MusicRadar

You can divide the Mandala into seven concentric strike zones.

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• Review

Synesthesia Corp’s original Mandala drum pad has garnered support from some big names in the drumming world - in particular, Tool's Danny Carey, who helped in its development.

The first version had an external 'brain', but with v2.0, this been replaced with a USB connector on the drum, with the ‘brain’ being shifted into a piece of software (the Virtual Brain).

The Mandala itself is about 30cm in diameter and has a standard drum mounting bracket on its side, so you'll need the appropriate drum hardware to set it up. It feels solid, with a substantial layer of rubber forming the playing surface, which has enough bounce to not upset a drummer’s sticking mojo.

The Mandala has adjustable velocity sensitivity and can be divided into seven concentric strike zones, each of which can be assigned in a variety of ways via the Virtual Brain. It also recognises 128 concentric 'data rings', which can again be assigned to most parameters (effects, pan, pitch, etc) within the interface.

Virtual Brain

The Virtual Brain interface has been created with Cycling '74’s Max/MSP visual programming environment. As a result, it’s a standalone program and doesn’t need to be ‘installed’ - it's just a matter of dragging the contents of the supplied CD to your hard drive.

Setting up the audio interface and MIDI assignments is a doddle, with the Mandala being recognised as a native USB audio device. There’s no need to install third party drivers either - it couldn't be any simpler.

The Virtual Brain loads with two main windows on display: the Pad window and the Master window. These are pretty self-explanatory: the former deals with assignments and controllers for each of the seven pad zones, and the latter covers mix controls (with output meters and individual levels for up to five Mandala pads), preset loading/saving, audio/MIDI setup and FX master levels.

The software window is dominated by a large depiction of the pad with concentric white rings (with numbers) indicating how many zones are currently being used. This feels like a waste of precious space when you consider the number of parameters that also need room on-screen.

Below the pad are the real nuts and bolts of the Mandala - the seven 'dashboards' that detail the main parameters for each of the zones. Instrument/sample selection and MIDI note assignment precedes essentials such as volume, pan position, pitch adjustment, effects send levels and the AHD envelope (Attack, Hold and Decay).

Between the envelope and effects levels is a box labelled 'Scales', which is essentially an arpeggiator (a peculiar feature for an electronic drum). By selecting a scale or mode (of which there is a full range) one can have a series of notes played by repeatedly striking the zone.

The pattern of notes, pitch range and how the pattern is stepped through can also be adjusted to suit, and it transpires that this feature can produce some pleasing results.