piping can - electronic wind instrument

12-42 — elektor december 1980 piping can can electronic wind instrument It had to happen, an electronic equivalent of Scotland"s national instrument, the bagpipes. Naturally, it is supplied with all mod cons; an attractive portable, lightweight case that consists of none other than a can. One thing has remained unchanged — the mouthpiece. The Scots have developed powerful lungs to be able to play and this is still one of the main requirements for this circuit, modern though it is. 1 Those of you who have tried blowing the bagpipes, know how incredibly difficult it is to produce any sound that is vaguely acceptable. Fortunately, the electronic bagpipes introduced here are a lot less demanding, but you still have to blow. The mouthpiece contains an NTC resistor which is warmed up when the instrument is blown. It takes some time to cool off and this creates the typical bagpipes-effect. The circuit diagram Figure 1 gives the diagram of the electronic bagpipes. The first part of th...