TOCA SYNERGY FREESTYLE DJEMBE REVIEW
Posted on Mon 02 July 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.
TOCA SYNERGY FREESTYLE DJEMBE - INTRODUCTION
In this week's review I am going to look at something a little bit different yet close to my heart - a drum called a Djembe.
A Djembe is a rope-tuned skin-covered drum that is played with bare hands. The name comes from the African saying "Everyone gather together in peace". In tribal Africa, it is traditionally only played by men but there are many great female drummers and percussionists out there today who I am sure would love to have a go on one of these!
Djembes have become extremely popular since the '90s and the craze of Drum Circles (basically a group of people playing hand-drums and percussion). There are many types of Djembe available in different sizes and exotic colours. I am reviewing the Toca Synergy Freestyle 10 inch Djembe.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Toca Synergy Freestyle 10 Inch Djembe"]
](https://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/store/drums-20/percussion-205/acoustic-percussion-2052/djembes-and-darbukas-20525/toca-sfdj-10wp-10-inch-synergy-freestyle-djembe-woodstock-purple-48091)[/caption]
TOCA SYNERGY FREESTYLE DJEMBE - WHO ARE TOCA?
The Toca Synergy Freestyle 10 inch djembe came out in 2005. Toca World Percussion is a brand owned by the Kaman Music Corporation from Bloomfield, Connecticut. They own a number of subsidiaries and brands in the music industry and are the biggest independent distributor of musical instruments and accessories in the United States. Today, Toca has become a leading brand in the hand drum and percussion market. Karman Music state that they are committed to always offering the player a distinctive choice in style, design, and sound.
TOCA SYNERGY FREESTYLE DJEMBE - STYLE AND DESIGN
Straight out of the box and ready for action you have this gorgeous Woodstock Purple and blue drum, laced with black alpine rope and topped by an authentic-looking Toca off-white Goatskin head. It is very lightweight and appears to have a durable synthetic shell with a protective rubber bottom. It's the sort of thing that, at just over 18 inches high and 11 inches wide, would look great in the corner of your lounge as a 'talking point' - or 'drumming point' because I can bet that it would entice a few people to get hands-on! Of course, that's not to say that it's an ornament - far from it!
The Toca Synergy Freestyle 10 inch djembe comes with a very tiny manual attached to the rope but it does provide very useful information on care, maintenance, tuning and practice tips.
The goatskin head is tensioned with alpine rope that produces rich bass and sharp piercing rim tones.
TOCA SYNERGY FREESTYLE DJEMBE - PLAYING
One of Toca's advertising logos says 'Just Play', but although I may have some drum skills, playing a djembe is a different ball game altogether. Apparently, as a starting point, I need to learn how to produce three different sounds from it; Bass, Tone and Slap, which provide you with Low, Medium and High Pitches. It is said that professional djembe players can produce up to 25 different sounds with their skilled techniques. I think I will concentrate on the three for now!
The 10 inch Freestyle djembe was surprisingly loud! I am sure that it must have been designed this way to make it stand out from other instruments in a performance/mix.
TOCA SYNERGY FREESTYLE DJEMBE - LOW BASS SOUND
The bass sound will obviously be determined by the size and shape of the shell and many djembes have a bass frequency range of around 65 to 80 Hz. To make the bass sound, I need to strike the drum with my palm and flat fingers near the centre of the drum head. That seems easy enough and as I try it on the Toca djembe, it gives a lovely warm pad-like bass tone that has some sustain under the sound of your hands hitting the head.
I think I need to practice with both hands and try to achieve exactly the same sound with each! Well that's a good start but what about medium pitches?
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Toca Synergy Freestyle 12 Inch Djembe"]
](https://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/store/drums-20/percussion-205/acoustic-percussion-2052/djembes-and-darbukas-20525/toca-sfdj-12rp-toca-12-inch-synergy-freestyle-djembe-bali-red-48089)[/caption]
TOCA SYNERGY FREESTYLE DJEMBE - MEDIUM TONE
The frequency of the 'medium tone' on a djembe varies from model to model, but you will find that it usually lies between 300 and 420 Hz. If I wish to produce a tone of medium pitch, I need to use most of the area comprising of my fingers and the edge of my palm to hit the drum head.
You may have already noticed that the more you move away from the centre of the drum, the higher the pitch. I found that if I placed my hands on the drum and created a triangle (so that the top of my forth finger on my left hand was almost touching the first finger of my right hand) and my thumbs were not touching the head at all, this was the best position to get a medium pitch, and I discovered that I could use my wrists a bit more than I could with the bass tone.
The Toca D
djembe produced a lovely hollow tone in this position, which contrasted perfectly with the bass Tone.
TOCA SYNERGY FREESTYLE DJEMBE - HIGH SLAP TONE
Higher djembe frequencies are normally between 470 Hz and 670 Hz and if you learn to do this properly you might also add in some audible overtones way above 670 Hz. Ok, this one is meant to be the most difficult out of the three and you also have to mind that you don't injure yourself. Apparently you can open your fingers a little for this one, whereas to create bass and medium tones you should have your fingers together.
