Is this a bagpipe? And if so, which one?

[CelticMusicLover]

ok i listen again for you and to my hearing is that it is French pipe in D. It is tricky, because he play cut when he go to F. Also, these guys in recording studio know many trricks: to fool your ear. For all I know, they may be using pipe sample played on piano, or pipe in another key transposed down to D, they know how to make you hear anything you want to hear believe me. mabe you try to talk to the people who made the soundtrack in the game? itis only %150 this way.

I actually e-mailed one of the composers (Paul Romero) of the "Heroes of Might and magic IV" soundtrack two days ago. He hasn't answered yet, but I'm quite sure it's because he's a composer, and therefore is rather busy.

[CelticMusicLover]

Btw, are there any fingering charts for the cornemuse 20 pouce? And what range does it have?

[ZdF]

http://deschosesetdautres.free.fr/index.htm?CORNEMUSE

range extend 4 tones hgher past upper octave: la, si b, si, do.

Transpose down fourth to D. Chart is for G cornemuse.

[CelticMusicLover]

Thanks!

[ZdF]

Thanks!

c'est rien

[Celtpastor]

...historically speaking, the 20 Pouces used to be played open-fingered. Not really sure, when it changed to modern half-open (= French), but the Remy Dubois from the 80ies I was allowed to play could be properly played both ways...

[CelticMusicLover]

How is it with cornemuse de centres and left-handedness? Even though I'm right-handed I play uilleann pipes left handed (otherwise I can't coordinate my fingers), and would probably (or should I say "instinctively") want to play a cornemuse du centre that way too.

[CelticMusicLover]

To be more specific --> does cornemuse makers build left-handed sets?

[Dominic Allan]

Jon Swayne's D border pipes use the RH thumb for the F nat (always have done), the bore is also radically different to the French pipes in D. As far as I am aware it's all his own work and not an intensional copy of a French instrument, any similarities are down to the laws of physics.
In my experience the French makers make their pipes in G half closed fingering and in D open! I have tried some french D pipes that respond well to half closed but the vast majority of players play them open.Watch the video of Arnuad Guenzi , he's playing with open fingering.
The instrument in the second clip sounds more Swayne like to me, his pipes have what I can only describe as a more "hollow" tone. Also the gracing and articulation sounds more like half closed fingering.

[CelticMusicLover]

I was actually going to e-mail you about this issue after having visitied your website, and seen that you make grande cornemuse bourbonaiss pipes. Now that you're here, however, I guess that won't be neccessary.

The instrument in the second clip sounds more Swayne like to me, his pipes have what I can only describe as a more "hollow" tone. Also the gracing and articulation sounds more like half closed fingering.

What do you think of the pipes played in the first clip? Is it a cornemuse du centre? And if so, is it's sound similiar to that of your grande cornemuse bourbonaiss pipes?

[Dominic Allan]

The pipes in the firts clip sound like Swaynes to me again.
My D border pipes can be heard here: http://www.myspace.com/dominicallanbagpipes
Bare in mind, these recordings aren't drenched in reverb like the clips you posted earlier!
track 1 starts with D pipes then changes to G- for some reason the D pipes sound quite harsh on this track, for sound tracks 2 and 3 are better examples.
tracks 2 and 3 are D all the way
track 4 g pipes
track 5 fretless bass!
My Grande Cornemuse sounds more like the Guenzi video, the diffence in sound is subtle, I think I can hear the difference because I've spent a lot of time around both instruments.
My D border pipes are said to have a more "French" tone by some, the bore is more like that of a cornemuse than Jon's pipes.
To avoid falling foul of the commercial posting rule I'd be happier answering questions about mypipes by email.

[CelticMusicLover]

Go to http://www.celtic-instruments.com/pipes ... index.html and click "Sound Sample" in the sidebar to the left.

It sounds 100% like the pipes played in the first YouTube clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2QeUzaH9yo, 2 minutes in)! Who's the builder of that border pipe set?

UPDATE: After some close listening, it sounds to me like this could also be the pipes that are played in the second clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ehfbTM3lXQ, 33 seconds in).

[Dominic Allan]

I'm 99.99% certain that those pipes are not a cornemuse Bourbonnais.
If it is a D border pipe then it was made by one of three people (that I know of)
1 Sean jones- it dosen't sound like one of Sean's, his D pipes have a slightly different and distinctive sound to my ear.
2 Myself- I'm not aware of one of my D sets in America (it's an American site).
3 Jon Swayne- it sounds like Swaynes to me and there are plenty of his pipes in the US

[CelticMusicLover]

I'm 99.99% certain that those pipes are not a cornemuse Bourbonnais.

After hearing that sample I absolutely agree with you! It's definately not a cornemuse Bourbonnais.

If it is a D border pipe then it was made by one of three people (that I know of)

1 Sean jones- it dosen't sound like one of Sean's, his D pipes have a slightly different and distinctive sound to my ear.
2 Myself- I'm not aware of one of my D sets in America (it's an American site).
3 Jon Swayne- it sounds like Swaynes to me and there are plenty of his pipes in the US

Does that mean your D border pipes sound similiar to (or perhaps exactly like) the one in the sample? The border pipes on your MySpace page are played so fast that it's hard for me to tell

[Dominic Allan]

Each makers pipes sound slightly different, if you got all three sets in the same room you'd be able to hear it. Track two isn't too fast but there is also guitar.
I'll put a slow solo track up.