Prehistoric times
The RAV Vast era started in 2013 when the engineer Andrey Remyannikov inspired by steel pan drumming got an idea to create a drum instrument that will be able to overcome the musical parameters of the handpan. What is a handpan? It’s a membrane instrument. Andrey's idea was to recreate the same sound quality with the tongue instrument as the tongues are more adjustable and provide exciting opportunities for technical development.
The first prototypes were built of gas tanks and had nothing similar to the RAV Vast you can see today. Then Andrey started working on modeling a brand-new shape and experimenting with the tongues. After hundreds of steel drum instrument prototypes, the unique shape of the RAV Vast tongue drum was created.
The First Generation of the RAV Vast drum
The first RAV metal drum instrument created had 8 tongues with the chamfers between them. The Om-symbol was in the center of the tongue making another slot for the sound to come out. The Ding side was pinned to the Gu side and the edge of the drum had a completely different shape. This first RAV Vast was accurately tuned but still didn’t have the ribs inside that provide the amazing sustain the instruments have today.
Medieval Epoque
The time was passing and the RAV drum was evolving. The second generation of the RAV Vast got its authentic shape. The drum still had seven tongues placed around the Ding. The drum got a smooth edge braced with a rubber. All the RAV drums starting from the Second Generation had the hydrophobic cover to protect them from rust. The drums had a tarnishing color with a blue undertone. The RAV Vast drums of the first and second generation were only tuned from the outside.
The Second Generation of the RAV Vast drum
The Renaissance
While keeping on improving the RAV Vast, we increased the number of tongues up to 9 and began to tune the instruments from the inside as well, it let us provide a better sound and a smoother surface of the drum. In this period, we considerably improved the sound parameters of the RAV Vast. That was the moment when the RAV Vast got its metal blue color.
The Third Generation of the RAV Vast drum
New Age
A smooth, soft, accurately-tuned drum with up to 7 harmonious overtones on each tongue, incredibly long sustain, a shining brass edge, increased number on tongues (9+1). This RAV Vast was almost perfect and this is the drum that became ubiquitous. It seemed to have nothing to improve, but…
The Fourth Generation of the RAV Vast drum
The RAV Vast today
We never stay on the same place! We were intended to make the RAV Vast the most robust and durable tongue drum, so we replaced the hydrophobic coat with a new ultimate paint that has astonishing protective characteristics. Now you can never worry about the rust and lubricants. These new RAV Vast drums available for sale in our online store and at official partners is water- and dust-resistant and is a flawless musical instrument with unbeaten sound characteristics. Each drum is manually tuned and checked by a bunch of sound engineers to provide you with the best quality.
The Fifth Generation of the RAV Vast drum
We constantly work on improving our metal instrument drums, provide you with the best sound and new music scales.
Have any ideas on the RAV Vast improvement? Share them with us at hi@ravvast.com.