STRUM LOUD
Full kit in a boxDigiTech SDRUM · Pedal Zines № 01

Songs36

SDRUM (n.) A drum machine that listens. Scratch a beat on your muted strings, or tap the KICK and SNARE pads, and it plays it back as a real-sounding drummer.

§ 01 · What it isRead me first

Teach it the kick + snare (strum low strings = kick, high strings = snare, or tap the pads). It adds the hi-hats or ride itself, then plays it on a loop. Up to 3 parts per song, 36 songs, 5 kits.

Teach 2 bars, not 1

§ 02Where everything lives

The Map

Numbers match the official manual's numbering, so you can look anything up in the full manual later.

1VERSE / CHORUS / BRIDGEPick a song part. Press the lit one again to cycle intensity: green low, amber medium, red high.
2TEMPO buttonTap for tap tempo. Hold ~2 s to turn the metronome on/off (empty part) or to save a changed tempo.
3GROOVE / KIT encoderTurn, then press: 3/4 or 4/4, straight or swing, simple-to-busy, and the 5 kits.
4ALT (kick/snare)Swaps in the kit's alternate kick & snare sounds. LED off = standard, green = alternate.
5LEVEL knobDrum volume. Blend it against your guitar. Start at 12 o'clock.
6LEARN LEDRed. Slow flash = empty part. Fast flash = armed. Solid = learning now.
7KICK / SNARE padsTap a beat in by hand. Both at once = kick + snare on the same beat.
8SONG buttonEnter song mode, turn HATS/RIDES to pick one of 36 slots, press to load.
9HATS / RIDES encoderTurn = variation (1–12). Press = quarter / eighth / sixteenth feel. Also picks songs.
10ALT (hats/rides)Swaps the right-hand sound: off = hats, green = ride/crash, red = toms or percussion (varies by kit).
11TEMPO knobHalf speed to double speed. Center click = the song's saved tempo.
12PLAY LEDGreen. Off = empty part, dim = ready, bright = playing.
13GUITAR AUDITIONPress to change what you hear when you strum. Hold ~2 s to calibrate to your guitar.
14FOOTSWITCHArm learning, play, change parts, stop, clear, undo. See § 05.

JACKS

The jacks, in one breath

GUITAR IN (your guitar or pedalboard, TS cable) · AMP OUT (to the amp or the rest of your chain) · MIXER OUT L (mono) / R (to a mixer or PA) · FS3X IN (optional 3-button footswitch, TRS cable) · JAMSYNC OUT (1/8" TRS to a JamSync looper) · POWER (included 9 V HARMAN adapter only) · Mini USB (firmware updates only).

§ 03Do this once per guitar

First Run

CALIBRATE

Teach it your strum

Set the guitar's pickup and tone the way you'll play. LEVEL at 12 o'clock.
Hold GUITAR AUDITION ~2 s. KICK pad flashes, the HATS/RIDES ring goes all red . Keep the guitar quiet.
Mute the strings, strum the LOW strings like a kick. Each hit turns one ring LED off. Stop at 12.
SNARE pad flashes and the ring goes red again. Same hand spot, strum the HIGH strings like a snare, 12 times.
Done. It exits by itself. Strums now make kick and snare sounds.

Calibration survives power-off. Only a factory reset erases it.

HEAR WHAT?

Guitar Audition, decoded

Off: you hear your guitar.

Dim (Hybrid): on an empty part your strums sound like kick/snare; once a beat exists you hear your guitar to play along.

Bright (On): strums always trigger kick/snare.

It goes bright after calibrating, then flips to Hybrid by itself after you make a beat. Press the button to cycle.

✓ First sessionTap each one when done · saves on this device

Jam List

0 / 10 done ALL GREEN. JAM ON.

Dirt + delay off, JamMan stoppedEffects before the SDRUM may need bypassing for BeatScratch.
LEVEL knob at 12 o'clockThen balance drums vs. guitar by ear.
Calibrate: 12 kicks, 12 snaresHold GUITAR AUDITION ~2 s. See § 03.
Pick an empty songLEARN flashing slowly = you're on an empty part.
Metronome onHold TEMPO ~2 s. Set the speed by tapping TEMPO.
Teach a 2-bar beatTap footswitch, strum or tap pads, tap footswitch on beat 1.
Tap into the chorus (hear the fill)Footswitch tap while playing = fill + next part.
Try a different kitTurn GROOVE/KIT to E-POP, BRUSH, PERC, PWR, or CLEAN, then press.
Stop with a crash endingHold the footswitch and keep holding.
Wait 5 seconds before unpluggingSongs save themselves. Give them a moment.

