Building a Massive ROTO TOM Drum Set! 

Whats the first song you would play on this drum set? 🤔

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Dave Witte!!!! Damnnnn. My band opened for Municipal Waste in 2010 in Brazil and he was such a rad dude to talk to.

I’m blown away by how good this sounded.

You can actually hear where a lot of 80s-90s drum samples came from. The snare, low Tom’s, and kick especially. When you lightly hit the snare it almost sounds exactly like an 808 snare.

Imagine playing in the air tonight on this kit, and also adding more snares to the snare

Sounds so 80's. The drummer for my first band was very serious, we would joke with him about his drum stool. IT'S A THRONE! Worked every time. We opened for Bowling for Soup, The Distillers, Skatalites and more. Went fast, now I'm 43.

I love how they sound, its like a drum with built-in reverb

When it cut to Dave Witte I literally jumped out of my seat. Absolute legend.

Honestly, sounds pretty good; way better than an all roto kit has any business sounding. Also, so awesome to see Dave Witte here! I got to see him drum for Melt Banana a couple of times, and he's one of the sickest drummers ever.

50 years ago I had a clear Vistalite kick and 7 rototoms, a really versatile, musical kit and compact to transport.

Holy crap this kit sounds INCREDIBLE especially with the reverb.

This is one of the best 80-est sounding kits I’ve ever heard in my life!

Your double bass chops are better than you know. Perfect quintuplets at 8:57 🔥

Love how musical and expressive the rototoms are, the floor toms sound way better than you’d expect! Bring this vibe back

On my old set of roto toms I made some locks to keep them from de-tuning. I used square nuts and welded a handle to each to mimic the handle that locks the carriage bolt to the track. That way I could lock the bottom of the bottom drum casting so it can't spin and de-tune. This was useful when gigging/transporting. You always put up quality content. Now I want to buy some roto toms as I sold those old ones years ago.

THAT DOUBLE ROTOBASS WHEN DAVE DOES IT IS SO SICK!!!!!

whoa Dave Witte how is this possible!? mind blown 🤯

Roto-snares need to become a thing 😂 Pretty solid kit honestly. Even the bass drums turned out better than expected.

Holy shit man, you really should sample those drums, the toms as you mixed them sounds killer for a metal production 😀 I'm just so blown away how they sounded, it's its its just amazing, please put them up again and sample them for us home recording nerds 😅😅 Cheers from Sweden 🤘

This kit has some awesome sounds! Didn't expect it to sound that good! Nice video, Dave! I think Danny Carey of Tool sometimes uses Roto Toms in his kit, istead of the 10 and 12 inch rack toms.

Have loved rototom sounds since Van Halen's '1984' album. Especially "I'll Wait". Such a cool tone to the drums.

Terry Bozzio used a Roto Tom kit but with actual bass drums when he was in UK with John Wetton and Eddie Jobson, as well as Missing Persons. Fun video!

I can kinda remember Alex VanHalen playing a roto-tom kit in the 80’s with I think Ludwig 24” kicks. 🤔🤘🏼✌🏼

Love this video - this roto kit, in some ways, reminds me of my old Blue Stars drum instructor, Jim Keilly, who had a full roto tom kit back in the early to mid 80's. He had the 6-10in rotos very close but above the hihats - sawed off the top of the hihat stem so it didn't get in the way. Then the 12 and 14" over the kick with the 16 and 18" on the same plane extending over the floor tom. Because of the lack of the shells, he could really get these low so all the cymbals were within easy and very comfortable reach - even for younger drum students. He had the 12-18" rotos deadened with simple weather stripping on the bottom side of his pinstripe heads, following the circle of pinstripes all they way around the head. The roto toms had a beautiful melodic tuning. He had a standard 22" kick, with an 18" floor tom and a crack'n brass snare. He also had a set of Timbales and bongos set up to the left side of the hihats, he loved his latin percussion - also had a set of three congas. This kit was a work of art, and it sounded infinitely better than I ever thought it should. It kind of reminds me of this Thomas Lang video - but...very different in it's own way. Regardless, you get the gist... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-b2UeQbdnUPs.html ...FFFFFudge. This all makes me want to rebuild Jim's kit...

A drum kit made from all Roto Tom's has no business sounding this amazing. Now I kind of want one.

That head change made such a massive difference

This is your best video, hands down! The subject matter, the presentation, the guest appearance. Gold! 😜

Where's the "In The Air Tonight" fill? Honestly I was surprised at how passable the "snare" was, and the "bass drums" sounded killer once muffled and mixed! Loved it!

