Electronic bagpipes - Kinda OT

vaporlock · Post by **vaporlock** » Thu Oct 24, 2002 9:22 pm

Welp, I've finally come to the conclusion that even my quietest whistle is too loud for our household. My GHPs are too loud for our neighborhood. I've started researching electronic pipes. I searched the archives and didn't find much.

Does anybody out there have experience with any of them? So far I've been able to uncover three brands; Deger, Fagerstrom and Ross (all carried by songsea.com). Are there others out there?

Thoughts and opinions are welcome. Thanks in advance,
Eric

brianormond · Post by **brianormond** » Thu Oct 24, 2002 9:54 pm

http://home.inreach.com/tmcvey/macp.htm

-Try this URL for the MacPipe sales pitch-they're expensive but some features distinguish them from the others. -I'm not a piper, and have no experience with these or others- but am intrigued.

_________________

Brian O.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: brianormond on 2002-10-24 23:55 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: brianormond on 2002-10-24 23:56 ]</font>

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Thu Oct 24, 2002 11:31 pm

I'm sure there's no money and thus no incentive in it - but wouldn't it be cool if someone would develop an electronic whistle that could be piped through a headset when you wanted to play without bothering anyone else?

Sandy Jasper · Post by **Sandy Jasper** » Fri Oct 25, 2002 12:08 am

Chuck,

One of the guys in my Mom's band has a midi clarinet, or at least that is what it looks like! It works just the way you are suggesting, it can be heard with an amp or through head phones. You can also assign different sounds to it like you do a keyboard. You blow it and use finger positions. Strange eh?

Sandy

vaporlock · Post by **vaporlock** » Fri Oct 25, 2002 12:27 am

Sandy, the midi clarinet sounds interesting. By the way, didn't I read somewhere that you were working on a whistle chanter? How is that coming? I'm really on the edge of my seat!

Brian, I checked out the links and it looks very interesting. I've added it to my "research" project.

Chuck, I think it would be col too, to have an electronic whistle. Check out http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... 74&forum=1 for an interesting conversation about it.

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Fri Oct 25, 2002 1:13 am

If it's a midi device, or an elctronic device of any sort, don't have high expectations of it sounding like a real bagpipe or whistle or anything else you get by flicking a switch. It might do so, but the good things tend to be costly.

I have a bagpipe patch on my synth. I decided to record something using that sound in the mix. I played a slow air I'd composed myself through twice just on guitar with overdubbed whistle. Then the second time through I overdubbed synthetic pipes doubling the melody. I played it for a couple of people. First time through they said, 'that's nice', then when digitipipes came in they said 'what the hell is that!!!' I got the message.

Now, if you just want something that's silent for practicing and sounds enough like the real thing for you to tell if you're getting the notes right or wrong, there's no harm in that at all.

Phizillip · Post by **Phizillip** » Fri Oct 25, 2002 1:35 am

you might give parlour pipes or small pipes a try first . They're much quieter than GHB. you can even play them in a Celtic jam/session. just my 2 cents

Phiz

Easily_Deluded_Fool · Post by **Easily_Deluded_Fool** » Fri Oct 25, 2002 1:50 am

Sandy didst scribe....
"One of the guys in my Mom's band has a midi clarinet, or at least that is what it looks like! It works just the way you are suggesting, it can be heard with an amp or through head phones. You can also assign different sounds to it like you do a keyboard. You blow it and use finger positions"

It sounds (pun) like a Digital Horn, made by Casio.
It looks like a little clarinet, and has 8 different voices. You can also put in a ROM pack and it will play different backing tracks.
There used to be a complete school band equiped with these from Wolverhampton in the UK.
Dunno if they are still made, but used to cost around £70 in the mid '80's.

AaronMalcomb · Post by **AaronMalcomb** » Fri Oct 25, 2002 3:09 am

The MACPipes look just like the Ross.
Eric and I have already exchanged posts about this. Essentially the Deger looks and has the weight and balance of a practice chanter. This is easier on the hands since you don't have to do any balancing acts while you play. The tone is better from my experience on others. Plus it uses just a 9-volt battery which is handy. And not only can you amp it and put headphones on it, you can connect to your computer to make Midi files. It's a bit pricier than the others but like I told Eric, it's the most like an instrument and the least like a toy than the others.
Cheers,
Aaron

Goldie · Post by **Goldie** » Fri Oct 25, 2002 3:55 am

We have come accross an electronic bagpipe made by Hevia last year at a festival. It is quite expensive though if I remember right it was about $6000,--. From what I understood you could play different bagpipes simulations with it so in the term of being flexible and having an all-in-one-set it was really interesting just the "empty-purse-factor" may be a problem at that price range. It sounded great even the player just had received it at that time and was not really used to it. It also looked very nice.
The only thing about it is that I have never seen in advertised by someone so I presume you can only get info direct from Hevia.

