Drum Tech DTS Tuners

[Christopher]

Anyone else try these?

I bought three about a year and a half ago, just for the bottom heads for one of my kits. They suggest starting there if you’re leery (which I was) of going whole hog (top and bottom) from the start. Got them for two toms (10 and 13) and a floor tom (16). Really cool to be able to quickly tune the resonant right through tons of possibilities. There’s some agg involved in getting them setup and on initially, but after that you’re pretty much set.

Anyhow, I got three more for my batter heads this week. What a difference having them on both heads makes. I’m having a blast with being able to sweep through the different head to head relational tunings. Top head a 3rd higher, a 4th higher, bottom head a 3rd higher, a 5th, both the same, etc. All the while, being able to hear which sounds best right then.

The down side is, you can’t detune one or two (or, any really) of the lugs separately, but I’ve never really done that much anyway. And, they’re pricey. Around 40 bucks a pop. (so, 80 clams per drum after taxes, unless you get a deal somewhere)

The upside is being able to tune each head with one hand, while playing the drum on the stand with your other hand and hearing the sweet spots. I was most surprised that lug to lug is astonishingly close and consistent. The biggie for me is, less time tuning, more time playing.

Just wanted to chime in on these things in case anyone was wondering about them.

http://www.drumtech.com/dts.html

Rock onward.

[deseipel]

pricey is right, those things should be about 10 bucks and they 'd sell better. I have to admit though, it looks a bit hokey. I suppose it would be quite nice to turn one ratchet and tune the entire head. but it almost seems like there'd be a better way to accomplish this. I'm no engineer though.

[kaide]

I have 1 set of those and they helped me also with bottom/top head pitch relations. They don't work with diecast hoops but with triple flanged they are ok.
I only used those for bottom heads to find out different tunings for various drums, wrote the pitches to paper and tuned the drums to those pitches without the system. Pricey but works ok.

[YamahaPlayer]

That system seems like it would work - but - it also seems like it would be very fragile, how does it handle the drums being moved? Cased, transported, etc... and is expensive.

but it almost seems like there'd be a better way to accomplish this. I'm no engineer though.

There is. Arbiter perfected it. Then suddenly disappeared off the map and ceased production of the drums. Not hard to see why though, would have put everyone else out of business. Figure the major companies bought em off, some day when the patents run out, they'll all come out with the lugless system on their drums. It's a common story for many industries, unfortunately it's the consumer that looses.

Imagine PHX's with ZERO hardware, no holes in the shell, perfect 1 touch tuning... Mmmmmm....

[Christopher]

how does it handle the drums being moved? Cased, transported, etc...

I haven’t had them in cases since I got the ones for the batters too, but I’ve had them (with just the resonant ones attached) in my SKB hard shells and Protection Racket bags.

No problems so far.

They don't stick out much. Maybe a half an inch or so.

[deseipel]

OT: whatever happened to the spacemuffins drums? I remember those ads in MD in the late 90s. something about air pressurized tuning? #toolazytogoogle.

[samnmax203]

OT: whatever happened to the spacemuffins drums? I remember those ads in MD in the late 90s. something about air pressurized tuning? #toolazytogoogle.

I thought that Spacemuffins were simply electronic drum triggers in an acoustic shell?

[YamahaPlayer]

OT: whatever happened to the spacemuffins drums? I remember those ads in MD in the late 90s. something about air pressurized tuning? #toolazytogoogle.

I thought that Spacemuffins were simply electronic drum triggers in an acoustic shell?

That is correct.


What I meant earlier, was it seems like the DTS system could get easily bumped, grabbed, etc by the line running around the outside.

There was a company that had designed lugs (a few years ago), that allowed you to adjust the top and bottom from the top side.

[Matus]

I recall seeing that on a vintage drum. Dunnett, perhaps? With a three sided tuning key, I have a MD article somewhere...
Tama did it not long ago too with the Omni Tune system, basically the same stuff as on the vintage snare. Too bad it was on a bubinga set, I hate that wood.

[Jim Richman]

This is for people who need to change tuning way too much.