THE DUALLIST BASS DRUM PEDAL

Winner of the John Logie Baird award for 'Best Invention Of The Year', The Duallist is a fast-track solution to those double bass drum woes. Ronan Macdonald has a crisis of conscience...

Here's a question that's been bugging me since I was first introduced to the rather remarkable and controversial piece of equipment I'm about to tell you about: is it possible to cheat at playing a musical instrument? I mean, is the concept of cheating even applicable in a non-competitive field such as music?

You're probably wondering what I'm talking about. But if you'd tried The Duallist for yourself, similar issues would he crossing your mind. As you can see, essentially this is a single pedal that uses two beaters, meaning, in a nutshell, that you can simulate the effect of having two bass drums with one foot (we'll get into the specifics in a moment), leaving your other foot free to operate the hi-hat. This, it occurred to me and everyone else in the Rhythm office, could be construed as, like I said, 'cheating'. Two bass drums are meant to be played with two feet, after all, making hi-hat negotiation something of a challenge and requiring serious left toot development. But then, is using a double bass drum pedal cheating? What about an X-hat - is that cheating? The conclusion I eventually came to is that, no, The Duallist isn't in any way fraudulent; it's just different, requiring, as it does, a new kind of skill to be mastered.

JUST FOR KICKS

In terms of construction and styling, The Duallist is, I think, a rather sexy beast - although it is let down slightly by that garish day-glo pink text. It's manufactured by Du Pont (a company specialising in near-indestructible plastics and such like) from the same material used to make car pedals, which is presumably us strong as it gets. It certainly looks and feels it. Setting the thing up is a little daunting at first, it's bristling with no less than ten adjustment points, and there are two independently operating beaters, springs and cams to think about. While this could be seen as somewhat overwhelming, with perseverance and experimentation it allows for absolute set-up perfection.

So how does The Duallist actually work? Basically you have two separately sprung beaters (with four rotatable striking surfaces), one connected to the footboard in the normal way, the other with the connecting strap passing over the cam from front to back. Hence, with the pedal in its 'resting' position, the second beater is in contact with the drum head and first beater is at rest. When pressure is applied to the footboard, the first beater strikes the head as you'd expect) and the second is pulled back; release the pressure and the first beater comes back while the second moves forward and hits the head. Thus you get one stroke when you push your foot down, and another when you lift it back up. Without getting into the physics of it, it really is as simple as that. And given that most of the time you probably won't actually want to use both beaters, there's a big foot-operated lever on the left to lock the second one in the 'off' position, and another on the right to re-engage it. Okay, so the obvious move for the first time Duallist-ist is to kick out singles as fast possible a joyous endeavour that results in an incredibly satisfying and perfectly timed doubling up of what you're actually playing. It's... well it's mental, frankly.

When the novelty of that has worn off, you want to start trying something a little more fancy, which is where it all gets considerably trickier. The fact that taking pressure off the footboard results in a strike on the bass drum is a nightmare at first, requiring a total re-assessment of the way you play to take it into account. But after a couple of hours I got a few licks together with the thing, and they really did sound a lot more impressive than the movement of my foot implied. I was doing stuff I couldn't have imagined pulling off with both feet on a double pedal. Certainly, a few months of practice with The Duallist could imbue any player with frighteningly fast, albeit simulated, 'double' bass drum technique. And all this with a pedalled hi-hat accompaniment.

PRIDE & PREJUDICE

All in all, The Duallist is a very nifty, if mildly eccentric, piece of gear. Just as a single pedal, with the second beater disengaged, it's very comfortable to play and pretty much infinitely adjustable. But kick in that other beater and you really are thrust into a new paradigm of bass drum artistry. It's a whole new ball game which not only allows you to match or even beat the speed of a double pedal, but lets you keep the hi-hat fully operational as well. And what an excellent thing that is, to be sure.

So how well will The Duallist fare in commercial terms? As is so often the case where the drumming fraternity is concerned, this may well come down to how open-minded potential purchasers are willing to be. It does look rather unusual and a little intimidating, and there's always the risk of people seeing it as a novelty item - which it most certainly isn't. And then there's the price: it ain't cheap, but then neither is a second bass drum and pedal, or even a conventional double pedal, neither of which offer the same hi-hat accessibility anyway I for one would very much like to see it succeed, but however The Duallist's future pans out, there's no denying that it is a revolutionary new addition to the drummer's arsenal.

RHYTHM