Mandala Pad by Synesthia Corporation

[PHIL2007]

This is a pad that is designed with Tool drummer,Danney Carey
Has any one checked this out? played with any of the sounds?
What is your take on it?
www.synesthiacorp.com

[harryconway]

An incredible piece of gear. A drummer buddy of mine has 2 Mandala's and 2 Korg Wave drums. I play my Roland SPD-S and loop station in our musical endevour. Danny donated all his sound samples to the Mandala project. You can hear Mandala all over the latest Tool album.

[komodo]

What is this,that link doesnt work

[PHIL2007]

www.synesthesiacorp.com
That should work, sorry about the other link.

[Solaris]

If I had 1000 bucks to blow on one I'd get it in an instant. Unfortunantly I don't.

The website is http://synesthesiacorp.com/home.html, if you are looking to add electronics to your kit I don't think you'll find a better product on the market.

[eirikhw]

This pad also caught my attention..
For a long time I've been thinking about adding a roland SPDS to my acoustic setup, but after seeing this one... Wow!
It looks like it works much better as an instrument of its own, which I think would blend perfectly with my acoustic drums.. Seems more sensitive than the rolands, and the sounds are interesting.

Does anyone know, what is the best way to controll external sounds from the mandala pad? Say, I don't have all the money in the world. What would give most for the money, a laptop running some sampleprogram, or could this Mandala work together with a Spds?

[harryconway]

The most bang for your buck. I think the SPD-S wins. I picked up mine for $325. The Mandala costs $1K. Right now, the Mandala system is 1 drum hooked up to 1 module. Vince and Danny are looking to make a module that will hook up to 4 drums next. Mandala is more sensitive than SPD-S. Interesting sounds? SPD-S has an effects on/off, and you can tweak it's existing sounds to a point where cats who own SPD-S's won't be able to identify your sounds being trigered. Plus, you can sample sounds into SPD-S. I've got 2 512MB compact flash cards full of samples right now, to go with my rig.

[eirikhw]

Is there any listing of the Mandala's sounds available on the net?
I would like to know if there are decent snare samples, as well as assorted percussion and the melodic stuff?

And.. How does the "zones" work? I've read that you can split the pad up in seven circles.. can you make a patch where you assign a different sound to each of these circles, say, like a multi-percussion setup?

[Solaris]

There are videos on the website that show how the zones are split up and how you can use them with different sounds/notes/filters/scales etc...

[dea]

I wished I had the extra cash. Holy cow this thing rocks!!!

[spiraling]

Hate to dig up an old thread, but the new Mandala pads have just been released.

They have scraped the MIDI system, and they now hook straight into a PC via USB. It comes with its own software, but it also works with other programs if you prefer them.

The best part is the price. I'ts now down to $349. Not cheap, but very reasonable when you look at what just one of these pads can add to your kit.

Does anyone here own one of these? I've got one on order, it isn't supposed to ship for 4 weeks, but i might give it a review when it arrives.

New website: http://www.synesthesiacorp.com/

[harryconway]

Not so much that Vince is "scrapping" the V1. and the MIDI as expanded the line. Same cat I referred to in post #2 will be picking up the new Mandala "soon". But he has no intention of dumping his V1's. Promises to make 2008 "very interesting" in a sonical way.

[xush]

fantastic news- I believe I will check one of these out~
love the PC compatibility- great idea. Looks like I won't need to get a Roland SPD-s after all.
thanks for the update!

[drum.lad]

very very nice pads i would just plug it up to my computer and have a blast for hours i like the multi instrument thing it was like a one man band

[Dystisis]

Digging up this thread, these drums just look so fantastic. Almost an instrument of their own.

Anyways, can anyone who have gotten theirs review it? Is it as much fun as it looks?

I really think I'll buy one.

[jasonmwnf]

Digging up this thread, these drums just look so fantastic. Almost an instrument of their own.

Anyways, can anyone who have gotten theirs review it? Is it as much fun as it looks?

I really think I'll buy one.

I have the newer USB version... and LOVE it. Its really well made. I play in a TOOL tribute band and its a MUST have. Just wish I had more of them, haha. Also, even though the samples it comes with are fantastic, i doesnt include any of the sounds you'll hear on 10,000 days. Anyone know of a library of samples that one could use as a starting point to hunt down some of the newer sounds Danny is using?