I always thought about "what would a drumset sound like if everything except cymbals are rototoms". Thanks David for answering that thought. Quality content everytime.

UK debut album in 1978' !!! A True Masterpiece the whole album !! With the Great Bill Bruford, John Wetton, Ed Jobson & Allan Holdsworth Classic Prog/ Fusion 👍 🎼🎸🎹🥁🎻🎤🎶

More people need to play Rototoms, their sound is so beautiful.

This looks like a kit that Bill Bruford would use!

Got a set of Rototoms (generic not Remo) in 6, 8 10 sizes for Christmas and I love them! I swapped the heads out for Evans Hydraulics for a bit more thud and they sound great. These generic sets can be found for not a huge amount of cash and are essentially the same. Highly recommended as a fun addition to any kit!

Maybe it's my late 1980's youth -- but I LOVE the sound of roto toms!

Been using Rototoms since the 90s. They are my Favorite. Amazing!

Terry Bozzio's old band from the 80's: Missing Persons.😎👍

A full rotary kit! Like a dog chasing a bus and then actually catching it!!

Love the brightness in the tone of this set!

That snare sets me in mind of 'Prince and the Revolution.' Love that sound. You seem to be able to make any kit you touch sound good. You have a great ear man, really!

Nice job! This kit seems really fun to play!:) By the way, when Dave suddenly popped in I was like "wait...what?😅

I custom built 2 complete roto tom set 6-8-10-12-14-16-18. One of the set i use mesh drum heads on them for quiet practice. Same pitch range as the regular heads with the quiet cymbals. Awesome tunable practice set.

I love this video, I built and played a roto kit in the 80s playing pop music on the road. This video brought back all the fun I had playing it. Thank you!

Really like the way the full kit sounds. I have always used the 6,8,10 set but am digging the bigger ones.

Especially if you used triggers on the bass drums (not necessarily needed) this would be a great way to gig with a massive kit. Pretty easy to transport and actually sounds pretty killer. Like how Danny Carey uses them for mounted toms but to the extreme.

I've delivered to the Steve Weiss warehouse several times and every time I've gone they've been absolutely awesome. Even gave me advice on a drum set for a young child and what to look for. I didn't realize they were as well known as they are

Nice job David! Back in 2002 I custom made a blue Vistalite/roto-tom kit mounted with custom cut Gibraltar chrome bars. I always hated the flat slider bar Roto's had so I came up with my own solution and actually drilled holes through the bars exactly where I wanted each roto to "remain" (even though they were slightly adjustable due to small lengths of independent bars with memory clamps) and then hand filed out a square hole so the long carriage bolt wouldn't spin. I also used curved ABS bushings so Roto mounts wouldn't make noise. Funny, as I was watching this I was actually "telling you what to do" (invert kick bars, flip snare piece, etc.) to make it work before you came up with the "same" solution, so that was a surreal moment LOL. My Vistalite's were blue, so the whole kit had blue Evans hydraulic heads all the way around. The Vista's were my 20" kick with double pedal, a 13" custom made snare, and a floating 16" floor tom with Pearl RIMS suspension (both from a dude on eBay who cut and beveled tom shells in varying colors, depths and sizes). My Roto's consisted of 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14 inch and I had 10 varying Zildjian cymbals. I also had a 10 and 12 inch Vistalite Deep Tom, but the last band I was in thought they were too loud! LOL Sadly, I parted with this kit in pieces in 2015 in a music store when my wife and I downsized to an apartment!

When I think of roto tons, first things that come to mind are Time by Pink Floyd and any Queen drum outro.

I was like man this looks like Santa's workshop, and then the guy Dave shows up to help! You both did double bass well.

This sounds way better than I had expected it to! Very neat!

Roto-Toms are by far the best sounding drums to me. Thank you for this upload !

Time traveling back to 1982, the drummer for the band Vandenberg, Jos Zoomer played probably one of the strangest kits ever - North Bass drums and all roto toms with a regular snare. Saw them open for Ozzy and that kit sounded incredible.

The mixed sound of the kit is great! Love the bass drums and snare!

That sounds absolutely AWESOME! Almost as perfect as an electric kit.

When you started jamming out, my fiance was like: "this is new Phil Collins? Thought he retired"

This sounds like every 80’s album and early 90’s video games soundtrack! Awesome!!

"Windows" by Missing Persons with that amazing drum solo by Terry Bozzio in the middle of the song. It culminates with Terry going from the 6" to the 18".

This is the most 80's sounding thing ever

This is an awesome idea. I love the ingenuity. And you both play great.

