Simmons SDS1000m analog drum module
Update: 02/28/2026
Simmons is a UK company that pioneered electronic drums, with their
signature hexagon-shaped drums that were available in bold colors.
Perfect for top40 pop bands in the 1980s. Simmons was not the first
electronic drums on the market, but they became the most well known
(although their current products abandoned the hex shaped drums and
80s analog-synth-based drum sounds for sampled sounds). From the
beginning their drum sounds were actually generated using analog
synthesizer circuits (even the hihats!). Their most well-known model
- the SDS5 (or SDS-V) - put Simmons on the map. Their products
progressed with the SDS6 through the SDS9.
The 1U rack mountable SDS1000 has ten storage slots - five factory
presets and five user programs. The factory presets can't be
overwritten. The SDS5 were the only other Simmons drum module that
is rack mountable. The SDS1000 was designed to generate more
realistic sounding drums.
In a break from Simmons tradition, the snare is not an analog
synthesizer circuit it is digital sample playback - four 8-bit snare
samples are included (tight, rock, huge ambient, electronic). 8 bits
may sound grainy, but it will be negligible for fast percussive
samples. Controls are pitch, bend up/down, and decay time.
Like the SDS9, the SDS1000 tom sounds use analog synthesizer
circuits to generate their sounds, each built around the CEM3394
"voice-on-a-chip" consisting of VCO, VCF, VCA, and a mixer. Envelope
generator for the VCA/bend transients are simple RC circuits that
generate an analog exponentially decaying transient, whose level is
controlled by trigger level connected to the iABC pin of a 13600
OTA. The SDS1000 adds variable level for the "2nd skin"; 2nd skin
simulates the 2nd head of a closed tom drum and is generated by
modulating the VCO with a fixed frequency LFO. Controls for the toms
are pitch, bend up/down, VCF brightness (also modulated by the
envelope), noise tone amount, click amount (simulates a drumstick
strike on the head), 2nd skin amount, and decay time. Noise is
routed through the VCF. There is no resonance control for the
VCF. Pitch bend up simulates the tabla drum.
Like the SDS9, the punchy kick sound is generated by the computer.
Controls are pitch and click amount. That's it, but you don't need
much more for a kick drum.
The only display is a seven segment LED and other LEDs indicating
memory level (factory or user) and drum selected for editing. Hey,
no LCD to worry about fading!
Each of the five trigger inputs have sensitivity controls on the
front panel.
Selecting a preset is easy - pressing the SELECT button cycle
through the five factory presets, then the five user programs. The
LED tells which program is active, and the "decimal point" in the
LED tells you that a user program is active. Editing is made active
by pressing the PROG button, then the PROG LED is illuminated ready
for you to SELECT a sound to modify. Although there are one set of
controls to modify the sound, an LED points to the drum that will be
edited when a control is moved. Then the STORE button saves your
changes; the first time that STORE is pressed the LED display
flashes, then the SELECT button is used to select which user program
to store, and another press of the STORE button completes the save
operation. A factory preset can be modified and saved as a user
program.
The onboard mixer is rudimentary. There are five front panel level
controls for each drum; pan settings for the toms are fixed for the
stereo outputs. Level controls vary the level of separate L/R
outputs on the rear panel and headphone jack. The front panel stereo
headphone jack can push 600ohm headphones. For mono, use only the
rear panel Right output. Level controls are not programmable. There
are also five direct outputs of each drum whose levels are fixed and
independent of the front panel level controls, which are used either
for an external mixer or for FOH sends. The idea is to use the
direct outputs to the FOH, and the stereo/mono L/R outputs for stage
monitor - you adjust the monitor level/mix at the SDS1000 which does
not alter the level sent to FOH.
There are no effects in the SDS1000.
While Simmons was still around they offered a MIDI retrofit for the
SDS1000 so I sent mine to the UK to have it installed, resulting in
the SDS1000M. I don't think there are many MIDI retrofitted SDS1000
units around today. The circuit board included provisions for
retrofitting the MIDI option, but you have to populate the
components and you needed the mask programmed 8051 with the MIDI
expansion. While the MIDI operation is omni mode only (responds to
EVERY MIDI channel) and only responds to five MIDI notes, it is
better than nothing. Simmons elected to assign MIDI note numbers -
in omni mode - for the drums right around the middle of the keyboard
range around middle C, which is a PITA in a MIDI rig. So damn
stupid. I acquired an external compact MIDI processor to get around
the annoying omni mode by filtering all MIDI channels except one,
and to transpose the MIDI notes to the extreme note range (starting
at MIDI Note C0) so I can use another MIDI device on the same
channel that does not conflict with the Simmons. Program change is
the only other MIDI command that the SDS1000M responds to, and only
for ten programs. There is no sysex patch I/O. Thus the other device
can receive other MIDI commands (IE pitch bend, CCs) that the
Simmons does not respond to.
The other MIDI option was the Simmons MTM MIDI to Trigger converter,
if you can find one.
This SDS1000 was my first entry into a drum kit, which also included
drum pads for three toms, snare, and kick. The stiff rubber pads
made my wrists sore after extended playing (I was hardly the only
one) and they weren't the best for dynamic control. They also
suffered crosstalk and piezo transducers coming loose which I had to
fix more than once. Eventually I built a MIDI drum kit with a hodge podge of controllers
from Acupad, Drum Workshop, Roland, and Dauz. I disposed of the
Simmons kick pad long ago as it was just useless and too damn big. I
retained the Simmons pads for hi/mid/low tom, and for hihat. My
Acupad snare controller is much more natural to play (I'm a
traditional drummer) with a trigger for the real drum head, and a
trigger for the rim for rim shots, sidesticks, or other uses. I
hated the original USS stand with circular tubing that gradually
slips, so I replaced it with a Pearl drum rack whose crossbars are
NOT circular.
Today my MIDI drum kit combined with my Roland
PM16 drum-to-MIDI converter makes a powerful system. Most of
the drum duties are performed with my Alesis DMPro these days
because the SDS1000 has only five sounds - kick, snare, and three
toms. No cymbals, no percussion, nothing else. But the SDS1000 was
worth keeping for its panel full of knobs for editing sounds - no
menus, no LCD, no "data controller" or up/down buttons - and the
Simmons tom sounds just sound better than the DMPro.
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