It's hard not to love musical instruments called Spacemuffins. Manufactured in a 97-year-old mill in Kent, Washington, Spacemuffins possess the look and feel of an acoustic drum kit, using built-in electronics to trigger thousands of digital drum sounds stored in a MIDI sampler or a percussion module such as the Alesis D4. Granted, absolutely anything can be rigged to trigger the sound of your choice. (I've seen guys putting a new spin on that Chinese water torture of rock, the drum solo, by pounding on a life-size photograph of a drum kit - with electronic sensors hidden underneath.) So, what's special about Spacemuffins?
Well, other digital drums have rubber or plastic pads designed to minimize vibrations. To someone used to playing traditional hoops covered with skin, those pads feel rigid and lifeless.
So? you shrug. Just put triggers on an acoustic drum and enjoy the best of both worlds. Nope. That setup is highly susceptible to sympathetic vibration. The drum head and shell, after being hit, generate natural reverberations that often cause the trigger to fire again after the stick's initial impact. Even the resonance from a PA system can set it off.
Not so with Spacemuffins. By applying a secret combination of resin, silicon, and layers of foam to the interior of the hand-finished maple, birch, or wood-composite shells, inventor and manufacturer Al Adinolfi ensures that drummers can access digital sound without sacrificing the acoustic feel.
Adinolfi, who has built about 650 kits since the launch of Spacemuffins in 1991, claims that the drummers for Soundgarden, Queensrÿche, and Mother Love Bone are among satisfied users. He's not afraid to ruffle the feathers of would-be clients, either. For instance, he has little patience for purists who want "authenticity" and "honesty" from a drum. "Go hollow out a log and beat it with a stick," he snarls.
Not that Adinolfi doesn't have his sunny side - he can tell classic drummer jokes with the best of 'em. His favorite: "Why did God give drummers two IQ points more than a horse? So they won't shit on the street during a parade."
Spacemuffins: starting at US$1,199 for a five-piece kit. AP/Boom Theory: +1 (206) 850 8656.
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