Are there any QUALITY bagpipe plugins for Linux?

[senlil-sym-tekhas]

It's crazy how hard it is to find a good-quality bagpipe sound anywhere, much less one that works on Linux. I have a few cheap-sounding SF2s that work well enough for when I'm composing in MuseScore, but I'm still look for something that sounds like the real deal. Anyone have any suggestions?

Specifics

I use REAPER to render MIDI files composed in MuseScore with high-quality sounds. I'm looking for an authentic bagpipe sound (preferably Great Highland, although I'll take anything that sounds real) to use in REAPER. I use sfizz, Sforzando, DecentSampler, and Carla for my instruments, so I can use SFZ, SF2, VSTi, or DecentSampler plugins without a problem. (Unless, by some impossible coincidence, there's actually a native plugin out there somewhere...)

Oh yeah--and it has to have drones.

What I've Found

Despite my rant earlier in this post, I actually have located a few decent-sounding bagpipes. They're all for pay, but I'd be willing to put down some money on these...if I could be certain that they'd work with my setup. If anyone knows for sure that any of these plugins can be made to work in the Linux version of REAPER, I'd be most grateful. I don't want to commit to a purchase like this until I know it'll work. Here, then, is my list:

- Universal Piper (https://www.universal-piper.com/en/the- ... gpipe-lab/). Excellent sound, as well as a wide assortment of pipes from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and even the European continent. The ability to customize is through the roof--another plus. There's even a free trial version, but I wasn't able to get it to work through WINE. It costs about $70 USD.
- Studio Piper (http://www.epipes.co.uk/products.html). These also sound great, and (according to the demos) the plugin is confirmed work with REAPER (just not Linux REAPER). The price is a bit steep, though, at nearly $90 USD.
- SoundBytes Bagpipes (http://www.soundbytes.de/BagPipes/). At $50 USD, this plugin is definitely the budget end. There are six pipe sounds from which to choose (sadly no Great Highland, but that's okay), and they sound decent--better than some that I've heard. They're still not quite up to the quality of Universal Piper and Studio Piper, though, so I'd call this plugin my last resort.

Any input that anyone may have would be much appreciated.

[d.healey]

I have a Uilleann Pipe library for sale - https://xtant-audio.com/product/dicky-d ... ann-pipes/

It's a Kontakt library so if you have Kontakt running on your setup it should work, and if it doesn't work I'll give you a refund.

I'm working on transitioning all of my Kontakt libraries to a native plugin and I'm recording some additional bagpipe samples. If I remember, I'll update this thread when it's ready.

[alex stone]

I have a Uilleann Pipe library for sale - https://xtant-audio.com/product/dicky-d ... ann-pipes/

It's a Kontakt library so if you have Kontakt running on your setup it should work, and if it doesn't work I'll give you a refund.

I'm working on transitioning all of my Kontakt libraries to a native plugin and I'm recording some additional bagpipe samples. If I remember, I'll update this thread when it's ready.

Out of interest David, will your native plugin run on linux, natively?

[d.healey]

Yes, that's what I meant by native.

[alex stone]

Yes, that's what I meant by native.

Ok. How big a process is it to convert from Kontakt? Are you dealing with samples directly (manually) or is there a script or app doing it automatically?

[d.healey]

It's a manual process, there is a decent amount of scripting involved to handle articulation switching, legato, etc.

Most of the scripting has already been done because I reuse the same scripts across multiple projects. It will probably be next year when the pipes are converted because I'm recording and editing additional sample content for the library.

[barbouze]

I stumbled upon this (windows) plugin and have yet to try it but it sounded pretty good: Quilcom SIM BP, don't know if it works with yabridge though.

[j_e_f_f_g]

Here's a bagpipe sfz I made:

http://wikisend.com/download/847392/bagpipes.zip

Single notes are played from Eb4 to E6. Drones are F2 to E3.

[tseaver]

@j_e_f_f_g

Here's a bagpipe sfz I made:

Thanks for sharing that instrument: it is cool to see release triggers in the SFZ file!

It seems slightly odd have e.g. Ab / Eb mapped: aren't Highland pipes normally diatonic in D? In general, sampling / mapping all 9 notes of the chanter would seem like a natural choice, given that there aren't any non-diatonic notes available on a real instrument, AFAIK. Or are the notes mapped as they are due to differences in the tuning (440 Hz vs. 470-480)?

[j_e_f_f_g]

It seems slightly odd (tuning)

I made this for a General MIDI patch set. In that case, I ignore any tuning oddities, and note limitations, of an instrument. Instead, I try to cover as much of the MIDI note range as possible with A440 equal-tempered tuning.

[d.healey]

@j_e_f_f_g

If you're interested, here are some Galician Bagpipe samples I had recorded but haven't yet used in a library of my own. You're welcome to make an SFZ out of them and share it here. I release these under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike, this license doesn't apply to music that you create with the samples, only to the samples themselves.

https://filedn.eu/larUQgXOwVjQdvpPaD96l ... agpipe.zip

[nils]

just found this:

https://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/bagpi ... erator.php

While fun for thirty seconds the license makes it entirely useless.