Well, it was bound to happen: CRKD has teased a new drum kit controller. The four-pad, triple-cymbal CRKD Drum Kit Controller will be out next year.
And that’s it. That’s the news. Unlike the Gibson Les Paul Guitar Controller praised in an IGN review earlier this year, the Drum Kit Controller has no hint of a licensed partnership with any other companies. If there is one, CRKD didn’t say so in its email to IGN, nor did I spy so much as a Zildjian logo on any of the cymbols in the teaser video that the company posted to YouTube today. Just mostly jet black hardware that almost feels more matchy-matchy with the PDP Riffmaster than CRKD’s own guitar controllers.
In fact, CRKD is staying tight-lipped on this controller in general, letting loose no details about console compatibility or connectivity. Still, we can glean some information from the video. One, that the controller looks like it breaks down into several smaller parts for transportation, which would mirror the removable neck and headstock of its guitar predecessor. And two, based on the row of lights just under the drum pad section, it’s probably wireless, which, yeah you’d hope so!
It looks like a quality gaming kit with a nice, beefy bass drum pedal. Like the old Rock Band drum controller, the layout’s not that close to what you’d get with a real drum kit, electronic or otherwise – drum heads aren’t usually that close together and the cymbals are kind of awkwardly placed. But also, it’s a pretend drum kit that’s mainly going to be used for rhythm games like Clone Hero and YARG. There’s also Fortnite Festival, but that game mode doesn’t allow for drum controllers quite yet, instead relying on good ol’ fashioned controllers and keyboards – maybe this means an update will be coming soon?
Wes is a freelance writer (Freelance Wes, they call him) who has covered technology, gaming, and entertainment steadily since 2020 at Gizmodo, Tom’s Hardware, Hardcore Gamer, and most recently, The Verge. Inside of him there are two wolves: one that thinks it wouldn’t be so bad to start collecting game consoles again, and the other who also thinks this, but more strongly.
