible ball-lock system. The rack proved to be stable as many drummers tried this kit at NAMM. It kept standing still and firm. The kick didn’t move as it\'s mounted to the stand. It\'s simply roadworthy.

Create your own sounds
The system comes with computer editor software for Mac and pc, and that\'s interesting: by means of the DrumIt Five editor you can make your own multi-sampled sounds from wave, aiff or rex files. Together with sounds from the DrumIt library, you can create any kit you desire. To put it in other words: you can create your favorite kit on your computer by way of easy drag-and-drop editing. Sounds can be played from the virtual pads to check how the kit will sound.

In a later revision, hopefully free for registered users, you can make new mixes of DrumIt sounds. These are recorded in multi-channel mode with extensive multi-layering. The multi-channel, multi-layered DrumIt sounds can be remixed and adjusted to your own taste. Happy with your new sounds? Then download them to the DrumIt module via usb.

Different size pads
The pads come in a range of sizes from 8 to 14 inch. They all feature head and rim sensors. All pads are cast in aluminum so they\'re strong but of a lightweight design.

Play the hi-hat the way you are used too
The DrumIt hi-hat works the same as a conventional acoustic hi-hat, i.e. the playing surface moves up and down. It has the same silent
rubber surface as the cymbals. The built-in sensor detects the vertical movement which, together with the multi-zone trig sensor, enables to reproduce the broad sound palette inherent to a hi-hat.

Use multi-zone cymbals
The other cymbals with different sizes, also behave as their acoustic counterpart. They are free to swing on their stand, just like regular ones, and can be played at any part of the surface. Each cymbal has three playing zones: bell, ride and edge. Gripp the edge to choke the cymbal sound. The cymbals\'ve got a special rubber coating to reduce the acoustic noise but still offer good rebound.

The brain
The DrumIt Five trigger system offers low latency triggering and great dynamic range. The sound engine uses a proprietary loss-less compression format delivering 24 bit sound quality to your monitor system. You can adjust the mix between direct, overhead and ambience plus add an extra channel for special effects. Rik van der Brugghen, cto of 2Box, explains:

\"One of the main goals in the design process has been to make a percussion module with a modern computer interface to be able to download any sound you like. Together with a low latency trigger interface, wide dynamic range and high sound quality, you come very close to the sensation of playing a top notch acoustic kit.\"

The open ended percussion module features 10 dual-function trig input channels (max 14 independent channels), stereo audio in, 6 mono line out and stereo headphones out. It holds 128 user editable kits and has a usb port for convenient downloading of sounds and kits from a computer. Says Bengt Lilja, ceo of 2Box:

\"With the new DrumIt Five drum kit, we have fulfilled a long awaiting dream and it’s with great pleasure to finally see it all come true with the release of this very flexible electronic drum kit.\"

The expected shipping date will be Spring 2008. The exact suggested retail price for complete kit with module is still to be announced, but 2Box hope to release it just under € 2,000 for a complete kit.