Traditional acoustic handpans are expensive and time-consuming to manufacture, as each instrument needs to be tuned by hand. This results in the worldwide supply of quality handpans being low, relative to the growing demand. They are also expensive, selling for anywhere from USD 2,000 to USD 10,000.
This was the primary reason that the Lumen was invented; demand for these instruments far exceeds the global supply and causes prices to be inflated beyond the reach of the average musician.
Lumen is an electro-acoustic instrument: it performs and feels like an acoustic percussion instrument, but is flexible and modifiable thanks to its incorporation of electronics and professionally recorded digital samples.