Why are drums so important to music, and what this appeal to have live drums in the modern world where drum beats can easily be sampled, and/or perfectly mimicked  by software?


Answer: Music is often broken down into fundamental components using this model of understanding: Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm.  Of these three it is true rhythm is the easiest for computers to do a near perfect job of imitating.  Advancements in technology from the first drum machines that appeared in the 1970s, to widely used beat machines of the 1990's, to software music composition suites of today means you now have a lot of control at youf finger tips to create rhythm. You can now create drum beats that account for tempo variations, pitch variations, changes in dynamics, how close the drum pattern stays on beat, the type of hit the beat should be using, what the tension on the drum heads should sound like, how much rebound against the drum head is present, velocity of the stick, the simulated room size of where the drum kit is located,  how much resonance is vibrating in the drum kit itself, tonal variance of the wood shells used to create the drum beat and many more.   These advancements make software drumbeats realistic, and indistinguishable from their human counterparts yet the role of the drummer in modern music could not be more important.  Humans love live music, and very few commercially successful live musical acts do not use a live drummer.  Even rap and hip hop--two musical genres famous for ushering in the area of "sampled" drum beats, and "sampled song loops"-- often will have a live drummer on stage despite the ease of which the music can be broadcast loudly without requiring one.   The reason is simple: live drums and the musicians who perform using them are both visually and sonically exciting.  There are genres where a drummer is not provided such as "DJ Couture" and "Electronic Dance music" (or EDM) but they are the exceptions and not the rule. From the earliest humans banging rocks and sticks together, to the modern drums of today the future of the live drummer in music has never been brighter.