Using Handpan Studio on your acoustic handpan (free)

Already own an acoustic handpan? Handpan Studio’s acoustic mode is made for you, and it’s free. You tell it your scale, the app shows your pan in colour on screen, aligned with your instrument. You see your notes, spot your chords, learn by looking — with no need for an electronic Neotone handpan.

Your pan, in colour, on your screen

The idea is simple: you choose your handpan’s key and scale, and Handpan Studio draws the exact same layout on screen, each note dressed in its ChromaKey. The screen becomes a coloured mirror of your instrument. You look at the screen, you place your hands on the pan, and the connection happens on its own.

It’s the same visual method described in Playing handpan by colours, applied to your very real instrument. No electronics required: just your pan, your phone or computer, and the desire to progress.

What acoustic mode gives you

Recognising your notes

No more “which one was that again?”. Every note has its stable colour. In a few sessions, you link colour and sound without thinking, and you find your way around your pan almost with your eyes closed.

Learning chords

The app shows you the chords of your scale as Constellations — those geometric shapes that link the notes. You see which triangle, which path to play, and you find the chord elsewhere on the pan because the shape is recognisable at a glance.

Creating and exporting — for free

In acoustic mode, creating coloured layouts and exporting your visuals are free (exports always carry a discreet watermark). You can compose your own reading of a scale and keep it in front of you. To go further, discover how scale creation works.

Bottom notes: two displays to choose from

Many acoustic handpans have bottom notes — the notes under the instrument, around the lower opening. Handpan Studio supports them and lets you choose how to display them, depending on how you picture your pan:

Star display (Notepan style) — the bottom notes appear as a ring around the main pan, handy to see everything at a glance:

Two-shell display (Yishama style) — the underside is drawn as a second pan set alongside, closer to the instrument’s physical reality:

On a rich scale like a 20-note D Kurd, these two views make all the difference for finding your way around — just pick whichever speaks to you.

Free now, more later if you want

Acoustic mode gives you the essentials at no cost: visualise, learn, create, export. Saving your personal library and the advanced functions belong to the Studio version, but nothing forces you into it to get started. You can experience real progress while staying on the free tier.

Your acoustic handpan is waiting for just one thing: to become visible. Open Handpan Studio, enter your scale, and watch your instrument light up with colour. And if you’d like some guidance, David Lesage’s lessons start from the very beginning, at your own pace.