Electric Pipes....

JordanII · Post by **JordanII** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 3:06 pm

....that cost under $300. What do you suggest? I want them for a celtic band. Thanks!

marcpipes · Post by **marcpipes** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 10:14 pm

It may be more than $300, but I'd still suggest the Deger pipe. Very tunable in highland and smallpipe-ish voices. It's also midi capable. What part of Michigan are you in?

MarcusR · Post by **MarcusR** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 2:48 am

Fagerström Technopipes

/MarcusR

lordofthestrings · Post by **lordofthestrings** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 9:26 am

Here's the thread about electric pipes, some info here

I play the Deger pipes, have had mine for about 3 years. Very solid, take the abuse they get falling over on stage, getting kicked, traveling around with my whistles... never an issue with electronics or anything like that. They are a little pricey, yes, but they will last for a good long time, and are a very good investment. You can also play them (as is the case with other electric pipes, I suppose) through effects pedals for guitar, and get some nice natural reverb and chorus settings, making yourself sound like a whole 'herd' of pipers.

JordanII · Post by **JordanII** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:23 am

MarcusR wrote:Fagerström Technopipes

/MarcusR

Those and the Ross pipes are what I've been looking into.

Here's the thread about electric pipes, some info here

I play the Deger pipes, have had mine for about 3 years. Very solid, take the abuse they get falling over on stage, getting kicked, traveling around with my whistles... never an issue with electronics or anything like that. They are a little pricey, yes, but they will last for a good long time, and are a very good investment. You can also play them (as is the case with other electric pipes, I suppose) through effects pedals for guitar, and get some nice natural reverb and chorus settings, making yourself sound like a whole 'herd' of pipers.

Those are too expensive for the time being. They do seem really nice though. Thanks for the help y'all!

~Jordan

AaronMalcomb · Post by **AaronMalcomb** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:28 am

Unless you have a time constraint, save up for the Deger. The midi capabilities are worth the extra dosh alone but the Deger is just much more versatile even without that. And it runs on a 9 volt battery.

JordanII · Post by **JordanII** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:32 am

AaronMalcomb wrote:Unless you have a time constraint, save up for the Deger. The midi capabilities are worth the extra dosh alone but the Deger is just much more versatile even without that. And it runs on a 9 volt battery.

OK, I may just do that.

lordofthestrings · Post by **lordofthestrings** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:41 am

Unless you have a time constraint, save up for the Deger. The midi capabilities are worth the extra dosh alone but the Deger is just much more versatile even without that. And it runs on a 9 volt battery.

Exactly. The Ross pipes and the Fagerstrom pipes are nice, and are cheaper (I've tried both) but in the long run, you will ultimately be much more pleased with the Deger set up. The midi capability is really slick, and is nice to have. Plus, the ability to to change key and tweak tuning up and down a few cents at a time make it really useful with a band setting.

It really depends the most on what you want to do with the instrument. If you seek a cheaper instrument that will do the basic job, go with fagerstrom or ross. If you can wait and save up a little more, go for the Deger pipes. You won't regret it!!

JordanII · Post by **JordanII** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 11:43 am

lordofthestrings wrote:
Unless you have a time constraint, save up for the Deger. The midi capabilities are worth the extra dosh alone but the Deger is just much more versatile even without that. And it runs on a 9 volt battery.
Exactly. The Ross pipes and the Fagerstrom pipes are nice, and are cheaper (I've tried both) but in the long run, you will ultimately be much more pleased with the Deger set up. The midi capability is really slick, and is nice to have. Plus, the ability to to change key and tweak tuning up and down a few cents at a time make it really useful with a band setting.

It really depends the most on what you want to do with the instrument. If you seek a cheaper instrument that will do the basic job, go with fagerstrom or ross. If you can wait and save up a little more, go for the Deger pipes. You won't regret it!!

What do you think about the Fagerstrom and Ross pipes? Thanks!

MarcusR · Post by **MarcusR** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 2:23 pm

The Fagerström Technopipes also has the midi capability, it is also very slick, portable and doesn't cost that much, at least over here.

/M

scotta · Post by **scotta** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 6:36 pm

Faegerstrom is excellent..changes keys, switches between GHB and SSP, and customer service is unsurpassed.

Uilleo · Post by **Uilleo** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:09 pm

I have the Electropipes and can't say enough about them.

Really like the chromatic option for those notes you need when playing with other instuments.

Only complaint... lack of sleep!

I am not kidding about the lack of sleep thing as you will soon find out if you are lucky enough to purchase them.

Uilleo · Post by **Uilleo** » Wed Oct 31, 2007 10:09 pm

I have the Electropipes and can't say enough about them.

Really like the chromatic option for those notes you need when playing with other instuments.

Only complaint... lack of sleep!

I am not kidding about the lack of sleep thing as you will soon find out if you are lucky enough to purchase them.

ChrisCracknell · Post by **ChrisCracknell** » Thu Nov 01, 2007 3:54 am

I've had mine for a couple of months now. I haven't had any of the others to try, though I did once try a predecessor of the Ross pipes which were still a bit primitive back then (three or four years ago - I don't know how old the pipes already were then - I don't even know if they were made by Ross, but they looked the same...). I have never played the Deger pipes.

The earlier and cheaper technochanter is a different beast and not to be confused with the technopipes. I believe comments about batteries etc. come from people who have used this version which used button cells.

False fingerings and crossing notes get picked up well enough to force you to practice the proper fingerings.

The quality of sound is good enough for performance at my level (not that high (- my level, not the quality...!)) when pumped through a decent amp.

The battery is a single AAA cell, dirt cheap, readily available and a NiMH rechargeable runs for about ten hours. The pipes are on when the headphone jack is plugged in, not just when they are making a noise, so batter power is still being drawn.

You can play in A, Bflat, C and D.
You can play with or without drones,
You can play with three voicings, GHB; smallpipes 1 and Smallpipes 2.
You can play with three fingering options: GHB and a border pipe style cross fingered chromatic scale either with just intonation (fits the drones better) or equal intonation (better for playing with e.g. a keyboard).

As a negative, the settings go back to the default when you remove the power which means my first actions on turning the thing on always have to be repeated. (GHB sound, scale, in A, Just intonation chromatic fingerings. Fiddle with the volume balance of the drones and chanter.)

I have not used the midi functionality.

It really is small and dead easy to carry around. For practising "on the road" it is ideal. For performance, YMMV - I find the sound quality easily good enough, but one's requirements may differ. Also, one might prefer something that looks a bit more significant - but then why not use the real pipes then?

Chris.

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Electric Pipes....

Electric Pipes....

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