Many musicians play multiple instruments. Commonly they have one devoted instrument of choice and other instruments they play off stage for relaxation or composition. I have dabbled in bass guitar playing for almost as long as I have played drums. Drums are my wife and the bass guitar is my mistress. I have always loved the fine craftsmanship of such hand held solid bodied instruments such the Alembic and Gibson Thunder Bird basses. I also have longed for the freedom to stand up and be a front man performer from time to time. Many times I have been asked to sing lead while playing drums and declined for the bands sake. Not that I am not a good singer, that I don’t enjoy singing, or that I am unable to play and sing at the same time, but rather for the fact that when watching other drummer/lead singers for more than 5 minuets, I commonly get bored out of my mind!

Sometimes I’d like an alternative to playing drums in a sitting position not to mention that out of town gigs will ware you out before it’s even time to perform. You rush 250 miles to the gig and then have to set up your large and heavy drum kit and perform 10 seconds later with no sound check or food, and they expect you to fit your kit onto an area of the stage the size of your bass drum! You have been sitting in a U-Haul for 3 hours and then you are expected to play in a sitting position for another hour or more and perform! Welcome a remedy! Welcome the Zendrum.

I was pretty excited about visiting the Zendrum facility and showroom in Atlanta, GA on March 12 1998. I had already had a chance to view the Zendrum video tape which featured such artists as Mic Fleetwood, Roy "Future Man" Wooten, Billy Cobham, and Walfredo Reyes Jr. I was ready to give the Zendrum a try for my self. I had envisioned such a controller since childhood but got more than I expected. I was expecting something more along the lines or the old Dynacord Rhythm Stick. NOT!

When first entering the Zendrum facility after a short elevator ride to the second floor, I was greeted by Mr. Kim Daniel who was very excited about showing me this fine product. I was intrigued that the show room looked a lot like the Zendrum web site. Lots of native faces beckoning me to pick up a Zendrum and become transformed into a tribal one man band. Kim showed off a wall display (Zendrum Time Line) that was made up of various Zendrums that had been autographed by some rather impressive performers. Not all of the performers were drummers as one would expect. Elton John, Peter Gabriel, as well as other musicians use the Zendrum for various musical applications. Remember that with MIDI technology, a musician is enabled to play any sound imaginable with the use of a MIDI controller. Tom Roady shows the use of the Zendrum as a 12 string guitar on the video. Tom has also recorded an entire album titled One Tribe, all recorded in real time using only the Zendrum.

The Zendrums can be played both standing or sitting and they also offer a custom Zendrum stand for mounting around your drum kit. I noticed that the Zendrum I played had 3 small rubber feet on the back side for counter top playing. I borrowed Kim’s yellow Zendrum ZX and gave it a try. Users make it look easy to play. I had more immediate luck playing the instrument on the counter top position. In the standing position it was a very different story. One must remember that it is a very different instrument and it is not a drum at all. I could tell that in time with some "finger rudiment" practice, anyone could master this instrument. That was fine by me. With a new instrument comes a new challenge and the Zendrum is an instrument that is both fun enough to play but serious enough to use in a professional recording studio or on stage that anyone’s time and practice would surly pay off!

I was immediately amazed at the sensitivity of the finger pads on the Zendrum. The pads could lightly be touched with your finger tips as well as the palm of your hand for various playing styles and techniques. The Zendrum also has the ability to have for MIDI notes assigned to one finger pad enabling me to play up to 4 different or layered sounds per pad based on the velocity of each hit. This function was also extremely accurate and practical. In fact I had absolutely no crosstalk or double triggering while playing the Zendrum. The separation was incredible. The only double triggering was caused by my clumsiness of hitting wrong triggers every now and then. With some practice this clumsiness would subside.

The Zendrum seemed well balanced in both the standing and sitting positions. It was not so light that it felt like a toy and not so heavy that it would cause a Les Paul back ache. It was somewhat therapeutic and relaxing to play. I could imagine having one of these instruments sitting close by my bed for those last second jam sessions or those nights I cant sleep because I have this great rhythm stuck in my head that I just have to record real quick before I forget it!

The Zendrums are very well designed and are truly hand crafted as with other fine solid bodied instruments. Many choices of exotic woods, finishes, and other custom options are available for an almost endless complement to the artists who build and play these instruments. The lay out of the finger pads are ergonomically correct for both right and left handed players of all sizes. Of course south paws can just flip the Zendrum over and easily re-program the finger pads to their liking. Zendrums are also available in the Muse model which is a lower priced plastic bodied version of the professional models. The Muse also has only 16 finger pads where as the professional wooden bodied models bare 24 finger pads.

Programming the Zendrum was easily achieved by use of a cleverly hidden 4 button membrane pad on the back of the instrument. Also useful was the well placed 3 digit digital display on the top of the Zendrum body that shows all of the 127 user kits as well as other necessary functions. The Zendrum has a built in memory that saves all information that the user stores for patches. Once the Zendrum is first switched on, the digital display automatically scrolls through the last used settings until booted up. Very cool!

Zendrum also offers a very well padded top quality gig bag for transporting the instrument easily through any airport and right on in to the fuselage for on flight jamming. The bag works well for the week end warrior too. Other accessories include the Zendrum foot trigger and sustain sensor for various foot controlled applications.

I had a heck of a lot of fun with the Zendrum and could think of almost endless applications for its uses for all types of musicians and styles of music! It is constructed extremely well and is comfortable enough for all ages and sizes of musicians. It is also very user frienly, portable, and easy for any one to program. The Zendrum plays like an organic instrument, has a lot of depth and control, and frees up the drum set player from the normal night hidden behind the drum set! The Zendrum truly is a work of art for all artists to create with! Zen NOW!

Zendrum Z2: High end wood bodied Zendrum designed for the electronic musician requiring more feature flexibility and options.

• Body: Painted wood and exotic hardwoods (review model: yellow)
• Triggers: 24 velocity sensitive
• Note Maps: 32 default and user definable
• Zones: 8 User definable
• Interface: Membrane switch
• Display: 1X16 character back lit LCD
• Master Param: Noise floor, copy setup
• Zone Param: Program change(0.999), MIDI channel, Note duration, X-fade
• Trigger Param: Note number, X-Fade note number, Zone number, Gain, Velocity scope
• MIDI: 16 channels
• Ports: Ext. Trigger, Sustain pedal, MIDI In/Out

Zendrum Corporation
2299 Peachtree Road
Atlanta, GA 30309 USA

Phone: 404-352-1646, 1-888-Zendrum

Fax: 404-352-0919

E-mail: zendrum@worldnet.att.net

Web Site: http://www.zendrumcorp.com