Instruments / Hang Drum / EVI / Matt Venuti

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The Hang Drum

The newly developed Hang Drum has 9-tones, is made of steel, and employs hand and finger techniques allowing a player to evoke tones that suggest gamelan, steel pan, guitar, and harp. As a longtime player of the EVI wind synthesizer, the Hang Drum came to Matt as a welcomed acoustical accompaniment to his electronically favored musical identity.

The Hang Drum is a sophisticated tuning matrix with 9 clear tones on the top, and flipped over it doubles as an Udu-type pot drum. Matt plays both ends, but mainly the tonal top side, creating driving patterns, skanking rhythms, and tonal effects ranging from buttery to resonant.

Hang means "hand" in the Bernese language. It was developed by instrument builders Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer in Bern, Switzerland. It was the result of many years of research on the steelpan and the study of the diverse collection of instruments from around the world, such as Gongs, Gamelan, Ghatam, drums, and bells. The Hang resembles a flying saucer, and the sounds are really out of this world!

The new CD, “Dance of the Helix," showcases the versatility of the Hang Drum. Here it can be heard playing guitar-like rhythms and foundational trance-like patterns similar to an arpeggiator, as well as lead melodic lines.

Matt also enjoyed employing special effects like scraping two Hangs together (track 4 “Headstand”) and blowing the Hawaiian wind instrument Puahe into the hollow underside of the Hang and capturing the reflective tone (Track 1 “Honaunau”). Electronically induced pitch bending, filtering, and delay effects were also applied to the Hang on several tracks throughout the CD.

EVI - The Electronic Valve Instrument

Matt is a longtime player of the Electronic Valve Instrument (EVI); a fascinating musical instrument that has trumpet fingering, a 7 octave range, and extraordinary expressive capabilities accessed through the breath …allowing a player ultimate control with the limitless tonal palate available through virtual and hardware sound modules. Matt’s tones and melodic lines can range from symphonic to jazz, rock, and world influences.

The EVI’s that Matt use are custom built by Wind Synth Innovator Nyle Steiner. The EVI uses three touch-sensitive “valves” that resemble in function the valves of a trumpet. A fourth “valve”, which is actually a metallic strip that extends around the octave canister at the end of the instrument, lowers the pitch by a fourth. The canister itself, manipulated with the left hand, contains 6 cylinder shaped rollers, which the thumb glides along while the canister turns. Along with the three valves on top, the canister and fourth valve allow a player to utilize seven chromatic octaves.

The EVI also utilizes three trill, or alternate fingering keys next to the main valves.
Underneath the instrument are bend up and down plates that the right thumb operates, as well as a vibrato pad.
The mouthpiece is a simple plastic tube and includes breath-pressure and bite-pressure sensors. Biting the mouthpiece allows for portamento, or a slurring effect, and changing the bite pressure changes this rate.

Another cool feature of the MIDI EVI is the Special Button! When a player touches the special button and the canister ring at the same time, as many as ten notes played in a single passage are sustained and stored in a memory buffer which can instantly be recalled and played as a chord. The EVI can also instantly play octaves or 5ths by touching the special button and specific “valves."
Patch changes can be sent to a sound module from the MIDI EVI by touching a post underneath the instrument and a particular valve in the basic fingering of the instrument.

Earlier versions of the EVI were available commercially for about a year when Nyle Steiner licensed the instrument to AKAI in the mid 80s. Matt traveled extensively for AKAI giving EVI clinics and performances. Nyle currently custom builds the new MIDI EVIs for Matt and an exclusive group of EVI players worldwide.

The EVI plays an important role in the newest CD “Dance of the Helix”, as in most of Matt’s recordings. The title track is a good example of the versatility of this expressive midi wind controller. Here the EVI performs the duties of cello, violin, flute, guitar, string section, and theramin. Matt also uses the EVI to play all the bass lines throughout the album.