This little 4 pad drum was sold by Synsonic (Mattel) in and around 1982 and marketed mostly to kids. There were also various accessories available (kick and hi hat pedal) which I did not have.
Using it in a handful of live situations made me realize it needed some more control. After doing some research, I discovered a great site where folks discuss modifications they've accomplished and any general information about this little gadget. Below are some photos I took of my modifications which I housed in an old printer selector box and connected to the pad via a 25 pin serial connector:
Description:
upper left: TOM 1 - first toggle is an impact mod that increases the impact gain. the pot in the middle modulates the decay. the toggle on the right combines the snare and tom sound and is only activated when the snare pad is hit.
lower left: SNARE - the first pot modulates the decay. the toggle in the middle increases attack gain. the second pot is a tone pot that increases the high frequencies generated by the snare.
upper right: CYMBAL - the pot modulates the decay. the toggle increases the lower frequencies of the snare sound.
lower right: TOM 2/BASS - first pot modulates the decay. the toggle increases attack gain. the third pot modulates the intonation which is what i will use as a "kick drum"
Rather than going into too much detail posting schematics and whatnot, I've posted some sound bytes from each pad with a small description of what you are hearing as each specific sample progresses:
SNARE: begins with increased attack mod -> "tone" fluctuation -> decay sweep
TOM1: increased attack -> tuning (original feature of toy) -> decay sweep
CYMBAL: decay sweep -> "tone" fluctuation (on a toggle switch)
TOM2: increased attack -> tuning (my own mod) -> decay sweep
In the future I hope to build a kick pedal and eventually a hi hat pedal that would connect to my break-out box.
If you would like more tech info, I would be glad to create it and send it to you.
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