App Detail » PipeKeysC - Uilleann Bagpipes Keyboard in C

What's New

Found and fixed root cause of possible iOS4 crash. Complete rewrite of audio engine for more responsive and faster play, and dramatically lower memory requirements.

App Description

PipeKeysC is an expressive, authentic sounding 3/4 set of Uilleann pipes (Irish Bagpipes) chanter, drones, and two regulators in the form of a standard two octave piano keyboard. It is in the key of C, a full step lower than the standard concert pitch of D, and has a more relaxed, earthy tone quality.

The drone and chanter sounds are all sampled from a top quality C set I used to own.

The Uilleann pipes are a complex, bellows blown bagpipe that is commonly used in traditional Irish music. It is heard quite often in movies with Irish themes because of its very unique sound.

Touch the drone button to switch the drones on and off. The balance between the drones and chanter may be adjusted on the settings page.

Since the chanter does not go below D (referenced to a concert pitch set in D), I've put four of the standard tenor/baritone regulator chords as sample loops on the top and bottom halves of the lowest two keys. The chords (again, referenced to a concert pitch set in D) are:
F#/D
G/D
A/F#
B/G

You also may touch immediately above the lowest two white keys in the background image to play the regulators. This makes it much easier to play them along with the lowest chanter keys, particularly bottom D and low E.

Both the low C and C#, or the background touch area can now be used for playing the regulators.

Finger vibrato, as is done on the real instrument, can be added by sliding back and forth along the length of the chanter keys. The note C has an extended pitch bend range as typically used when playing a real chanter.

You may enable an optional stereo flanging effect for the drones on the settings page. This is particularly effective in headphones.

PipeKeysC is multi-touch enabled, so you can play chords.

You can even play along with the music on your iPhone/iPod Touch by playing the track and then launching PipeKeysC. Double click the home button to bring up the iPod controls while the app is running.

Please visit the app website for more information and demonstration videos.

Samples graciously provided by K. Pádraig O'Kane.

Two-tone drone puck image courtesy of Mike DeSmidt, from a 3/4 concert pitch set he built himself.

App Changes

• June 24, 2011 New version 1.2
• November 03, 2011 Price increase: $1.99 -> $2.99
• November 28, 2012 Price decrease: $2.99 -> $0.99