Out of the box, I couldn't use it. The movable part of the centerpiece would move back and forth under the impact of the beater. This not only made playing feel wrong, but also produced undesirable sounds. I contacted Thomann, but they were unable to tell me whether this was a defect or not—I did get a gift card for €25, though.
Anyway, I can't be bothered to take instruments on and off. So, I figured I'd try and get it up to snuff. I tried tightening the screws, replacing the spring with a stronger one, applying padding, and other things. Nothing really worked. In the end, though, I put large rubber bands around the mounting rods and stretched them around the back. It pulls the movable part of the stand backwards, preventing it from pivoting back and forth.
With that, it works. But with a price tag like this, I shouldn't really have had to do any DIY. Whoever designed this thing needs to go back to the drawing board and make it a hell of a lot more stable. Another thing is that you're not able to put larger instruments on it, like a tambourine—they're not going to be able to clear the pedal when you rotate the stand. I ended up modifying a hi-hat tambourine and making a custom mounting rod, which solved the problem. I don't think I'm going to get it to work with my pedal-mounted maraca, though—there's no way to make it stable enough.
I'm happy with it now, though. All's well that ends well, I suppose.
