Mandala Drum Forums

Are the Mandala pads practical to use for hand drumming or only for use with sticks?

Bump.

I'd like to use one or two Mandalas like one would use a Handsonic pad but with better control over the sounds by creating my own samples and patches and with less of an electronic look on stage. Are they sensitive enough?

If this is a silly question, would someone please tell me so?

Yes, it's absolutely possible, but you will have to adjust the velocity curves in the virtual brain, or in Battery if that is what you are using. I enjoy playing mine with my hands and fingers, but I've noticed that if I use my fingertips they tend to get a little sore because of the firmness of the playing surface.

Thank you BadRobot,

While I'm a trap drummer of many years and currently only slightly comfortable with hand drumming, I have a feeling that the soreness would go away with frequent practice. Assuming I move ahead with my plan, I'll document my experiment in a new thread here.

BTW: I like playing drums without sticks about as much as I enjoy eating soup without a spoon. However, where I'm living there are more and more low volume gigs and new-agey acts where sound pressure control, percussion sounds and a low key visual are more appropriate than a drum set.

Here is a quick demonstration of how amazingly sensitive the pad is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQr23u5Vy70

badrobot wrote:Here is a quick demonstration of how amazingly sensitive the pad is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQr23u5Vy70

Wow! Just Wow!