Celtic Bagpipe Music – The Piper’s Welcome
vPipes – Hyper-realistic Electronic Bagpipes
vPipes – Hyper-realistic Electronic Bagpipes:
“vPipes-Uilleann is a unique electronic uilleann bagpipes emulator that uses revolutionary technology resulting in a hyper-realistic experience in terms of sound quality, fingering and ornamentations. It thus affords the possibility of practising accurately in a variety of situations that would prove impractical or impossible with a real set of pipes.”
ORDERING CLOSES JAN 15 for FIRST RUN
We are pleased to announce that the vPipes-Uilleann is now available to order.
Many thanks to all for having demonstrated a ‘saintly’ patience.
You are finally able to enter the realm of hyper-realism with the vPipes-Uilleann.
The market price for the vPipes-Uilleann is 1,290 Euros (net of local taxes and delivery).
The special launch price has been maintained at 980 Euros (net of local taxes and delivery).
In order to be included in this launch, orders must placed before the 15th January 2010. Limited to 1 unit per person.
The period during which the vPipes can be reserved opens on 21/12/2009 and closes on 15/01/2010.
Soundbytes – Bagpipe and Hurdy Gurdy Plugs
“Soundbytes has announced that version 1.1 updates are available for the entire Soundbytes VST plug-in range. The Update brings major improvements and stability to the VST synthesizers BagPipes, HurdyGurdy and HurdyGurdyLE as well as to the VST effect plugins Sympathizer and StringVerb.
Bagpipe Plugin:
The Soundbytes BagPipes is a sample based VST plugin instrument for the windows platform. Its elaborately crafted control engine makes it easy to play authentic sounding bagpipe styles and techniques.
This can be done using nothing but a simple MIDI keyboard with just basic modulator input through pitch bender and modulation wheel.
Use the BagPipes to play authentic parts with convincingly sounding ornaments, cuts, taps and staccato runs. A specially designed pipe filter adds yet another layer of realism to vibrato, fades and pitch slides.
Hurdy Gurdy Plugins:
The Soundbytes HurdyGurdy is a sample based VST synthesizer for the windows platform.
It recreates the sound and playing technique of the Hurdy Gurdy.
The very special character of the ancient Hurdy Gurdy sound was until now very difficult to emulate. Many of the instruments peculiarities are not well known and using a sampler it is rather difficult to reproduce the Hurdy Gurdy in a convincing way even to those who are familiar with the instrument.
New NPC Radio with Planetpipe
Planetpipe have teamed up with the National Piping Centre to produce a new NPC Radio show which is available now on the Planetpipe website.
It is hosted by John Mulhearn and features tracks from Fred Morrison, Stuart Liddell and WAPOL pipe band and much more.
So make sure you tune in by going to http://www.planetpipe.com
Bagpipe Tuner HBT1 – Calibration & detection
The HBT1 Highland Bagpipe tuner is the most comprehensive bagpipe tuner available. Featuring 5 modes, including a metronome, the HBT1 tuner correctly displays the pitch of the chanter notes to harmonise with the drones while also displaying the note, frequency, calibration frequency and pitch position on a large LCD screen. It’s easy to use and fit’s in your sporran!
Hurdy Gurdy
Editor’s Note - I sometimes get a questions about Hurdy Gurdies and how their sound compares to Bagpipes. I found this video that may be of interest if you have never have heard a Hurdy Gurdy being played.
This is a short excerpt from the 8th century epic tale of BEOWULF. The instrument I am using to accompany myself is called a hurdy-gurdy , a popular instrument of medieval Europe. The hurdy-gurdy in this video was made for me by Alden and Cali Hackmann of Olympic Musical Instruments in Indianola, Washington, and is a fully equipped electro-acoustic instrument with a built-in sound console.
Hurdy-gurdy players, like bagpipe players, cannot control the volume of their instruments which makes it difficult to use for accompanying the human voice but the intensity and sheer volume of the instrument also made it ideal for great halls and public places in ancient times. One advantage that it has is that it is a complete instrument, able to play melody, harmony and rhythm.
The hurdy-gurdy in this video is plugged into an RSP Technologies Intelliverb processor which I control with a MIDI Ground Control foot switch. The only other instrument used in this video is a Moog Ethervox theremin.
The original Beowulf epic was written in Old English which is no longer spoken and cannot be understood by English speakers today. I used a modern adaptation of the words for this video. For anyone who is interested, I have posted the text to my website, along with some closeup photos of the hurdy-gurdy. You can also hear a stereo mp3 of the song just as it was performed, without the YouTube distortion.
Found a New Use for Crazy Straws
MEMBRANE PIPE
Musical instruments from recycled/reused materials designs by Chabieraas. Música con instrumentos de materiales reciclados/reutilizados Chabieraas y sus Plastic Fantastic Pipes.
Dudelsak
‘Dudelsak‘ follows Canadian bagpipe virtuoso Matt MacIsaac on his journey to find the little known origins of the modern day bagpipe. Matt’s musical adventure takes him from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to France, Austria, Italy, Spain and eventually the Middle East. Using his assortment of modern celtic instruments, Matt transcends barriers of language and culture, finding common ground and forging connections with musicians from very different backgrounds.
Dudelsak from Matt Trecartin on Vimeo.
Electronic Bagpipes
This was about a year and a half ago, I had my jaw wired shut because it was broken, so couldn’t play my actual pipes. These are Ross Electronic Bagpipes. I kinda go psycho in the end.
Roddy MacLeod • Piobaireachd New Music Available
Roddy MacLeod • Piobaireachd: “New Music” – Press Release
I am pleased to tell you that 5 new manuscripts have now been added to the site. These are The Old Men of the Shells, The Old Woman’s Lullaby, The Prince’s Salute, MacLeod’s Salute and My King has Landed in Moidart.
This brings the website close to completion of its first stage which includes 46 tunes. I hope to be adding new recordings very soon.
Best wishes, Roddy MacLeod.
(Via Roddy MacLeod Website.)
How I Met Your Mother: ”Bagpipes”
How I Met Your Mother – This week’s title was names “BAGPIPES”
With a sharp, well-written story, “Bagpipes” provides some great laughs while staying true to the characters. Marshall getting worked up by Barney’s ridiculous speech about what he’d do in the dishes situation, leading him to ineloquently attempt to present the same argument to Lily was both funny and exactly how you’d expect Marshall to act. Lily and Marshall’s mutated and multiplying arguments were well edited and well written, feeling like real fights they would have as a couple. Lily’s Shining impression very amusingly shut down all the multiplied arguments, and Marshall’s explanation about how Lily fights dirty like his brothers did with a captured badger, was great stuff.
While Ted is mostly a side-player this episode, his commentary and problems with the new upstairs neighbors always “playing the bagpipes” are key to the overall storyline. Unlike in “The Sexless Innkeeper” where Ted was part of a very small side-story of his own, Ted’s experiences with the bagpipe-playing neighbors not only gave us a great running gag throughout the episode and a very funny reveal of the elderly couple upstairs but also tied directly into the overall story, as Ted realized the downstairs neighbors always know exactly what’s going on with a couple.
