HandPan Comparison - The Many Voices of HandPan

First, came the Hang - and "it was good!"  In many ways, and for many people, it was life changing. But unfortunately, there just weren’t enough Hanghang to go around...

Which led to the birth of HandPan.

The Caisa, the Halo, and the Bells, were first to follow in the wake of the global Hang frenzy. Slated by some as merely cheap imitations (“empty inside” - spoke PANArt’s Felix Rohner). Yet they were embraced by others for their own individual qualities, their individual voices, and for being the start of something that was bigger than PANArt, arguably the ‘true’ birth of a new type of instrument. The age of the HandPan.  And boy, how they've grown!

So that now, just a few short years later, a small but growing subculture of HandPan enthusiasts, embracing both Hang, and Hang-inspired instruments alike, exists. And with it, a small, but growing, number of HandPan makers have appeared. To cater to their ever hungry appetites.

From the Russian-made ‘SPB’, through to the even more recent ‘Innersound’, the HandPan family is growing. And while at this point in time it’s still not easy to pick, and choose, as easily as some might like (with many having long waiting lists, or other complicated buying processes), should you have set your heart on a HandPan. But aren’t entirely sure which HandPan would best meet your needs. The video ‘Hang and HandPan Comparison’, created by Colin Foulke, and David Kuckhermann, is a ‘must see’. Demonstrating for your analysis, more HandPan than I could (be bothered to) count. From first gen Hang, through to the Free Integral, and from the Baby Caisa, through to the SunPan. Making it, at time of writing, my favorite HandPan related video on YouTube. And if you haven’t already clicked the play button on the embedded video above, you can go watch it in glorious full-screen mode over at YouTube: HERE.
Or alternatively, you can go visit Colin Foulke, or David Kuckhermann over at their personal websites, to find out what else they've been upto lately (by clicking on their names above).
© HandPans Magazine