The DC-300 Cajonito goes on your lap, ideally clamped between your legs. This isn't terribly awkward, but after a while of playing it can tend to slip out a little. There's a hole on one side for air to escape from, and if you're skilled with your leg clamping, you can cover it with your thigh to achieve different pitches. One playing side of the Cajonito has snare wires behind it so that it gets a bit of a rattle when you hit it, so you can play Flamenco style. The other side does not, and offers a more traditional Cuban cajon sound (disclaimer: I don't know much about cajons or their history aside from the research I did when I was all about cajons). Read the product page and watch a video demonstration here.
Anyway, on to the disappointment. Well, I got all excited from watching videos of cajons such as the Fat Congas string cajon, the LP Mario Cortes cajon (in the first video above), and the Australian Rockbox (second video). For some reason, I was expecting a similar sound in the diminutive Cajonito. I knew the sound wouldn't be as dynamic.. no deep lows, no snappy slaps.. but I thought it would impress me almost as much as the videos I saw. Plus I was up against a jury of people telling me it was just a wooden box and I shouldn't spend so much on one. So it HAD to sound better than a wooden box.
Honestly though, after playing it for a while.. it kinda sounds like a wooden box, with snare wires attached to one side. Which isn't to say it's worthless; it's still better than beating on a coffee table, for instance. And to be fair, I'm not a serious drummer or cajon player, so I may not be playing this instrument to its full potential. But I am a professional desk banger though, and I don't think it's worth $100. There just isn't that much range of sound. You can get creative with the air hole, playing it like an udu drum, but at its core it isn't much of a drum kit substitute as cajons seem to be. There seems to be a little too much bleeding between what should be a clear bass sound and a snare sound. It's possible to distinguish between the two (at least to me, since I'm expecting it), but it's really more of a low boxy sound vs a higher boxy sound rather than a bass vs a snare. So, if you're like me and Googling this box and wondering if it's worth a Benjy.. I'd say make a project out of building your own, save up for a decent full-size cajon, or hit me up for a video or something if you're still not convinced. There are a few videos out there already.. one of them seems to be of a larger dark brown square box that sounds a little better in the video, but the one I received was a smaller light tan rectangular box, so make sure you know what you're getting.
If you must get a small cajon, at least take a look around and try some out in person if you can. Meinl also makes a mini cajon called the Palito, but I think they sound pretty terrible (on video). Then there's this guy who makes custom compact cajons - look up Nautilus Cajons, there are a lot of videos - that sound a lot better. I think they're a good bit more expensive though.
Overall: Bad choice for a new cajon player. Might be slightly useful if you're a regular cajon player looking for something compact to come up with new rhythms while traveling, but even then it doesn't sound very good, and you have to play it somewhat differently to achieve any range in sound.
No comments:
Post a Comment