§ 04Two ways in, same footswitch

Make a Beat

Start on an empty part: LEARN flashing slowly. Max 4 bars. 2 bars usually learns better than 1.

04A

Strum it

Optional: hold TEMPO ~2 s for the metronome, then tap TEMPO or turn the TEMPO knob to set speed.
Tap the footswitch. LEARN flashes fast = armed.
Scratch the beat: muted low strings = kick, muted high strings = snare.
Tap the footswitch on beat 1 when the pattern is done. It starts playing.
Play along. Set LEVEL for a good blend.

04B

Tap it

Same start: empty part, metronome if you want it.
Tap the footswitch to arm. LEARN flashes fast.
Tap KICK and SNARE pads. Hit both together for kick + snare on one beat (guitar can't do that one).
Tap the footswitch on beat 1 to finish. Playback starts.

Pads also work with instruments that have no pickup.

FREEBIE

Bonus chorus

On a fresh song, VERSE glows bright amber and CHORUS dim red . That means: teach the verse and you get a chorus for free (same kick/snare, louder, cymbals instead of hats).

Don't want it? Press CHORUS until its LED goes off before you teach.

Not learning right? Metronome on, slow the tempo down, teach, then speed back up.

§ 05Verse · Chorus · Bridge

One Switch, Many Moves

Each song has up to 3 parts. Pick one with the VERSE / CHORUS / BRIDGE buttons; press the lit one again to cycle loudness: low medium high.

Tap

Empty part: Arm learning. Tap again to start learning without a hit; tap on beat 1 to finish.
Stopped, beat learned: Play.
Playing: Drum fill, then the next part on the next bar. Tap twice to skip a part. Keep tapping until you're back on the same part = a fill without changing parts.

Hold ~2 s

Playing: Stop. Let go the moment KICK/SNARE flash = clean stop. Keep holding = crash-cymbal ending that rings while you hold.
Stopped: Clear this part (its button flashes red). Let go right away.
Right after a clear: Undo: hold ~2 s again (flashes green).

Hold ~4 s

Stopped: Clear the whole song (all three part buttons flash red).
Right after: Undo: hold ~2 s again (all flash green).
Careful: Clearing a part? Let go at ~2 s. Holding to ~4 s takes the whole song.

EXTRAS

Cue a part with a button: while playing, press VERSE, CHORUS or BRIDGE. It flashes, a fill plays, and the new part starts next bar.

Count-in: stopped, hold the lit part button ~2 s. It flashes at the tempo; the next footswitch tap gives a 1-bar stick count-in first.

§ 06Change the vibe after you teach

Kits & Styles

GROOVE / KIT

Turn, then press

Pick a part, turn the encoder to a setting, press to apply. Hold ~2 s to apply to all parts (LED flashes 3×).

3/4 · 4/4ST straight · SW swingSimple → Busy

E-POPBRUSHPERCPWRCLEAN

ALT (next to it): alternate kick & snare for that kit. standard, alternate.

TEMPO

Speed it up

Tap the TEMPO button in time, or turn the TEMPO knob (half to double speed).

Changed? TEMPO flashes amber . Hold TEMPO ~2 s to save it to the song (back to green ).

Knob not doing anything? Turn it past the center click first. That's on purpose.

HATS / RIDES

The right hand

Turn = 12 variations (between 12 and 1 = none). Press = feel: quarters eighths sixteenths.

ALT (next to it): hats, ride/crash, toms (PERC kit: percussion, shakers/tambourine, toms; BRUSH: red = shakers/tambourine).

§ 07It saves by itself

36 Songs

SLOTS

3 banks × 12

Songs save automatically. Press SONG (flashes green), turn HATS/RIDES, press SONG or the encoder to load.

Keep turning past 12 and 1 to change bank: Bank 1Bank 2Bank 3

LED off = empty slot. Dim = song stored.

