- Roland Mood Pan is a Bluetooth speaker and musical instrument
- Based on traditional acoustic hand pans, and it’s a midi -trigger
- It costs $ 659 / £ 544 / AU $ 1,199
Roland’s Mood Pan sounds like the title of a sitcom or the name of a hipster ramen store, but it’s something very creepy: It is a UFO-shaped electronic battle instrument that allows you to explore “Serene Sonic Textures” without demanding any musical ability at all. It is also A Bluetooth speaker and MIDI trigger for electronic instruments and music creation software.
Roland has a long history of producing musical hardware-drum machines is the heartbeat of house and hip-hop, and its synths are everywhere in pop, rock and EDM. But this is a little different because it is as much about enjoying the sounds as it is about playing an instrument.
It’s also really expensive, although it’s not necessarily a deal breaker: some of the most entertaining musical odds, from Keytars to Omnichords, are also quite expensive.
Roland Mood Pan: What is the plan?
Mood Pan is based on acoustic hand pans, the chimey things you hear a lot in New Age sound tracks and in the background when a beauty technology is stabbing you with needles, tearing out your body hair or cracking your back. And as a hand pan, you play it by tapping it.
There are nine cushions on top, each of which can be attached to another musical scale and can be configured so you will never play a wrong note. You can also press the pages to create more percussive sounds, mute resonating sounds and add expressions.
The great advantage over a traditional hand panel is, of course, that you are not limited to a set of sounds and a tuning. You can use Mood Pan as a drum release or a song bowl, like a gamelan or a guitar. You can use it as a peaceful soundtrack provider thanks to its four sound sports states and you can completely ruin the mood by streaming black metal to it over Bluetooth.
It looks like a fun instrument and a creative tool, but as with many acoustic hand pans, the big disadvantage is the price: for $ 659.99 / AU $ 1,199 is more expensive than a triggering device, such as native instrument maschine or novation launationpad pro. And certainly are more expensive than most Bluetooth speakers we’ve tested. But they don’t let you noodle around making music too, so maybe it’s worth it.
