Daniel Waples Inspired Steel Tongue Drum - The Babel Drum Titan


With over thirty thousand Facebook followers (at time of writing), and literally millions of views to his YouTube videos, if any Hang / HandPan musician is deserving of an instrument built in their name, as an ambassador of the genre, it has to be Daniel Waples. And that’s exactly what’s happened.

‘Babel Drums’, manufacturers of steel tongue drum based in Daniel’s home country, the UK, have teamed up with the world travelling HandPan artist to create a special version of their ‘Titan’ model of drum. The Titan, is Babel drums largest offering, weighing in at 7 KG, and measuring a height of 18 cm, with a diameter of 41 cm. And the model in question, as endorsed by Daniel, is tuned to the ‘Waples’ scale - which is actually the C-Mixolydian sound model, as per Daniel Waples favorite, and most frequently played PANArt Hang.

Handmade in the UK (as previously stated), Babel Drums are made of stainless steel (little chance of rusting for these drums), and in addition to the Titan, are also available in, ‘Mezzo’, and ‘Iona’, (or in other words, small, medium, and large). And in addition to the Waples scale Titan Babel drum, Babel drums are available in a number of popular scales. Prices for Babel stainless steel tongue drums, at time of writing, start at £295 (for the smaller model), with the Daniel Waples Titan model being priced at £550. So that should you be wanting to play along with Daniel on YouTube, or be looking to make your own Daniel inspired beats, and melodies, > Click here < to visit the Hang-in-Balance website for more information.

Or alternatively, you can visit the Babel drum website for information on the rest of the Babel range of steel tongue drum: HERE  Or you might prefer to read our interview with Daniel Waples that we published in 2013: HERE
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Hang / HandPan Scales and Sound Models Explored

One of the more useful HandPan resources we’ve stumbled across in recent times (at time of writing) is the Google
site wiki titled ‘Hang and HandPan Scales’.  Whether you’re a Hang-inspired instrument maker looking for new ‘sound models’ to experiment with, a soon to be HandPan owner looking for the perfect scale, or are perhaps looking for a scale to compliment an existing instrument (among other uses) this Hang / HandPan scales wiki should prove to be eminently useful.  

An obvious labor of love this website lists the sound models of many of the more popular ‘brands’ of HandPan, (from the original Hang, through to more recent additions to the family, such as the Saraz), in alphabetical order.  Click on a sound model from the list and you’ll be presented with descriptions of the scale, the notes that make up the sound model (including variations across different HandPan), and where available, video(s) showing the sound model in action.  

Example info for the Blues sound model(s):

PANart Hang Blues (1st gen 2004)
(G) C Eb F F# G Bb C Eb
Pantheon Steel Halo Genesis Blues
(C) F Ab Bb B C Eb F  
BEllArt BElls Blues
(D) A C D D# E G A

As I write this post the Hang and HandPan Scales Wiki is under construction, so that while the site will still prove to be of great interest to anybody interested in exploring the world of Handpan sound models, the future of the website appears to promise even greater functionality in the days to come.  It appears that when complete, site visitors will be able to explore sound models by specific maker, and search for sound models containing a particular sought after note - options that will only enhance what is already a very useful website.  Take a look...

To visit the Hang and HandPan Scales Wiki: CLICK HERE


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