Bagpipes Are Now a 21st Century Instrument!

[Graham Durant-Law]

Recently I bought a set of electronic bagpipes, which are made in Germany and are called RedPipes . I bought the black version which is shown in the adjacent photograph. I’ve had them for a couple of weeks now and have given them a thorough workout, and I must say I’m very impressed.

Playing the pipes is very realistic. One has to strike in the drones and maintain pressure on the bag, just like the real thing. If pressure is not maintained the chanter stops. The pressure setting can be adjusted so a comfortable posture can be achieved. Halftones, vibrato, and overblowing are possible on the RedPipe itself. The drones can be adjusted to include baritones and so on, which produces a quite interesting effect when Scottish highland pipes are selected. When the RedPipe is connected to a Roland Microcube amplifier, reverberation and other effects extend the instrument further. Of course the amplifier also allows the instrument to be played at authentic volume, or even at well over 100db so the neighbours can truly be annoyed! (I play mine so they can only be heard in one room, which makes them ideal for practice).

There are ten models of RedPipes, with various sounds and fingering methods, including Scottish, French, German, Swedish and Spanish, and some with “imitation” drones.

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