[sdiy] Synthesized Bagpipes

[Sam Ecoff]

There is actually a company that makes a synthesized chanter. One of  
my bagpipe playing friends had one. We ran it through my ARP 2600 to  
add a filter to it.

I only saw it once and that was years ago. I believe it was this:
http://www.bagpipe.co.uk/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/73

Having recorded bagpipes a lot, I can tell you that a big part of  
what makes people recognize a sound as being a bagpipe is playing  
technique. Understand that bagpipe music has no rests. The sound  
flows continuously, and notes are articulated through a series of  
ornaments which come between each note. If you haven't ever checked  
it out, look for some bagpipe music. You'll be really surprised.  
Also... bagpipes have a *very* limited note set, and can only play in  
the key of B-flat (how weird is that?) I know this because I hired a  
bagpipe player to play on a Christmas CD I was hired to produce, and  
there were only a very limited number of carols she could play  
because of the notes that were possible. (She also drank a six pack  
of Guinness in the space of 45 minutes -- no lie) A remix of one of  
the tracks got published on a library CD later. (go to  
www.firstcom.com, click enter and then type "Good King W" into the  
quick search box. It's the first result that comes up. Oddly enough,  
it gets a lot of play in Japan.)	

Sam E.

On Oct 20, 2006, at 3:14 AM, Kenneth Elhardt wrote:

>>> Robert writes:
> Not sure if this has been asked before: has anyone here synthesized
> the delightful sound of bagpipes, so that they sound very realistic?
> I'm looking for a very thrifty way to do this.<<
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Sam Ecoff
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