iPad Scottish Bagpipes Apps

YouTube via tradlessons — June 13, 2010 —

"Bagpipes", "Border Pipes", and "Small Pipes" are authentic sounding sets of Scottish bagpipes for the iPad that are played just like the real instrument.

These apps are the only truly realistic Scottish bagpipes available for the iPad on the iTunes App store.

In the video, "Bagpipes" is played first (natural background), then "Border Pipes" (red tint background), and finally "Small Pipes" (blue tint background).

The sounds are provided by ePipes in Glasgow, Scotland, and are based on extremely high quality studio recordings of some of the finest instruments available.

To learn more about ePipes and their fine virtual piping instruments and controllers, please visit:

http://www.epipes.co.uk

All three apps use chanter fingerings based on those used for the Highland pipes. All of the standard piping ornaments are possible.

The left half of the chanter is for the "top" hand, the right half is the "bottom" hand.

The bar at the bottom center is the left thumb hole that is on the back of a real chanter.

Touch the 'i' icon at the upper right corner of the main screen to show/hide the on-screen volume controls. All settings are saved and restored the next time the app is run.

Touch the drones in the background painting to start/stop the drones.

Play along with tunes in your iPad's music library by starting a track using the iPad iTunes app, then launching the app. Adjust the chanter and drone volume by touching the 'i' icon and then using the on-screen volume controls.

For more information and screenshots, please visit:

http://www.tradlessons.com/Bagpipes.html"

Preview of Bending in Uilleann-B Version 1.2 for the iPad

YouTube via tradlessons — May 08, 2010 —

"Just finishing up testing an update to the iPad Uilleann piping apps that will add true per-hole pitch bending as an option.

Here's a few short tune snippets showing the feature in action.

The feature will also be in the 1.3 update to the concert pitch version.

This release will be out towards the end of May, in time for the worldwide launch of the iPad, currently only shipping in the USA."

"AirPipes" - iPad Irish Bagpipes/Flute/Whistle WiFi MIDI Control Surface

YouTube via tradlessons — April 17, 2010 —

"AirPipes is a WiFi-based wireless MIDI Irish Bagpipes/Flute/Whistle control surface for the iPad.

The chanter fingerings are based on those used for the Uilleann pipes and will also be immediately familiar to Irish pennywhistle and flute players.

This app supports two independent wireless MIDI channels, emulating the operation of the drones and chanter of a half set of Uilleann pipes.

The app doesn't produce any sound itself, it is designed for controlling hardware or software VST-style MIDI synthesizers via a WiFi connection to a Windows or Mac OS X based computer.

Multiple iPads can run the app on the same wireless network, each sending messages on its own set of MIDI channels to the hardware or software synthesizer.

To play the chanter, place your fingers over the holes on the two halves of the chanter. The left side represents the "top" hand, the right side is the "bottom" hand.

Touch the drone puck to start/stop the drones.

Touch the green bar on the left side with your left little finger to play the notes one octave higher.

Touch the blue bar at the bottom left center with your left thumb to play the second octave "Back-D" selectable on either a press or release.

Touch the red bar at the bottom right center with your right thumb to stop the chanter sound for staccato techniques.

Touch the purple bar on the lower right with your right little finger to bend the pitch or play finger vibrato.

Rotate the iPad to Portrait orientation to see the fingering chart. Rotate back to Landscape orientation to play.

On the fingering chart, you may touch the blue Back-D bar image to toggle between whether the bar on the main screen plays the second-octave D note on a touch (default) or release (matches real Uilleann pipes chanter).

Also on the fingering chart, you may toggle between "Loose" and "Strict" closed chanter modes by touching the red bar. "Loose" closed chanter mode (default) stops the sound whenever the red bar is pressed on the main screen. "Strict" mode only stops the sound when the red bar is pressed and all the holes are covered and matches the real Uilleann chanter. This mode is used for staccato piping techniques. When in "Strict" mode sample attacks are faster when single holes are uncovered.

For students of the Uilleann pipes, the app supports nearly all of the alternate fingerings for most notes and can be used as a real practice chanter for the instrument. All 128 possible fingerings have been mapped as closely as possible to match the real instrument.

You may select the MIDI channel, attack velocity and volume for the chanter and drones independently using the sliders at the top of the screen.

The entire range may be transposed up or down up to one octaves (zero transpose is "C") in semitone increments using the chanter and drone transpose sliders.

All MIDI settings are saved when the app quits and restored the next time it is run.

Touch the '!' icon at the lower left to quiet any "stuck" notes if they occur.

AirPipes requires two pieces of software to do its job. The first is the AirPipes app itself, running on your iPad.

The other is a small free open-source DSWiFiMIDI server application that you run on your PC or Mac before launching AirPipes.

The server application receives the MIDI messages from the app via WiFi, and sends them along to either an external MIDI interface or a loopback MIDI driver to talk to software synthesizers running on the same computer.

Please read the instructions below for information on downloading and installing the open-source DSMIDIWiFi server application for your system.

For the most reliable performance with the lowest possible latency, I highly recommend that the PC or Mac should be on a wired network. The computer and wireless gateway that the iPad is connected to must be on the same network.

To get the full benefit from the app, you should be familiar with the use of MIDI control surfaces, hardware and/or software VST synthesizers.

If you have any concern about the compatibility of the app with your own MIDI setup, please try any of the other free WiFi MIDI apps on the store that use DSMIDIWiFi as a WiFi to MIDI bridge before purchasing AirPipes.

You may play along with tunes in your iPad's music library by starting a track using the iPad iTunes app, then launching AirPipes.

Chanter image based on my Kirk Lynch concert pitch chanter. Drone puck image courtesy of Mike DeSmidt."

On iTunes:
Bagpipes - Scottish Highland Bagpipes - Michael Eskin
Border Pipes - Scottish Border Pipes - Michael Eskin
Small Pipes - Scottish Smallpipes - Michael Eskin
Uilleann - Irish Bagpipes Chanter and Drones - Michael Eskin
Uilleann-B - Irish Bagpipes Flat Set Chanter and Drones in B - Michael Eskin
AirPipes - Wireless Irish Bagpipes MIDI Control Surface - Michael Eskin

iPads on Ebay