The Drum Buddy
Functionally, the Drum Buddy is a 4 oscillator, light activated, mechanically rotating light-activated drum machine and the invention of renowned New Orleans musician, Quintron. Musically, it’s a heavy duty synthesizer/drum machine that makes sounds like you’ve never heard before, and looks like nothing you’ve seen before.
Only 10 drum buddies have been produced, and they all get auctioned off on ebay (click here for a canned ebay search for drum buddies, but good luck finding one). Watch out though, they go VERY quickly. A few have gone to celebrity musicians – famed improve music guru and latest member of the band Wilco picked up a couple of those 10, as have other well-known music scene biggies.
You definitely have to watch this video – things get really interesting around the 4:00 mark, but make sure you watch the beginning as well as it clearly explains the concept of how it works:
Pretty mental, isn’t it?
I want to be this awesome!!!
Quintron and Miss Pussycat are just plain *fun*! They put out a VHS infomercial about the Drum Buddy that was hilarious. Bits of the tape are on YouTube, IIRC. It’s also featured in Miss Pussycat’s puppet show video, North Pole Nutrias!
This thing is so cool. Good use of tin cans, at least.
I was lucky to get one of the original 10 produced between 2000 and 2001. Mr. Quintron found my use of it as the closer to my stand-up routine bizarre, and followed up with a warning that the instrument was intended to be played with accompaniment. I found it out the hard way, and have since joined two bands in Portland, OR, The Golden Greats and Toyboat Toyboat Toyboat.
It’s a mixed blessing playing such an eclectic, rare instrument. I never know if I am the best or worst, but plug away at inventing my own means of playing it, whether as a DJ, solo, or with other live musicians. The latest run of 10 are a pass-through device, meaning it can be utilized as an elaborate guitar pedal or vocoder. Besides Nels Cline of Wilco, Laurie Anderson got one.