Handpan User Reviews

Handpan
Handpan
Aliaksei Vatutsin

Top reviews

I expected better for a purchase

I used to have a really good app but I guess they don’t make it anymore. So I tried every appout there and then purchased this one. There are double tones and sometimes the tones are incorrect or they change and the tones themselves are terrible. Big fail.

Plays most like real

This handpan app also gives the different sounds the pan makes between the notes - more like a real handpan. It also allows three types of strikes, although you change those by touching an icon, not by how you actually hit the screen. This is my favorite virtual handpan, and it makes me want to get the real thing so much.
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Promising: but latency terrible

I’ve tried this on an iPad Pro and a recent iPhone, and it still takes several hundred milliseconds for it to respond to tapping a key making it unplayable. The hardware has been able to do this stuff instantly for many years so it’s just poor programming. I’d love to buy this again but for now I have refunded it because it’s unacceptable quality in this day and age.
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Response from developer

Could you please give details, which version of iOS and devices do you use? Such big latency is not acceptable if only you not using bluetooth headphones - it's hardware restrictions described in alert when you plug on such kind of headphones. Even GarageBand by Apple warn about latency issues if you are using bluetooth headphones. Thank you in advance!

Latency!

Warning— this app has severe latency issues. Forget trying to play along to your favorite rhythm track or another percussionist. You can’t. The latency is SO BAD! Waste of money!

A little disappointed.

I had hoped from reading the reviews, that this would be the ultimate handpan simulator app. The sound is terrible on it though. The clip noise at the beginning of each note tone is so distracting and just sounds awful. I like the option to record, but it just sounds like clicking and a bit of handpan because the note tones are a mess.
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Smooth with Subtle Details

This app handles faster play styles better than the others in the store. Inorganic splices in the audio files were minimal. The drums have a pleasant character to their tones and I love the attention to detail where different sounds can be found by exploring outside of the predefined zones of the drum surface.
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Awful.

Wasted my money.

Wonderful features

I’ve tried several different handpan/hang drum apps, and this is by far the best, with the fullest feature set. It’s the only one I’ve seen that creates different tones when striking between the marked areas, just like a real handpan. And I love that I can record a basic track, then play that back and play along to it. It would be great if I could keep doing this: record this new double track and play along to create yet another track, and so on, so that I could easily multitrack a song. Only other wish is for additional drums with different tunings (Celtic, Asian, Middle Eastern, etc.)
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Response from developer

Thanks! I'm thinking about next update features, stay tuned!

Lags on iPhone 6S+

It’s unplayable. After a few seconds it can’t keep up and starts stuttering. This happens every single time. It’s a real shame too, because it sounds nice and has some very cool effects. However, I wouldn’t waste your money on this app. At least not on this version.

Response from developer

Please, let me know after which actions you noticed stuttering? I'm planning to release major update soon, and with your details could help me fix this issue.

Handpan

This is an attractive app that has beautiful sounds and some interesting features, but the latency makes it completely useless as a musical instrument. The delay between hitting a note and the onset of the sound makes it unplayable, rhythmically speaking. As a drum circle facilitator, I was hoping to be able to add this to my musical toolkit, but, instead, I’ve wasted 2 bucks. If they ever solve the latency issue, THEN it would be a very appealing instrument!
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Response from developer

I'm planning to release new major version soon that should fix the latency issue too. So, stay tuned!

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