The Generations Test!

[david_h]

Thanks pancelticpiper.
People who liked Jerry Freeman's post may like the drawing here:
http://www.archive.org/stream/onsensati ... 3/mode/1up
Could require a wet towel round the head to follow how it is derived though !

Helmholtz took great care to separate acoustics and physiology (which is where the ratios come from) from aesthetic (including cultural) aspects. What a Generation whistle should sound like is probably among the latter.

[arnie]

I tweaked mine, a Gen G, Bb and D. All of them have become good whistles. I'm getting a F, with which I'll do the same. Jerry, still another question for you: is there a way to get just a bit of chiff out and get a somewhat purer tone, like is done with the Sindt (which sounds like a very pure sounding Generation)?

[highwood]

thanks for the link to Helmholtz - my copy is lost somewhere - and it is nice to have an searchable electronic copy.
and to Jerry's long !! list

a little clarification on the C# my -14 cents and pancelticpiper's -11 cents both result from using a 15:8 ratio (a 5:4 third times a 3:2 fifth gives 15:8 seventh) the difference in cents arises from my starting from a -2 cent D (a just fifth below A440) and rounding errors.

[pancelticpiper]

Thanks Jerry for all that!!

What's sort of odd about the old tuning of the Scottish pipes is that they used the sharp 27/20 fourth. Nowdays that's been universally replaced by the perfect fourth.

[hoopy mike]

Thanks Jerry for all that!!

What's sort of odd about the old tuning of the Scottish pipes is that they used the sharp 27/20 fourth. Nowdays that's been universally replaced by the perfect fourth.

Aren't Scottish pipes deliberately "out of tune" with themselves, playing two tones at once, or am I being over-simplistic?

[pancelticpiper]

Scottish pipes are tuned to Just Intonation, where every note of the scale is a precise beatless consonance against the harmonics produces by the drones. The drones produce the collection of notes called the "harmonic series" and each note of the bagpipe chanter's scale is tuned to these notes.

To hear what this sounds like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BXXRIqQkPo

The only note that's "out of tune" to the drones is the highest note of the chanter (the thumb note). Pipers prize a reed which produces a multiphonic on this note which pipers call the "crow". Note that while overall the note appears to be flat against the drones, there's a core to the note that's in tune with the drones. Non-pipers usually don't like this effect.

Note that the Major Sixth above the tonic/drones is 16 cents flat of Equal Temperament but blends beautifully with the drones.
Likewise the Major Third is -14 cents etc etc.

Uilleann pipes, and indeed any sort of bagpipe or other instrument which has a drone, must be tuned Just or the notes of the chanter will be out of tune against the drones. (Uilleann pipes don't have that "crow" on their thumb note however.)

[MacNeil]

Hi all!

Just got a red-headed Generations whistle set and was wondering how one goes about testing to see if the whistles are duds or the few rare good ones? As far as I can tell the D, Bb, C and F all play pretty decently, but what do I need to look for to see if these are keepers?

As far as I can tell, the general rule is "does the whistle have a Jerry Freeman "mouse" sticker on it? If so, it's a keeper.

[arnie]

You don't see it, you can only hear it. The whistles are manufactured and some are ok, others not. You can't see from the outside. You can tweak them though to make them sound more stable. Lots of threads about that here. Generaly a Gen Bb is known to be ok often, don't ask why.