Synesthesia Mandala Drums

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Synesthesia Mandala Drum is a patented electronic drum pad. It was released to the public in May 2006 after several years development by Vince DeFranco and drummer Danny Carey from Tool.[1] It features multi-zone responsiveness on a single drum pad, thus allowing the player to produce a vast amount of sounds and textures. The instrument can be played using drum sticks or fingers and hands. The Mandala drum is responsive to both the velocity and also the location at which it is struck. Its surface is highly sensitive to the striking and therefore many subtle nuances in a player's style can be expressed.[2] The Mandala's circuitry, or "brain", is able to transmit multi-channel MIDI information relative to which of its surface zones is struck.[3]. Musicians who are already using MIDI sequencers, samplers, synthesizers and other MIDI gear are able to integrate the Mandala into their setup. Alternatively, they can just use the Mandala as a standalone instrument by using its inbuilt sound generator. The Mandala can be integrated into a drummer's existing electronic or acoustic drum kit to supplement their overall soundmaking and triggering capabilities.

[edit] Features

The Mandala pad can be sliced up into as little as one, or as many as seven playing zones, all responding to the 128 underlying concentric rings for high resolution control of effects based on strike position. The zones are rings emanating from the center of the Mandala. In its simplest form, the Mandala is a single zone which effectively means one instrument voice can be triggered. However, drummers can enable up to seven zones which divide the pad into smaller rings, each ring capable of having its own instrument assignment and appregiator/scale generation configuration. Drummers can also modify panning and note settings for each zone. The brain also has a global effects section with Reverb, Delay, Modulation, Chorus and EQ controls, and also has fine tuning settings giving more control over strike velocity and sensitivity. The resolution of the playing surface is actually 128 concentric rings which can be broken up into a maximum of 7 playing zones and linked to effects controls such as bending pitch or increasing Reverb as the pad is played from center to edge. This position controller can be scaled to the player's liking.[4]

[edit] Resources

Related Links:

Synesthesia Manufacturer
Electronic drums
Danny Carey Co-Developer and User of Mandala Drums
Mandala Drums Google Group User community for Mandalas

Artists who use Synesthesia Mandala Drums:[5]

Danny Carey
Pat Mastelotto
Will Calhoun
Matt Chamberlain
Lol Tolhurst

[edit] References

  1. ^ Modern Drummer Magazine, "Q&A Section - Danny Carey", November 2006
  2. ^ Modern Drummer Magazine, "Cover Artist Interview - Danny Carey", July 2006
  3. ^ Tech Specs Page http://www.mandaladrum.com
  4. ^ Harmony Central: Synesthesia Presents The Mandala Drum, Designed With Danny Carey Of Tool
  5. ^ Endorsee Page http://www.mandaladrum.com