Drum Circle

The only place these djembes are light is on your pocket book. The new Toca line of lightweight hand drums feature authentic Afro-Cuban sound coupled with indisputable value: It's a match made in hand drum heaven. With the Toca Lightweight Hand Drums you receive an excellent combination of value, looks, and sound quality.

Toca Hand Drums feature sculpted shells in a variety of hand painted finishes that covers both the shell and the head, making them eye-catching as well as functional. You can find a Jamaican-inspired Rasta finish with black, red, yellow, and green stripes or an African-themed Earth Tone finish that offers an organic brown/black/tan pattern. The hand drum has a pre-stretched synthetic head and a protective rubber edge along the bottom. The shell itself is also synthetic, and was developed as a hybrid that combines the fundamental components featured in doumbek and djembe drums.

Although this drum is light, the sound quality is definitely not. The Toca has a wide frequency range and fantastic response, delivering both heavy bass tones and resonating crystal clear slaps.

The best thing about the Toca Lightweight Hand Drums? The price. Starting at just $49.99, this is the best drum for those who are on a budget or individuals who are buying in bulk for classrooms and drum circles. Plus, each drum comes with a an adjustable carrying strap and a drawstring-carrying bag.

Choose from three sizes: 9" x 16", 10" x 19", or 12" x 22". The Toca drums are high in sound quality, visually stunning, and are so easy on your wallet you may just may want to own all three.

These drums were introduced at NAMM 2010. Pre-Orders are now being accepted and drums will be available to ship in March.



Toca Lightweights Series Hand Drums, Rasta w/ Strap + Bag



Toca Lightweights Series Hand Drums, Earthtone w/ Strap + Bag

Labels: drum.circle.facilitator, freestyle, hand drums, Music Education, NAMM, toca, toca djembe, toca.percussion, toca.shell

So you're in the market for a djembe drum but not sure if you should go with a wooden based shell or a synthetic shell.Well, you've stumbled onto the right site. Shopping for a djembe drum can at times be a bit overwhelming. There are such a wide variety of choices, sizes, and features that sometimes you lose sight of what you want. Hopefully after reading this blog you'll have a better understanding of the distinct differences between wood and synthetic djembe drums so you can make a more informed decision.

MATERIALS
One of the big differences between wood and synthetic djembe drums is the type of material used. Djembe drum shells are typically made of wood or fiberglass. Fiberglass drum shells are extremely durable and tend to more easily produce drum tones when played. This can make them idea for beginner player whose playing technique is not quite developed - sort of allowing more room to play with tones without completely missing the mark. Many experienced players also report that fiberglass djembes produce a brighter sound and will seek them out when playing in an amplified ensemble where they need to cut through the mix.

Synthetic shell djembes will be less affected by changing weather conditions, which means less tuning time, and may be a better choice for those planning to travel frequently with the drum or for classrooms where the instruments need to withstand a lot of use and mobility.

On the flip side, traditional wooden shells will have a warmer and typically fuller tone than fiberglass shell djembes. Most professional players will prefer the warmth and fuller sound of a wooden shell djembe as their primary drum. Most of our customers choose a wooden shell djembe as their first drum primarily because of the tradition behind them and the hand-carved craftsmanship that goes into each shell.

If you're planning on gigging out a bunch and transporting your djembe around town, keep in mind that wood tends to show scratches more easily, though both are very durable. A drum usually gets most of its scratches when traveling, so be sure to transport your drum in a djembe bag to reduce the chance of damage.

DRUMHEADS
Another difference you need to understand is the type of drumhead used. There are essentially two types of djembe drumheads. The first type is the more traditionally based goatskin drumhead. The tones produced by goatskins vary immensely based on the quality of skin used and whether or not the skin has been treated. Unbleached, thick skins tend to produce deep rich tones. The best way to identify a high quality goatskin drumhead is to look for a stripe down the middle of the drum. The stripe indicates the spine of the back of the goat which is the thickest and strongest skin available. Other skins may be very light or almost completely white. These skins have been treated with a bleaching product to remove all excess goat hair and pigmentations and typically produce more mid-range and higher tones. The lighter skins tend to tune up faster on rope based djembes.

The second type of drumhead is a synthetic head that was created to produce the tones of skin based on heads, however are more durable, in many cases are waterproof, and tend to last longer. In addition, synthetic heads are typically easier to play because they 'crack' a little louder and have a brighter tone when struck. Again, this could be beneficial for a beginner player who is still learning to play.


QUICK REFERENCE:

X8 Drums manufactures both traditional wooden shell djembes with goatskin drum heads and an exclusive line of fiberglass shell djembes with synthetic drumheads. As musicians ourselves, we are dedicated to developing true performance-ready instruments. And whether you choose wood or fiberglass, you can rest assured that sound quality is our number one priority.

