One Up is the latest product from Ultimate Percussion. It's a totally self-contained unit with all its controls integral to it; rather like CM which was the second generation of Syndrum. It's actually meant to be used in an acoustic drum set as an add-on. Certainly you could buy five and make up a set but it would be something of a pointless exercise and expensive too. (You could buy a UP 5 for about 12% less.)

One Up was introduced last August at the BMF and at the time had a bass drum pad as well. Since then it would appear that Ultimate have decided against offering one as standard, though I'm sure they'd knock one up for you if you asked them nicely.

The pads themselves are exactly the same as the UP 5 so it wouldn't be too much of a problem. These pads are six sided but not hexagonal. They're actually triangles with their sharp ends chopped off. Without this circumcision they'd be 12" triangles and two inches thick.

A great deal of thought has evidently gone into making these pads feel much like an acoustic drum, and to all intents and purposes they've made a very playable pad. It doesn't (to me) feel like your actual drum head, but nobody has made a solid pad which does. Within the plastic 'bowl' of the pad is a steel inner frame and the 'head', which is actually a piece of rubber, rests on a piece of plastic; a steel 'L' shaped rim holds everything in place. Ultimate Percussion's pads are designed to fit onto a Premier/Tama/Ludwig-type double tom stand. The 'L' shaped arm fits directly into the side of the pad and is locked securely by a drum-key-operated screw which is accessible through the top of the pad.

No stands are supplied with One Up, although you can buy them from UP at a nominal price.

Like everyone else, the company use a Piezo transducer which lays flat on top of a couple of pieces of foam. It's secured by a piece of double-sided tape which holds it against the underside of the playing surface.

As I said, the controls are all located along the near side of the pad. There would appear to be a left and right version so that these small 'pots' are always facing the player. These adjust the sound parameters which are much the same as on the UP 5. We have Decay, VCO Sweep, VCO Pitch, Balance (Noise to VCO), Noise filter, Bite (click) and Output level. The unit has analogue sounds, of course, which as far as I could ascertain are of a muchness with those on the UP 5. Last time I reviewed that EDK I said that it sounded "rich, thick and strong with an aggressive edge". I hear no reason to change my opinion. I also said that you could play the rim on that set and get very close to that 'stick across the rim' sound. The 'One Up' pad is touch sensitive and a subtle pitch change occurs when you hit the pad hard. It's just like a real drum.

I have only seen them with black or white 'bowls' but who knows, perhaps brighter colours are on the way. The company supply a lead with the pad; it's got an XLR plug on one end with a jack socket on the other. I used it in the control room, and had no 'matching' problems.

One Up certainly does what it's supposed to do. It would be an asset in an ordinary set to create the odd synthesized sound. The brochure says that you can create: snare drums, bass drums, toms, bongos, congas, timbales, cow bells, claves, steel drums and so on. All you need to do is experiment.

£125