“So far, PANArt has proposed a limitation on handpans that no convex dome should be builton central notes. We find this proposal unacceptable as it would compromise the soundquality, tuning stability and playing possibilities of the instrument tremendously…..”
HCU Newsletter, Sept 2023
After 15 years of disputes, mutual shitstorms, burning lots of money and a lot of unpleasant actions, there was an offer for a compromise, for Peace through an IMPEX DING. PANArt made this settlement offer to the HCU quite unexpectedly, but it was rejected by the HCU. All three other features that are now most likely protected—the lens shape, the circular arrangement of the tone fields around the device, and the Gu (resonance opening) located centrally on the lower shell – would have been accepted by PANArt. However, due to the HCU’s stubbornness, all four features will now be protected in the future.
I am not a manufacturer, and certainly not a manufacturer that operates largeproduction lines of Handpans – but I am a lover and player of these instruments for years and have already played countless great “Impex Dings“. Was long the standard at HALO for example. No one has criticized the sound. Everyone was enthusiastic.
Why this offer from PANArt was not immediately accepted by HCU is completely incomprehensible from my personal point of view ! With a little creativity and research one could even turn this mini shape change into an advantage after some time.
But clearly you only accept such an offer if you trust in your own creativity. The “sound argument” from HCU, i believe is much more about market share and already existing production lines and less about tunig-stability or sound-quality. Why were actually no Mutant Layouts or Instruments with Bottom Notes presented and thematized by HCU in court ? Why was a simple 8+1 Handpan that looks like a Hang presented to the judge as a comparison object when the trial was exclusively about visual differences between the Hang and Handpans? A question that will be exciting to answer. I think it’s about market share, about the big business with ‘Beginner Handpans’ and standardized industrial manufacturing processes for such a layout. In short, it’s about money and commercial success. Not about the instrument itself.
If you want to see how a supposedly impossible “A2 Impex Ding” sounds, here is an example from October 2017 !
Links:
HCU Newsletter, Sept.2023: https://hcu.global/newsletter-september-2023/
Pics originally published by PANTHEON STEEL – Videos by SATYA SOUND SCULPTURES
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