COPY

Copy a song

SONG, turn to the song.
Hold HATS/RIDES ~2 s (its LED flashes).
Turn to an empty (off) slot, press to paste. Press again to exit.

CLEAR / UNDO

Oops-proof

Part: stopped, hold footswitch ~2 s. Song: hold ~4 s.

Undo either: immediately hold the footswitch ~2 s again. Green flash = it's back.

In song mode, hold SONG ~2 s to clear the chosen song; hold it again right away to undo.

Undo dies if you power off or do anything else first.

● Don't lose a song
Stop playback and wait at least 5 seconds without changing anything before you pull the power.

§ 08Last resort only

Factory Reset

IRREVERSIBLE

Wipes everything

All 36 songs erased

Guitar calibration erased

Count-in turned off

Kit set back to CLEAN

Unplug the power adapter.
Hold KICK + SNARE + ALT (the one by GROOVE/KIT), then plug the power back in.
When the LEDs start circling the HATS/RIDES encoder, let go.
When the ring flashes amber , press the HATS/RIDES encoder to confirm.
The ring cycles red, amber, green, then it's back to normal. Done.
Recalibrate your guitar (§ 03). The old calibration is gone.

▸ Changed your mind? Press any other button, or just wait: it times out and cancels.

§ 09My board

In My Rig

Guitar

→

Dirtpedals

→

Delay

→

Boss IR-2effects loop ↓

IR-2 effects loop

IR-2 Send

→

JamMan Express

→

SDRUMGUITAR IN → AMP OUT

→

IR-2 Return

TIP 1

AMP OUT only = drums ride along

With just AMP OUT plugged in, the SDRUM sends a mono mix of guitar + drums out that one jack (EQ'd to sound right through a clean amp). So the drums go back into the IR-2 return with your guitar.

Anything after the return colors the drums too: keep it clean and flat. Your dirt and delay are already before the SDRUM, which is where the manual wants them.

TIP 2

Kick the dirt off to teach

Everything ahead of the SDRUM feeds its GUITAR IN. The manual says effects before it may need to be bypassed for BeatScratch. Turn dirt and delay off (and keep the JamMan stopped) while you calibrate and teach.

TIP 3

JamMan in front: good

The manual says the looper goes before the SDRUM when only AMP OUT is used. If your JamMan has a JamSync jack, a 1/8" TRS cable from JAMSYNC OUT lets the SDRUM start the looper: teach the drums first, then arm the looper. Set the tempo before recording loops; changing it later loses sync.

Leave the MIXER OUTs empty here. Plug both AMP and MIXER outs and the drums leave AMP OUT entirely.

§ 10What the lights are saying

LED Decoder

solidslow flashfast flashdimoff

Light	Looks like	Means
LEARN	slow flash	Empty part selected. Ready to be taught.
LEARN	fast flash	Armed. Learning starts on your first strum/pad hit (or tap the footswitch).
LEARN	solid	Learning right now. Tap the footswitch on beat 1 to finish.
PLAY	dim	This part has a beat; playback is stopped.
PLAY	solid	Playing.
PART buttons	solid	Intensity of that part: green low, amber medium, red high.
PART buttons	dim	Dim = learned but not selected (or, on an empty song, will be auto-made). Bright = selected.
PART buttons	slow flash	Flashing at the tempo = count-in is on for this part.
PART buttons	fast flash	Flashing red = part (or all three = song) just got cleared.
PART buttons	fast flash	Flashing green = your undo worked; the part/song is back.
TEMPO	slow flash	Flashes the tempo: red on beat 1, green on the other beats (brighter on the last bar of the loop).
TEMPO	slow flash	Amber beats = tempo changed and not saved. Hold TEMPO ~2 s to save.
SONG	slow flash	Flashing green = you're in song mode.
HATS/RIDES ring	solid	Normally: green = quarter notes, amber = eighths, red = sixteenths.
HATS/RIDES ring	solid	In song mode: bank 1 green, bank 2 amber, bank 3 red. Dim = song stored, off = empty slot.
ALT buttons	off / solid	Off = standard sound, green = alternate (hats/rides ALT also has red = alternate 2).
GUITAR AUDITION	off / dim	Off = you hear guitar. Dim = Hybrid. Bright = strums always trigger kick/snare.

STRUM LOUD Full kit in a boxDigiTech SDRUM · Pedal Zines № 01