drum synth used in ritual

[looseidrummer]

looking for any info on the drum synth used during the middle drum section of ritual. Im wondering how he got it to play that little melody (the main "lick" from the tales album, its a theme steve repeats several times on guitar)

[Awaken1976]

Trying to pull some of Bill's tricks out of his hat eh? :)

[Hugh Shiebler]

The Philadelphia 1979 DVD contains a drum solo from Alan that makes extensive use of early drum synths. Simmons, I suppose. The Tormato album, especially "Arriving UFO" of course, is filled with drum synths...

Back in 1971, during the "Earthbound" tour, Ian Wallace of Crimson ran his drums through a primitive VCS3 synthesizer, which was operated off stage by Pete Sinfield. Shortly thereafter, the Edgar Winter group had a big hit with "Frankenstein" that used the same drums thru VCS3 effect.

The distorted drum sounds in "Ritual", recorded in 1973, sound very similar to those in "Frankenstein". I would love to know what kind of set up Alan was using back then. Also: how much of that sound is Wakeman???

[PO]

Originally, Alan was using a Moog setup to trigger from percussive pads. It was also used on the Tales tour (most likey a few after that, too). He and Billy Cobham both experimented with the Moog's. It never went into production, though.

[looseidrummer]

yeah i noticed he had a mini moog siting behind him around that time (visible on the QPR tape). i wonder if he just ran a drum trigger straight into it or what? i can see how random sounds or simple ascending/decsending could be easily done i just dont get how he got it to play a specific melody, the tales lick. he must have had a seperate pitch for each drum and then just played the melody on different drums i guess