Lumen Handpan

We get hands‑on with a unique percussive instrument from Lumen.

Conceived 10 years ago by South African Guy Jackson as a DIY project, on the back of a salad bowl in a kitchen, and initially funded by an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, the Lumen digital handpan has been a long time coming.

If you’re not already familiar with the handpan as an acoustic instrument (see the ‘Handpan History’ box, later), the Lumen probably looks like a particularly odd proposition. With its dome‑shaped shell and nine pads, it has been designed to emulate its acoustic counterpart both physically and sonically. A built‑in speaker and battery allows the instrument to be played anywhere without additional power or amplification but, unlike an acoustic handpan, you can change instruments, keys, scales and volume on the fly. MIDI and USB connectivity take the Lumen into the digital domain for easy integration into your studio setup. I’m not sure if the world has been waiting for a digital handpan, but as a player myself, I was intrigued to see how it stacked up as an electronic version of one of the most unique percussion instruments around.

Ring Of Confidence

The Lumen ships in a padded, hard‑shell backpack with a small pocket on its side to carry the power supply. This not only looks fantastic but protects it extremely well, and is ideally suited to the unique nature of the product. The instrument itself is around 19 inches across — a little smaller than most of the acoustic handpans I have encountered. The upper surface also has less of a pronounced dome than a regular handpan, which further emphasises its compact look and feel.

The shell is made from spun aluminium and has eight FSR (Force Sensitive Resistor) Thermal Poly Rubber pads evenly distributed around it, with a ninth pad in the centre. The pads each have their own dedicated signal processors and feature five pressure‑sensitive zones that detect where you strike the pad, as well as the physical pressure you apply.

All the Lumen’s functions are addressed with a grooved ring around the central pad, the LEDs providing feedback.All functions of the Lumen are controlled via the central control panel, a unique touch interface that comprises a two‑inch‑wide, hard‑plastic ring surrounding the centre pad. The inner part of the ring has a touch‑sensitive groove that runs almost all the way round, with a small gap at the point where it faces the player. Pushing on the outer part of the ring with a single, double or long press selects the menu, and running your finger around the grooved section changes the selection or parameter value. A ring of bright blue LEDs mirrors your moves.

It does take time to get used to this innovative way of controlling the Lumen, but after a while it becomes second nature, so you can move around the various menus quickly and, more importantly, without having to stop playing.

One of the big differences between the Lumen and other percussion controllers is the inclusion of a 30‑watt speaker mounted inside the unit, which (in conjunction with a large‑capacity, 10800mAh onboard battery with a quoted playing time of six hours) enables it to be played as a standalone instrument. A perforated grille runs around the outer edge of the unit, giving full 360‑degree sound coverage with not inconsiderable volume — certainly comparable to an acoustic handpan — and a very acceptable tone.

The underside of the Lumen is similarly dome shaped, with a slightly deeper curve that allows it to sit very comfortably on your lap. At the very base of the unit, in the area that would occupy the soundhole on an acoustic handpan, is where the audio and MIDI connections are located. Connectivity is limited to a single MIDI output port, quarter‑inch stereo jack output, and a USB port that supports both MIDI in and out (to and from your DAW). The last can also be used to load new sounds and update firmware by way of a connection to a Mac or PC. There is also a 12.5V DC PSU connector for charging the onboard batteries but, interestingly, no on/off switch.

The rear — or under — panel includes a MIDI out port, quarter‑inch audio output, a socket for the external PSU and a USB‑B port for charging and interfacing with a computer.

Press To Play

After turning on the Lumen, via a long push of the outer control ring, the built‑in sounds take a second or two to load and you’re ready to play. The unit ships with four instruments pre‑loaded: a first‑generation PANArt Hang; a Hang Mk2; a Pantheon Steel Halo; and a Balinese bamboo percussion instrument called a Tingklik. A fifth instrument, the Halo Sub Voyage, is also included as part of the package, but all instruments except the Tingklik are over 1GB in size, meaning that the 4GB internal memory can only accommodate up to four of them.

Library management is handled via the straightforward Lumen Library program, which also handles firmware updates and sound library purchases. Lumen Library makes it simple to swap out sounds, although loading in a 1.3GB handpan does take a good few minutes.

All the sounds have been professionally sampled by Soniccouture, who have partnered with Lumen to create both the internal sounds and additional libraries that can be purchased from the Lumen website.

