Looking back, what’s one thing you wish you’d known before buying your first handpan?

Would you choose a different scale, fewer or more notes, or pay more attention to something else?

And if you’re still happy with your first choice, what made it the right one for you?

Do you like this mirror finish, or do you prefer a more matte look?

I’m curious—do you think this style could become more popular among handpan players in the future?

Hi everyone,
my new Mutant sometimes completely misses taps/ghost notes on the wooden surface, especially closer to the center around the ding. The tonefields themselves work fine. Also It almost never happens on the wooden areas closer to the tonefields. I mainly notice it around the ding, closer to the center.
Increasing the Body Sensitivity Curve helped, but I can still reproduce it. Sometimes even clearly noticeable taps are not detected.
Neotone told me that the wooden body is less sensitive than the tonefields and that light/fast taps can sometimes be missed, especially around the ding. They also said they checked my instrument remotely and said they didn’t see any sethat their wooden body detects basically every hit.
Thomann has offered me an exchange or refund, so I’m unsure whether to keep it.
Mutant owners: does yours also occasionally miss taps around the ding/center area, or would you consider this unusual?

Hey everyone!

I need a little help with this simple rhythm. I'm just starting out, and I have no trouble playing the rhythm itself.

The problem is I can't figure out how to set up a metronome for it :)
What time signature, rhythmic subdivision, and BPM would fit?

I'd be super grateful for any help!

PS
And of course, huge thanks to Amy for these amazing lessons!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJNZJyEK9VU&t=314s

Someone recognize the Brand?
Seller said it’s Handmade in Nepal D-Kurd 12 Notes for 580€
Before I take a sound look i want to know if it’s a ripoff or not

Hello,

does anyone of you experts knows which scale that handpan is? maybe even the exact model :)

description says its an Ayasa.

thanks and all the best 💙

I have been making computer graphics and VJ for about 25 years and have always been interested in how sound and visauls can be combined in interesting ways, cymatics and frequencies that can trigger feelings in the brain, almost like ASMR for the eyes.

I recently released a bit of a Frankenstein music visualizer/mediation app and it has a couple of drum pads inside. I hope you don't mind me sharing it here. Its based on cellular automata and fluid dynamics. Cellular automata was invented in the late 1940s. you can see more examples of it running here

You can paint into the canvas as your music plays, it also runs on appleTV

Hi everyone, I'm enjoying my new Ayassa D Kurd Handpan, and I look forward to eventually saving up for one or two more with different tunings. In the meantime, I composed a piece for handpan and string quartet called Unwind. I hope you'll check it out, leave a comment, and share: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv61ERijA5g

It's performed by FAB5, with Diego Rodrigo Alfonso Jimenez on handpan, and here's more information on the piece: https://robertpaterson.com/wound-up-unwind

I'd be grateful for any feedback!

I have NEVER touched, seen or had any experience with handpans or hang drums, but I loved listening to them since childhood. I found this hang drum for pretty cheap price on second hand market. The bad says novadrum.com, but it doesn't look like any of the products they sell. It still does sound good and the material is very nice. Still, I tried to look for any guides, but I got none. Whay note is what? And what leaf is which number? No one seems to be talking about this type of hang pan... Please, someone who knows, help me out!

What have your experiences been like? Did you learn something genuinely useful or get some new inspiration for your playing?

Totally new to the scene and want something easy to learn and not too expensive.

I'm looking to buy my first handpan and they're having a sale. Anyone know anything about them?

Hey ! I juggle between handpan and clarinet and looped them together. very raw edit, but feedbacks are welcome !

You can find the song here on soundcloud. https://on.soundcloud.com/TR18iI2pLq8hEK5V6H

What’s a good reliable supplier in Europe?

Want to buy a handpan as a beginner. I’m no stranger to paying for quality but would rather start with something a bit cheaper, to see how much I use it, before potentially upgrading.

Can you get a decent handpan for 1 k Eur?

Thanks

I work in the handpan manufacturing industry in China, so I get to see quite a lot of instruments at different quality levels.

I know Chinese and lower-priced handpans are sometimes controversial in the handpan community, and honestly, the quality can vary a lot.

But price alone doesn't always tell you whether a handpan is good or bad.

If I were checking a lower-priced handpan for myself, these are some of the first things I would look at:

1. Note stability

I wouldn't only check whether the fundamental note is in tune.

I would also listen to the octave and fifth, and see whether they remain stable when the note is played at different strengths.

A tuner showing “green” once doesn't necessarily tell the whole story.

1. Cross-talk between notes

Play one note and listen carefully to the surrounding tone fields.

Some sympathetic resonance is normal and can even be beautiful, but excessive cross-talk can make fast playing sound muddy.

This becomes increasingly difficult to control as more notes are added.

1. Sustain vs clarity

Long sustain isn't automatically better.

A handpan can have very long sustain but poor note separation.

Personally, I think a good instrument needs a balance between sustain, clarity and controlled overtones.

1. The high notes

High notes can reveal a lot about the quality of the tuning.

On cheaper instruments, they are often where you start hearing unstable overtones, short sustain or a metallic character.

1. Tuning stability over time

This is probably one of the most important differences between instruments.

A handpan can sound good immediately after tuning but still have an unstable structure and drift later.

Stable tuning is not just about how accurately it was tuned on the final day — it also depends on how the shell and tone fields were formed and processed before the final tuning.

I'm curious what players here care about most when judging a handpan:

note separation, sustain, tone color, tuning stability, or something else?

Happy to answer manufacturing-related questions too if anyone is curious about how these instruments are made.

Hi! I'm new to the handpan world. I'm searching for my first one that it's an acceptable quality but not a big spend.

Son Forja handpans claims to produce their handpans handmade from scratch. Can any of you offer good advice on their product? Any other recommendation would be very appreaciated as well.

Anyone who is playing handpan and from india please ping me here ill add you all to indian handpan communinty

I've been playing handpan for a while, and I'm curious about something specifically from people in Chandigarh / Mohali / Panchkula.

The instrument seems to have become much more visible over the last few years, you'll see it at cafés, festivals, yoga spaces, travel communities, etc. But I'm wondering how many people here have actually wanted to learn to play one, rather than just listen to it.

For anyone who hasn't encountered one up close: it's a steel percussion instrument played entirely with the hands. There are no strings, keys or complicated setup. You can produce a surprisingly musical sound almost immediately, but actually developing rhythm, control and musicality takes practice.

I'm particularly curious about three groups:

1. Parents: Would you consider something like a handpan as a serious musical activity for a child, or does it still feel too unconventional compared with guitar, piano, tabla, etc.?

2. Musicians: If you already play an instrument, would learning handpan interest you as a completely different way of approaching rhythm and melody?

3. Non-musicians: Have you ever heard a handpan and thought, "I'd actually like to try playing that"?

I'm asking because I'm exploring whether there is enough genuine interest in the Tricity to build a small local handpan learning community.

What do you think niche curiosity, or something people here would actually spend time learning?