Review: Zendrum ZAP

Jun 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Larry the O

           
 

A PERCUSSION CONTROLLER THAT'S WELL BUILT, FUN, AND EASY TO USE

FIG. 1: The ZAP’s spartan interface includes 19 hard plastic triggers neatly arranged in five rows.

The original Zendrum (now called the Zendrum ZX) first appeared in 1994 in the hands of Manu Katche on the Australian leg of Peter Gabriel's “Secret World” tour. If not the first finger-oriented MIDI percussion controller to hit the market, the Zendrum was certainly one of the earliest. The Zendrum LT, designed for laptop use, came out six years later.

This year Zendrum introduced the ZAP (ZAP stands for Zendrum Articulating Programmer). Designed for use in the studio or onstage, the ZAP puts the Zendrum concept in a compact desktop package at a much lower price than the larger ZX and LT models. As with the rest of Zendrum's products, the ZAP is a highly expressive and unique controller designed to work with today's multisampled drum libraries.

MASTER CYLINDERS

All of the Zendrum controllers are based around an array of hard plastic cylinders, each of which triggers a MIDI note. The ZAP has 19 triggers arranged in five rows (see Fig. 1).

The programming interface is sparse: a cursor switch with an assignable button below it, and three 7-segment LED displays. The left and right arrows step you through the functions, while the plus and minus buttons increase and decrease values. The assignable button serves as either a momentary sustain switch or a kill switch depending on how it is set in software.

FIG. 2: The rear panel includes MIDI I/O, three trigger inputs, and a sustain pedal input.

Three external inputs let you add pedal triggers to your setup. The sustain input can also be used as a kill switch and for choking cymbal sounds.

Everything is mounted in a gorgeous hunk of wood with the Zendrum logo burned into it. Prismatic foil backs a second logo and the company name. The ZAP is available in a selection of exotic woods, and custom versions can also be ordered. Overall, this fine-looking instrument invites you to play.

Aside from its strong aesthetic, the mass of the ZAP's body isolates the triggers and eliminates false triggering. The controller has four leveling feet for desktop use, and it can be mounted on a snare drum stand using an optional mount ($25), which provides a viable way to use the ZAP in live performance.

The rear panel is equally sparse (see Fig. 2): MIDI In and Out connectors, three trigger inputs, a sustain pedal input, and an on/off rocker switch. I had to visit the Zendrum Web site because of the lack of specifications in the manual for the types of pedals that can be used for the trigger and sustain inputs.

KEEPIN' IN SIMPLE

According to company cofounder David Haney, the ZAP's operating system is simple so that the widest range of players can make use of the controller. Aside from a few utility functions, there are only five parameters in the ZAP: the note map of all the trigger pads, the MIDI Program Change number, the MIDI Velocity ceiling (the maximum value that will be sent), the noise-floor setting (a threshold that determines the minimum force required to generate a trigger), and the MIDI channel. A collection of these five things can be stored as a Set Up, of which there are 16 in the ZAP. Almost all the factory Set Ups are configured around musical scales. The ZAP offers eight Velocity curves, but only the most cursory descriptions of them are given in the manual; there are no graphic illustrations of the curve shapes.

But don't think the ZAP's simplicity means it lacks sophistication. Its Advanced Program Function (APF) allows each pad to be set to Velocity Layer, switching through four successive MIDI notes as notes move across the Velocity range. Used in combination with a multisampled drum sound, this feature adds to the degree of expressiveness available. Of course, those four notes could also play entirely different sounds for an effect that is more compositional than performance oriented.

The APF feature is well considered, and I cannot remember using any electronic controller with a more musical dynamic response. Even when using sounds that were Velocity sensitive but not multisampled, the ZAP's dynamic control was intuitive and smooth. I was very impressed with the Velocity responsiveness this controller provided.

Programming the ZAP is a fairly basic affair and reminiscent of programming Roland's original Octapad controller: scroll to a function represented by a cryptic 2-character abbreviation, hit a pad, and then scroll the values. There is no Save function of any kind; the current values are stored in a Set Up when you move to the next function. While this method provides an extremely fast way to work, it complicates recovering from accidental edits. Fortunately, the ZAP lets you dump and load its memory via MIDI SysEx messages, though I am not aware of any editors for this data.