LP Laptop Conga LP1436

Certainly it doesn't have the rich tones that a regular conga with a skin head would have,... or even a synth head, but it sounds really good. It has nice resonance and you can easily get several different sounds out of it - more so, I think, than with a regular conga. But then, I'm used to drumming on odd things more than real skin drums (If you can make a deck of cards sound musical....I'm probably better at making music with cards than congas or bongos, haha). Reviews state that it is more a cajon than a conga. Well, yeah, the head IS made of wood. If you've ever hand drummed on tables, furniture, the window ledge of your car door... or just about anything you can get your hands on, then you are going to love this. The tone/pitch difference in the two drum sides is perfect. It's just a bit larger than I thought it would be ( I didn't really look at the dimensions, not that it would matter anyway, but it is 19.5 x 11.5 x 3"), but this is totally portable and can satisfy that need to drum on everything and is a great little portable drum to practice on. It sounds enough like a conga that you can play it with a band - you'd need to mic it for sure. It is loud enough that it can be heard in different rooms in my house, but certainly not as loud as a regular conga would be. The issues I have with this (and I didn't downgrade because of it, because I've just solved them myself) are 1) Does not come with a bag. 2)There are two screws on the side edge for placement of the strap. But they are only on one "side", the front or the back, depending on how you play. I prefer playing with the low drum on the right, so the strap works well for me. Turn the drum around and the strap is attached to the bottom side of the drum - can't see that working out too well for those that prefer the low drum on the left, which I also do sometimes. 3) The strap itself is useless. It is advertised at being a lap strap or shoulder strap, but even with adjustments, it is too short and useless as a shoulder strap. As a lap strap it is useless for me as the drum isn't sliding off my lap without it. It isn't even useful for carrying the drum on your back. Toss. I bought myself a drum strap and I use that for playing while standing. I would often play bongos like that and used a guitar strap. This drum strap I got is actually very useful with the bongos as well.

This is a fun little box. I'm no conguero, but I've always wanted a conga to mess around with the tumbao I learned a dozen years ago in college, and to play along with Eddie Palmieri records for fun. My 2 year old daughter also likes drums so I thought this would fit the bill for my small apartment and casual intent. It's pretty spot on, being small, easy to store and not very loud.The sound is pretty much what you hear in online review and demonstration videos. One thing to note is that it seems to replicate the open tones of a conga well, but other aspects like slaps and bass tones sound very flat and lifeless - like you're slapping a piece of wood instead of a drum head, which is exactly what is happening. The LP videos tend to focus on open tones, but there are some other videos on YouTube showing more varied strokes. Nevertheless, it sounds pretty much like a conga to me so I'm happy.The rectangular shape is weird, since an actual conga is round. If you place your arms in the same position as you would for an actual conga, you will strike this drum with a different portion of the hand/fingers. So far, I have "solved" this by turning the rectangle counter-clockwise by about 30 degrees so that the corner is facing me and each hand is striking on a different, adjacent side. This partially restricts my access to the "second conga," but I don't even know what to do with a second conga so that's fine with me. Again, I'm no conguero and know nearly nothing about technique, but it seems to sound much better when I turn it and it's easier to play - particularly the slaps.I considered other alternatives like the Compact Congas or a tiny requinto, but I figure if I'm going to compromise I might as well compromise all the way. This is pretty much perfect for my situation, it's fun to play, and I can play a conga tumbao on it, so I'm sold.

I love the sound quality and the versatility and portability of these congas, definitely better for practice then performance, but will do in a pinch.

For both portability and sound quality you won’t beat this (OR rather you WILL beat this - PUN intended). No need to fret over this purchase. It’s a high quality instrument that exceeded my rather critical expectations (I think I may have invented the term “buyers remorse” btw:). No remorse here. My concern was this would be too large, but no, perfect size even for smaller framed people like myself. You can get a variety of tones and timbres and can slap and mute as well. For casual spur of the moment inspiration, recording, and practicing this will fill the bill.

Not pleased with the way this instrument sounds. The timbre is sort of flat not like the sound on the video.This thing can’t be tuned either so changing the tone is not possible.

This is not going to replace a real set of congas, obviously. But if you want to fake the sound of those in a recording, I'd take them over some samples or emulations any day. It's quite surprising how close the sound of what's essentially a cigar box can come to an intricate percussion instrument. Again, this is only true in a mix, and I'm sure there is at least half a generation of Latin-X people who would happily turn me into burrito meat for making this claim. But listen. If you like the sound of some authentic-ish percussion in the background of your little Salsa tune, you could do a whole lot worse. The included strap has not been helpful for me, I just balance this latin lap top on my knees while sitting down. After a sip or two of Tequila, you can slap some fun beats out of this little gadget. The tuning is appropriate and makes for the enticing hi-low richness you've been looking for.

This does not sound like a conga. It sounds like slapping a piece of wood, not a drum-especially on the high side of the drum where there is no resonance at all. I returned mine.

Sounds good, very easy to transport. Strong.