KORG WAVEDRUM MINI REVIEW

Posted on Wed 27 June 2012 in entries

You can read more reviews like this, listen to Tony’s productions, purchase synth patches and more at his personal site -> Tony Long Music.

KORG WAVEDRUM MINI - INTRODUCTION

I love new drum products, especially when they are based on such innovative ideas. One such product is the new Korg Wavedrum Mini Dynamic Percussion Synthesiser. I have already reviewed the Wavedrum, but from what I hear about the Mini, it is not designed to simply be a scaled down Wavedrum, but something with a little bit more and a little bit less in certain areas.

You always have to take the good with the bad, especially when it comes to cost and marketing of a new product. I really need to see for myself and test this fun looking instrument out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNMoxGLrB6c

KORG WAVEDRUM MINI - MINI WAVES OUT OF THE BOX

The Wavedrum Mini comes suitably boxed with an AC adapter, a small manual, a strap and an interesting chunky clip with a lead (more about that later). It is lightweight, very portable and can run on six AA batteries. Its weight without the batteries loaded is just 1 kg / 2.2 lbs. The drum is circular and its diameter is 216 mm (8.5 inches) and it is only 67mm (2.63 inches) high.

KORG WAVEDRUM MINI - FIRST THOUGHTS AND CONTROLS

The Wavedrum Mini is smaller and lighter than other Wavedrums, although this is of course what I had expected. It is also cheaper and housed in a plastic case. Only half of its circular area is a rubber playing pad, whilst the other half houses an in-built 10 x 5 cm speaker (1.3 Watt) and then a row of controls. The first is a small LCD, which is a 2 digit, 7-segment display to show you the sound voice, the loop number or the bar count number if you go into record mode.

Next is the 'Edit' button, which (if you hold down for two seconds) takes you into Edit Mode. Its main use however is to select between 'Clip' or 'Pad' modes.

The 'Page/Value Up' and 'Down' controls obviously cycle you through the different sounds or values. 'FX' allows you to select either Effects A or B or turn them off. The Looper is just a Start / Stop button. 'Record' allows you to record over the loop if you wish. 'Select' allows you to select a loop of your choice from the 100 included loops and the 'Shift' button can be used in conjunction with other buttons to give you some alternative controls. Finally you have a Volume Control knob.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Korg Wavedrum Mini"]](https://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/store/drums-20/percussion-205/electronic-percussion-2051/korg-wavedrum-mini-dynamic-percussion-synthesizer-44715)[/caption]

KORG WAVEDRUM MINI - POWER UP AND SOUNDS

When I switched the Wavedrum Mini on for the first time, my first thought was that something was wrong, as some strange characters started flashing up on the LCD screen! The Wavedrum Mini is quite slow to load before settling down to two zeros and an illuminated 'Pad' LED. I cannot help feeling that Korg could have done much better here, perhaps with the fixed characters 'LO' for loading rather than give you the impression it was not working correctly.

There is a sound or rather three sounds on patch '00' and they seemed to all be velocity sensitive, which was good. The first sound appears to be a tambourine, and if you hit harder, you get a very modern low-fi bass synth-drum sound. Hitting very hard introduces a dog-barking snare drum sound, which again could be two sounds layered together. As you can probably tell, I'm having a bit of difficulty explaining exactly what the sounds in this patch sound like, but I'm doing my best! Korg describe patch 00 as a 'Clubkit'.

Holding down the 'Page/Value Up' or 'Down' key, you can easily navigate through patches 00 to 99. Loading of the next patch is fast with just a millisecond gap before the previous sound cuts off and the new one starts. However, there is no overlap from the previous sound like on the Korg Kronos. This would have been a lovely (but expensive) addition, especially from a drumming point of view as it would serve well for a continuous and varied performance.

Working my way through the voices of the Wavedrum Mini, I found a good variety of sounds that are categorised into 'Drum Kits', 'Drum Percussion Instruments', 'Industrial', 'Tuned Percussion', 'Synth Bass', 'Other Tuned Instruments' and 'FX' categories. You have things like Dance Drum Kit, Arabic Marimba, Steel Drum Bluesy, Big Riq, Human Drum Kit, 1970 Space Tom, Boomy Rap Kick, Techno Clapper, Water Drum, Yamiuchi, Breath Drum, Exotic Vibraphone, Agogo Set, Belly Dancing Jam Drum, Kicked Bassline, Tribal Ambi Tom, Sitar, Air Bamboo, Balafon and Djembe to name a few.

