Tetsu KikuchiS&V Measuring Instrument Sales Sec-tion, Sales Department, Environmental Instrument Division. Joined Rion in 2010 and worked in the S&V Measuring Instrument Sales and Technical Support Sections before moving to the New Business Promotion Section in 2021, where he managed sound-related consultations and served as Rion’s technical liaison for the Roland Cor-poration project that developed the VQD106. He assumed his current position in April 2025.Quietness-oriented design features of Roland’s VQD106 electronic drumsThe snare and tom drums of the VQD106 feature a honeycomb soft rubber insert below the mesh heads to absorb impact. The plastic part on the bottom of the pads features a porous structure with honey-comb openings to disperse air vibrations generated when the drum is struck, further reducing noise.The kick pad features a structure that com-bines four layers of cushioning, each with a different function, beneath a two-layer mesh head. A floating frame reduces the transmission of vibrations and noise to the floor. The four rubber feet supporting the pad provide stability while reducing vibration still further.NL-63 Precision Sound Level MeterThe NL-63 precision sound level meter manufactured by Rion features a low-frequency sound measurement function. It is the successor to the NL-62A, which played an active role in this project, and can measure from 1 Hz to 20 kHz. It complies with ma-jor standards including JIS, IEC, and ANSI (Class 1). Frequency analysis can also be performed by installing the optional NX-63RT 1/3 octave real-time analysis program, which allows comparison of analysis results with reference values for complaints related to property damage or discomfort affecting physical and mental health.Roland’s New Challenge: Developing a Quiet Drum KitObtaining accurate data to verify quietnessRoland Corporation is based in Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture. The Japanese musical instrument manufacturer is world-renowned for electronic musical instruments, including electronic pianos, synthesizers, guitar-related products, digital recording equipment, and amplifiers. It continues to be admired by a wide range of musicians, from amateurs to professionals.Hideki Toyono, Product Planning Group Manager at Roland, had nurtured an idea for a new product for the past 10 years: a quiet drum kit.Roland developed the first electronic drums in 1985. The initial models featured rubber striking surfaces, which strained drummers’ wrists after prolonged play and still produced a fair amount of noise. In 1997, Roland released the TD-10 V-Drums, with mesh surfaces that significantly reduced noise. This boosted the popularity of electronic drums as quiet instruments for prac-tice at home. But even this improvement didn’t completely elimi-nate noise; it could still be overheard by neighbors, depending on the housing environment.This led Toyono to aspire to develop exceptionally quiet drums, drums that wouldn’t bother neighbors, even in wooden apartments or during late-night practice.“If a drummer can practice without disturbing anyone, other family members living in the house will be more supportive of the player,” explains Toyono. “Understanding and support from the family will encourage the drummer to practice more. Boosting motivation and stimulating more practice—that should create a virtuous cycle. I felt that developing this drum would become my life’s work.”“To sell the product as a quiet drum kit, we needed to accu-rately quantify how quiet it actually was and provide data as proof to retailers and our customers. Above all, we as engineers wanted to be confident that the drums were indeed quieter. Naturally, the idea of using a sound level meter to measure the electronic drums came to us.”Toyono approached Rion, since Roland had already been using Rion’s sound level meters for some time.“The department responsible for equipment maintenance and management had their own sound level meters, but we had no idea how to apply these meters to developing extremely quiet drums in terms of measurement methods and parameters. So we started by consulting with Rion. We also hoped that our development efforts would build up our internal knowledge about measuring noise. That’s why we decided to request a seminar cus-tomized to our needs.”The technical representative from Rion who responded to this request was Tetsu Kikuchi, then working in the New Business Promotion Section. Having long recognized the importance of finding solutions to customer issues, and being a drummer him-self, Kikuchi felt this was a job meant for him.3
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