The drum is very loud, allowing it to be heard clearly as a solo instrument over a large percussion ensemble.

The djembe can produce a wide variety of sounds, making it an extremely versatile drum. A medium-size djembe carved from one of the traditional woods (including skin, rings, and rope) weighs around 9 kg (20 lb). The weight of a djembe ranges from 5 kg to 13 kg (11–29 lb) and depends on size and shell material. The majority have a diameter in the 13 to 14 inch range.

Excluding rings, djembes have an exterior diameter of 30–38 cm (12–15 in) and a height of 58–63 cm (23–25 in). The djembe has a body (or shell) carved of hardwood and a drumhead made of untreated (not limed) rawhide, most commonly made from goatskin. In the Bambara language, 'djé' is the verb for 'gather' and 'bé' translates as 'peace.' But, their pre-mixed drum kits are just a lot further from the sound I want out of drums than Steven Slate out of the box, for whatever reason, so I've pretty much had to cobble together my own custom kits.(Directly struck membranophones, goblet drums, one membrane, open at one end)īolokada Conde, Soungalo Coulibaly, Mamady Keïta, Famoudou Konaté, Drissa KoneĪ djembe or jembe ( / ˈ dʒ ɛ m b eɪ/ JEM-bay from Malinke jembe, N'Ko: ߖߋ߲߰ߓߋ ) is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa.Īccording to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe comes from the saying 'Anke djé, anke bé' which translates to 'everyone gather together in peace' and defines the drum's purpose. On the flip side, Superior Drummer 3's UI is much more user friendly, and it's much more intuitive to tweak drum sounds to match your preferences, and the cymbal samples are much more convincing. Also, FWIW, I find SSD's cymbal samples to be lacking - they don't sound as lush or full as a professionally recorded drum track should sound, especially not the hi-hats. It's so bad that, at least for me, it kinda canceled out the quality of the drum kits, which are 'pre-mixed' to more or less sound like a finished, professionally produced drum track right out of the box.

IMO, Steven Slate Drums has one of the most maddeningly unusable UIs I have ever experienced in music software. I have Steven Slate Drums 5 and Superior Drummer 3, but primarily use Superior Drummer 3 (Trigger is something completely different - that's for replacing a previously recorded drum track with samples, rather than programming a drum track from scratch).

Superior drummer 3 e drums