Hang-Music Forum : The Place for Hang musicians

synthi wrote:

The final Bells is almost done, and the new sound models may take some time, first trying if its possible to do it and then some development.

And if you had to guess as to when we might see a product, what would you guess.  (I know this is an unfair question but I am just so excited!!) 

WOW thats awesome.   It sounds great!!!   do you have any videos of you playing it?  Not that I dont like the baby (adorable) But I would like to hear how it sounds.

Thanks a lot MrFox! I`m glad you get something out of my playing!

There are some files I made using Hang samples when researching the Bells scales some months ago. I had them hide because I didn´t want people get confused about what they actually heard, since at the time there was no public recordings of the Bells sound.
Now, with all the interest about scales in the Bells and Halo, and because people ask me about the Bells scales, I think those files will be helpful for people who can´t get the idea of how will sound or what mood will give a determined scale.
Again, Those scales are made using samples of a Hang, in fact those are the Soniccouture samples.
I think with that in mind, and with the sound from the Bells videos you can take a good aproach about the scales. Here they are:

Bells alto scales - http://www.mediafire.com/?kyyzqzezbw3
Bells bajo scales - http://www.mediafire.com/?wm2jygijnj3

You`ll heard the scale up/down and then pairs of adjacent notes right-left.
comments??

Josue.

Agree! I especially love the alto scales King Island, 5th, 7th, Olympos, Nihavend and Raga Desh, but Kaffa is definitely my favorite. I think it's the same als old PanArt's Hijaz tuning, but transcribed? Not sure though ^^ that's just what it sounds like to me . I'm curious to hear how the moving is going!

I`m pretty sure all the scales will be available from the begining

pulpfiction1 wrote:

but Kaffa is definitely my favorite. I think it's the same als old PanArt's Hijaz tuning, but transcribed? Not sure though ^^ that's just what it sounds like to me .

It's the same tone circle, but it's a whole step higher than the Ding, relative to how PANArt's Hijaz was tuned. I.e. if you took a Kaffa Bell, you'd have to raise the Ding to G to make it *exactly* like a Hijaz.

I've played with these two a good bit (on a guitar) and find both variations deep and desirable...

I will be quite thrilled if I can get a Kaffa Bell .

aaron

Last edited by aaron_in_sf (2009-07-08 19:29:27)

CheapBastid wrote:

aaron_in_sf wrote:

pulpfiction1 wrote:

but Kaffa is definitely my favorite. I think it's the same als old PanArt's Hijaz tuning, but transcribed? Not sure though ^^ that's just what it sounds like to me .

It's the same tone circle, but it's a whole step higher than the Ding, relative to how PANArt's Hijaz was tuned. I.e. if you took a Kaffa Bell, you'd have to raise the Ding to G to make it *exactly* like a Hijaz.

There appear to be three Hijaz Nahawand (the decending form of Hijaz that the 1st Gen PANArt Hang was based on) Bells models:

Nihavend (Hijaz in C)
Kaffa (Hijaz in G)
Double Phrygian (Hijaz in A like the PANArt version, but shifted to lower starting notes)

The Hijaz Nahawand could also be considered a Dorian b2 b5 (2nd mode of harmonic minor) listed on this site:

http://www.dolmetsch.com/pianochords.htm

Not that I'm a fan of that mode, or anything...

The simplest way of saying this IMHO is that these are all modes of harmonic minor. The original PANArt Hijaz and the Kaffa are both 5th mode; the Nihavend is 2nd mode. In all cases the Ding is in that mode, but it plays a different role depending.

It is quite remarkable (in my opinion) how different each of these modes sounds when constrained to the limited range of the handpans under discussion; in exploring these I came ultimately to the opinion that the 5th mode chosen by PANArt originally is the most compelling -- at least, to my tastes.

The others have their charms -- I think I am going with a Kiavara Halo, for example, which is based on the first (normal) mode of Harmonic Minor, but without a fourth -- but I think there's a little magic in the specific intervals you get with the fifth mode.

In particular the root major third triad embedded in the scale works in a fascinating way against the minor second and other flatted notes... I find that particular "ugliness" the heart of the scale's addictive quality -- to me.

One of wonders of the Hang IMO is that it has such a limited range, but such deep expressive possibilities. I think the Hijaz tuning was one of the real gems of the older tunings, whatever other compromises it required that PANArt ultimately found unacceptable...

