In my drummer days I could lay down a beat! I couldn’t wait until the next time I could sit in front of a drum set. In between times, I’d take to air drumming in my bedroom imagining banging out a perfect beat. Like most things, good drum skills take consistent practice. Sadly, for a drummer that’s hard to do because it takes a lot of money to buy a full drum set and the right place to keep them. Also, banging out a tune in your bedroom at 11 pm likely would test the patience of your neighbors and in short order, the complaints would surely roll in! But thanks to the gang at AeroBand you’ve got an option that can take your air-drumming experience to a new level and keep your neighbors sane at the same time, their PocketDrum 2.
The group over at AeroBand cut their product development teeth on their original PocketDrum product. And surprise, surprise the second iteration of AeroBand’s PocketDrum portable drum kit is set to release. The PocketDrum 2 is meant to make learning the instrument a breeze, not to mention space-saving. Instead of buying separate pieces to build out a full drum set and setting the whole thing up in your basement or garage, you’ll bang out a tune on virtual drums. The magic is in the two specialized drumsticks, feet sensors, and the companion app. The only thing else you need is your hands, and a beat in your heart!
This second version of the PocketDrum works exactly like the first but with more accurate drumsticks which can be easily calibrated to the app. Couple this with an integrated background music function for Apple and Android devices and you’ve got a portable digital drum kit which is as accurate as the real deal.
So How Does It Work?
I’m glad you asked. Simply start the app on your smart device (a smartphone, tablet, or smart TV will do), connect your PocketDrum sticks to said device by giving the power buttons a press and tapping them to the onscreen beat, calibrate the drums and foot pedal sensors, and you’re ready to go.
Thanks to integration with music apps like Apple Music and GarageBand, you can play along to your favorite songs and even record some new ones yourself. You can then share these online with other PocketDrum 2 users and get pointers on how to improve your skills, or you can keep them for yourself and listen to your progress as you use the app more frequently.
What’s Inside The PocketDrum 2 Drumsticks?
Aeroband went through a lot of work to make sure banging out tunes with the PocketDrum 2 drumsticks felt just as good as playing on a real drum set. A 9-axis navigation chip keeps track of where the drumsticks are in relation to your playing position and a BLE low-latency Bluetooth chip makes sure you’re hitting those imaginary drums as accurately as possible.
The haptic feedback for this new unit is superior to the first generation. Once you’ve hit a piece of your drum kit, a built-in miniature haptic motor produces a vibration that mimics the feel of when you actually hit something (this automatically puts the PocketDrum 2 way above any air drum set I’ve ever played on). The electronic components inside the drumsticks are powered by a 400mah lithium battery and can be played for up to 40 hours before requiring a recharge.
Apart from the electronics, the design of the physical drumsticks has been refined. The form of the sticks has been simplified and made to feel a bit more authentic. The shaft and butt region of each stick measure 18mm diameter which most closely corresponds to the dimensions of an extreme-rock category drumstick.
The tactile quality of a stick is key and the PockeDrum2 looks to have just the right color finish and material (CMF) expression to insure grip while banging out on your virtual air kit. You won’t want to use these babies on an actual drum kit for fear of breaking them, but the feel and authenticity of using a real pair of drumsticks are definitely there when playing the PocketDrum 2.
The PocketDrum 2 is currently live on Indiegogo and already has achieved its goal of raising $5,000 USD (as of now, it stands at $155,990). If you’ve ever wanted to learn the drums without waking up the neighbors, or if you can’t afford a real drum kit yourself, then you should definitely check this product out.
