Norden Folk's Domain

[Olle Gällmo]

Anders Fagerström's technopipes are now available in a Swedish version. Technopipes is the second generation of the technochanter.

The technochanter was a pure practice chanter. The Technopipes is closer to a "real" instrument. It sounds better, has a thumbhole also for the right hand thumb, allows vibrato playing, several drone configurations, MIDI output, recording of melodies so that you can practice playing second voice, etc.

See www.technopipes.com for details and sound samples.

(I have been consulted in development, but have no financial interests in it)
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Info on Swedish bagpipes at http://olle.gallmo.se/sackpipa
More about me at http://olle.gallmo.se

[Frédéric Vigouroux]

Olle,
i suppose you tried this midi instrument. But a bagpipe cannot be reduced to its fingering.
i would like to know if we should consider the tecnopipe as a new instrument, or as a useful practice for traditional pipers.
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Vigxf

[Olle Gällmo]

To me it's first and foremost a practice instrument. Its great to be able to play anywhere, anytime.
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Info on Swedish bagpipes at http://olle.gallmo.se/sackpipa
More about me at http://olle.gallmo.se

[Frédéric Vigouroux]

It seems to be useful for the neighbourhood, and taking advantage of waiting rooms.
Do you think it's suitable for an apprentice ?
I mean, we could not say that you just need to know the fingering and you can play the bagpipe.
Pressures, vibrations… A physical relation between the instrument and the musician has to be established.
I wonder if there is a danger for a traditional instrument to be "fixed" by an electronic version.
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Vigxf

[Olle Gällmo]

Good point.

I would recommend it to beginners, yes, but only as a complement to a real instrument, not as a substitute. As you say, there are aspects of piping which cannot be captured by an electronic instrument. And vice versa - there are some aspects of the electronic instrument which do not transfer well to the real one.
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Info on Swedish bagpipes at http://olle.gallmo.se/sackpipa
More about me at http://olle.gallmo.se

[Yuri]

Some three years ago, when I was in Hungary, there happened to be a very interesting exhibition of (mostly Hungarian) bagpipes in the Museum of Folk Arts. At the end of the exhibits there were a couple of semi-closed cabin things, with two different types of Hungarian chanters reproduced as electronic chanters. I don't actually play Hungarian pipes, which made it all the more interesting to try them out. So I was hanging out there for half an hour each time I popped in to see the exhibition again. Well, the weird thing is that in spite of the novelty, and the intristic complexity of the Hungarian type's playing technique, I noticed that after a (relatively short, really) while I just got sort of bored with the electronic sound's uniformity. It sounded kind of dead fairly soon.
I can see the practice advantages, though. I'm not a complete Luddite, you know.

[Olle Gällmo]

I agree. An electronic chanter simply does not have the dynamics of a real one.

However, it depends a bit on how the sound is produced. On the swedish electronic chanter each note was sampled separately and with two different fingerings for each, so there is actually a sound variation between the notes and depending on how you finger it. This also makes it possible to play vibrato. It still sounds electronic, though.

Actually, getting technical now, there is another reason why a note may sound a little bit different when you play it on the electronic chanter, depending on exactly when you hit it. Due to phase shift differences between that note and the drone. In other words, I can play the same note several times, with the same fingering, but still there may be a slight difference (very slight) in sound.
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Info on Swedish bagpipes at http://olle.gallmo.se/sackpipa
More about me at http://olle.gallmo.se

[Aaron K. Holt]

I can't speak for the technopipes, but I have Fagerstrom's technochanter and I can certainlly say that I would not like to part with it (that is unless I was upgrading to the technopipes).
Living in an appartment, I can't practice at home. So my practice time on my real pipes is limited to about 4-5 hours a week. Before taking up the Swedish bagpipe, I had never even seen a bagpipe up close, of any kind - only pictures and the GHB'ers at parades from a distance.
I bought the Fagerstrom chanter about six months before I bought my pipes from Alban. During that time, I read sections from Olle's site almost every day and practiced all the time. By the time I got my pipes, I knew around 20 tunes and wasn't distracted by learning fingering *while* learning how to manage the bag and keep steady pressure, etc.(which is frustrating by itself at first).

The fingering on chanter is different in several respects from the real chanter, so there were little bits that I had to relearn, but I still learn most new tunes on the technochanter first. It has - seriously - been the most useful piece of electronic equipment that I ever picked up - ever. and I can only imagine that the added features on the technopipes make a great idea even better.
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Aaron

[Yuri]

I think everyone agrees that electronic pipes are very useful things, it's just I think not many of us would say that they are a valid musical instrument in their own right.

[Tex]

I am sure you can many people who would think the bagpipe it's self in not a "valid musical instrument".

What defines a "valid musical instrument" should be its own topic.
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Luck follows the generous.

[Olle Gällmo]

I don't think there is any physical object in this world which cannot be used as a musical instrument ...

I once gave a concert together with percussionist Hassi Norlén (now in the USA) for kids in the age 3-6. We picked up object after object, all recognizable by the kids, and asked them, everytime ("can we do music on this?"). At first they responded no, but soon they became sufficiently indoctrinated to believe one can play on anything.

