Bagpipes!? - The best bagpipe samples compared 

Greetings from Edinburgh! It's amusing to hear you talk about legato - because of the way the instrument works, legato is the *only* way of playing bagpipes, to the extent that the only way of playing repeated notes is to insert grace notes in between. That's what the library you used was trying to imitate (very badly!) It's a style called piobaireachd (pibroch) and can be very emotive and skillful, when done right. Oh, and it's really only used with solo pipes, rather than massed pipes (and no, two pipes played together isn't really "massed pipes" 😀 ). You forgot to mention HZ's bagpipe music to Dune (part 1) 🙁 Other than that, HNY2U... 😉

Only you, Guy, could make a video about bagpipes that kept me watching - and listening 😱 - to the end 😊 A Very Happy Musical New Year to you and your team.

I'll agree with your first assertion that we need more pipes.

Eduardo Tarilonte always comes up with great libraries. There are also bagpipes in his Era II Medieval Legends, if I remember correctly. Also, maybe a slightly lesser known library is Dicky Deegan's Uilleann Pipes. Not bagpipes, I know, but they sound pretty good and have a slide control for the "legato" and separate volume knobs for the chanter, drones and regulators. Don't know what they retail at, but they were on sale at Audio Plugin Deals for like $15 or $20 awhile back. Happy New Year, Guy. Best wishes to you and everyone! Let's own this year, my doods!

Thank you Mr. Michelmore for all the wisdom you give us. I always have a great time with your posts. This time, minute 5:00 made my day. 😅 Happy New Year 2023.

Unlockinging the secrets of bagpipes with Guy Michelmore is a great way to spend some of the New Year! Drones in B flat feels like secret sauce for us non-bagpipe society folk.

Happy new year! There's also CineWinds Pro, which has a few different bagpipes

Happy New Year! 🍷🌟 I like the Boldersounds Bagpipes. I love Bagpipes!!!!

I like Bolder Sounds' Kontakt library the most. The have a triple bagpipe patch where you can detune the 3 pipes against eachother. You open about three or four of these patches and you'll have a whole battalion of these noisy buggers in no time, albeit very impressive sounding if that's what floats your boat.

My favourite sound on the bagpipes is when they gradually expire and the last drop of air escapes in a sort of depressing down tuned drone...and then silence.... Happy New Year, Guy :).

Happy New Year! Thank you Guy for showing that sampled bagpipes can sound convincingly good!

The right theme at the right time - good show!

I actualy love bagpipes! Bagpipes are great things but don't forget the uilleann pipes, in some instances it can be easier to work. (BTW you can have a free one in the Kontakt factory library)

The second bagpipe sound actually sounds awesome. Here's a tip for you though, bagpipes only go to a low g, in this case a low a flat. So try to stay within that range of the bagpipes, other than that it's a great sounding bagpipe sample. The bagpipe notes are as follows from lowest to highest. Low-g, low b, c, d, e, f, ig, and hi a. In this case, it would be the b-flat mixolydian scale. Low a flat, low b flat, c, d, e flat, f, g, hi a flat, and high b flat. By the way, I meant to say low a, I accidentally skipped a. On the lower notes on the bagpipes. But that is actually the range of the bagpipes. I actually play keyboard, and whenever I play the bagpipe on the keyboard, I actually try to stay within the range of the bagpipe. If I play any lower, you can say that I might as well be playing a set of uilleann bagpipes.

Happy New Year Guy! Thank you for putting together all the content for this channel. I almost joined the society of pipers but considering the 2k outlay for a decent set of pipes passed on it. I use Dicky Deegan’s Uilleann pipes (Irish not Scottish) from XTant audio but really only the professional version will do. Fun video. Again, Happy New Year.

The ones from CineWinds Pro are my favorite!

I hope you are in a vacation. Have a great new year.

Providing the most wholesome content on the internet

I've written some Celtic music and the bagpipes I use are the Great Highland Pipes from Celtic Instruments. They are for Kontakt and sound great.