Each instrument contains 1350 unique samples divided into various velocity layers, with at least three round‑robin samples for each of the velocity layers and at least 10 velocity layers. The five pressure‑sensitive zones on each pad enable the Lumen to mimic an acoustic handpan, by assigning five different characters of samples to each pad: fundamental, vertical overtone, horizontal overtone, second harmonic and third harmonic, the last produced by holding a pad and striking a parallel edge, exactly as you would on an acoustic instrument.

Further enhancements can be achieved by adjusting the velocity curves to match your playing style, and by changing the aftertouch, brightness and expression values, which affect the level of dampening when pressure is applied to a pad.

All the above facilitates very realistic and expressive playing, using techniques that are familiar to an acoustic handpan player. However, as you might expect with something as tactile as a handpan, there are a number of concessions that need to be made to the fact that the Lumen is an electronic instrument. The pads are certainly responsive and dynamic, and the samples sound realistic, but it isn’t possible to get exactly the same subtleties of touch you would from an acoustic instrument.

The other glaring omission for me is that there is no sound attached to the actual shell. The handpan is as much a rhythmical percussion instrument as it is a tuned one, and much of its signature sound is achieved by thumping, hitting or tapping the shell, something that is sadly missing from the Lumen’s box of tricks.

A Flying Saucer Full Of Secrets

Acoustic handpans are not chromatic instruments, meaning that they can’t play every note possible, like a piano or a guitar, but instead are bound to the notes of a single musical scale, like a harmonica (although that’s probably where the similarity between those two instruments ends!). Consequently, you potentially need a different handpan for every key you want to play in, which of course isn’t practical. Handpan scales are also a complex subject, as they often lie somewhere between full diatonic scales and extended chords. Each scale has a specific sound or emotion, which is why the scales are given odd names like Hijaz, Kurd, SaByeD and Celtic.

This is where the Lumen comes into its own, with the ability to instantly choose from a huge range of built‑in scales and keys at the touch of a button. Two presses of the outer control ring brings up the Key menu, where you can scroll up or down in half steps, with most instruments offering a key range from B2 to C6. Three presses takes you to the Scale menu, where you can scroll alphabetically through the 16 available scales that give each handpan its unique character, from Agean through to Raga Desh and Pygmy. You can even create and name your own unique scales, as there are always new ones to discover out there in the world of acoustic handpans.

Technology Meets Art

Although the inclusion of the internal speaker and battery suggests the Lumen is geared to self‑contained live performance, the stereo audio output, MIDI socket and USB port also enable it to integrate with other MIDI and computer‑based equipment in a studio setting.

Connecting the Lumen to a Mac via USB required no additional drivers and it was immediately ‘seen’ by my DAW. The USB connection provides MIDI communication in both directions, so you can record your performance directly into your DAW and have it played back from the Lumen, complete with all performance articulations and nuances.

Each pad transmits on its own MIDI channel, and each of the five pad zones (along with the vertical and horizontal harmonics) are transmitted as patch changes — when you strike a different area of the pad, a patch change is recorded by your DAW, along with the note data. This enables the Lumen to select the correct zone internally when you play back the MIDI performance.

As you apply pressure to a pad, aftertouch is transmitted, along with MIDI CCs 74 and 11, controlling brightness and expression levels which, again, are reinterpreted by the Lumen on playback. Being able to record, edit and play back MIDI performances is a great feature, and opens up the potential to use a Lumen as a controller, although you would need some scripting to fully exploit the patch‑change data if you were using it with other virtual instruments.

Having a built‑in speaker (that actually sounds very good!) and a long‑lasting battery sets it apart from almost every other electronic percussion device I can think of.

Conclusion

I enjoyed playing the Lumen, a lot. It feels solid and well built, the pads are responsive, and the sampled sounds are excellent. Having a built‑in speaker (that actually sounds very good!) and a long‑lasting battery sets it apart from almost every other electronic percussion device I can think of, enabling it to work perfectly for busking, a favourite pursuit of acoustic players. The included backpack adds to the portability and essence of the instrument.

The advantage of having multiple scales and keys available at the touch of a button is very appealing, as is having access to expertly sampled versions of rare and iconic handpans. The inclusion of MIDI support is also a nice feature, something that was a big miss on the similarly esoteric Wavedrum from Korg, and extends the Lumen’s usability into the studio and recording environment. On the down side, not being able to include the contribution of the shell in your performance is disappointing, particularly if you (or Lumen) are expecting this to be a serious alternative to playing an acoustic handpan.

This is definitely a niche product and I’m unsure how appealing it would be to the casual observer. However, that’s not where it’s aimed, and with a cost similar to that of a mid‑range to high‑end acoustic instrument, the Lumen’s flexibility and functionality make it an interesting alternative to, if not a perfect replacement for, an acoustic handpan.