Detailed manual is under construction...

 

Powering On

The Wing Drum runs on USB power or 3 AA batteries. It is safe to plug and unplug the USB power at any time, to prolong the battery life. You can use standard disposable batteries, Ni-Cd, Ni-MH or Ni-Zn rechargeables (with 1.2 - 1.6V nominal voltage). All batteries must be charged externally.

There is a switch on the battery holder, you can use it to safely disconnect the batteries if not using the drum for a longer period. However the power consumption in the "off" state while the switch is set to "ON" is minimal, it is perfectly fine to power it off and on again solely with the 5th silicone button.

For the USB power you can use any 5V source: power banks, chargers, computer's USB ports. Some operation systems may try to reset the attached device or install drivers, also some running programs may interfere with the operation of the drum. So if it starts misbehaving (restarting or touch pads not working properly) this may be the reason. The USB driver chip is a standard FTDI so your operation system should install driver automatically, then the drum appears as a virtual COM port (but it is not necessary to have the driver at all).

There is no rechargeable battery installed because of the shipping restrictions, however if you can solder, you have an option to disassemble the device and install a rechargeable battery; then it will be charged via USB. It must be a 3.7V Lithium Polymer (Li-Po) with protection circuit (like this one). We do not recommend doing this unless you absolutely know what you are doing, because Li-Po cells are a potential fire hazard. Also, please be careful with the screws as they may snap when tightened too much, then it is very problematic to remove them and replace.

Calibration

After powering on the Wing Drum calibrates the touch pads for a few seconds, when all LEDs stop glowing, the calibration is done. It is important to leave it without touching the front plate during the process. Also please note that it may make a small difference in the thresholds whether it has been calibrated while on USB power or batteries; if you switch the power and you for example don't get the usual sensitivity or responsiveness, try to restart the drum.

User Interface

Please note that the actions or options activated by buttons may be different for a short press vs. long press, if something does not work as expected, check the manual to be sure how exactly should the buttons be handled.

Default scales in all timbres

Your drum comes with a few predefined scales, the number varies from timbre to timbre (each timbre can have up to 8 scales). To switch between scales, press buttons (+) or (-) once. The white LED will blink shortly to indicate which scale is selected. If you move past the last defined scale (for example in the 1st metal timbre that has 3 scales defined, you move to 4th position) the scale from the previous position will be copied over, then you can edit it.

In the pictures below, the active scale is marked by red circle. We picked a few examples of what we thought sounded good with these timbres but it is very easy to tune the drum any way you like. To find out how to transpose a scale, change individual notes, fine tune them or copy scale from one position (or timbre) to another, please see the "Tuning" paragraph in the printed manual (also shown at the end of this page).

 

METAL TIMBRE #1

METAL TIMBRE #2

METAL TIMBRE #3

METAL TIMBRE #4

METAL TIMBRE #5

METAL TIMBRE #6

METAL TIMBRE #7

METAL TIMBRE #8

METAL TIMBRE #9

METAL TIMBRE #10

METAL TIMBRE #11

WOOD TIMBRE #1

WOOD TIMBRE #2

WOOD TIMBRE #3

WOOD TIMBRE #4

WOOD TIMBRE #5

POLYPHONIC REVERB

 

 

Printed Manual

With your Wingdrum you will receive this printed leaflet (clicking on images will open them in high resolution).