Tuner for the bagpipes

Systems Engineering student invented an automatic bagpipe tuner as part of his bachelor's thesis.

Bagpipe players require a bagpipe tuner. This must be able to measure the sound without reacting to external influences and background noises.

Student Sebastian Elber developed a reciprocal frequency counter. In the prototype, automatic adjustment takes place via three small, inclined rubber wheels arranged around the upper section of the drone pipe. These are driven by a micro-motor. If the automatic system can be further reduced  in size, it should be possible to tune all three drone pipes at the same time. In an ideal situation, it would then be possible to tune a set of bagpipes in under 30 seconds. At the moment, the tuning procedure takes up to five minutes.

Project information

• Client: Josef Rappo