Use Spitfire Audio Labs Uilleann Pipes For Free - Tips

[@SamuFL]

Look, I'm just a guy who enjoys creating. And I'm not giving this instrument it's full respect - it can do so much more! I know close to nothing about traditional Irish music -- and people who do can tell 😅. Head over to kzbin.info/www/bejne/an7bd6ahadiMg5Y if you really want to get more insights into how the Uilleann Pipes are used in their tradition. This video explains a lot of it's history, function and capabilities.

[@trioofone8911]

...yeah... part way into the video (havent finished it yet). Most types of bagpipes--uillean pipes included--are built to make more than one sound at a time. That's the whole point, in fact. Drones and melody both. The interesting thing about the uillean pipes--and one of the things that earn them the name "the king of pipes" is that the Regulators are sort of "drones that can be played". So, uillean pipes have the melody part--the "chanter"--that only plays one note at a time. Then there are the drones, which the player can actually shut off if they want to, or change the pitch for a different drone chord. THEN there are the Regulators. I have seen highly skilled uillean pipers play simple counter melodies and counter melodic chord shapes on the regulators while they play the main melody on the chanter. Sounds a bit like a small organ. A "half set" of uillean pipes does not include the regulators (the playable drone things), and that's how alot of pipers play them, just the drones and the melody. It is possible for the melody to play without any drones (or regulators), and it is possible for the drones and regulators to play without the melody. And it is possible for everything to go all at once in a huge beautiful display of bombast! Uillean pipes rule! 😊

[@HaylieSings]

Thank you so much for breaking this down!!! I was looking for someone to actually demonstrate HOW to use this (I’m really new to production and wanting to learn) so this was super helpful. Cheers 🍻

[@SamuFL]

Glad it helped! And Slainte!

[@randallharp7010]

Great demo and overview of the LABS instrument. Refreshing to see someone who enjoys the computer-aided composition and arrangement process as much as I do.

[@stevenseamus7308]

Great video and tips. I have been waiting for Uilleann Pipes from Labs for ever, never dreaming the instrument would be on their list, so could barely believe it when the email dropped into my inbox. Keep up the great work. Really authentic voicing of how the instrument should sound too. Sounds great in your piece at the end.

[@donatlopr]

Great video at the end... Great Job! Nice Music Track.... MUSIC FOREVER

[@SamuFL]

Thank you!

[@dreamyfoxboy4859]

that tune at the end was pure american movie about ireland, but you got close to our music and thats awesome! Very nice introduction to a cool instrument!!

[@SamuFL]

Haha! In this case Austrian movie... I've been only once to Ireland for work (no time for proper leasure) - and I loved it! Will go back rather soon, I'm sure. And I would LOVE to hear the Uilleann Pipes played properly IRL!

[@magelan3]

I Just stombled by....and couldn't stop till the end. You've got it...very well done with the right flow and pleasant talk. Keep it up.

[@SamuFL]

Wow, what a nice feedback. Thank you so much! Highly appreciated. I'm glad you enjoyed watching!

[@peterwindross5858]

Crystal clear explanations and tips . Thank you 👍

[@trioofone8911]

Another thing to consider--if you want realism--the scale they play might be Myxolidian. But also i think they CAN play a few accidentals. PLUS, uillean pipers will have more than one set, in another key. Ive seen uillean pipes in C, G, A, and Bb. They can't change keys with the same set, however, and switching instruments is not practical in the middle of performances alot of times. They are also able to do two full octaves. Most pipes, such as the Scottish highland pipes, can only play one octave. Modern uillean pipers will do what we might call suspended chords, 9 chords, etc, on their regulators. They arent quite as stuck in the saccarin Major key as you might think. Ok, thats all for now, I'm sure you have heard from me plenty for one day. Lol

[@SamuFL]

I'm actually really thankful for these kind of insights. Yes, I know that you can tune the pipes in different keys -- but, as you said, you can't switch while playing. What I did get completely wrong in the beginning was the regulators. I'm way smarter now :D Thank you!

[@brianquarstad3182]

I watched the labs video on this a few weeks ago. Love uilleann pipes but the first thing I thought was these will have to be separated into multiple tracks to make it sound authentic. And now I've found your video which proves my point. Nicely done. One thing I don't have and don't know how to set up is sliders for the Labs/BBC dynamics etc. I have also seen that you can do this post keyboard recording but I've never seen a video on how you can do either of these things using dynamic sliders. Would love to see a "how to video" on purchasing, setting up and using sliders in Spitfire Audio products. This I believe would be super helpful to a lot of folks. Thanks for this video.

[@SamuFL]

Thank you so much for the feedback! I'll go into that in a future video coming soon. Promised 🙌

[@seansnyman4772]

Thanks for this video, Samuel. I'm definitely going to make use of the wisdom you shared in a sad cue I'm composing. This will help a ton. Grateful. God bless.

