"Bagpipes Piano Ultimate Edition"
Four Sets of Authentic Bagpipes for Android
Bagpipes Piano Ultimate Edition is an entire world of bagpipes in one Android app!
It includes four extremely realistic sounding sets of Scottish and Swedish bagpipes in the form of an easy to play piano keyboard.
The four sets of bagpipes are:
Great Highland Scottish Bagpipes - The most popular Scottish marching pipes, in the traditional key of Bb.
Scottish Border Pipes - A Scottish smallpipe in the key of A with a sound distinctly different from but similar to the Highland pipes.
Scottish Smallpipes - A Scottish smallpipe in the key of A, one octave lower than the Border Pipes, and has a rounder, bubbly sound.
Swedish Säckpipa - A set of Swedish bagpipes in E minor, with a very haunting sound.
The drone and chanter sounds are provided by ePipes in Glasgow, Scotland, and are based on extremely high quality per-note studio recordings of some of the finest sets available.
Audio samples for the Säckpipa provided by Jonathan Parker from an instrument made in 1986 by Leif Eriksson.
Operating Instructions:
Touch any key to start the chanter playing. Once a key is started, the chanter plays continuously just like a real bagpipes chanter. This accurately emulates the behavior of the real chanter, the sound keeps going as long as there is pressure in the bag.
Play a melody on the chanter by touching the keys.
Touch the drone puck image to switch the drones on and off. Stopping the drones also stops the chanter sounds.
Touch the "i" on the upper right corner to bring up the instrument selector.
There are two playing modes:
Choose the "Easy" play mode to play the main Highland chanter notes using just the white keys.
Choose the "Normal" play mode to play all the notes on the chromatic keyboard.
Touch the ePipes.co.uk logo to visit their website.
Playing Tip: To make your playing sound more authentic and for repeated notes, quickly slide from an adjacent black key to the note you are playing to simulate a piping "cut" ornament.
For more fun and to experience the full quality of the samples used for the app, try playing the app through an external amplified speaker connected to the headphone jack on your device.
Please click on the logo below to learn more about ePipes and their fine virtual piping instruments and controllers:
Demonstration Video -"Scotland the Brave"
"Scotland the Brave" written out showing the notes names on the virtual keyboard
For repeated notes, separate the notes by flicking from a note below or above.
Main screen, drones off
Drones on, playing a note
Q: How do I play Bagpipes Piano Ultimate Edition?
A: Touch a key to start the chanter playing. Once started, the chanter plays continuously just like a real Highlands Bagpipes chanter.
Play a melody on the chanter by touching the keys.
Touch the drone button to switch the drones on and off. Stopping the drones also stops the chanter.
Q: What's "Easy Mode"?
A: "Easy Mode" changes one note on the keyboard putting the same note on the F and F# keys to allow you to play the standard 9 Highland chanter notes using just the white keys.
Q: How can I make my playing sound more authentic?
A: To make your playing sound more authentic and for repeated notes, quickly slide from an adjacent black key to the note you are playing to simulate a piping "cut" ornament.
Pipe Major William Robertson has an extensive set of free online Highland bagpipes lessons.
City of Winchester Pipes and Drums in Virginia has a very nice collection of tunes in standard notation as .bmp images.
The Fort Collins Pipe Band has many tunes online, also some solo marching drum recordings.
There is a wealth of information online at Bob Dunsire Bagpipe Forums.
