How to choose the second RAV drum for your steel drum/steel pan instruments collection?

Do you plan to add another instrument to your collection for steel tongue/steel pan instruments? This guide will help you to choose the best option!

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How to choose your second RAV drum?

“Where can I buy a drum to become my second instrument in a row?”

A lot was said about choosing your first RAV drum, but what if you already have one and are ready to get another one for your collection? This guide will help you to navigate to choosing the right instrument for being your second RAV!

General recommendations

Steel tongue/steel pans instruments are non-chromatic, and so you are limited in the number of notes. If you feel like you are missing some specific tunes, taking another RAV drum with complementary notes to fill in your toolkit. The easiest way to find a complementary drum is to check the note layout given under every RAV drum and compare it with the one you already have. The A Integral RAV Vast is a kind of a piano as it possesses almost all octave notes (except the D note). This is a good option for professional musicians and composing music.

If your first RAV drum has a low sound and has the B or E as a keynote, you might like to get the G-tuned drums like the G Pygmy and Humayun or the In Sen (the RAV Vast with the highest pitch).

Tips for beginners

What if you are a beginner\intermediate player, and you seem to have acquired your RAV drum? Then you might be ready for the new musical challenges and deal with some more complicated scales. Here’s an easy tip for you if you are looking for where to buy a drum. Filter the RAV drums in the catalog by mastery level and look at the middle and advanced level drums. If your first RAV Vast was the B Celtic or B RUS, take a look at A Marmara or D Celtic Minor. The B Celtic Double Ding has an augmented note range and will give you more room for creation. If you are the D Major owner, take a look at the B Kurd. This scale has its own character and is still accessible for middle-leveled players.

If you plan to take the drum for someone else – a partner you are gonna play the RAV Vasts together with -- we recommend taking a look at the matching drums. The B Celtic – B RUS, E Low Pygmy – G Pygmy are gonna be some of the best matching options.

Switch to hand pan musical instrument

Are you ready to change the kind of instrument you play and try something new? Switch from the RAV Vast to RAV Pan! Both instruments are steel drums, but the RAV Vast is a tongue drum, and the RAV Pan is a membrane instrument. Both inquire the same playing techniques, but the RAV Pan has a shorter resonance and a different voice. Thus you can take advantage of knowing the playing technique thanks to the RAV Vast and apply your knowledge to create amazing handpan music! If you are the B Celtic Minor RAV Vast owner, take the RAV Pan of the same scale – the B Celtic Minor RAV Pan. This will make the transition much more comfortable as the note layout will be already familiar to you.

For the RAV Pan/steel pan instrument owners

If you dream about another handpan wondering where to buy a handpan drum, check out the most challenging RAV Pans – the classic D Major or the flavorful D Hijaz. Both of these handpan musical instruments are tricky, provide room for improvisation, and will let your creativity do its best (follow to the RAV Pan section to check out all the steel pan instrument for sale in our online store).

Are you a sophisticated musician who is not easily surprised by something new? You might also like to give a try to the RAV Vast drum with the most exotic RAV Vast scales like the G Humayun, In Sen, or take a complementary RAV Vast to play it simultaneously with your RAV Pan.

Check out the sound before you buy it

What if you are still unsure which drum to choose from all the varieties of RAV instruments available for sale? Use the RAV Virtual Player! Play it alone to understand which drum you love the most, or play it simultaneously with your RAV drum and check how your future scale matches your current RAV drum. We recommend playing the RAV Virtual player using your mobile phone as you’ll be able to play with your fingers and simulate playing two drums at a time.