I should say that it fits in really well in a non-tonal context, like playing its various algorithms (not just the mic) with a modular setup. I mean where gestures and textures matter more, and you don’t have to coordinate pitches to stay in key–unless you have the singing skills, which I don’t. I’ve tried it with an auto-tuner, but I’d still have to practice a lot.
It’s great for percussion, for kick/snare patterns. It’s super responsive to dynamic and tone variations, so you have a lot of control over the nuances of those two sounds, which makes your beat far more lively than an ordinary drum sequencer. But it’s all you, so it only holds the groove as long as you do. When I’m playing a groove and reach out with the free hand to wiggle a knob on another piece of gear, I lose the groove, and the music weeps. I also haven’t yet hit on an easy way to make the bass/snare sound good in the live mix. It’s fun to play, but I’ve been too lazy to make it fun to listen to.
It’s good for that of course. There’s a good variety of algorithms, which I expect you can see demoed on YouTube. What you won’t be able to sense from YT is the way each algorithm responds to vocalizing and other sounds you make into the contact mic. It’s not only very sensitive, but the algorithms often move in unexpected ways depending on how you change your voice, so the thing is always generating novel modulations. And then there are the knobs. I’ve been concentrating on processing the straight mic sound for live performance because I have a lot of Eurorack to cover me for me for novel sounds and modulations.
but it was one of the rare occassions, i used thomanns money back guarantee within 30 days of use…
it get’s pretty heavy after a while in action…
the mouthpiece is a great and solid thing…and most of the algorithms are great, too…
BUT it also has some pretty cheap dsp’s in there to create all the wet standard fx make up and i was surprised to learn, there’s no way aoround them…so, no matter how dry u wanna go with a reverb and it’s tail, it always remains an essential part of the whole signal chain…
so u got a very unique and direct way to translate all sorts of mouth and throat sounds/impulses into something, but no chance to get all that also dry…at least some uberobvious same cheap reverb is always “singing” along with u…
So, I got it and tried it for a bit. It is harder than I thought to master it. You really need to practice and experiment with it to get better sounds out of it.
So far, I like it, but not sure if I keep it. It depends on how well I will master it not sure if I’m capable enough.
It is nothing like singing though. The manual offers some clearly explained excercises which will help you learn to play it.
In the end I decided to return it. I wasn’t able to produce a wide enough range of sounds for my taste. I’m pretty sure it is because of the lack of my skills though. I also managed to create some similar tones with just a regular mic with tons of in the box fx, so couldn’t justify keeping it.
Hrm, it’s a bit funny because someone suggested elsewhere that you could “replicate” this with any vocal FX box, which… I’ve had some dedicated ones and did not like them
I suppose I can just hold out for if someone puts one up on Elektronauts.
The Lyra took a bit to gel with, I liked the idea of the DVINA more than the breadth of what I could do with it, will this be “greater than the sum of its parts”?
I am looking for something more expressive and performable, and while my voice isn’t terrible, I like the idea of using throat-singing and similar vocalizations to “play” without worrying about theory.
I have a Pipe and practice a few styles of throat singing/overtone singing. It is tricky to get great results from throat singing with the Pipe because you are putting the Pipe against your mouth (sealing airflow) and it doesn’t pick up nasal-only singing very well. You can isolate overtones and get the Pipe to pick them up, but just letting you know it isn’t as mindblowing as you might expect it to be.
The mic is responsive enough that you can sing in front of it (without touching), but personally, I never dig the results I get from that too much. However, it is extremely responsive to humming and any sort of tongue/lip movement. Percussive/aspirative stuff is very fun as well.
The Pipe is definitely NOT easy to replicate with any vocal effects box. The mic design is the unique part (the responsiveness is different than trying to do something like put a contact mic on your lips) and some of the engines “play” quite differently than just adding an effect (like distortion or delay) on your vocal sounds. For example, the sounds you get out of the resonator engine are dependent on your mouth shape, pressure, pitch, how long you sustain a pitch, etc., similar to how a flute can be played very differently depending on the embouchure and blowing techniques of the flutist. It can sound pretty haunting if you really get into the flow and learn how to control it.
I could probably build some kind of similarly alien effects chain in Ableton but the playing style with the mic would still be totally different. Also that would be a pain in the ass.
I think the Pipe rewards skill and practice, but, it also is fun to just pick up and chirp/hum/squeak into and see what happens, I always have a good time. I absolutely love mine and the only electronic instrument/synth I own that is as cool and expressive is the Soma Terra!
Thanks for that. I’m going to flip a few things before I get the slightest inkling of GAS, but I’ve been sort of stuck lately trying to imagine what would pair well with an upcoming live improv opportunity and I’ve been coming back to The Pipe a good bit.
And yes! Expressiveness closer to an electroacoustic instrument is super interesting to me, since I’m trying to cede more to intuition.
My two Soma instruments are also Pipe and Terra. You can try plugging the Pipe’s mic into, for example, Roland VT-4 and other vocal processors and maybe like the results.
not sure if I’m capable enough.
