About

What is a DrumBox?

The DrumBox is a completely new percussion instrument. It can create sounds similar to that of a drum set. It is acoustic and electric at the same time. You can play it in your living room acoustically or on stage amplified. The versatility and simplicity of this instrument is unparalleled. 


The DrumBox is played by tapping on the surfaces of the box with your fingers. There are three areas of sound production: the round circle for bass, the beer caps for highs and the edge of the top next to the beer caps for a click. 


The electronic circuits are passive meaning that no batteries are needed. Just plug and play or simply play unplugged. For hearing the bass frequencies an amplifier is recommended. 



The concept of sustainability is a fundamental part of the DrumBox. Almost all the parts are recycled and those that are not are sourced locally.



History

The DrumBox came about very simply. SItting at the computer waiting for a page to open I was tapping rhythms on the table. One time while doing this I got the thought that it would be cool to have a small object to tap on that would sound better than the table. I only needed one sound for the highs and one for the bass. With those two sounds most rhythms would be playable and the object could be played with just two fingers.


This idea arose at the time when I had started to build pickups for acoustic guitars. Combining my knowledge of woodworking and the electronics of passive pickups I set about to design the first prototye in the autumn of 2018. It was immediately a success, although it presented various problems. But the main conclusion was that it was fun to play. I had it with me for months and was playing it even while walking in the street. 


The biggest challenge was the bass response. The first prototype had very little of it, although enough to make two distinct sounds. The next issue was the beercaps, they all sounded different. The third problem was the manufacturing. During the next half a year or so I made around ten different prototypes, each one with it's own character. The results were so different that at some point I thought of quitting the whole process. In the spring of 2019 however I finally arrived at a definitive model that would be possible to produce with consistent results. I sold all but the first prototype to be able to cover all the costs of experimenting and ordered parts for the Model I and Model II. 


The rest is not history but present. The DrumBox continues to evolve and each new generation brings some small changes; parts become unavailable or other ideas arise that makes it necessary to change things, but this is part of the fun. My initial idea was even that people would modify their own DrumBox to suit their needs and spread the information for all to use. Whatever is fine as long as it is creative!