The difficulty here is that I need to have contact with the drum in two places, with one hand, at the same time. I started by positioning my hand in exactly the same position as when I was creating the medium tone, with my thumbs away from the head but with my fingers slightly apart. The difference here is that I need to hit the head on the edge and about 3 inches in at the same time and if I do it right it will be a much higher sound. After some practice the Toca began to make a fantastic high 'pop' sound.
I found that moving backwards and forwards from Tone to Slap made for good practice and it felt like a real achievement every time I produced that high cutting pop! The opening of the fingers is the key here. There is no doubt that you need to practice but I was encouraged by the fact that after just half an hour, I had made some great progress on this fun instrument.
TOCA SYNERGY FREESTYLE DJEMBE - MUTED TONE
If you manage to get those sounds down (and I did, with the Toca performing admirably), then the next stage is to work on a muted tone, whereby you place one hand on the drum and play with the other. This is a bit like dampening your drum kit and provides further contrast to your sound as it is the opposite of the 'open' sounds.
I also tried muting and drumming with just my fingers - any type of variation such as this adds to the different flavours of sound that you can produce.
TOCA SYNERGY FREESTYLE DJEMBE - FLAMS
With the Toca djembe, you can also do flams to make the sound even larger. I found that the best way to do this was to start with one hand slightly higher than the other and then come down on the drum so that the lower hand hits the head milliseconds earlier than the higher hand.
TOCA SYNERGY FREESTYLE DJEMBE - THAT'S ABOUT THE SIZE OF IT
You can get Freestyle rope tuned djembes from Toca in four different head sizes: 7, 9, 10 and 12 inch. The 10 inch model that I am reviewing felt a bit small for me, not in terms of the head size, but in terms of the height. I think that I would prefer to try the 12 inch version, which I think is 22 or 23 inches in height.
This instrument is incredibly lightweight and portable as well as great fun and I am sure that it would also appeal to children, who may also prefer the smaller sizes. I would advise that before you buy a djembe, try the different sizes out to see which suits you best for comfort and height etc.
TOCA SYNERGY FREESTYLE DJEMBE - CHOOSING A DJEMBE
I am looking at a Toca for this review but there are many other makes of djembe on the market, made from a variety of different materials. The oldest types are made from wood and give you a warmer, deep rich sound. However, whilst they may sound 'better', they do require a more experienced player to get the best out of them.
Today, you can also get djembes that are made from synthetic materials. These tend to give you a higher pitch and bright attack and they are less expensive than the professional wood models. This is exactly how the Toca sounds, but I really like that brighter cutting sound.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Toca Medium Street Series Djembe"]
](https://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/store/drums-20/percussion-205/acoustic-percussion-2052/djembes-and-darbukas-20525/toca-tssdj-mb-medium-street-series-djembe-black-stain-ex-display-48095)[/caption]
TOCA SYNERGY FREESTYLE DJEMBE - DIFFERENT WAYS OF PLAYING
As an alternative way of playing, you can sit down and lay the drum across your lap with the widest part of the drum between your legs and the narrow part under one of your arms; usually the left arm but you can decide what feels best for you. This way, you are playing with the head or skin on its side. With this method you can put your hand and a part of your arm inside the drum and play the drum to produce different tones. Also, if you move your hand in and out you can get some movement and slur, in the sound. What I really like about this technique is that the size of the djembe doesn't seem to be important, because you do not need the drum to be at a certain height. I also found it more comfortable to play like this, and I found myself playing with my fingers only at times. I even tried wiping one hand slowly across the head whilst playing with the other. This produced a much tighter sound with less resonance.
Some professional djembe players will have three or more drums all of different sizes. They will put one under their arm, one between their knees and the largest (for deep bass sounds) on a stand. This provides them with an even greater melodic range.
TOCA SYNERGY FREESTYLE DJEMBE - ADDITIONAL ACCESSORIES
You can buy stands, padded bags or djembe hats, which are just covers that fit over the top half of you drum to protect it, but my favourite accessory, which also happens to be very inexpensive, is something called 'djembe kessing'.
This is a traditional djembe accessory that looks like aluminium lollipops and they simply fit snuggly and securely between the rope webbing. They provide a dry rattling accompaniment to the drum - great fun and a great idea! Don't forget that if you are new to these drums, there are some excellent DVDs available to get you started and take you up a level.
TOCA SYNERGY FREESTYLE DJEMBE - CONCLUSION
Well, what is there not to like about the Toca Synergy Freestyle djembe? From the moment you take this quality product out of the box, to the fun you have playing it - it's all fantastic! It looks great, it sounds good and it doesn't cost much! The Toca djembe is also lightweight and portable and I would recommend putting a microphone to it to capture some crisp custom percussion to cut through the mix.
The Toca djembe could be anything from a party talking point to a handy family or studio instrument - you can have some great fun with it no matter what age you are! If you are serious about learning this instrument, it is a great choice because it is exceptional value for money.
Go and buy one today and join a Drum Circle in your neighbourhood. If you don't think it is for you, just think what an excellent present it would make for someone else - now there's an idea!
For more information on Toca Djembes, click the link below or give us a call on 01202 597180.