Electronic bagpipes

Eventually, with the advance of technology, he was able to downsize it, till by the early 1990s, it consisted of a chanter topped with a 6 x 4 inch plastic box which housed all the components, including a 2-inch speaker, all powered by a 9 volt battery.

[citation needed] Another pioneer was George H. Boyd, whose system, although not as easily portable as the Bazpipe, produced an authentic "bagpipe" sound.

Other interesting developments included the Ross Technologies Programmable Electronic Bagpipes, which, though looking similar to the Bazpipe, was capable of playing in different keys in order to accompany different instruments.

Later models included the MicroPipes, which are a headphones-only electronic practice chanter, and the MidiPipes featuring realistic wavetable sound and MIDI output capability.

[citation needed] Manfred Deger of Germany developed an interesting Scottish Highland pipe emulator with MIDI, and has since expanded its capabilities.

[5] In the early 1990s a multidisciplinary team composed of Alberto Arias, Miguel Dopico and José Ángel Hevia patented the first electronic bagpipe in history.

A similar development with a pressure-sensitive bag was copied In 2005 the German Rolf Jost, and has since been produced under the brand-name redpipes, in varieties emulating various bagpipes.

Both of them take advantage of the widely spread Arduino board and facilitate people with some technical skills to build and customise their own electronic bagpipes.

Bands and musicians now playing electronic bagpipes include Korn, Ithilien, Eluveitie, Gaelic Storm, Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Seer, Hevia, Nightwish, and The Wiggles.