Pollard Syndrum

The Pollard Syndrum is the first commercially available electronic drum, invented by Joe Pollard and Mark Barton in 1976. There were 3 major types: The Syndrum 1, the Syndrum TwinDrum, and the Syndrum Quad, the last being the most famous.

At the time of its conception, Pollard was a session drummer working for the Beach Boys and the Grass Roots. In 1976, he met Barton, who had designed and built some working prototypes which were previewed to some prominent drummers. Their reactions were encouraging, so Joe, Mark and Donald Stone incorporated Pollard Industries and starting selling Syndrums in Culver City, California. There were two models sold at the time, the single drum 177 and the four drum 477. Syndrums were a musical success with a surplus of endorsees, but a financial failure for the young company. Pollard, Inc. wound up selling its assets to Research Development Systems, Inc. two years later which manufactured the Syndrum CM and a couple of other slightly updated models.

Although the Syndrum was capable of many different sounds, the one favored by most recording artists was a sine wave that pitch-bends down; it can be heard at the beginning of "Good Times Roll", the opening track of the Cars' 1978 debut album and the percussion break of "Rydeen" by Yellow Magic Orchestra. After the Syndrum’s introduction to the marketplace, several companies produced electronic drum units, such as the Synare. Many keyboard synthesizers today feature a Syndrum patch. Syndrums were used by such artists as Carmine Appice, Brian Bennett, Terry Bozzio, Vinnie Colaiuta, Hal Blaine, Jeff Porcaro, Keith Moon, Nigel Olsson, Lee Kerslake, Sly Dunbar, Roger Taylor, Yukihiro Takahashi, Bob Esty and many more.

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