PLAYING ELECTRIC

   You may have seen that every Idiopan has the option to have a pickup installed, but there is so much more that you can do with your electric Idiopan than simply make it louder. With its specially designed piezo pickup,  the Idiopan can be ran through virtually any effect peddle, connecting with a quarter inch jack. This opens it up to endless possibilities for composition and adds another dynamic to this instrument, making it limitless.  In this blog, I will be sharing some of my experiences playing my electric Idiopans.  

  Before playing with any kind of effects, the first step I take in playing my electric Idiopans is to test the sound with it with only the clean setting. Due to the nature of the pickup, the drum should sound evenly balanced with the low, mids, and highs set to zero. This is because every size drum has a corresponding pickup with a high pass filter that allows it to get rid of unwanted sympathetic frequencies. Sound may vary from amp to amp, but I've noticed getting a well-balanced EQ is a fairly short and easy process. 

   Once I get my EQ sorted out, I then start experimenting with different effects to see which fits my mood best. Fortunately, I've been able to experiment with a lot of different effects equipment, but I can say that the Idiopan sounds great through both analog and digital pedals. One of my favorite effects to utilize, though, is looping. I've found that through looping I can maximize my Idiopans' full potential of being a percussive, harmonic, and melodic instrument all in one. A couple of other effects that I've found a lot of success with include delay and phaser to bring out a very spacey sound; as well as heavy octave to achieve great bass effects. The list could go on and on, but half the fun in using the effects is finding which ones work best for you! 

  If you already bought your Idiopan acoustic, or if you want to get an acoustic one for now and decide if you want to make it electric later, have no fear! You have the option to purchase a pickup for whichever size Idiopan you have. Also, instead of having to hassle with shipping Idiopan, the pickup is easy to install, and will come with an instruction guide on how to install the pickup.  Here are the corresponding Idiopan size to model pickup you will need: 

6" Bella / 8" Luna bell.....................................STDPU250 

12" Dominus...................................................STDPU150 

14" Dominus/ Dual Tone................................STDPU100 

For more videos and content of electric Idiopans, be sure to check out our Instagram, Facebook and Youtube, all linked here on our website. All of us here at Idiopan would also like to see what you all are doing with your Idiopans, so please feel free to tag #idiopan on your posts so we can check out all the different styles you play your Idiopan! For any other questions or concerns, send us a message on any of our social media platforms. 

Happy Playing,  

Logan