I must say that personally, I think Korg have done a great job in selecting the sounds for the Wavedrum Mini as they appear to have come from all around the world. It is just such a shame that you cannot output them in stereo. Perhaps you need to buy two Wavedrum Minis and Pan them left and right.

Some of the sounds will change pitch automatically as you apply different velocities or they may randomly change or be sequenced. Some sounds are based on an actual note value (many of them seem to be F#), and you can transpose this note in the 'Edit Mode' if you wish. For twelve of the sounds, you can change the Scale that has been applied.

KORG WAVEDRUM MINI - THE PAD

I find it interesting that Korg have called this a 'Wavedrum' because the playing surface is nothing like a full-sized Wavedrum, which has an excellent head and response. The Mini's rubber surface reminds me of a practice pad. It is not like a rubber electronic pad, because it is designed to be used with your hands and not sticks. With the small speaker, it is difficult to know at times, whether or not the pad is responding to your every strike, but you realise that it is when you use headphones or another form of amplification. Sounds such as hi-hats and tambourines do not always come through the mix when you are just using the built-in speaker, especially if you have a Rhythm Pattern playing as well.

You can get some sonic variation, depending on your playing technique, but I found that it did not always happen the way that I anticipated. To get the best out of the Wavedrum Mini, I think that you need to spend a bit of time with it and learn how a sound changes when you strike different parts of the pad with varying velocities. However, once you have been using it for a while, you do get used to it.

KORG WAVEDRUM MINI - CONNECTIONS

If you turn the Wavedrum Mini over, you will see a DC9V AC Adapter socket, a power switch, a stereo mini headphone socket and a singular mono output. Just like on the Wavedrum, it is a great shame that there is no MIDI, no USB and no stereo main output.

Underneath the Wavedrum Mini is the housing for the six AA Batteries. Korg say that the Battery Life is 4 hours using nickel metal hydride batteries (1900mAh), which they recommend for this unit. The good news however relates to a socket that has been added for an input sensor...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Korg Wavedrum Mini Connections"]](https://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/store/drums-20/percussion-205/electronic-percussion-2051/korg-wavedrum-mini-dynamic-percussion-synthesizer-44715)[/caption]

KORG WAVEDRUM MINI - WHAT A GREAT IDEA!

Ok, let's move onto the best feature of the Wavedrum Mini. The input sensor is there for you to connect the strange looking bulky clip to it. This is really a contact microphone, which you can attach to any surface to provide a second trigger input and turn that surface into a Wavedrum to play additional sounds - how cool is that?

This works especially well on desks. At the office party you could have two or three of you, all drumming on the one desk and someone else playing the Wavedrum - amazing fun! In this way it is like this mini instrument has been opened up into a large percussive object!

The design of the clip is also very clever as it allows it to be attached to objects up to about 2 inches in diameter and there is also a slot on the underside of the drum to keep the cable secure, so that it doesn't fall out. You can even attach it to a cover of a book or your shoe and play it like a bass drum or attach it to another drum to combine sounds; I have even seen it attached to a large board for a tap dancer and (not that I want you to get any ideas now), but I have also seen one man attach it his nose and drum on it (although I can assure you that this is not very comfortable!) The possibilities are endless and it is a real shame that Korg did not include MIDI as it would have opened it out to greater possibilities of triggering other drum machines and synths.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Korg Wavedrum Mini Clip"]](https://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/store/drums-20/percussion-205/electronic-percussion-2051/korg-wavedrum-mini-dynamic-percussion-synthesizer-44715)[/caption]

I suppose that many people tap on their desk or on their lap. With this in mind, Korg have included a strap that threads through the back of the Wavedrum Mini and then around your leg to hold it firmly in place whilst you play. I don't know whether or not with batteries you could also dance whilst you play. I am sure someone will give it a try - I think I'll give that one a miss though!

To play two different sounds, (one on the Wavedrum and the other on another surface with the clip), you need to press the 'Edit' button, which will toggle the LED indicator between 'Clip' and 'Pad'. You can then select the desired sound (from the 100 that are included) for each trigger by using the 'Page/Value Up' and 'Down' buttons - very easy.

