Tilbury Music Company world tour

[anniemcu]

It arrived today. I've not had a chance to give it much of a workout. Session was not a whistle night for me this week.

I must say that it is lovely to look at and hold. Very nicely made and finished - smooth as silk and light in weight.

[benbrad]

I'm glad to hear you have it. I hope you enjoy playing it.

[Dameon]

I'm truly, honestly not trying to slag you ... But isn't the intonation of that clip pretty far off? The recording quality itself seems OK.

Never said it was an awesome performance of mine. Still getting used to the whistle. Slag away.

[MTGuru]

Understood! Again, not slagging. These kinds of issues are what demo clips are for.

[Ballyshannon]

I'm truly, honestly not trying to slag you ... But isn't the intonation of that clip pretty far off? The recording quality itself seems OK.

Never said it was an awesome performance of mine. Still getting used to the whistle. Slag away.

I can hear that the whistle clearly needs some tweaking, but actually it's in the correct general key. It's the guitar accompaniment that's throwing everything off. With all due respect, I've never heard anything quite like that . It's like the guitar is playing a completely different tune and never the twain shall meet.

[Dameon]

Ha, the guitar accompaniment is something I've been playing with. It sounds off because it's computer generated.

[Ballyshannon]

Ha, the guitar accompaniment is something I've been playing with. It sounds off because it's computer generated.

Aha! Very interesting. How are you going about producing it?

Maybe this should start a new thread?

[Dameon]

It's not a simple process...The program that generates the guitar accompaniment is a program called RealGuitar, which takes MIDI input and does the guitar stuff to go with it. To get the MIDI input, I have a program called LoopBE that gives me a virtual MIDI port which one program can output to while another (RealGuitar, in this case) uses that port for input. I import the ABC for a tune into a program called Harmony Assistant, which is a music composing program, and set it up so when it plays, it outputs the music to my virtual MIDI port, so it's sending everything to RealGuitar.

Really, it'd be easier to find a decent guitar player and get them to play along

[benbrad]

I need to contact Marisa Lerew who is on the western leg of the whistle tour. Marisa, if you see this please PM me regarding the tour.

[Ballyshannon]

It's not a simple process...The program that generates the guitar accompaniment is a program called RealGuitar, which takes MIDI input and does the guitar stuff to go with it. To get the MIDI input, I have a program called LoopBE that gives me a virtual MIDI port which one program can output to while another (RealGuitar, in this case) uses that port for input. I import the ABC for a tune into a program called Harmony Assistant, which is a music composing program, and set it up so when it plays, it outputs the music to my virtual MIDI port, so it's sending everything to RealGuitar.

Really, it'd be easier to find a decent guitar player and get them to play along

Sounds like a lot of work, but interesting. It'd probably work ok in general as long as you have control of placing the correct chords where they're supposed to be. But you're right. There's no substitute for a good guitar player. Is there a session in your area where you might be able to hook up with one who knows some ITRAD...or at least a guitarist who'd be willing to learn?

[benbrad]

Okay, I have heard from Marisa and everything is back on track. Peter Braccio should be receiving the western tour whistle in a few days. So the tours now stand with the following order:

Western Tour: en route to Peter Braccio

Central Tour: in possession of Annie McUmber

Eastern Tour: in possession of Tom Cunningham

I think that is correct.

[ctilbury]

Everyone,

I have reduced the price for the tour instruments to $60. If anyone wants one, just send me an email. My address is http://chuck.at.whistlemaker.com
I have 20 of them If there are any left over after the tour, I will place them on ebay and try to pay off the machine shop that made them for me.

PS: How do you like my email address obfuscation? I am told that it works great. Any email address harvest spider will think it is a web address, but you will know to leave off the http:// and translate the .at. to a @.

[plunk111]

My lovely spouse says that I am now in possession of the Eastern whistle (but I'm at work, so haven't seen it yet)... Dennis - can you send me a PM to let me know if you're still "on" please?

LATER: Well, I've spent a little time with the whistle. Not sure why there haven't been many comments here, but I'm going to give my initial impressions.

This is an absolutely beautiful whistle! Very well made - fit and finish are superb. That's the good part... Now for the other stuff. This whistle is very "airy" across both octaves and the upper octave is quite flat until you push it (a LOT). It can be played on pitch across the octaves, but the air difference is very big - i.e. breath requirements in the lower octave are about normal for a large-bore whistle, but upper octave requirements are disproportionally large. There is plenty of slide to adjust the tuning.

It seems to me that the bore may be a little too large, the fipple plug should be moved back (i.e. "lipward") by about a milimeter, and the ramp (or whatever you call the part where the actual sound is produced) should be thickened and angled a bit (as opposed to the straight, thin edge provided in this whistle).

Bottom line first impression: gorgeous whistle with great possibilities after a few design tweaks. With a slightly smaller bore and adjustments to the windway, this will be a great whistle.

Pat

[benbrad]

Hi all. I am a CMA member (Christian Motorcycle Assosciation) and am leaving soon for our annual Changing Of The Colors Rally. It lasts four days and I will be gone until Sunday night. I just wanted to let you all know in advance in case anyone tries to contact me while I am gone. If anyone has any questions I won't be leaving before late tomorrow (Thursday Oct. 16th). You can PM me or e-mail me directly. Keep the tour going and enjoy the whistles. Thanks.

benbrad at cablelynx dot com

[ctilbury]

My lovely spouse says that I am now in possession of the Eastern whistle (but I'm at work, so haven't seen it yet)... Dennis - can you send me a PM to let me know if you're still "on" please?

LATER: Well, I've spent a little time with the whistle. Not sure why there haven't been many comments here, but I'm going to give my initial impressions.

This is an absolutely beautiful whistle! Very well made - fit and finish are superb. That's the good part... Now for the other stuff. This whistle is very "airy" across both octaves and the upper octave is quite flat until you push it (a LOT). It can be played on pitch across the octaves, but the air difference is very big - i.e. breath requirements in the lower octave are about normal for a large-bore whistle, but upper octave requirements are disproportionally large. There is plenty of slide to adjust the tuning.

It seems to me that the bore may be a little too large, the fipple plug should be moved back (i.e. "lipward") by about a milimeter, and the ramp (or whatever you call the part where the actual sound is produced) should be thickened and angled a bit (as opposed to the straight, thin edge provided in this whistle).

Bottom line first impression: gorgeous whistle with great possibilities after a few design tweaks. With a slightly smaller bore and adjustments to the windway, this will be a great whistle.

Pat

I have made some adjustments. I am quite pleased with the results. I will post some pics and some sound bytes this weekend. Basically, I am going back to a tweaked version of my previous design.