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The DIY e-HandPan is an open-source, low-cost musical interface that utilizes Arduino and ESP32 microcontrollers to create an expressive handpan experience for performance and education. By leveraging inexpensive components and recycled materials, this instrument is designed to be accessible and customizable, allowing users to modify its hardware and software configurations. Key features include real-time audio and MIDI generation, as well as a bi-color LED guidance system that aids in learning, making it suitable for both beginners and advanced users in educational settings.
This low-cost, customizable handpan interface not only democratizes music creation but also enhances learning with integrated visual aids.
We present DIY e-HandPan, a new open-source, low-cost and customizable handpan audio and MIDI protocol interface designed for musical performance, education and research. The proposed hardware is built from inexpensive electronic components and recycled materials using widely available fabrication techniques, making it accessible to makers, educators and researchers. The instrument can be implemented on two distinct MicroController Unit (MCU): Arduino or ESP32. The microcontroller captures strike velocity to provide expressive musical performance comparable to that of an acoustic handpan. In addition to real-time audio and MIDI generation, DIY e-HandPan integrates a bi-color LED guidance system capable of displaying musical sequences from MIDI files, providing an effective learning aid for beginners and educational activities. The modular architecture allows users to easily customize the number of notes, hardware configuration and embedded software according to specific applications. We present the complete hardware design, firmware and assembly instructions and we discuss the design choices and limitations, to evaluate the system in representative educational and musical performance scenarios. All design files, source code and documentation are released under an open-source license to improve the reproducibility and encourage further developments by the open hardware community.
