Calypso has always been an integral part of Caribana celebrations, and now the heart and soul of Caribbean music is about to be revolutionized with the world's first ever electronic steelpan.

E-Pan creator Salmon Cupid says his invention, retailing for about $3,000, has more than 128 different instrument sounds and will be on the market by August.

The E-pan can played the same traditional way as a steelpan, with sticks known as mallets, or it can be played with your fingers.

"With a normal steelpan you can only play one or two notes at a time. Now you can make a chord of ten notes if your fingers can reach it," he says.

Cupid, who is a steelpan teacher at Rosedale Public School, says he came up with the idea of "electrifying the pan" after performing in a music festival in Paris as a student in 1985.

"While I was there it came to me that there was no clear sound coming from the steelpan like instruments from other countries, because they were all amplified and electronic," he says.

"Our band was all acoustic -- they didn't know how to mic[rophone] us properly. When you are listening from a distance, you don't hear the clean sound of pan."

Cupid says he thought if he could get the pan electrified, the sound would go directly into the audio system instead of being microphoned, which often distorts the sound.

After 14 years in the making and various utility patents for instruments being granted, the production version of the E-Pan was played at the launch of Scotiabank Caribana 2009 on Tuesday.

Cupid, who's been teaching TDSB students for the past 14 years, says he believes the new technology will change the way the steelpan is played.

"Over the years, steelpans have never been on the road with a calypsonian or a band," he says.

"When you want a pan song -- a keyboard is set to steelpan. Now a panist could get a job and he can actually take the keyboardist's work if he wants to."

The E-Pan has a wide selection of popular instrument tones ranging from the piano and violin to trumpet, which Cupid says makes the possibilities endless for the panists.

"This will give the steelpan player an even playing field with the other instruments out there like the keyboard and violin that have already been electrified."

"It will give the steelpan a little more respect - most people still think that steelpans can only play on the beach and play calypso, but steelpans can play any song - be it Mozart or Jazz."

Cupid has been playing the prototype of the E-Pan here and in Trinidad for the last two years, and he says the response he's gotten has been very positive.

"I've had lots of emails, and feedback on websites like YouTube with people who have seen it and they say they can't wait to get their hands on it."

Out of the seven types of steelpans in an orchestra, only the tenor and double seconds are being released in August, but Cupid says he will have all different versions released by the end of this year.

For more information on the E-Pan, visit the NAPE Inc. website.