Mandala Drum Pad and Brain

The Mandala detects where and how hard you hit and translates that information into sound and sound controllers for your playing pleasure and exploration. The capabilities of the Mandala and its first brain range from surface membrane strike sensitivity to position and velocity resolution to all-out multizone playing.

The essential components of the high-resolution Mandala Drum include the Mandala Drum Pad and the Mandala Brain v1.0. The Mandala Drum Pad is a dynamic multiple-control-zone electronic surface with an 11"-diameter strike area that uses patented membrane sensor technology to detect exactly where and how hard a surface strike occurs.

The versatile Mandala Brain is driven by a dual-microprocessor-powered circuit with an onboard sound synthesizer chip containing a library of sounds that are assignable to respond according to the system's ultrafast triggering and controller info on a per-zone basis with up to 7 assignable zones and a high-resolution position controller made up of 128 concentric strike rings from pad center to edge.

The Mandala also offers full functionality as a programmable realtime MIDI controller intended to manipulate external MIDI-compatible gear such as synths, computers, samplers, tone modules, etc. using MIDI notes, velocity controller, position controller, and pedal controller.

Extra features include realtime controllable onboard reverb, delay, chorus, and flange effects, as well as 4-band EQ, pitch-bend, modulation, volume, and panning parameters. An array of per-zone tonal options, including scales and modalities, root note intonation, intervallic sequences, and programmable range definitions round out the musicality of the instrument. Also included is a dual footswitch for hands-free preset scrolling, as well as an input for a continuous controller expression pedal. Showing off many of the system's capabilities are 83 factory presets for easy out-of-the-box playing. 57 additional slots are available for user-programmed patches.

Danny Carey of Tool says, "I am surrounded by Mandalas every night onstage. This technology is the only way I can trigger and control all the sounds I want to play. Helping develop these pads was definitely worth the time and effort."