That kit sounds so good after the pinstripe upgrade! Wow spectacular, love the vid!!

This is nothing short of awesome! Nicely done sir

Love the sound of rotos. Sounded even better once the Pinstripes were on. Love Steve Weiss music. Glad to see them getting a shout out on your channel. They have so much stuff and have saved me on more than one occasion by having things that so many others didn't have.

This is the kind of kit that Neal Peart would've had fun with too.👍 It's weird but I like what you made out of it.

I love rototoms for more tribal beats. They sound so different from normal toms and give the whole thing a more interesting texture. The original drummer for the band Minsk used a lot of them on their first three records. Check out the song "The Orphans of Piety" for instance. It has a lot of cool rototom accents in it.

I love roto toms!!!! When I saw John Farris.. the drummer for INXS using them on his kit live..I was blown away. I immediately incorporated them into my kit too..love'em!🤠

Terry Bozzio with Frank Zappa used a roto tom set and then when he moved to his band Missing Persons also used one in the beginning. As far as their usage, the Bayonne Bridgemen used those in the "Black Market Juggler" in their drum solo in the '80s. Love the tunability and sound. Cheers

Men at Work. Insane and brilliant. Love the effort you make for each video. thank you.

David had too much fun making this. The giggles broke me lmao

Dope kit!!! Playing melodically and instantly tuning to a song's key must be cool! Great video!

Absolutely love your videos! Super creative and fun to watch!

Those hi-hats are incredible for the price! This kit sounds insane! Best option for the first kit of 2023 Edit: you don’t suck at double bass, especially compared to me lol

More of weird drum kits or vintage drum kits content, LOVIN’ IT!!! 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽✨✨✨

I really like the sound I’m impressed with the many uses this set can be used with

Those sound AMAZING! I'd love a kit like this, seems just so fun to play on! Those remo's made a huge difference

Your guest drummer there's got great feet! It always throws one off a bit to play a set up that you are not used to. Especially this beautiful contraption.

Love rototoms and concert toms!!! I like to use the remo black dotted drum head. The Alex Van Halen roto fills on 'Jump' were fantastic. I also recommend the Casey Scheuerell roto-drum fills on the great Jean-Luc Ponty's album, 'A Taste For Passion'. Listen to the record mainly from the fifth song onwards, where it starts to play in earnest.

I'm amazed at how good the snare sounded! Really fun video!

Man! What a set - great idea thanks, And thanks for the Steve Weiss tip - you struck gold on that one!

Time- Pink Floyd. Was hoping to here you through in like a 5 second blip of it lol

Man this is the coolest drum set you have ever build, awesome!

The Ruts drummer Dave Ruffy always used Roto Toms, on their hits like Staring at the Rude Boys, Babylons Burning, Something that I Said. Great drummer.

what a dream kit!! something about that sound that always feels like innovation is in the works!

Subscribed because you go through and show how the connections and stuff work. Most people skip it but that's the fun part

We had a couple a great bands in Australia in the 80s using rototom kits, being INXS and The Machinations. That kit is something else though 🤘

You make drumming fun!

Steve Weiss was a good guy. We lived in the same town and I would run into him at the grocery store before I started going to the warehouse in the 90’s. He was also silent partner and funded “Pro Drum music works” in Glenside Pa that had countless amazing drum clinics in the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s. That place was awesome as well and the whole ceiling was drum posters!!!😊

Boy, that sure looks like a lot of fun!

1:31 “WE GOT SOME STEVE WEISS SWAG!” *puts the red one on immediately in the next shot* rdavidr is too wholesome for this world 🥹❤️

casual dave witte feature

This looked like so much fun. Never would have thought of Roto toms being a full set lol. I can only imagine how long it took to replace all those heads. Favorite song with them is definitely the intro for the song Forest by System of a Down. Can't wait to see what's the next video about. Thanks!

This sparks joy. And a vicarious headache, just imagining the setup.

I’d be curious to hear how one or two more snare wires on that snare would sound!

😱😱wow drawing🤣 yo's right 👍

what a beautiful sound, my Lord!!! I love rototoms since Queen! thank you for so amazing video!

Have always loved the sound of roto-toms!!

Dude this sounds awesome!! This would sick in the beginning of "Time" by Pink Floyd!!

Neil Peart's drum set:

Love rotos, always have, always will. Great vid.

I feel like this is a video I've been waiting for. As soon as I saw it, I thought this is the perfect concept! I wish I could jam on that kit for a bit

Metal version of never gonna give you up