Bagpipes; Tuneless cat strangling. Happy New Year to you Guy.

Happy New Year, Guy, and everyone else! I'm one of those weirdos who actually enjoy the sound of bagpipes. Don't know why, I just do. I know people like to make fun of bagpipes, but let's not forget Hans Zimmer won an Oscar for a score that featured (among other things) 30 bagpipes.

The Best Wishes and Happy New Year !!!

Happy New Year!!

We love you Guy :)

Happy New Year, Guy! I always enjoy your vids from the shed (even when it's bagpipes :D), keep them coming.

Check out Ilya Efimov Uilleann Pipies. This one is the best one out there.

Guy, the tunes of the great highland bagpipe are written in D Major. The instrument itself sounds slightly higher pitched than b flat mixolydian with tendency to b. Concert players can tune their pipe to b flat down. So an E flat Major Tune is perfect for example with brass. And of course the chanter notes of the pipes are not triggered separately, that’s why you are having grace notes

Guy, very cool, actually. All the very best to you and thank you for your support!

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and all your subscribers and students. 🎹

Happy New Year Guy - thanks for all the content this year!

Hello Guy. Thanks for sharing. A little surprised that you didn't include the Bagpipe software from "Studio Piper" and "Universal Piper" that really are the top of the tree when it comes to authentic bagpipe VST's.

"No, nobody says that." - I say that! I say that all the time! Although you really should go for a fast medieval romp. If you want some great bagpipes, Corvus Corax is a great start to the huge world of bagpipe driven medieval party music.

Great timing great delivery. Always entertaining! Thanks very much. Now add those marching snares....or whatever.

Your external dialog always makes me feel better about my internal dialog -- like the ad lib "reverb jingle". Maybe I'm not so strange after all. FWIW when the RA pipes are mixed with a touch of distortion guitar and doused in reverb, the impression is pretty decent for a brief passage in a spirited Braveheart-esque track. Thanks for the fun and the Bb-ish tip!

Hey Guy(s), also check out Dicky Deegan’s Uilleann Pipes at Xtant Audio. Love em.

Happy New Year Guy for 2023. Thx for all your 2022 tuts!

Happy New Year Guy. I personally feel it's the reverb that make bagpipes sound great. I use the Roland guitar Synth for bagpipes, and insert Inspirata from Inspired Accoustics ( best sampled reverb in my opinion) and they sound completely authentic. Have a good year!

Ther is also very descent Bagpipes in the Kontakt Factory library , HAppy new year Guy , check your recorded midi , it Must be all notes legato , the only interruptions are by grace notes.

Happy New Year Guy 😂, cheers Dave

Happy New Year, Guy. Hope you have a wonderful year as well. Thank you for all of the great content and entertainment.

I don't know if anyone mentioned it yet, but the Bagpipes from the Kontakt Factory Library are actually quite good when comparing them to some other bagpipe plugins. They're part of the World instruments and can definitely work as a quick and cheap solution for the few times you need bagpipes even though I think they're not completely satisfying.

I did a bagpipe EDM track last year and tracking down a sample was quite a challenge. So, yeah, thanks for the lead, especially since I am no bagpipe expert - lol!

Starting my new year with your video. Love you so much. Wishing you a very happy new year.

Happy New Year to you. Thanks for all your help.

Thanks for another great video and have a happy New Year!

Happy New Year Guy!!! And thank you for all the marvelous content both on RU-vid and on Thinkspace! Every video of yours is a joy!!

I wish you the best for the new year Guy. Much Love.

