Do I (Actually) Want a Blair Digital Chanter?

[@1867D]

I've had a Blair chanter for just on a year now, and at first I was not happy with it because of the sensor problems I had. In short, I was totally ticked off, because they cost just over AUD $1,000 here (depending on the embellishments one orders with the chanter). The "instruction manual" that comes with it is worse than useless. After sending an e-mail to Blair, to which I got no reply, I decided to persevere on my own. Eventually I settled on a uniform setting of minus (yes, MINUS) 30 for each hole, and I find this setting suits me just fine, although the grace notes can be a problem sometimes, and it takes a bit of "fiddlesome tweaking" to get them right. Incidentally, I set my Blair to the settings you suggested in the video, and the only hole I could get a sound out of was the high A. All the others?... it was as if the holes didn't exist! Finally, I found that a program called Universal Piper, in conjunction with a goos sound system, works extremely well with the Blair, if you are willing to preserve (with the Blair). Would I buy a Blair if I had my life over again?.....The jury is still out on that one, particularly if the price stays as high as it is at the present time.

[@joshuamontgomery0]

The sensor works off an infrared light that it sends off which is used in motion detectors. It's invisible to your eyes but can be seen by cameras. It doesn't measure how much light is let in, but the amount of light reflected back from it's output back into it's input (exactly like a traditional motion detector i.e. garage door safety.

[@Donnybrook10]

I finally got mine this December. In a matter of a month, my piping has improved immensely. Best money I've spent. Living in a house with 3 other people makes practicing on the pipes untenable at times. The PC has its merits, but the Blair allows the player to concentrate on their fingering without wearing yourself out blowing. I find it far faster to learn a new tune on the Blair as well. I had a Deger and it just wasn't nearly as good. Especially if your hands were dry and weathered. Love it. Blair is also always upgrading software. Looking forward to the Uilleann package.

[@jimmydorry2]

Thanks for the video! When mine arrives, I'll check out your settings.

[@sandrozeb]

Thank you. Useful and quite straightforward. No nonsense attached

[@alreist4907]

Very good information and explanations. Fantastic job. Wasn't sure about getting one but what you said made a lot of sense. Can't practice with my practice regular chanter due to a bladder operation. Would be good to use one of these to keep tunes under my fingers. Many thanks. Regards, Al R

[@jazzman1626]

Excellent! Now I have a starting point to get a better response from my Blair chanter. I’m going to revisit the sensitivity settings. I only have a Blair because of money I got back from the bank in refunded PPI payment 😁👍. I got the engraved one. Fantastic sound. The only changes I’d make, would be the holes closer together a little and the jack plug socket coming out of the bottom of the chanter sole.

[@drumcrazy72]

Sharing for anyone having this issue. Today, all of a sudden, my Low A sounded like low G, and the low G wasn't making any sound at all. Desperate to get it working again, I factory reset and that didn't fix it. So I played with the sensors. I made all 0, except High A, which I set at negative 30. That fixed both issues. I'm still using v1.01 software because I've never updated. I also found that the more negative you go with the sensors, the more likely that the pitch of some notes may change (which is very unexpected). Anyhow, if you have troubles like these, maybe play with your sensors and see how you go.

[@88Nikoli]

I think you're talking about capacitive finger sensors vs optical sensoring , both are electronic , opto sensors measure the reflected light from on board l.e.d. s , hence why it works in the dark and it can differentiate between height difference of fingers hence why out of the box it doesn't work for hardly anyone. This is why it has to set up for each individuals skin reflectivity ! No offence but how can you tell somebody about something you yourself have no clue about ? More sensitivity requires negative numbers not positive according to the Blair people . Watch this ! kzbin.info/www/bejne/pp-vhqp7pduijK8 for proper adjustment ! :-)

[@gunnsmoke357]

Sorcery!