How to Make a HandPan MIDI Controller

With the idea of an electronic-Handpan being hugely popular at time of posting, with both the Oval. and the more recently announced, Lumen - having more than reached their funding targets for their individual crowd-funding campaigns - the following video from Al Martino, is one that we suspect our readers might be very interested in seeing.  

And with the Oval having a retail price of around 600 Euro, and the Lumen expected to be priced at around $800, if you can, with a little elbow-grease, knock up something that is (arguably) more-or-less the same, for the price of little more than some foam rubber, and $20 worth of piezoelectric triggers, that is something that will no doubt make for a tempting alternative…

How to Make a HandPan MIDI Controller



Al Martino himself is a musician, and composer from Capri island, Italy.  And he kindly offers his design for all to make use of free-of-charge.  As has been the discussion with both the Oval, and the Lumen, how similar an experience this device will offer, in comparison to playing a true steel made Handpan. is open to debate.  Though if you’re not put off by the idea of a little D.I.Y., Al Martino’s open-source design certainly seems to be an economical way of finding out for yourself, without having to drop too much cash.

In addition to your self-made electronic Handpan, you’ll need some Hang / Handpan samples.  Al Martino makes mention of having put together a virtual Handpan sample library, that can be downloaded for free - though at time of posting we’re unable to find that, so, perhaps do a search over at his website: HERE Or reach out over at YouTube: HERE.  Alternatively, there are usually Handpan sample libraries for sale over at eBay: HERE.  And Soniccouture offer a “Pan drums” library for sale: HERE.

And you can hear more of Al Martino's "Trigalpan" below...



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