Toca Percussion manufactures a PVC shell in their Toca Freestyle Djembe series. PVC is essentially a hard plastic.

All Remo djembes are manufactured using a synthetic shell called 'Acousticon' which is similar to fiberglass. Additionally, all Remo djembe heads are fitted with a synthetic material called 'Fiberskyn'.

---

Next: Rope Tuned vs. Key Tuned Djembe

Djembe Buying Guide

• History of Djembe Drums
• Which Size Djembe is Right for Me?
• Wood vs. Synthetic Djembe
• Rope Tuned vs. Key Tuned Djembe
• How to Tune a Djembe
• How to Play a Djembe
• Compare Djembe Brands
• Earth Friendly Djembe
• About African Djembes
• Djembe Rhythm Samples
• Djembe Rope. Why Quality Matters.
• Caring for your Djembe
• Best Beginner Djembe

 

---

Labels: african.djembe, african.djembe.drum, djembe, Djembe.Buying.Guide, djembe.drum, fiberglass.drums. wood.drums., remo.world.percussion, toca.percussion, toca.shell, x8.djembes

With origins from African and Cuban traditions, conga drums are probably the most popular hand drums today. Made from a variety of wood or from fiberglass, congas are available in different shapes and sizes.

Here are just a few features that set Toca Congas apart from other brands and create the "Toca Difference" and unmistakable Toca look and sound.

Toca Heads:
Toca conga heads are 1st quality bison skins that are graded and sorted by thickness for each particular size drum. This grading process ensures the best tonal response from each different sized drum. All Toca heads are tucked rather than sewn to prevent "pull out" and are mounted wet, to assure the best contact (or seat) between the bearing edge and the head.

Toca Hoops:
Toca offers two very different types of hoops for our professional series congas. Toca hoops are composed of thick metal allowing more rigidity to the hoop and even tension at all points.

• Toca's Traditional-Style Hoop is found on the 3900 Traditional Series drums and features lightweight construction to "free up" sound. This Traditional hoop holds the head close to the shell and gives the drum a more authentic Cuban sound.
  
  
• Toca's Exclusive "Easy Play" Hoop was designed with a very low collar to keep the hoop away from possibly injuring the player's hand. Toca's Easy Play hoop also stretches the conga head over the bearing edge of the drum to increase the resonance and tone. These hoops are constructed from top grade, 3 mm thick steel then plated to a high gloss finish.
  
  
• Toca's Player's Easy Play Style Hoop performs much like our professional model by giving added protection to the player and is 2.6mm thick to give that added strength.
  

Toca Shell Construction:
All Toca wooden shells are constructed from slats of Asian Oak hardwood. Two wood slats are glued together to form a very strong stave. The wood staves are then formed into a shell that can hold its shape indefinitely. The double-ply shell construction combined with the process of finishing the inside of the shell help to make the drums light in weight and very resistant to changing weather conditions.

Toca Shell Shape:
The shape of the drum bowl determines the tonal characteristics of a particular style or brand of drum. Toca uses two different bowl shapes, the "Traditional Afro-Cuban" shape and the "Contemporary Afro-Cuban" style bowl.

• Traditional Afro-Cuban bowl shape has a very sharp taper at the bottom of the shell. This creates a strong bass tone in the drum, which is the "Afro-Cuban" sound that many Latin players prefer.
  
  
• Contemporary Afro-Cuban bowl shape has a larger belly and less taper than its Afro-Cuban counterpart with a much bigger hole at the bottom of the drum. This shape produces more volume with less effort. The Contemporary bowl shape (more volume with less effort) coupled with the easy play hoop (more resonance) makes this drum ideal for most live playing situations where extra volume is needed.
  

Toca Tuning Hardware:
The tuning hardware, coupled with the hoop, is what holds the head on the drum and keeps it in tune.

• The Tension Plate is at the heart of this process and takes the brunt of the abuse in keeping the drum in tune. Because of the enormous amount of pressure placed on the drum bowl during tuning and playing, Toca has designed all of their drums with an exclusive 4-bolt tension plate. This helps spread the tension over the entire shell making the tuning more stable and preventing tension plate "pull-out" or "cave in" that occurs on some drums as a result of the constant pressure.
  
  
• The Tension rods, which connect the hoop to the Tension plate, are made of hardened steel to prevent bending when the drums are tuned to a high pitch. The rods are held away from the shell with a special cup washer that not only aids in the ease of tuning, but also helps prevent the wrench from damaging the tension plate and the shell.

Labels: afro.cuban, conga, conga.drum, easy.play.hoop, style.hoop, tension.plate, toca.conga, toca.heads, toca.shell, tuning.hardware