Jason Gerling (his site) was a up and coming drummer in the Minneapolis-area in the early 1990’s, playing local clubs and being your typical crazy drummer guy (because as we all know drummers are always the craziest guys on-stage), until he was in a car accident in 1994, rolling his car multiple times and becoming paralyzed from the chest down. His arm and hand movement returned after physical therapy, but his legs remained paralyzed. What’s a drummer to do when you can’t hit the bass drum pedal anymore?
At first, Gerling used a setup that triggered the bass drum whenever he hit a certain pad with a drumstick. That however is a mediocre solution for any advanced drummer, as it makes playing advanced songs impossible. Gerling wanted a setup that would allow him to trigger the bass as he simultaneously played the snares, cymbals and other drums. You know, like a real drummer. And can you blame him? I, like him, am sick of half-ass solutions for things I can’t do anymore.
So Gerling took it upon himself to invent exactly what he needed. Using a mouthpiece from Origin Instruments, a company that creates products to help high-level quads use computers, he used rubber sensors (which he also invented), connected them to the mouthpiece, and adhered them under each cymbal. He set it up so that every time he sucked in on the mouthpiece, while at the same time hitting one of the cymbals, a noise that sounds like a bass drum would be triggered. A small subwoofer is placed in the bass drum casing, which emits the simulated noise.
The cool thing about all of this is that Gerling refuses to patent his invention, feeling it disingenuous to profit off such a thing. “If people want to know how to build their own triggers, then, by golly, they can just contact me," he said. "I'll give them the information for free. Encouragement shouldn't come at a price,” said Gerling recently in an article for CNN.
I wonder if Gerling can invent something that’ll allow me to play the clarinet again? I can’t move my fingers though. Too much to ask? :D
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