[@robst247]

You've captured the spirit of Erin's fair isle.

[@SamuFL]

Great to hear, thank you!

[@KevinWayne]

Enjoyed your completed piece at the end. Very nice sound & visual 👍

[@SamuFL]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it 😃

[@jimrogers7425]

Thank you for showing more about how to use this library. I enjoyed your composition, but also equally enjoyed the pairing of it with the video. Excellent work and an excellent video!

[@SamuFL]

Thank you Jim 😃 - glad you enjoyed it!

[@design1569]

Great job on both your music, and in explaining the process. Thank you! I recently started using LABS, and I also purchased Spitfire's "Fink - Signatures" acoustic guitar.

[@SamuFL]

Thank you very much. LABS is a real gem. Not _everything_ is good, but some patches are actually _awesome_. The Funk-Guitar looks really great in the official walkthrough. Does it work out for you as expected?

[@design1569]

Thanks for the reply. I need to learn now to mix and master, as the rich LABS sounds quickly add up, and it's hard to hear anything specific -- it becomes a fairly impressive but mushy "wall of sound" (less is more, perhaps). I like the beginning of the song where it's just the Spitfire Fink Signatures guitar and there's nothing else to compete with it.

[@design1569]

Here's my song: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eaOspmCXe6qGjJY

[@themusiciansjourney]

Great video, as was the last one I watched about BBC SO Discover. I have Labs and shall definitely be trying some stuff out. Thanks again.

[@SamuFL]

If it's in any way inspiring you to create some music yourself - you made my day. Thank you!

[@davidpreeceorchestra80]

Very very good! Amazing that this is for free too, thanks for the video!🌟

[@SamuFL]

Thank you so much 😃. The Spitfireaudio LABS series has a whole range of high quality sample instruments. And they are getting better and better over time. Yes, it's astonishing such a VST is for free - we live in wonderful times 🙌

[@terilamarco515]

Excellent! Thank you for the tips. Perfect for a project I’m working on.

[@SamuFL]

Thanks! Good to hear it can help you.

[@micwarren21]

Great Tutorial, Thank you.

[@PeregArBagol]

I just started messing around with the plugin earlier and ended up with the same conclusions as you, on how to use the different patches. Great job at explaining it by the way ! The demo is very convincing, well done =)

[@SamuFL]

Thank you 😃

[@KozmykJ]

Very helpful 👍 btw 02:37 - 'Drones' are what they're called. 😉

[@paulofarrell1375]

Really helpful

[@SamuFL]

Thank you. Appreciate the feedback 🙇

[@desoconnor7445]

10 out of 10👍

[@SamuFL]

Thank you 😃

[@reganovich]

Fair play boss! Ignore the know it alls and haters. You're interested in whats to you a new instrument and exploring what it can do in your DAW. Kudos and peace from Ireland bud. You should come over some time and listen to some live irish music..although there's no doubt decent irish bars in Germany that have a good 'Session' for music going on too! Good luck

[@SamuFL]

Thank you 😃 Believe it or not, I am getting ready right now for my first ever trip to Ireland. Unfortunately, it's a business trip and I'm staying only for one night in Dublin. But I'm very excited and looking forward to explore the city and its pubs in the evening - will try to find some genuine place with good music 👍

[@reganovich]

@@SamuFL Good man! Head down to Temple bar and Maybe O Donoghues and there might be a session on. Have a good one!

[@silverworks7]

Great video and great sound. Congrats!

[@SamuFL]

Thank you so much!

[@lumpielump3576]

very well done - you got a new subscriber today!

[@SamuFL]

Thank you! Glad you liked it 😃

[@spuntotheratboy]

Really helpful video, thank you! In terms of the pipes themselves, people don't really use the regulators for droning, that's what the drones are for: they're more used for occasional big chords, or little choppy rhythmical effects. As an example, here's the great piper Seamus Ennis: kzbin.info/www/bejne/faO7pKCcotaWfKM - you can hear quite a lot of the regulators at the very beginning, then he stops using them for a bit as the tune gets going, then brings them in occasionally throughout for expressive effects.

[@SamuFL]

Yes yes, I've actually done some research - after having fun with the VST. I'm looking forward to somehow eventually see someone play the pipes in real life. It's such a cool instrument!

[@spuntotheratboy]

@@SamuFL It's so special. I'm a fiddle player and the number of times I've played with a good uilleann piper are like... a handful, and when it does happen it's just magic.

[@StuartRAberdein]

Great work. Well done.

[@TheFrankHummer]

The "modulation" feature so often with Spitfire instruments seems to have the effect of a low pass filter. I'm not sure. Thanks for the video. Also, that's a nice composition and arrangement. lt's helpful to hear these thought processes.

