Harmonic-Frontier-Audio/Bagpipes_Scottish_Smallpipes_in_A_Preview

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Harmonic Frontier Audio – Bagpipes Scottish Smallpipes in A, Preview (v0.9)

A high-quality bagpipes dataset (Scottish smallpipes in A) — designed for AI training, music research, and creative audio projects in folk and world music.

Scottish Smallpipes in A, a preview dataset, created by Harmonic Frontier Audio.
It provides developers, researchers, and musicians with a compact reference set, demonstrating the quality and format of the full Harmonic Frontier Audio bagpipe dataset series.

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🎶 About the Scottish Smallpipes

The Scottish smallpipes are a quieter relative of the Great Highland Bagpipe, traditionally bellows-blown though mouthblown sets are also common.
They typically play in the key of A with a range from low G to high A, accompanied by three drones tuned to A.
Unlike many instruments, the smallpipes produce a continuous sound with no rests, and the chanter naturally grows louder as it ascends in pitch.
This continuous and dynamic quality makes them uniquely challenging — and rewarding — for audio modeling and dataset creation.

📂 Contents

Audio Files (.wav)

• Recorded at 96 kHz / 24-bit WAV format
• Exported as mono or stereo (depending on mic configuration)
• Clean recordings with no fade-ins or fade-outs (pipes are already sounding at file start/end)
• High-pass filtered at ~40 Hz to remove subsonic rumble

Categories in this Preview

1. Scale Exercises

   • No Gracenote Scale Exercise
   • G Gracenote Scale Exercise
   • Includes chanter-only, and stereo mix examples

2. Sustained Notes

   • Low A (plain sustain)
   • C (vibrato)
   • D (plain sustain in chanter-only mic, and stereo mix)
   • E (vibrato)
   • High A (plain and vibrato)

3. Short Tune Snippet

   • "My Gallant Hero" - Mono mix of chanter + drones (balanced, natural sound)

4. Isolated Components

   • Drones only (no chanter, drone mic only)

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Metadata (.csv)
Includes structured fields for file name, instrument, category, content, note pitch, vibrato (true/false), BPM, mic position, channels, sample rate, bit depth, recording chain, and dataset version.

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🎤 Recording Notes

• Pipes recorded in a treated room with dual mic setup:
  • Chanter mic (Oktava MK-012) near chanter
  • Drone mic (Rode NT1-A) near drones
• Stereo files are balanced mixes:
  • Chanter = Left
  • Drones = Right
• Levels are natural to the instrument — high notes peak louder than low notes, reflecting authentic dynamics.

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🌈 Spectrogram Preview

Below is a spectrogram of the included short tune snippet, showing the harmonic profile of the Scottish Smallpipes in A:

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⚡ Usage

This preview pack is designed for:

• Evaluation of Harmonic Frontier Audio format and quality
• Testing workflows in ML training, sample library creation, or DSP pipelines
• Demonstration for developers exploring bagpipe timbres

👉 Note: This is not a full dataset. The complete Harmonic Frontier Audio dataset for Smallpipes in A will include:

• Full ornamentation library
• Sustained notes across the full range
• Additional exercises and variations

Other smallpipes keys (C, D, B♭) and Highland Bagpipes will be released as separate datasets.

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💡 Full Dataset Availability

This is a preview pack of the Smallpipes in A dataset.
The complete dataset — including extended recordings, multiple takes, ornaments, and additional mic positions — is available for licensing.

For licensing inquiries, please contact:
📩 [email protected]

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📥 How to Use This Dataset in Python

You can load the Parquet-converted version of this dataset directly with the datasets library:

from datasets import load_dataset

dataset = load_dataset(
    "Harmonic-Frontier-Audio/Scottish_Smallpipes_in_A_Preview",
    split="train"
)

print(dataset)

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📜 License

Released under CC BY-NC 4.0.

• Free for non-commercial use, testing, and research.
• Commercial licensing available via Harmonic Frontier Audio.
• A formal rights declaration is included in this dataset bundle.

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📧 Contact

Harmonic Frontier Audio
📩 [email protected]
🌐 https://harmonicfrontieraudio.com/

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🔮 Future Roadmap

This preview release is the first step in the Harmonic Frontier Audio Celtic Instruments Series.
Upcoming planned datasets include:

• Full Scottish Smallpipes in A dataset (expanded embellishments and articulations)
• Highland Bagpipes
• Irish Low Whistle
• Irish Flute

Over time, Harmonic Frontier Audio will also expand into additional world folk instruments, building the first dedicated catalog of folk/ethnic datasets for AI training, synthesis, and sound design.

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🗒️ Release Notes

Version 0.9 (August 2025) – Initial Preview Pack release for Scottish Smallpipes in A.
See CHANGELOG.md for detailed version history.