Instruments
P-bRock Digital Bagpipes
The P-bROCK Digital Bagpipe Chanter is an electronic adaptation of a traditional acoustic Great Highland Bagpipe (GHB) chanter (the pipe with finger holes on which the melody is played). P-bROCK can be used for extended performance techniques such as polyphony, pitchbends and wah effects and alternate fingerings to open up the possibility of playing the bagpipes to people with the use of only one hand.
The chanter features infra-red reflectance sensors mounted inside the tone holes to detect the player’s finger movements, and an air pressure sensor in place of the chanter reed to measure air flow. Since all of the electronics are built into a standard acoustic chanter, and the tone hole sensors measure coverage of the actual holes by the player’s fingers (rather than using a contact-based sensing approach), the physical playing experience is virtually indistinguishable from a traditional GHB chanter.
When connected to a computer, the chanter forms part of a complete digital system to help piping instructors and their students. The P-bROCK software allows performances recorded using the digital chanter to be displayed, examined, compared and played back from any point, at any speed. The software also incorporates unique piping-specific features, such as identifying false fingering and automatic detection and evaluation of the full range of Highland piping embellishments, such as birls, doublings and taorluaths.
For technical information please refer to the publications listed below.
