Q. What’s the difference between a bagpipe and an onion?

A. No one cries when you chop up an bagpipe.

Glamorous MIDI controllers like the Tenori-On get all the press, but MIDI bagpipes are where the real action is.

There’s a significant amount of work being done in the area of bagpipe-style MIDI controllers. And it’s no surprise why: MIDI bagpipes combine two of the world’s most maligned instruments, the synthesizer and the bagpipes, into a state-of-the-art, cutting-edge computer music user interface.

That lets you play Sailor’s Hornpipe.

Check this video out and then tell me it wouldn’t have benefited from a bit of MIDI bagpipes:

Here are the latest options for getting your MIDI bagpipes on:

Master Gaita, top photo, lets you use bagpipe fingering to control the MIDI universe.

The instrument made from a PVC tube with nine touch sensors. A 2.5 meter long cable leaving the plastic box carries the MIDI signals to the computer or sound module.

Features:

• Five selectable with a simple command chromatic fingerings (Galician, Asturian, Scottish, French and Extended (2.5 octaves wide).
• Compatible with other bagpipes as Gaita de Boto, Sac de Gemecs, Xeremía, etc.
• Any key/octave performance.
• Independent control of drones. Tenor drone must be tuned either in first or fifth grade of the scale.
• Four switchable sound programs with two instruments each.
• Duete by upper or lower thirds performance.
• Direct PC connection via joystick plug.
• Standard MIDI connection using the supplied MIDI cable.
• MAC or portable computer connection with a USB MIDI converter (not included).
• Auto-shut off after two or ten (by selection) minutes of no activity.
• No mouth or legs support needed because of its bagpipe-like held down.
• No finger moistening needed to activate sensors.
• Nine volts battery or external power supply.

vPipes is described as Next Generation Bagpipes.

vPipes is an electronic Uilleann Pipes emulator (without regulators) affording the possibility of practising in a variety of situations which would prove to be impractical or impossible with a real set of pipes.

Features:

• 2 x High-performance, advanced RISC architecture main processors
• Backlit Mini LCD Display
• Continuous force sensor for realistic octave change emulation
• Li-Ion rechargeable battery
• In system battery charger
• Compatible with 4 AA 1.5V standard batteries
• Integrated synthesizer
• RISC-based digital signal processor (Synthesis/DSP)
• High-quality wavetable synthesis
• Serial MIDI in & out
• Effects: Reverb + Chorus
• Surround on two speakers with intensity/delay control
• Four-band parametric equalizer

The Degerpipes is an electronic bagpipe chanter. It’s designed to be a practice instrument, but it’s also a MIDI controller.

Key Features:

• Same size and finger spacing as a long practice chanter.
• Dual output: PHONES and MIDI. Headphones and MIDI devices can directly connect to the DegerPipes Chanter. It’s also possible to connect the phones output to an amplifier or a stereo.
• The chanter contains all electronic components as well as the battery. No external box or additional equipment is needed.
• Authentic Bagpipe sound including drones generated by wavetable sound synthesis. Highland Pipe and Smallpipe sounds integrated.
• Perfectly tuned chanter scale and drones by usage of crystal oscillator and microprocessor control.
• The Pitch is adjustable in a range of more than three octaves. This enables you to play together with other instruments in any key.
• The drones volume is variable and can also be switched off.
• Through MIDI output every MIDI compatible tone generator or other MIDI equipment can be used (for example PC with notation program).
• An extended cromatical scale is available allowing you to play tunes which are not playable on the real pipe chanter.
• Driven by a cheap standard 9V Battery, Accumulators are also usable.
• Up to 100 hours of playing with only one battery.
• Automatic power off after a minute of no activity.
• A Metronome is integrated within the Chanter.

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