faq

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
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	Q. Can I attach vruk to any drum pedal
	A. Yes, you can attach vruk to the footboard of absolutely any bass drum pedal . Vruk clamp plate is 9cm ( apr 3.7 inch) wide. Footboard wider then that was not produced, especially towards the lower end where Vruk clamps.
	Q. Is it important what drum pedal I use, will that affect vruk
	A. No, you have to accept the fact that drum pedal will not make you faster. That is just marketing gimmick invented by manufacturers to led us to believe their particular drum pedal is "fast". The beater rebound is one of the main driving forces of your speed and power. Learning how to release the beater is the main factor and is solved only by your foot technique and not by bass drum pedal choice.
	Q. So, what is the influence of drum pedal.
	A. The importance of pedal drive is "secondary". Smooth, pedal action is just an " illusion", it feels good but it doesn't mean it makes you faster. If you do not allow the beater to travel free, your " smooth" pedal will mean absolutely NOTHING. Also, the influence of your "fast chain drive "will also account for NOTHING. Obviously, it is nice when pedal does glide, but that is not that IMPORTANT. Some of the important factors are: the weight of the beater head and the height of the beater shaft and angle at which the beater is striking the drum and obviously spring tension.
	Q. So, what about the chain drive, surely the speed is there
	A. Not at all, chain is just a type of material connecting the footboard to the pedal drive, it can be chain, string, leather, my wife stockings or whatever else, chain ITSELF IS OF NO INFLUENCE WHATSOEVER.It is actually noisy and rigid.
	Q. Well, what about the sprocket or cam , surely the secret is there.
	No, sprocket is just another form of lever. Longer the lever - liter the footboard. That is elementary physics. Famous Greek philosopher said: "Give me the lever of sufficient length and I will lift the EARTH. The leverage of "magic sprocket" is measured from it's center to the outer edge, so perfect circle gives equal leverage throughout its turn, and eclipsed one DO NOT ...and this factor opened up endless marketing opportunities of "nonsense kind".
	Q. So, what about these"specially designed sprockets",, surely they shift the power and increase the speed
	A. Again disappointing NO. Famously designed "eclipse" sprocket is nothing but lever changing exercise. In actual fact no speed is achieved there at all, what is actually changing is the leverage through sprocket turn. You start by feeling the pedal as heavier (inner eclipse= shorter lever = heavier feel ) and turning the sprocket to its outer eclipse you feel pedal as liter( outer eclipse - longer lever - liter feel. This change in footboard weight produces the illusion of speed although it is simply not happening..This is very "clever trick" greatly used through marketing campaigns and thousands of drummers are still " buying " it.
	Q. Hey, what about those specially designed inter - changing cams.
	A. Well. just variations to same theme. They just offer shorter or longer leverage.
	Q. Well, are you against these innovations, surely they are of benefit to drummers.
	A. Absolutely not, these innovations are great, at vruk we appreciate any innovation. However , what we do not appreciate is "false marketing" of these "discoveries". We find it at times misleading irritating and money making orientated. Yes, it is true to say " they make pedal feel liter or heavier", but it is greatly misleading to say how " you accelerate with speed by using such cums - NONSENSE.
	Q. Lets get back to vruk, I buy it today , am I going to become a super fast tomorrow.
	A. You will definitely not , in actual fact you will have to slow down to learn the motion first. You are not buying the speed with vruk - you are buying the tool for your foot motion. Without learning the motion you will not improve almost at all. Well, if you do not know how to drive, Ferrari or Skoda, is there any difference.
	Q. So what is the secret of vruk
	A. There is no secret, it is just a logic which all of us know, but fail to recognise.The secret is to release the beater and enable it to bounce free off the drum. Let's take this example:
	SCENARIO 1
	I am throwing the ball towards the wall. I release it from my hand - it hits the wall - bounce off the wall and comes back to my hand - I throw it again and repeat as many times as I want. The power of bounce is bringing the ball back to me .Basketball players wouldn't function at all without this .
	SCENARIO 2
	I throw the ball towards the wall - but this time I do not release it from my hand - my hand is behind it - the ball strikes the wall - but my hand behind it prevents it from bouncing.
	Well - silly example, we all know that. Naturally we do, but that is exactly what our foot is doing sitting on the footboard on the stroke. It prevents the beater ( ball ) from bouncing off the drum. Our own foot chokes the beater. What we actually master - we master not striking, everybody can strike the footboard - we master RELEASING IT. Exactly - we are mastering the most comfortable way of physically removing the weight of our foot ( leg ) to enable beater rebound. So, positioning the toe towards the lower part of the footboard, searching for " sweet spot", pushing and catching the footboard , jumping on it - these are all methods of removing or reducing the weight of our own foot to enable beater rebound.
