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The Hang is produced by PANArt Hangbau AG. The company was founded in 1993 as the steel band movement in Germany began to explode.
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Some people refer to the Hang as a 'hang drum' but the inventors of the instrument do not like this term.
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The Hang was introduced publicly in 2001 at Muskimesse Frankfurt.
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The Hang is produced with two half-shelled shape nitride steel pieces with seven notes tuned around a center tone.
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Prior to the release of the Hang there had been 25 years of research in regards to the steel pan and its acoustics and construction technology. The Hang is constructed with special steel with high nitrogen content, with high rigidity.
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Unlike the steel pan the Hang is created with steel of a consistent thickness.
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Two physicists were involved in the creation of the Hang. They taught the inventors about vibration and resonation. The physicists were Uwe Hansen and Thomas Rossing.
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The notes of the Hang are domes. The tuning process is difficult and hard to teach because of how involved it is.
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The first generation of Hang instruments were released in 2001 until 2005. The second generation of Hang instruments were released in 2006. The Low Hang was released in 2005, and the Integral Hang was released in 2008. The Free Integral Hang was released in 2010. The Hangs all have unique differences in construction and sound.
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In 2002 a distributor in the U.S. started referring to the Hang as a hang drum, and PANArt cut ties with them.
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Although classified as a percussion instrument the Hang is not a drum because of the way the sound is produced.
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The company that invented the Hang said it would cease to make the instrument in 2013 and moved on the Gubal, which is similar to the Hang.
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Since the introduction of the Hang by PANArt there have been similar instruments created by other companies including the Halo, the Halo Cirrus, Halo Stratus, BELLArt Bells, the Spacedrum, the Caisa, and the Bali Steel.
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Buying an original Hang is not simple. You have to travel to Switzerland to purchase one, unless you can find one for sale online by someone who purchased it in the past.
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