“Do you like [the electronic chanter]?
How much do you use it?”

The quick answers are: I find the electronic chanter invaluable. I use it a lot.

At the very least, late at night, after my spousal equivalent (SPEQ; yes, you’re supposed to laugh at that terminology) has gone to bed, I will pull out my electronic chanter to try a new tune, to practice supposedly memorized (!) tunes, or to start memorizing a new tune.

Better, when travelling, the electronic chanter is a portable, private, and easy way to practice. (On one European vacation, I learned two tunes on the flight over, another on the way back, and worked on a dozen or so others in between. On a 6-day sailing trip, I got a healthy start to memorizing a piobaireachd—without inflicting any pain or suffering on the four other crew members on the 40-foot sailboat.)

Note: Be prepared in public places—plane, bus, waiting area, and so on—to spend a few minutes explaining to the people nearby what you’re playing! Once, at an airport, a woman seated quite a few rows away walked over to me just before she boarded a flight, leaned over, and said, “I just have to ask.....” Nowadays, I make it a little game by asking those people in return to guess what instrument I’m practicing.

But there’s a caveat: I still practice a lot with a conventional practice chanter. An electronic chanter merely complements a regular practice chanter. An electronic chanter does absolutely nothing for lip and breath control and endurance. Also, its fingering “feels” different. You’ll notice this immediately upon switching from the electronic instrument to the “real thing”; that is, to when you’re blowing through, and twiddling your fingers on, a bagpipe chanter.

In many ways, the electronic chanter is a lot easier to play than the conventional practice chanter—and a lot easier on the ears. (It’s also a helluva lot easier than playing the bagpipes.) That said, an electronic chanter is absolutely unforgiving about crossing noises (when going from lower to upper hand and vice versa). Avoiding crossing noises is certainly important; however, the accuracy gained using the electronic chanter is not exactly transferable to covering the holes in a true bagpipe chanter. I still have to make some adjustments in fingering a conventional bagpipe chanter.

Next topic: Which electronic chanter to buy? For me, the chanter’s small size was most important. I wanted something easy to pack and carry in a backpack, in a briefcase, or around the house or in the car (while someone else was driving!), whether on vacation, a business trip, or whatever. With the electronic chanter I have, I can change its pitch (I rarely do that), change its volume (do that often), and change its “sensitivity” (I do that when my hands are dry and I don’t have hand cream). Other than that, it lacks many “bells & whistles” the competion has (MIDI output, drone sounds, built-in metronome, integral speaker, etc.). I make do. Heck, I’m using it to practice—not to create or play for public consumption! The important thing is that the “hole” spacing on the electronic chanter is the same as that on a bagpipe chanter.

Realize I bought my electronic chanter when only three types of such devices were readily available on the market. The last time I checked, I think I counted five different types for sale.

This one works for me. Your “mileage” may vary!