LUCKY 7! SEVEN FEATURES OF A GREAT HANDPAN.

Feature 1. High-quality tuning

No wonder tuning is a process that turns just an object into a musical instrument – it makes it sound. And tuning of a handpan or a tongue drum is a very delicate process carried out at the production stage. You can not change your instrument's tuning manually after you get it. Generally speaking, each note on a handpan should be tuned with an octave, tone and pitch. The combination of these three elements creates the essential sound of the handpan. 

Feature 2. Stability

When a handpan possesses a note stability feature, it means that its notes stay tuned regardless of changes in temperature, time or the force of the strikes. Unfortunately, low-quality handpans can easily detune from these causes, resulting in costly repairs. But RAV Vast and RAV Pan drums maintain their tuning integrity throughout the whole life, with appropriate usage, of course.

Feature 3. Absence of Crosstalk

First of all, what is crosstalk? As you know, each tongue in a tongue drum or dimple in a handpan is responsible for just one note, and when you tap it, you expect to hear just this specific note. Crosstalk is when you hear the neighboring notes that are not supposed to play at this particular time. Imagine playing several notes simultaneously on the piano. Trust us,  it will not sound nice. However, instruments with half-notes will have small crosstalk, but it will sound delicate and pleasant.

Feature 4. No impedance

The term impedance may be unknown to a newborn musician, but we will try to explain it in simple language. Impedance is a phenomenon occurring in handpans where, due to the diameter or depth of the shell, certain pitches can sound stifled or dissonant. This happens when sound waves do not correctly align when going through the instrument. With RAV Pans, there is no fear that this can happen. We've added the Heartbeats air diffuser to enhance the instrument's sound. When staying in the open positions, the Heartbeats redirects the sound waves and makes the drum sound stronger and more profound. It also stabilizes the frequencies to provide a cleaner sound. This provides a more balanced and more robust voice to the instrument.

Feature 5. Good sustain

Smooth voice and sustain are the distinct characteristic features that distinguish tongue drums and handpans from other percussion instruments. Because sustain can be a matter of personal taste, RAV has instruments with different lengths of sustain in its collection. For example, RAV Vast E Low Pygmy has a shallow shamanic sound with extremely long sustain that provides a musician with an opportunity of creating a melody like weaving lace – each following note hooks the previous one. RAV Pan F Romanian Hijaz has, on the contrary, short sustain due to small membranes. It makes it a perfect instrument for percussion and fast play.

Feature 6. Percussive sounds.

You probably play your RAV drum by tapping the tone fields if you are a beginner. However, there is a wide range of other movements that make the instrument produce different kinds of sounds. They are knocks, slaps, pitch bends etc. These extra sounds can add more color and character to your melodies. To learn these techniques, you need to be a RAV member. Then you will have access to free video lessons shot by professional percussionists. 

Feature 7. Rust-resistant material

Our RAV Vast drums are made of stainless steel and covered with protective paint, and RAV Pans are made of nitride steel. Both types of our RAV drums are resistant to any kind of aggressive agents, including moisture and chemicals. In addition, the drum's shape provides its rigidity and makes it shockproof. So you can play it in any surrounding and environment. The material also implies easy maintenance. It would be best if you simply wiped your drum with a wetted rag from time to time to remove dust and then wipe it dry.