KORG WAVEDRUM MINI - MINIWAVE EFFECTS

The Wavedrum Mini comes with built-in effects that are also editable. If you press the 'FX' button three times you will see that it will cycle through three selections - 'Effect A', 'Effect B' and 'Effects Off'.

There are 10 high quality multi-effects included with the Wavedrum Mini - Reverb, Muti-Tap Delay, Delay and Reverb, Reverb and Phaser, Reverb and Flanger, Pitch Shifter, Random Step Filter, Sweep Modulation Delay and Flanger, Tube Overdrive and Flanger and finally Random Step Filter and Delay. Korg have done an excellent job here to give you the facility to transform your sounds. To select an effect or change an existing effect, see the Editing section.

KORG WAVEDRUM MINI - RHYTHM PATTERNS TO PLAY AND OVERDUB

The Wavedrum Mini has 100 Rhythm Patterns to jam along with and they include a very good mix of styles, tempos and interest. Occasionally, I found that some patterns had a make-up that was a little too complex for playing over the top as they did not allow enough space for my performance. On the whole though, they were excellent.

My earlier comment about changing from one patch to another and the small gap between one sound ending and the next starting did not apply to Rhythm Patterns, which switched seamlessly from groove to groove. In 'Edit Mode' you can also adjust the volume of the Rhythm Pattern.

KORG WAVEDRUM MINI - LOOPING

The Wavedrum Mini includes a basic Looper that is easy to use and it will start as soon as you start playing. You can then play over the top of it and add in an unlimited amount of overdubs. I tried this and quickly built up some really great and complex loops.

I was very impressed by just how instinctive the Looper was to use. However, the down side to this unit is that you cannot save anything; once you have switched off the Wavedrum Mini, the loop is lost, plus there is only space to record one loop and the total length of the loop cannot exceed 25 seconds. I guess that you can always record a loop as audio to a DAW if you were using the Wavedrum Mini for serious production purposes though.

It is also worth noting that during playback and recording, the pad sensitivity is automatically lowered to stop the possibility of acoustic feedback.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Korg Wavedrum Mini - Batteries"]](https://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/store/drums-20/percussion-205/electronic-percussion-2051/korg-wavedrum-mini-dynamic-percussion-synthesizer-44715)[/caption]

KORG WAVEDRUM MINI - EDITING

When you hold down the 'Edit' key for two seconds, you are taken into 'Global Edit Mode' and the LCD will show 'G1'. Pressing the 'Up' button will allow you to cycle through the Global Edits, G1 to G8 which are - (G1) Transpose, (G2) Scale, (G3) Pad Level, (G4) Clip Level, (G5) Clip Gain, (G6) Rhythm Level, (G7) Speaker Level and (G8) Auto Power Off.

If for example you wanted to listen to the G2 Scales (which are (00) Major, (01) Major Pentatonic, (02) Minor Pentatonic, (03) Minor, (04) India (Hanuma Todi), (05) Gamelan, (06) Tonic), you simply hold the Shift key down and then use the Up and Down buttons to select a different scale. If you keep pressing the 'Up' button after G8, you then go into 'Effects Edit Mode' and you will see 'A1' to 'A5' followed by 'B1' to 'B5'. These selections allow you to select from the 10 multi-effects and also adjust the Wet and Dry balance. There are also three other parameters to adjust and these depend on the effect that is selected.

That is about it with the editing - there is not a lot and it is not deep so it will not take you very long to learn.

KORG WAVEDRUM MINI - CONCLUSION

The Korg Wavedrum Mini is absolutely fantastic in many respects but sadly disappointing in others. You cannot deny that it has that 'Play anywhere convenience' or Korg's other phrase that 'it can turn anything into a Wavedrum' (using their revolutionary sensor clip) and the sounds are great. It is a shame that it does not appear to look as professional as the rest of the Wavedrum family, although it is obviously aimed at different market.

I really hope that Korg are testing the market with this product because they must have a really good reason for not including USB, MIDI or a stereo output. I personally think that they could have done better but credit where credit is due, they have come up with an incredible idea and I sincerely hope that there will be a Wavedrum Mini 2 or something similar with this technology.

If the features missing do not put you off then you could own something that takes you to wherever your imagination leads, but whatever your thoughts are on this product let's not forget that it is just so much fun to use!

For more information on the Korg Wavedrum Mini, click the link below or give us a call on 01202 597180.

Korg Wavedrum Mini - More Info/Buy