[@SamuFL]

Glad you enjoyed it. Yes, I'm not 100% sure its "just" low pass. I tried to replicate it in the past to figure out what exactly was going on. I couldn't replicate it exactly.

[@ericmontgomery5241]

That guy should keep the melody and change out the drone and other parts for Labs Strings. It would probably sound very cinematic. nice job.

[@SamuFL]

That guy is thankful for the nice feedback 😅. Yes, I get your point with the strings - but I really wanted to put the pipes at the center of attention 😉

[@chrisshollinrake6826]

Well done, I like it.

[@SamuFL]

Thank you!

[@IHBable]

Very authentic

[@SamuFL]

Thank you 😃

[@vln.marcos]

Hey! great video! Just a question: How can I controll the length of the gliding in reaper? I'm a noob Many Thanks!

[@SamuFL]

Hi. Sorry, I cannot help with that as I'm not a reaper user. Studio One fanboy here :D

[@vln.marcos]

@@SamuFL Don't worry! maybe you can tell me how would you do it with Studio One, probably is similar in reaper :D Thanks!

[@richardtorstrick4631]

Pretty sure these are the only pipes that can actually play different notes on the drones. It's not an 'effect' but an actual simulation, I believre.

[@SamuFL]

So. As far as I understand it, the drones can be tuned to different notes, but you cannot change the note while playing. The regulators, however, can play different notes throughout a piece and are used to establish Harmonic context. Like, chord playing. At least that's what I understood from the explanations I've watched online. I would really love to hear someone play this live!

[@peterjordanson1021]

A few days ago I downloaded Uilleann pipes and was thinking of using them in song/video I uploaded a couple weeks ago and also had an irish flavor. I really appreciate the tips you offer in using this plugin. I like the idea of separating the drone, that way you can play in different keys if you are not a purist (which I am not for sure). I use Cakewalk for my DAW and just having fun. Here is the video I made. It is of a Steve Morse song: kzbin.info/www/bejne/opfKq6yPnd1oaq8

[@SamuFL]

Beatuful score and video. Just watched it. I love the playfulness of the melody. In contrast to me, you are actually evoking an irish sound :D I like it a lot!

[@peterjordanson1021]

@@SamuFL That was a good catch when you describe how to articulate the modulation on the Chanter patch by velocity level. I would have not found that. I have to slam the key to get up to 127 level. Maybe because I use a 40 year old Roland synth as my controller, but I've never had a noticeable problem before. Perhaps it responds to aftertouch (which I do not have)? I might have found it in the piano roll view, maybe. I don't see any docs, but I haven't really looked. This thing is free, so I only have praise for Spitfire Audio LABS. I also use the BBC free orchestra. If you find any more cool functionality, please let us all know.

[@SamuFL]

@@peterjordanson1021 I promise, I will!

[@Intenzity]

Good Tips for orchestration, but for instructional purposes, play the track for us first!! We never get to hear it until the end, and that is after you have played bits and pieces of it the entire video. Play it through, then explain what you did. Otherwise we have no context for all the compositional choices you made.

[@SamuFL]

Thanks for the suggestion. I think in my next video, I'll include a preview at the very beginning. Should be useful to establish context and also help you to judge quickly whether the walkthrough is actually what you're looking for. Good point

[@bobstewartfolk]

Hey man, you need to listen to these pipes actually being played cos your not quite getting it.

[@SamuFL]

You are prefectly right. The thing is: I got the newsletter from LABS, and went straight to my DAW to play around with the instrument. Only afterwards, I started asking myself: "Wait, how does this actually sound well played IRL?" And it's amazing! I think this here kzbin.info/www/bejne/an7bd6ahadiMg5Y is a great source toget a feeling for what this instrument is actually capable of. I've learned my lesson. Next time before I butcher a traditional instrument, I will at least make me aware of it properly (probably can't avoid the butchering part ;) )

[@peterjordanson1021]

@@SamuFL No need to say you're sorry. We have tools now that are only limited by one's imagination. Erin go Bragh!

[@TheFrankHummer]

@@SamuFL When Harisson's masterpiece "Within You, Without You" was released, some criticized him for not really capturing the essence of Indian music. One critic said it wrongly mixed together elements of Northern Indian music and Southern Indian music. I never noticed it, myself.

[@heathrichardson4242]

My ears are bleeding…. MIDI will never be able to reproduce convincing bagpipes. Sorry.

[@SamuFL]

Midi will never ever be able to replace an actual instrumentalist. That is, I think, the much bigger deal than the sound itself. Years of learning to express yourself with a specific instrument cannot be programmed or "played in" through midi. I am fully aware of that. 😅 Anyway, I enjoy the fact that I get to be creative in my own little home studio with a huge array of sounds. I think thats really amazing!