What is a TurtlePan ?
A TurtlePan is a custom designed and custom built steel tongue drum. This drum was designed from the ground up to be a musical instrument from the beginning. The name TurtlePan comes from the drums similarity to a turtle shell and pan because of the steel pan look. This is the second drum to come from Percussive Devices. Although I was enjoying making and playing the propane tank based drums, both full sized and the '11lb' size you may have seen, I felt there was a need for a drum that was more comfortable to hold, perhaps with more notes, and a drum that had an all new sound. Experimentation payed off. By following in the footprints of others, improving on the ideas I found, and adding my own, the TurtlePan was conceived. When I first heard the sound from the drum, I was so excited. It sounded good! All 10 notes were playable! And the notes did not ring so long that they interfered with each other if played too fast. This is a typical problem I find with the propane tank drums. Propane tank style drums sound great but tend to get a muddied sound when played to fast and require more hand to tongue damping to stop the ringing of previously played notes. I was quite pleased to find that characteristic was not as pronounced with the TurtlePan. The TurtlePan has a more balanced position right between having too much sustain, and being too muted. So now we have two great options. Both drum styles have their own sound qualities, but the TurtlePan is unique and separates itself from the pack.
After further enhancing the sound with tongue resizing and with adjustable damping I had the drum that I am now proudly offering that I hope all percussion enthusiasts will enjoy. All kinds of people, from serious musicians to drum circle leaders have purchased a TurtlePan and are reporting back with thanks and compliments.
Each TurtlePan has adjustable tuning. This means that you can always re tune your instrument. Although it has a pretty stable tuning, more so than the beloved Hang drum, it will come out of tune over time as the metal stress relieves. Stress relieving occurs over time, just sitting, and is accelerated when played because of the vibrations. Eventually the drum will be very stable. Don't worry it is a very slow process. You may not notice any need for retuning for months. But when you do, all you need is a piano and a good ear, or a cheap chromatic tuner. Most people with a guitar already have a chromatic tuner. They cost as little as 10$ on eBay, about $20 in music stores.
With the included extra magnets, and instructions, you can re tune this drum to a 'B' Akabono scale. You may have heard this scale on many of the Hang drum videos you can find on YouTube. The basic scale for the TurtlPan is Bm pentatonic. Each drum size only has a certain note range where it sounds it's best. For the TurtlePan this is a Bm scale with the tonic note being the lowest. Other scales can be made but lowest not may not be the tonic note (scale name note). So anything is possible.
Above you will see some of the many colors and designs available. Yes we take special requests! Just ask and we can work something out.
Sincerely,
Dave,
Percussive Devices.