I personally preferred eastwests sound, shame they don't have the articulations. And I may be alone here, but I find the bagpipes to be an absolutely hauntingly beautiful instrument. When you played Amazing Grace, ahh, chefs kiss

happy new year to you & everyone else, and thanks for all your videos

Universal Piper is the best sounding bagpipe library available IMO as a piper of over 20 years. Works best when paired with electronic pipes, such as Redpipes.

happy new year Guy

happy newyear Guy,i wish you lots of new libraries

Happy new year, Guy, from France ! 🤗

And a happy new year to you.. Copenhagen supports

Thanks for that, I was hoping for something a little more in-depth as there's more to bagpipes than just Highland pipes. In fact I'd be quite keen to hear your thoughts on Universal Piper (I'd post a link but RU-vid will just kick me out if I do) as it came up on my research about whether there were more to choose from in terms of bagpipes samples (Breton and Galician pipes have a distinct sound of their own for instance). I personally love the Uileann Pipes library from PianoBook. It's not Highland but it's great for writing folk tunes with (and it's free... well as long as you have Kontakt anyway). Happy new year :)

Happy New Year! Love this channel.

I use the Uillean Pipes from Ra. But apparently the cream of the crop is the U-pipes by Ilya Efimov.

Happy New Year Guy, you genius you.

the Kontakt library that comes with Kontakt 7 (the 40GB one) has some not bad bagpipes in the acoustic category. Obviously both of these are much, but it has three options, they're just called Pipes and there's three different versions of them

Happy new year, Guy! Your Jackboots on Whitehall score is fantastic btw, would love to hear more behind the scenes info on it!

haha! Happy New Year Guy, I love your work. Many thanks.

And who could forget that ACDC track... err, sorry, thingy... err... Happy new year mate... 😉

Happy New Year G-d Bless to all

Happy New Year Guy! I always want more bagpipes - check out Skerryvore and Skippinish for great pipers. Also of course there is the Red Hot Chilli Pipers who are great fun!

Definition of a gentleman: someone who can play the bagpipes but wouldn't! Joking aside there's so many ways to incorporate the sound into music for screen.

Cheers Guy ! Best wishes ...

Happy NewYear!!!

All the very best guy

Love it Guy! You make music fun!

Happy new Gear!

Happy New Year, Guy!

Happy new year Guy 🥳, my best wishes !

Haha, 0.00 a.m. and what does Guy do? Publish a video. Happy New Year Guy and I wish you all the best and I wish your followers on RU-vid many of your blogs. Cheers!

Happy New Year Everyone!

This year started with bag pipes… huh, didn’t see that coming

My son plays the bagpipe. It is an wonderful instrument. But to be played outdoors only because it is LOUD!!!! :)

Happy New Year! Thank you for your videos full of great humor, important knowledge and huge inspiration! Thank you for the demonstration of a bagpipe sound! I didn't realize how great Celtic Era sounds! P. S.: I wish there would be celtic rhythm guitar, but for now it's mainly pop and jazz patterns and no DADGAD tuning. I have NI strummer, but it doesn't sound Irish enough. If anyone knows what guitar VST sounds close to Lunasa sound - please, leave a comment!)

UVI has good pipes in their World Instruments.

HAPPY NEW YEAR GUY! 🥳🥳🥳

I’d love to see you do some dubstep Guy. Get your crazy dance moves in.

Happy new year, Guy! 🎆🎉

Happy new year Guy🎉

Happy new year Guy !!! i´ve been wondering if you could give us a little advice on how to mix an orchestra, or a fill scoring

They sound pretty good, but I'd say for the pipe band effect we'd need more than just two tracks. I'd go for at least 5, each instrument slightly detuned. However, as a piper (though not a very good one) I must say the biggest giveaway are the embellishments. The GHB has a very specific set of embellishments and if they are just "fudged" rather than imitated properly, than it just sounds a bit off regardless if how realistic the samples are...

CineWinds Pro has some nice bagpipes.

Mac Studio? Where's the follow up on your new hardware? :D I mean for me it's too late since i've already bought it, but maybe someone else is on the fence? Me? Happy as a clam. :D

You've ever hear of Dicky Deegan's Bagpipes? It's a pretty good bagpipe VST that occasionally goes on sale. I got it for 10 bucks and includes 5 patches (one for FX, and 4 for Uillieann Pipes in C# and D).

