 The pad can be struck with drum sticks or fingers and hands.The Mandala pad represents patented membrane sensor technology that was developed over several years by Vince DeFranco and was released to the public in May 2006.Because a Mandala surface is divided into 128 position rings and can detect 127 strike velocities (greater than 0) it can produce up to 16,256 (128 x 127) individual triggers.