I guess as aspiring whistlers we all have this problem of finding a quiet place to practice and somewhere that we can play without disturbing other people.
I adore practicing, getting a tune up to speed, working on one section of a tune or a set of rolls whatever. But my situation means that I’ve got to go and sit in my car to play. I find this incredibly frustrating. Many instruments can be muted, I just discovered today that there’s a little metal gizmo to mute a fiddle and it works really well in that you can play quietly but expressively.
None of the methods for muting whistles works all that well ie they mess up the intonation, tone etc. There was a Yamaha wind controller in the 80’s that was a kind of Sax/Clarinet Hybrid which was a nice machine but the set of midi sounds available were pretty naff. Wouldn’t it be great to plug your Syn shaped gizmo into your computer and play as hard and freely and as expressively as you want with no one else to worry about. Does anyone else have these heretical thoughts?
Hertical thoughts? Who? Me? All the time!!! 
But how would you electronically capture windway-pressure naturally and reliably? Also, how would you capture a half-hole or a bend/slur or finger vibrato?
Also, on an acoustic whistle - if you put a little rotating blade somewhere on a whistle would you get a vibraphone effect? Where on the whistle would you put it? Should it be wind-powered with some kind of clutch mechanism regulating speed, or should it be electrical - what part of the anatomy would control it (footpedal, nostril-flair detector??)
Also, If you took a coaches whistle - could a body be attached to it to create a new, tunable, playable and very loud instrument that plays like a pennywhistle? If so, how would you prevent the little ball from shooting off down the body without obstructing the exit to the body?? Would it affect my indemnity premiums?
(btw just tried plugging a SYN shaped gizmo into my computer - all I got was sparks! Maybe I should try something a bit more Susato-shaped?
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Hi Mitch, don’t quite get where you’re coming from with that mate.
Sorry Steve, I was being obtuse. In effect, yes - I think that there’s nothing to stop inovation on musical instruments - music and the tools to make it are not constrained. And yes, the dilemma of having to practice quietly is a real pain - specially when you intend to perform at full tilt. I always found the electric guitar was great this way but piano was never a 4-in-the-morning instrument until electronics came-along!
I’ve dug this up - it may help:
http://hct.ece.ubc.ca/nime/2004/NIME04/paper/NIME04_4A02.pdf
Also
http://www.songsea.com/electronic.html
These are, arguably, more complex than a whistle - the makers might be approached to convert for the 6-hole system or may have, in fact, done this already.
From my experience such an instrument is inevitable. Whether or not it becomes popular/affordable is another thing. If these kind of musings are heretical then the Clarke pennywhistle would never have happened.
A friend of mine once made something called a guitarbage-bin - a guitar neck attached to a zinc-anodised steel garbage bin strung across the open end - all very functional, in-tune and well engineered - he could get remarkable pitch bends by squeezing it between his knees. It’s true! And I love that kind of thing!
Hi mitch,
fascinating stuff in those links, seems like it’s closer than I thought.
Some of the chanters aren’t that expensive either.
Good luck with the business BTW.
I’ve had a bit of experience with MIDI wind controllers, such as the Akai, Yamaha EW20, and the Casio (Cheap, fun and long out of production). Some of them have changeable fingerings and user-definable air-response, some of them even have pressure-sensitive beaks. All of them are fun, but none of them, IMHO, would make a good practice whistle. They are instuments in their own right, with their own set of quirks and skills to learn.
There are several threads devoted to EWI’s and Yamahas on the board.
Hope this helps.
the heck with the tech… I am getting some of that expressive but silent(ish) practice with Joanie’s trick. It really does work … and I don’t have to remember what to plug in where and all the tech jazz that I can figure out one day and be boggled by the next… (I love ADDulthood… 
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You guys figure it out and market it… I’ll keep basking in my ignorance. 
nice one erm what is Joanies trick
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=37110
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=35725&highlight=joanie+madden
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=30591&highlight=joanie+madden
Hope those help.
Same here, all the time. Skip the coach’s whistle, I once made a three fipple whistle - the fipple goes all the way around with the exception of a few wall to connect the top and bottom together. Loud? Yes. But it takes a lot of air.
You can just call us the Tinwhistle Research Center.