So we ended the concert by holding up a wash cloth and asked them ("can we do music on this?"). All kids responded with a strong "yes!". We said "no" (which of course was a lie) and ended the concert. Yes, that was very cruel ...
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Info on Swedish bagpipes at http://olle.gallmo.se/sackpipa
More about me at http://olle.gallmo.se

[Yuri]

Yeah, well, it all depends on just what you mean by "valid". To me something that has no other purpose for existance than to slavishly imitate something else just doesn't qualify. It might very well be useful in other ways, electronic recorders, clarinets, chanters, etc, etc, are examples. The original always can do exactly the same job, as a minimum. Nearly always it can do a much better job. I have to add that as soon as the new gizmo develops new possibilities, it stops being a slavish imitation, and becomes a valid instrumen in it's own right. A good example is the electric guitar or organ.

[Frédéric Vigouroux]

[Olle Gällmo]

[Frédéric Vigouroux]

I don't know exactly why, but i have already met such of reactions from some musicians. I think they probably are frightened by the image a electronic practice give to an apprentice.
In fact, i would like to make possible a Fagerström version of our bagpipe. It's quite difficult to establish a picture of what the practice should be able to do. Opinions differ within the musicians. Some of them think that the instrument is too much complicated to be learnt in that way. But your opinions bring me to me a rewarding point of view.
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Vigxf

[JNelson]

I've been thinking about trying to make an acoustic/electric bagpipe. play it ordinarily, or throw it to an amp, add some distortion, and there is a whole new sound.
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Jonathan Nelson

[belgo-pipe]

Hello,I'm new on the forum. First post
I'm waiting patiently to the french version of the Technopipe which is a good alternative to my loudy instrument. It won't replace it but allows me to learn new tunes without disturbing the family . I plan to buy in a near future a swedish pipe. I discovered it on the Olle's site and fell in the love with his particular sound !

[pibgyrn]

I had a hand in testing the gaita version, and can't recomend it highly enough.

Great for practice and for fun, have even used it on stage using midi.

go buy one its always in tune:)

Gerard

[Anders Jackson]

[belgo-pipe]

just received last friday my technopipe, great stuff !! I can practicing while everybody is sleeping. I showed it to my bagpipe teacher, he was very impressed !

[Aaron K. Holt]

Those are great to have around, have fun!
You'll notice that you can learn new tunes pretty rapidly using one of those. You can teach your fingers to play the tune in the evening and by the time you try it out on your pipes the next day you won't have to run out of breath repeating those difficult measures over and over.
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Aaron

[Olle Gällmo]

Sometimes the technopipes can feel awkward, though, in a way which actually affects playing. The real chanter is hanging from the bag, which makes it more stable in your hands than the electronic chanter (which moves under my fingers in a way which a real chanter would not do).
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Info on Swedish bagpipes at http://olle.gallmo.se/sackpipa
More about me at http://olle.gallmo.se

[favrepipes]

I just got my technopipes last week. It is a great addition to having a real bagpipe and I have no regrets having spent the money. I agree that it has its limitations but, being a night owl, it's allowing me to work on tunes whenever I feel inspired without being concerned about the neighbors. I also don't own a car so the bus stop is a perfect place to get some extra practice.

As far as holding it, I found that resting the tip against my right upper leg/pelvis area helps to anchor the chanter which gives me better finger control. It's somewhat like holding an uilleann pipe chanter only higher up and at more of an angle.

Bo

[Chrischan]

I know, that the topic is very old, but i have a question alltrough.

Did anyone tried the french version of the Technopipes? Are there any restrictions to the real fingering of a half-closes chanter. What is with gracings (vibrato, rappels, detachees...) and how exact do you have to finger it?

I am thinking about, to buy one.

Thanks for request and greetings from a rainy summer

[texasbagpiper]

I just contacted Anders last week about getting the Swedish version. After hearing the sound samples on the website I was sold. I haven't purchased one yet but I will soon. Seth

[Chrischan]

Yes it sounds really great, i think. I mean for electronic pipes !!
I am looking forward to your advice, Seth

[Gazbag]

Hi I hope this is not too far off topic have any of the members of the group tried making their own electronic pipe? I usually play Northumbrian small pipes and managed to knock up a keyless chanter using a PIC micro-controller and a few other chips it does not sound authentic but was cheap to build and is OK for practice.

[texasbagpiper]

[Gazbag]

I use a micro-controller known as a Picaxe (a partly programmed pic) to develop the software as they are cheap (around £1.70 UK pounds), and very easy to use. A free software package is available to program them. I use basic for debugging, I then compile the program to assembly language for speed of execution. I made eight touch switches one for each hole on the chanter using C-mos nand gates .
The Picaxe/pic is used to scan the touch switches and depending on which touch contact is uncovered generates a corresponding tone. I used a second pic to produce the tone for a single drone. The raw tone produced is a rectangular wave and sounds awful and mechanical a bit of filtering results in a sound that is reminiscent of a small pipe but which one who knows! All I needed was something that did not drive you nuts after a few minutes of practicing.
I will post the design it is of any interest I draft every thing by hand and it isn’t pretty but if there are any engineers amongst you it should be possible to replicate my design as it is quite primitive by modern standards of digital design

[texasbagpiper]