	Q. I still do not get it - how does vruk helps here
	A. Before direct answer we have to accept one fact - Any weight left throughout the entire length of the footboard would affect the beater bounce. Obviously the influence of the weight would decrease towards the lower part of the footboard and increase on upper part. So called "sweet spot" is the place which still enables enough weight for striking but leaves the least weight for releasing. Sweet spot tends to be just under the middle part of the footboard. So if you move up from the " sweet spot " your stroke would be more powerful but would also leave more weight to shift in order to enable beater bounce. Vice versa- lower from "sweet spot" and striking becomes "heavier" as there is no enough footboard leverage .
	So, perfect stroke would include FULL WEIGHT TO FOOTBOARD ON STROKE , AND ZERO WEIGHT TO FOOTBOARD ON RELEASE. Present footboard " solid plate" design cannot accommodate "perfect stroke" - that is why vruk is invented.
	Q. Getting interesting, so how vruk does that
	A. Very simple, but very effective. Vruk is connected one way to footboard and the other sits freely on rubber spring. . THE MAIN FEATURE IS - VRUK PLATE IS OUTSIDE OF THE FOOTBOARD LINE. So, weight which drops directly on vruk would be absorbed by rubber spring and would have zero influence to footboard.
	The result of this arrangement is "perfect stroke". You perform the stroke just as you would normally do, with full weight on the footboard. However as soon as the beater strikes the drum you drop the weight of the heel to vruk - no weight on the footboard equals free beater rebound. What you practice with Vruk technique is weight shifting - it takes a bit of practice to drop the weight to vruk successfully. It is simply down to fact that heel up players are used to keep the weight up - that just tense the muscles. With vruk you simply drop full leg weigh to vruk - influence of muscles are almost none.
	Q. Is that all, I can see the logic here, but this is so simple, is it truly that effective, just by releasing the beater I achieve speed and power
	A. Well, this is the basics, vruk opens up many possibilities. Connection between vruk and the footboard enables your heel to control the footboard through rubber spring. That means you can strike through vruk plate independently by heel only. So it opens possibility of alternating heel and toe , using the bounce to play multiple strokes. Naturally, beater rebound of the drum carries all speed and power you need. While mastering the vruk you will learn how to get behind that bounce and control it . Vruk is a great fun. Vruk Instructional CD ROM introduces 14 videos's with the examples of techniques and is great to start with. Once you learn the basics you can start experimenting and find you own ways.
	Q. Well, what about the Ballistic technique, I can just strike the lowest part of the footboard with my heel, that is the same.
	A. Unfortunately it is not. Stroke on lower part of the footboard leaves the heel weight on it so it would choke the beater. You cannot strike and leave the heel weight like you would do on vruk. You have to lift the heel to enable bounce. That is just one problem. Ballistic( so called ) also pushes your toe on the top of the footboard ( if you are lucky with very small feet) , or into the pedal drive. Not just that, your toe strikes at the highest point of the footboard, very uncomfortable and almost impossible to produce strokes of equal value, that is why they always sound like a " accented doubles". Split them to two bass drums and try to play sixteen notes pattern - impossible.Fast , tiny doubles, yes, powerful accurate single strokes - no. Tim Waterson explains difference very accurately in this video clip
	Q. What about "rocking motion"
	A. Rocking motion is basically heel up stroke and heel down release. You cannot play independent heel stroke here as with ballistic. Although is called "heel and toe" there is no heel stroke in it at all, but it proves vruk point - to gain the perfect beater rebound you have to get all your weight off the footboard. With rocking motion that means striking with the toe but also channeling all weight to heel by "striking the floor or else I believe". No much control offered as toe leaves the footboard + power of heel stroke is lost by simply " striking the floor". This is very difficult technique but once you attach vruk to your drum pedal it becomes much easier to control and to perform. Also, heel drop to" nothing" becomes heel drop to vruk thus is used as a stroke. Many "rocking motion" drummers are about to discover Vruk and benefits of it to their technique. The vruk would strengthen their stroke, control it, make it easier to rebound and also incorporate one new feature to it - INDEPENDENT HEEL STROKE - which rocking motion players would greatly appreciate
	Q. It seems that vruk technique combines "rocking motion" and so called " ballistic " technique , is that correct
	A. Absolutely, ballistic incorporates heel strokes, but it chokes the beater and places your foot in very uncomfortable position with the toe in the pedal drive. Rocking motion doesn't choke the beater but at the same time doesn't incorporate power of the heel stroke at all. Vruk doesn't choke the beater and it does incorporate power of the heel stroke, and also enables you to play independent heel strokes. However , vruk introduces two new features to both of these techniques. With vruk you can strike through your heel without even touching the footboard. Furthermore, with vruk you can control forward and backward beater movement through your heel.
	If you have any question or comment just email vruk@vrukpedal.com.