Drummers have it rough when they’re traveling. A guitar in a gig back with a micro amp, or hell even just your phone and an interface, makes for easy scale practice and riff writing in any situation. Well, almost any. Don’t practice your sweeps at a funeral or during the SATs (unless your SATs are metal as fuck). Conversely, portable drum kits are like potbelly pigs: usually still larger and more ungainly than you’d prefer.
Simmons aim to change that. They’ve introduced the Stryke6, which at first I assumed was a C-tier sci-fi action movie or knockoff mobile fighting game sequel. But in fact it’s an iPad (or Mac/PC-compatible) drum controller. The Stryke6 offers you 6 pads, which is one more than you need to play the drum fill from “In the Air Tonight,” plus kick and hi-hat pedals.
I doubt the rectangular array of 6 pads makes for a realistic simulacrum of an actual array of drums and cymbals, but it will certainly fit in a messenger bag more easily than a more involved setup. Simmons has a Stryke Drums app on the Apple App store, but the unit is compatible with most software that uses standard midi drum protocols. The list price of the Stryke6 is a penny short of $130.
Source: Modern Drummer
