BY NATE DUCHÊNE // AUG 5, 2025

 
A time-saving tilter, years in the making.

After a decade of development, we welcome the launch of the DW 9000X hardware series. The sleek and refined 9000X bears many new patented features, and each was conceived, designed, and refined to serve the problem-solving ethos in all DW products.

Concepts, prototyping, side quests, setbacks, and, ultimately, breakthroughs paved the long path to 9000X. Director of R&D Connor Lombardi says of the wait, “After a decade of theoretical input, we spent a year just setting up a separate factory, testing, and making adjustments.” One of the breakthroughs of the lengthy 9000X design cycle is the redesigned boom tilter with AutoLock™, which makes cymbal repositioning easier.

“We spent a year just setting up a separate factory, testing, and making adjustments.”

For starters, all drummers and drum techs know the frustration of adjusting crashes or ride cymbals with a gear boom tilter. You turn the wing screw three-plus times to disengage the gears, find a new position, re-engage the gears, and tighten again. Now imagine you're on tour, setting up and tearing down an entire drum rig night after night with tight turnarounds and a production crew (or your band) waiting on you. It’s a lot of loosening and tightening on very tight timelines.

To address the gear tilter user experience, R&D’s first solution was to develop a new DW Infinite Toothless Cymbal Tilter as a boom tilter, but found it made boom arm adjustments slower and less repeatable. This realization led the team to improve the gear tilter instead of replacing it. Explains Chief Engineer Ruben Steinhauser, “The problem with a classic gear tilter is that it takes a lot of time to disengage and re-engage. So, we developed a new toothless tilter with a new quick-release feature but with an overly complicated design—so we took the quick-release feature to solve the gear tilter’s speed problem.”

“That was a click moment for us.”

The team developed AutoLock™, a gear tilter with a finer profile, for the 9000X boom tilter. AutoLock improves the cymbal experience with faster adjustments, finer and more repeatable positioning, and expedited setup and teardown. “When we sat in the room with an early tilter prototype, we realized the quick-release feature would make drummers’ lives easier. That was a click moment for us,” says Ruben. Replacing the conventional, time-consuming wing screw, AutoLock also offers an expanded range of positions and reduces both tightening and loosening to a quarter turn.

“We design everything to be modular."

With the 9000X launch, DW presents its most innovative and efficient hardware line yet. Designed for the most demanding tours, high-volume backline usage, and aggressive playing styles, 9000X also sets the stage for the next evolution of DW hardware. “We design everything to be modular. Very rarely do we design one thing and expect to do one thing for the rest of its life,” emphasized Connor. With an unwavering focus on drummer experience, features like AutoLock, and modular design, 9000X is a glimpse into DW’s hardware future.

Special thanks to:

DW Engineering Team: Connor Lombardi, Ruben Steinhauser, and the development team

DW Photo/Video Team: Angel Chavez, Britt Robisheaux, Blake Ehoff