...so I'm very excited that Luis is hopefully making Bells in that Kaffa tuning!  (It'll also mate perfectly with my Kiavara Halo.... this time next year I would love to have the two to play duets with by moonlight!).

aaron

synthi wrote:

People, you really like that arabic flavour!

[snip]

the olympos is taking places in the race too

Guilty! It's so different from my current Hang that I am eager to explore it...

But I agree, that Olympos is one of my very favorites from the Alto tunings!

If it all works out with my Kiavara Halo, maybe I will someday get it to hear it with both a Kaffa Bell and an Olympos... both would work perfectly...

best
aaron

lino wrote:

mynameislee2 wrote:

confused it with the previous and I believe now defunct blackbell related instrument.

Indeed! If my story is an example, it's a combination of things... for over a year I confused Bellsart with Blackbells, who I knew to be all fluff and no substance, if not an outright fake. Once I realized that they were different, I looked up the relevant threads here and found Luis' old video (of 2008, I believe) which showed that he had yet quite a long way to go. Don't forget that the videos documenting how far he's come since are quite recent - by the time I saw those I already had put down my deposit for a Halo (and very happy with that).

In fact I am still not on Luis' waiting list (though I guess I really should be), for several reasons:
1) There is no official note of any waiting list, or how to get onto it, that I could find on the website. I assume it's just a matter of sending an email to Luis, but I dislike not having any clear information about that.
2) The website is, frankly, not confidence-inspiring. Not only because it's Spanish-only (which I can sort-of read), but it's also quite disorganized - clearly not a professionally run outfit.
3) I have no idea who Luis is, where he's coming from, and what his motivation is in all this. This is important to me. Worse, I have lingering bad feelings about things like the sensationalistic pre-announcements, the blatant imitation of PanART in the name BellsART, and so on.

This is not a critique of Luis - he may well be a wonderful guy who only has the best motivations in this. The bad points in the name, announcements, website may simply mean that he's not a marketing guy, which is a good thing in my book. The problem is, I simply do not know.

These are quite spiritual instruments, and (at the danger of sounding new-ageish) there is a karmic connection with their maker. I want an instrument that was created in the right spirit, one that does not come with any "bad taste" attached to it. With PanART, I have information about their history, their attitudes, their goals, etc. in creating the Hang, and so I can properly appreciate their art/work as a whole. Thus should I ever have the privilege of being invited to the Hanghaus, I'd be absolutely thrilled.

With Pantheon Steel, I likewise have a pretty good idea (thanks in large part to Danny's posts) who Kyle is, his background, his attitude towards PanART, why he's interested in the Hang, his goals in creating the Halo, and so on. I understand these things, and I approve, and therefore had no problem with putting down a $250 deposit for my Halo.

Luis by contrast is a stranger to me. He appears to be a newcomer, with no prior experience in making steel pans. He appears to have made amazing progress towards producing a quality instrument in very short time. How does he do this? Is he a genius working intuitively, or does he have a lot of technical/engineering knowledge he can apply? Is he rich so he can afford what he's doing, or is he poor and mortgaged his home in order to do this? Does he have help, or work on his own? Has he found his true calling now, or is he simply trying to cash in on the Hang craze? I have read all of this thread but still have next to no idea about these things.

I do not think I will want to own a Bells until I know much more about its maker. Once people from this forum are buying his instruments, travel to Spain to meet him, and so on, I will probably get a better idea about the maker as well as the instrument, and may well decide I want one. Even if there's no deposit, it seems a bit strange to me though to go on a waiting list when if Luis should call me tomorrow to say he has a Bells for me I'd have to tell him I'm not ready for it yet.

Hello everyone,
I have been traveling for a long time and I haven't had a chance to check the forum or post here, and now that I've done it I have found all this mess about the bad feelings and the forum change. I don't even know what has happened here and I am not even sure if someone will read this, but just in case...
Lino, some months ago I had a chance to visit Synthi at his studio and there I could try several bells. Honestly, I was amazed to discover what Luis is doing. The instruments I tried were just unbelievable both as far as sound and appeareance is concerned. I understand that the website can arise some doubts due its basic design but don't let this mislead you, the instruments are another story... I have had a 2nd generation hang for two years now, and even if I had not Synthi's knowledge in terms of sound and acoustics, I can tell you that the Bells is a worthy alternative to the hang (and please, I don't want to compare or liven up the debate about the hanglike instruments but only ratify the quality of Luis attempt to build his own version of the istrument).
Greetings to all.


Luis