Synthetic Reeds
- KDMARTINKY
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Synthetic Reeds
I have been doing some research and have found synthetic reeds for drones, but haven't seen anything written or offered about synthetic chanter reeds.
Question: Are there synthetic reeds out there somewhere? If so what would be the pros or cons to going synthetic?
Thanks
Question: Are there synthetic reeds out there somewhere? If so what would be the pros or cons to going synthetic?
Thanks
Keith
Bionn dha insint ar sceal agus leagon deag ar amhran
There are two versions of every story and twelve of every song
Bionn dha insint ar sceal agus leagon deag ar amhran
There are two versions of every story and twelve of every song
- NicoMoreno
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Keith,
Why don't you worry about playing what you've got for now?
Synthetic reeds have been discussed, although you'll find most people refer to them as plastic.
Search for plastic chanter reeds and you'll find lots of info about how crappy and useless they are. (Paraphrasing, but that's what I got out of it).
Or you could take a moment, and practise applying steady bag pressure while playing long tones.
Nico
Why don't you worry about playing what you've got for now?
Synthetic reeds have been discussed, although you'll find most people refer to them as plastic.
Search for plastic chanter reeds and you'll find lots of info about how crappy and useless they are. (Paraphrasing, but that's what I got out of it).
Or you could take a moment, and practise applying steady bag pressure while playing long tones.
Nico
- ausdag
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Keith,
No one has yet been able to develope an adequate synthetic UP chanter reed. There have been attempts, but the 2nd octave business seems to be the constant hurdle. I've a friend and pipemaker who has made vast inroads into GHB plastic reeds for which he is fast gaining a sought after reputation amongst pipemajors around the globe. But as for UP, he is still scratching his head.
His synthetic drone reeds are top-notch and in his design of UP drone, which is slightly different from the usual, you couldn't tell his composite drone reeds apart from well-made cane drone reeds.
His name is Malcolm McLaren. If you are interested in his drone reeds or plastic GHB reeds, PM me for his email address.
Cheers,
DavidG
No one has yet been able to develope an adequate synthetic UP chanter reed. There have been attempts, but the 2nd octave business seems to be the constant hurdle. I've a friend and pipemaker who has made vast inroads into GHB plastic reeds for which he is fast gaining a sought after reputation amongst pipemajors around the globe. But as for UP, he is still scratching his head.
His synthetic drone reeds are top-notch and in his design of UP drone, which is slightly different from the usual, you couldn't tell his composite drone reeds apart from well-made cane drone reeds.
His name is Malcolm McLaren. If you are interested in his drone reeds or plastic GHB reeds, PM me for his email address.
Cheers,
DavidG
David (ausdag) Goldsworthy
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- Reepicheep
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David Daye seems to have had some initial success in this arena...
http://polarmet.mps.ohio-state.edu/~bdaye/plastrd.html
Peace!
Reepicheep
http://polarmet.mps.ohio-state.edu/~bdaye/plastrd.html
Peace!
Reepicheep
"... when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan's country, or shot over the edge of the world in some vast cataract, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise..."
- ausdag
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Nearly ten years since that article was written and no one seems to say anything anymore about playing with these reeds. Can we therefore assume that they have failed somewhere along the way, or are there pipers out there using plastic successfully?Reepicheep wrote:David Daye seems to have had some initial success in this arena...
http://polarmet.mps.ohio-state.edu/~bdaye/plastrd.html
Peace!
Reepicheep
Cheers,
DavidG
David (ausdag) Goldsworthy
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- fancypiper
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- djm
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There have been several versions of plastic reeds to replace/eliminate cane reeds for several instruments, such as GHBs, saxophone, oboe. I know that there are a lot of GHB players happy to use plastic, but the sax and oboe plastic reeds sound so different that they have not caught on much. They are extremely hard to play, even more than the hardest of cane reeds, and since they are plastic, you can count on them never getting easier.
I have not heard every plastic reed, but the ones I have to hand for oboe and UPs do NOT sound anything like a cane double reed. They have their own voice entirely. I suppose if you like their clear, nasal kazoo sound you might go for them, but personally I don't care for their sound at all - and all this before even considering whether you might get them in tune over two octaves. They just sound wierdly unpleasant.
djm
I have not heard every plastic reed, but the ones I have to hand for oboe and UPs do NOT sound anything like a cane double reed. They have their own voice entirely. I suppose if you like their clear, nasal kazoo sound you might go for them, but personally I don't care for their sound at all - and all this before even considering whether you might get them in tune over two octaves. They just sound wierdly unpleasant.
djm
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- simonknight
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I came from the sax and bassoon to the pipes. My experience with those instruments includes trying plastic reeds -
I have tried plastic bassoon reeds that worked just about OK - a double reed so perhaps more comparable to a chanter reed. The best of them played better than a really bad cane reed, but much less well than the best, properly adjusted cane. The ultimate limitation was that the tone lacked the richness and interest of a cane reed. I make my own bassoon reeds and good purchased ones are not super expensive. I'd put plastic bassoon reeds onto the 'why bother' category.
