EHX is probably the company that could do that. Good to see they have the decency to only joke about it. ;-)
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Creating a bagpipe sound with a bass?
- Thread starter MustangMan78
- Start date
EHX is probably the company that could do that. Good to see they have the decency to only joke about it. ;-)
ok, so, I just got an hx stomp a couple weeks ago, and around the same time started playing with a new country band. One of the songs we cover is Copperhead Road which has a synthy bagpipe solo in the intro. Well on the line6 site where you can download presets, one of the first I found was called Bagpipes for that specific song. So when the keyboardp player can't make a gig, I get to do the bagpipes intro haha.
So the patch uses a mix of the string theory block, which is a synthy wave generator, the 4 OSC generator which emulates the bagpipe drones, both in a split channel with some drive after it, and then some compressors, eq, and a flanger. There's an octave pedal in there somehwere in one of the pitch blocks, but, not sure which one. If you've got a multi FX maybe you can do something similar to this to get a bagpipey tone
So the patch uses a mix of the string theory block, which is a synthy wave generator, the 4 OSC generator which emulates the bagpipe drones, both in a split channel with some drive after it, and then some compressors, eq, and a flanger. There's an octave pedal in there somehwere in one of the pitch blocks, but, not sure which one. If you've got a multi FX maybe you can do something similar to this to get a bagpipey tone
Wow, so basically a synth to get close to the sound. Maybe I’ll just wait for a real Bag9 from EHX 
Q. In what key are bagpipes pitched?
A. The key of Bagpipe.
EDIT: In the words of Oscar Wilde: "It is good that they do not smell like they sound." On the real, I love pipe music - as a child, lived in a Scots/Irish town with several pipe bands.
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Sounds like Kearny, NJ! My wife is from there and whenever we go back for a funeral, there’s ALWAYS a piper!
Kearny, NJ, Indeed! Lived there from first through third grade. There was a funeral parlor on the corner with a big parking lot, and a pipe band would rehearse there - and multiple pipe bands for the holiday parades. Full disclosure - I'm a fan of Bad Haggis, which features Eric Rigler on pipes, and the fabulous Mick Linden on bass...
Dropbox - IMG_4200.MOV - Simplify your life
Hopefully link works.
Did this in the garage back in February.
Pedal tone is a heavy socket on a keyboard on the overdriven guitar patch.
Bass being played through a Boss ODB-3 with everything dimed.
Wasn't even going for a bagpipe sound, just messing around, but
when I listened back I thought it kind of sounded like a bagpipe.
Hopefully link works.
Did this in the garage back in February.
Pedal tone is a heavy socket on a keyboard on the overdriven guitar patch.
Bass being played through a Boss ODB-3 with everything dimed.
Wasn't even going for a bagpipe sound, just messing around, but
when I listened back I thought it kind of sounded like a bagpipe.
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The Church did it also, and they also used an ebow and a synth. I saw them live a couple of months ago and when they played this song, they just substituted a distorted guitar instead of the faux pipes.
Spitfire Audio -- Albion Solstice Library sampled them very well. There really is not much human-ness in a bagpipe since the pipe is just used to fill the bag with air. You do need an additional articulation or nuance controller besides the keys. It's sampled well. They sampled more complicated instruments than it.
My first thoughts too. I can’t recall what equipment they used but shouldn’t be a deep dive to find out. I saw them @ Tennessee Performing Arts Center on their first US Tour. Great show. Tragic end for Stuart Adamson.
I make a trip to Kearny every now and then to visit The Piper's Cove, one of the very few specialty bagpipe and highland regalia shops in existence. In a couple months I'm going to get fitted for a second custom kilt, this time Thomson Dress Blue.
Bagpipe clickbait channels are SO CRINGE.
I'm going to counter this cringe post with real good stuff.
The greatest living competition piper (imo, opinions vary), who I got to study with for a bit as a kid:
And then here's the genius Gordon Duncan who composed a large chunk of the modern reel, hornpipe, and jig repertoire:
Eh, what? You fill the bag with air via the blowpipe. The melody is played on the chanter. The drones are just that: two tenor and one bass drone.
The lungs are the main drivers of air. The bag is more of a regulator when needed, and a third lung to achieve circular-breathing-by-proxy.
But the real nuance is in the grace notes. No other instrument that I'm aware of has such a complex set of articulations. From the simple high G gracenote to the crunluath a mach, the articulations are what make the instrument.
Well now…I don’t know where that quoted info came from.
But I do know The Church. As in, I really know them. I’ve tagged along to countless shows, Kilbey has been to my house, original guitarist Marty Willson-Piper has been a long term stayover guest, my wife(a harpist)and I have been guests at current drummer Tim Powles’ house in Sydney, both of us have played with Marty on his solo stuff(many albums out there), and she has sat in with the band, plus being on a couple of their albums.
Marty told me that what you hear is an actual bagpipe sample from a keyboard. Whether or not Pete Koppes(the other guitarist at the time)is layered on top is something I’m not sure of, but live(and miming in the video)he is imitating it with an Ebow.
In 2011, we went to Sydney so that she, along with a few others, could be a special auxiliary player in addition to a student orchestra for the band’s 30 year anniversary concert at the famed Opera House, the “Psychedelic Symphony”.
Here is a fly on the wall cell phone video I took at a rehearsal, where you can see what Pete was up to(sort of), although in this case the strings were doing the heavy lifting….
The line-up you just saw does not feature either of the aforementioned guitarists. Marty left the band a couple of years after that concert, and Peter just a few years ago. Their utility player, former Remy Zero member Jeffrey Cain, might be playing those lines on keyboard, with the new guy, Ashley Naylor, piling in on guitar, but back in the day when it was just the four of them, it was just Pete approximating it.
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I lifted the quote straight from wikipedia, so take it for what it's worth I guess. Sampled on a keyboard makes sense. too.
Not clickbait or cringe, just people who love their instrument, want to take it into other directions, and free it from the prison of traditionalism, similar to a number of pedal steel players that I listen to who want to utilize the potential of the instrument beyond just country music. After all, this thread was started in part as a response to Bon Scott having whipped out his pipes with AC/DC.
My wife, the harpist, who I mentioned in my previous post, regularly plays in a Celtic/Rock band(they also throw ska, reggae, punk, and Latin into the mix, and are all kitted out with their kilts)with a smaller electric model and amp. The frontman/vocalist/guitarist also plays sax, regular Irish pipes, and yes, bagpipes. Their version of “Shipping Off To Boston” is not unlike that of The Snake Charmer and her friends, very crunchy, a sound almost like the Dropkick Murphys(who also employ bagpipes). In addition, their rendition of “Fields Of Athenry” is moshpit inducing as well, or at least there’s hopping up and down on the dancefloor.
Even in the realm of the demure harp, there are players going beyond the polite, lilting comfort zone; my girl uses delay, chorus, synth, and pitch shift pedals; elsewhere there’s loopers and wah being used, and notables like Deborah Henson-Conant(who played with Steve Vai)and avant-gardist Zeena Parkins have explored distortion.
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Traditionalism is not a prison. I see the piping tradition as something to be celebrated and passed down through the generations, as it has been since the 1600's. It's a unique thing, to learn music that was passed on through an oral tradition for 200 years before being written down on paper . . . . . 200 years ago.
What I take issue with is not so much the music that those people in the videos are producing, although I strongly dislike it. It's more the "LOOK AT ME!!!" social media element. That "snake charmer" lady is banking on her looks. She is a poor piper. But she's doing very well promoting the image. I think that's gross. I'm not seeing a commitment to excellence on an ancient instrument, I'm seeing a crass image-based cash grab.