I think the best simulator of bagpipes is Studio Piper. To a piper (of over 45 years) the software you used did not sound good at all. Some basic info on the highland pipes; so pipers regard it as in the key of A but actuially as you point out is is closer to Bb. They can be tuned to concert A (440Hz) for when playing with other instruments, over the years the pipes have got sharper with 465Hz or even 480Hz being used at competition level playing. There are 3 drones, two tenor drones tuned to have the wavelength of the chanter (nominally 220Hz) and one base drone tuned to half the wavelength of the Tenor drones (nominally 110Hz). When tuned there should be no "wavering" of the tone which would be a sign you are listening to out of tune pipes. Since bagpipes are always playing a note, not stopped like Uilleann pipes or Northumbrian pipes, grace notes or "embelishments" are used to played to break up the note and play the melody, some of these embelishments are quite complex and would be difficult to properly simulate digitally. So I think the sampled sounds would be best used for slow tunes with simple embelishments. The chanter scale is Myxolydian, G,A,B,C#,D,E,F#,G,A, although the top G is quite flat. It is possible to play 15 notes is total although the commonly used additional ones are C natural and F natural. For a long time bagpipe music has been dominated by the regimented playing of army pipe music where the emphasis was on everyone playing the same notes at exactly the same time and getting the effect of the massed band to inspire troops and scare the bejesus out of the enemy. It is not possible to play chords on the bagpipe but it is possible for a second piper to play a harmony note which in my day used to be called the "Seconds". The innovative pipers of today like Lincoln Hilton have taken this much further and he writes music for 4 or more pipers to play concurrently and the sounds provide chords. There are indoor alternatives to the highland pipes (either mouth blown or belows blown) and whist the key of A (Bb) is most common there is a growing used of them in the key of C and D. Innovators here would be the likes of Brighde Chaimbeul and Ross Ainsley who have recently put out a new album called "Las" which even includes music inspired by Bulgarian tunes. In addition to the Great Highland pipes I play the Blair Digital Chanter, a brilliant instrument that includes over six different pipe sounds and can also be used to input MIDI. If interested you can check out my channel where I have collaborated with my guitar playing cousin using this insturment. Guy I think your channel is great and I have learned much of my music theory from you and I have been inspired by your style of composition. Happy New Year!

Happy new year Guy sri

Thank you ,too.

J'aime le bouton STOP

Gotta say I didn't even think you could find just one decent bag pipe library. Still havn't found a keyboard that have a usefull drone sample, but even with Guy's lousy playing that chanting line actually sounded quite good when doubled (sorry Guy) 😆😘. But it actually sound like you know a little of those cow belly's or whatever their made of 😊 You should make an educational video of the different types. Guess I'm one the few people that think you should have more bagpipes in your videos ... /hides 😂

Hey Guy, I hope you are doing OK. We are missing you!

ALL bagpipes aren't just in Bb, bit of a generalization considering there is Uileann pipes and Northumbrian Pipes which both have different keys and Small Pipes and Border Pipes which are in D and A. Highland Bagpipes aren't in equal temperament tuning although I suppose that's what makes software like this good because presumably you can play different keys as I assume it's been altered to equal temperament (or you could manually do it, just like how you can with piano vsts). I'd recommend anyone to listen to the demo audio files that come with this software like 'Hero's Journey' as they demonstrate how these digital sounds can be integrated into a cinematic Celtic soundtrack that could be good for games/ films....

All the cliche's Guy! Haha, Happy New Year! You've not allowed the drones to get up to pitch there before looping which won't help with the tuning. A decent piper will be able to play in E (as well as Eb) if they have the right tools. Same with concert A. They'd also be very aware of tuning including temperament and have a dialogue with the composer about that. I won't take your video too personally though! 😉

Warmest of fortunes to you all.

Don't forget that Hans Zimmer used bagpipes on Dune and it got him an Oscar!!

NI has one called Ireland

Happy new year Guy. Often wondered which is the best sample library for uilleann pipes.

Cinewinds Pro also has some nice ones!