I persisited with a number of brands of sax reed - a single reed so perhaps less comparable, but it needs to do many of the same things as a chanter reed. There are a number of plastic reeds that work well in terms of response, intonation, dynamic range, flexibility, but again the tone is two dimensional compared to a cane reed. They are good enough for me to have one as a backup though.
Having gained enough experience on the chanter to realize some of the reed issues and made a couple of OK but not yet good enough reeds, I don't think I'd waste my time. The prospect of a perfect plastic reed that lasted forever is appealing, but plastic sax reeds do blow out - lose their resilience. The same might be true for a chanter reed.
In terms of making a reed (I have way more experience here on bassoon than pipes) I'd say reed quality is only one variable amongst many, and if you inspect visually and test for hardness you can reduce that variable considerably. Dimensions, scrape and opening seem to be the biggest challenge.
I have tried plastic bassoon reeds that worked just about OK - a double reed so perhaps more comparable to a chanter reed. The best of them played better than a really bad cane reed, but much less well than the best, properly adjusted cane. The ultimate limitation was that the tone lacked the richness and interest of a cane reed. I make my own bassoon reeds and good purchased ones are not super expensive. I'd put plastic bassoon reeds onto the 'why bother' category.
I persisited with a number of brands of sax reed - a single reed so perhaps less comparable, but it needs to do many of the same things as a chanter reed. There are a number of plastic reeds that work well in terms of response, intonation, dynamic range, flexibility, but again the tone is two dimensional compared to a cane reed. They are good enough for me to have one as a backup though.
Having gained enough experience on the chanter to realize some of the reed issues and made a couple of OK but not yet good enough reeds, I don't think I'd waste my time. The prospect of a perfect plastic reed that lasted forever is appealing, but plastic sax reeds do blow out - lose their resilience. The same might be true for a chanter reed.
In terms of making a reed (I have way more experience here on bassoon than pipes) I'd say reed quality is only one variable amongst many, and if you inspect visually and test for hardness you can reduce that variable considerably. Dimensions, scrape and opening seem to be the biggest challenge.
Simon
- Reepicheep
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Ummm... actually Daye's article only 8 years old (which seems to be the age of most of his web articles). His initial success seems to indicate that plastic reeds are not out of the realm of possibility (but clearly more R&D is needed). Does anyone here know if Daye has gotten any closer to making plastic chanter reed?ausdag wrote:Nearly ten years since that article was written and no one seems to say anything anymore about playing with these reeds. Can we therefore assume that they have failed somewhere along the way, or are there pipers out there using plastic successfully?Reepicheep wrote:David Daye seems to have had some initial success in this arena...
http://polarmet.mps.ohio-state.edu/~bdaye/plastrd.html
Peace!
Reepicheep
Cheers,
DavidG
I posted the link more for information's sake and not as a wholesale endorsement of plastic reeds (... I have no desire to stir that pot).
Peace!
Reepicheep
BTW:
Not nice. :roll:NicoMoreno wrote:Or you could take a moment, and practise applying steady bag pressure while playing long tones.
Nico
"... when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan's country, or shot over the edge of the world in some vast cataract, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise..."
- ausdag
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yes, 8 years, which is 'nearly ten years' We call it rounding upReepicheep wrote:Ummm... actually Daye's article only 8 years oldausdag wrote:Nearly ten years since that article was written and no one seems to say anything anymore about playing with these reeds. Can we therefore assume that they have failed somewhere along the way, or are there pipers out there using plastic successfully?Reepicheep wrote:David Daye seems to have had some initial success in this arena...
http://polarmet.mps.ohio-state.edu/~bdaye/plastrd.html
Peace!
Reepicheep
Cheers,
DavidG
Doesn't seem like it otherwise we'd have heard more about it between nearly ten years ago and now .Reepicheep wrote: Does anyone here know if Daye has gotten any closer to making plastic chanter reed?
No pot stirred here. The link was useful and the sound clip interesting. Thanks for that.Reepicheep wrote: I posted the link more for information's sake and not as a wholesale endorsement of plastic reeds (... I have no desire to stir that pot).
Cheers,
DavidG
David (ausdag) Goldsworthy
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I have had success developing synthetic reeds that will play not only the standard two octaves of the uilleann pipes, but a third (higher). I make the blades out of yoghurt containers (cut and sanded), a special kind of thread (polystyrene), and model car glue. They are as stable as synthetic ("plastic," for the pedantic ones out there) drone reeds. They sound great!
Hail Caesar!
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Can you post soundfiles?RomanPiper wrote:I have had success developing synthetic reeds that will play not only the standard two octaves of the uilleann pipes, but a third (higher). I make the blades out of yoghurt containers (cut and sanded), a special kind of thread (polystyrene), and model car glue. They are as stable as synthetic ("plastic," for the pedantic ones out there) drone reeds. They sound great!
PJ
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