Pearl has thrown down the gauntlet to the electric drum market with the launch of the e/Merge system, developed in partnership with electronics giant Korg.
At a special launch for dealers in the Netherlands last week, at which MIN and our sister publication Drummer’s Review were the sole UK press representatives, Pearl put the new e/Merge kit through its paces, revealing the impressive results of the five years the two Japanese giants have spent developing the impressive new system.
Pearl says: ‘e/Merge is about change, and change in the e-drum market has been way overdue. When we looked closely at every aspect of the current e-drumming experience with Korg, together we knew we could make a dramatic difference. And that difference begins with the all-new e/Merge module. Simple yet elegant in design, the e/Merge MDL-1 module features a full library of hi definition, natural, organic and minimally processed acoustic Pearl drums.’
The sounds featured in the e/Merge module were recorded in a top studio in Music City USA, Nashville, Tennessee. Both current and vintage Pearl instruments in a full variety of sizes were chosen and sampled. Additionally, familiar tones of several iconic Pearl artists, with specific genres, decades, and historic songs and styles, also feature on the module, which is powered by a pair of high-speed multicore processors.
Elsewhere, the kit boasts Pearl’s new PUREtouch pad technology, which Pearl says: ‘…walks the finest line between the natural feel of an acoustic drum head and the response of an electric pad.’ The kit also utilises Korg’s WAVE technology by introducing Wave Trigger Technology, which uses parallel processing the player’s character and sound and seamlessly layers it with HD samples of real Pearl acoustic drums.
The e/Merge kit comes in a variety of configurations (one-up – two-down, two-up – one-down, two-up – two-down), and offers the option of either a sturdy bass drum pad (which in innovative thanks to its shock absorbing mechanism and swivel legs) or an optional 18” acoustic bass drum with internal pad (at an additional cost).
Completing the package is a trio of e-cymbals: 18”, triple-zone ride, 15” dual-zone crash and 14” dual- zone hi-hats, as well as a slightly modified Pearl Icon rack system.
Currently in limited supply, Pearl estimates that the new e/Merge system and its components will be available this coming September.