Hope this helps
Brigitte

P.S. Deger is based in Germany and does also work with musicians direct.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Fri Oct 25, 2002 4:45 am

I was the one who started that older topic about MIDI wind instruments. My research led to Yamaha and Akai producing some very sophisticated wind controllers costing upwards of $2,000... Hardly the right instrument to replace (or emulate) a simple $4 whistle.
Though not today, someday we may see a self contained electronic whistle for less than a high end wooden one.

Tyghress · Post by **Tyghress** » Fri Oct 25, 2002 6:24 am

I have the Ross pipes, and have a lot of fun with them. They are by no means 'real' pipes in any way other than the fingering and a bit of the sound. They shouldn't be considered as 'practice chanter' but as an instrument in itself. It is much chunkier than a real chanter, and not balanced, but fairly comfortable to play.

I like that I can set the base pitch and volume, plug in earphones, etc. The set I have automatically drones, but there are fancier ones where you can kill the drones and set the pitch variably.

On another tack, though, if you want a quiet whistle, the Hoover C I just got is extremely quiet. EXTREMELY quiet. It doesn't suit my purposes at all, and if you'd like to try it, you're welcomed. Let me know.

OutOfBreath · Post by **OutOfBreath** » Fri Oct 25, 2002 9:42 am

On 2002-10-25 01:31, Chuck_Clark wrote:
I'm sure there's no money and thus no incentive in it - but wouldn't it be cool if someone would develop an electronic whistle that could be piped through a headset when you wanted to play without bothering anyone else?

Actually, I remember seeing a website a year or so ago with just such a homebrew project. It used a tube with a circuit board inside. Either a gas pressure or velocity sensor, and optical sensors under the holes. I seem to recall that the project used a microcontroller chip but I don't remember whether the guy was directly driving a synthesizer or if he was using the microcontroller to generate a stream of midi commands.

It looked interesting but awfully complex, and you probably couldn't get near the expression you can with a $3 Generation. On the other hand, it might be cool to play a "whistle" using other instrument patches...

John

Patrick · Post by **Patrick** » Fri Oct 25, 2002 10:52 am

There are a couple of conversations that have taken place about the electronic pipes in the past. I can only talk about the one I have. It is a Deger chanter, purchased by my mother (grade 1 piper) before US companies started to carry them. She got one for herself and one for my dad. The price direct was pretty close to what you pay Song of the Sea or most other retailers.

This chanter is a really nice design. It is the size and shape of a long practice chanter. It also has some features that make it really nice. It has a metronome, drones that can be turned on or off, louder or quieter, volume control overall, it allows for the alternate fingering on C natural, it can be switched between GHB sound and "smallpipe" sound (sounds like a practice chanter) and it is merciless in exposing your fingering flaws.

I use it to practice after the kids are asleep. It works wonderfully for that. I don't think it is worth the cost of admission just for that, though.

Downsides are: lack of tactile feedback (my mother hardly pays hers, which is why I now have one, she says that if she can't feel the responsiveness of it, she isn't really happy with it), no breath needed (you are not building the lip strength you get when you play a PC, also this leads to playing longer than you probably should because the wrists giv out before the lungs, while with the PC, it is usually the other way around), and really there is no way to make it sound like a real bagpipe. Also, nobody else can hear you play. This is a good point or a bad point, depending on what you want.

So, that's my take on what I believe to be the best electronic chanter on the market. For around the same price, I would get a Walsh shuttle pipe or else one of his smallpipes in D. But, having one on indefinite loan has helped me a lot. It makes it possible to play the chanter when others are asleep.

I just wish I could afford one of Yamaha's silent violins for my wife to practice fiddle!

-Patrick

Sandy Jasper · Post by **Sandy Jasper** » Fri Oct 25, 2002 1:54 pm

Vapour lock

The chanter whistle is coming along quite nicely. I have one ready to send out to a customer, but am reluctant to put them up on the site as I am still finetuning the lowest notes. The biggest challenge left is getting a solid, loud low G. Because the G is in effect an extra note tacked onto the end of the scale, it required the tubing to be longer than a whistle of the same key would be. The size of the holes is an interesting challenge too. I had to move the G note further down the tube that I would prefer but it has to be that way to be big enough to let enough air through to voice properly. Moving the A down to join it makes the A too big! AHAHAHAAAA!!!

Aside from the cursed low G issue, the chanter whistle works great. It has 2 octaves just like a whistle (some notes can be played two ways... high G etc) and is in tune with the bagpipe fingering.

We are revamping the site and will have some pictures of it up in the next week or two.

Sandy