UillitinaB app for iPhone and iPad

UillitinaB is a set of Uilleann pipes (Irish Bagpipes) chanter and drones in the form of an English Concertina pitched in the key of B. It is extremely easy to play, extremely responsive, and has a very authentic sound.

Checkout the cool video on my website of master English concertina player John Brown playing Uillitina at the 2010 Whitby Folk Week.

The Uilleann pipes are a complex bellows blown bagpipe that is commonly used for traditional Irish music. It is used quite often in movie soundtracks with Irish themes because of its very unique sound.

The standard "concert" set of Uilleann pipes is in the key of D. UillitinaB is three half-steps lower, in the key of B. Sets pitched lower than D are called "flat" sets and are generally played as solo instruments.

You can play melodies using the chanter sound by pressing the buttons, and turn the drones on and off by touching the drone puck icon at the lower right of the screen. The balance between the drones and the chanter may be adjusted on the settings page (touch the "i" icon).

Touch the "?" icon to show all the button notes.

You may enable an optional stereo flanging effect for the drones on the settings page. This is particularly effective in headphones.

Since UillitinaB is polyphonic, you can create virtual regulators for chords just by holding down more than one button at a time. This is particularly nice when playing slow airs.

When Charles Wheatsone designed the English concertina, he set it up to match sheet music, the right side is the notes between the lines and the left side is the notes on the lines.

Because English Concertinas play the same note both on a push or a pull of the bellows, it is a very easy instrument to play on the iPhone or iPod Touch. You simply touch the buttons on the screen to play the notes. The spacing is exactly the same the real instrument.

To play, hold the iPhone or iPod Touch between your thumb and little fingers of both hands, exactly like a real English Concertina, and press the buttons with your index and middle fingers. Scale patterns alternate between the fingers of the right and left hands. Notes are higher in pitch as you move from the outside to the middle of the screen.

The sounds are recorded from my personal set of Uilleann pipes and are of extremely high quality. All samples are tuned for perfect just intonation consonance with the drones and each other.

Two-tone drone puck image courtesy of Mike DeSmidt, from a 3/4 concert pitch set he built himself.

Please visit my website for playing tips and techniques, demonstration videos, and additional information about the Uilleann pipes.