WaveDrum

Spent some time toying with my new Korg Wavedrum today. Here are my first impressions:

It's quite responsive. Really very good for even the lightest of finger tapping (which is great 'cause the wife gets unruly about the sound of anything more percussive than water dripping). The Wavedrum is so responsive that it almost behaves like a microphone transmitting the actual sound of itself being hit. This poses some intriguing possibilities for driving the head with a speaker and using it as a transducer mic.

The Wavedrum responds to head and rim triggers and sounds can be varied by applying pressure to the head. This a performance metaphor familiar to all hand drum players who control the pitch of the drum head by pressing on it.

The thing is sturdy. I tried it with drum sticks and suspect it would stand up to a pretty good smacking. Korg clearly intends it to replace/augment the snare in a trap kit.

The programming UI is fairly obtuse. Given the price tag of $700 CDN I'd expect at least a 2 x 40 character LCD not a 3 character LED and five mode buttons. Another downside is the absence of a MIDI, or USB connector. The Wavedrum is clearly intended to be a live performance instrument. This gives me a very strong (and perverse) urge to mod the thing and tap both its triggers.

It sounds great. As with most stuff from Korg, the Wavedrum emphasizes sound quality.

Next up I'll post a recording of it.