Ultimate Piper

Ultimate Piper 2.6.0 — played by ear PLAYBACK AS PIPERS PLAY IT Glissandos now scoop like a finger leaving the hole: the pitch leaves the first note fast and leans into the second over about a semiquaver, measured from Peter Crowe's recording of The Pumpkin's Fancy, instead of a quick blend between two fixed pitches. Notes run into one another with no dead air, as a chanter must. Grips land with the theme note on the beat, taorluaths stay crisp at speed, and 4/4 marches without a saved tempo default to a marching 88. PIOBAIREACHD, FROM THE MASTERS' RECORDINGS Measured against two recordings of Lament for the Children. Piobaireachd now defaults to 40 BPM. The heavy throw holds its low G, the cadential E dwells half a beat and re-attacks after the same note, the note before a cadence leans, and echo beats dwell on their last gracenote. With Expressive Timing on, the variations quicken as the tune unfolds — taorluath, crunluath and crunluath doubling each faster than the last — the note after a taorluath is clipped, and the crotchet that closes a bar is leaned on. Settings → Expressive Timing → Genre Strategies explains every rule. ENGRAVING THAT FOLLOWS THE HAND Low-hand embellishments hang their beam just above the stave on short stems, as the engravers set them. The scanner no longer reads 3/4 marches as 6/8, and "Retreat" is a recognised tune type. FASTER, STEADIER Much faster cold start on big libraries, and the score cursor stays with the audio to the last note of the longest piobaireachd. Keep the screen awake while you browse the library (Settings → Display). Move a folder into another folder. Paste copied staves as harmony voices. TRY IT: YOUR OWN CHANTER'S VOICE An experimental feature for the curious: turn on Settings → Sample Packs → Record Your Own Sound, play a steady low A to calibrate, record each note, and every tune plays back with your instrument — tuned onto the scale from your own low A. We'd love to hear how it works for you.