Hello
I’ve emailed the vpipe website to no avail. Has anyone succeeded or managed to get hold of a “set”. I’ve seen utube things that are supposedly vpipes being played but I think it might be a hoax. They dont seem keen to sell them if they do exist.
The only electric pipes I know of are played by Hevia, don’t know of any other. all the best. 
I e-mailed them one week ago and got a reply the next day. They said they didn’t yet have an availability date “but it won’t be for a little while” as they were still in the process of optimization, etc. They said they would be e-mailing those who had contacted them when they do become available.
Hi!
There was an public demonstration of the V-pipes at the Hammersmith Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith, London last week. I know someone here on C&F that is working on a little report of that event 
They said they didn’t yet have an availability date “but it won’t be for a little while” as they were still in the process of optimization, etc.
Thats the statement we all heard for close to two years now. 
From the demos and youtube clips it sure sound good enough to make a few sales, and there are always people who are willing to pay $$$ to be test pilots, for the same reason people pay to use the latest product from Microsoft I guess 
My guess is that there have been, and maybe still are legal issues that have hold them back from putting the v-pipes on the market.
Hopefully the interview at thee ICC will shed some light on the actual release date.
/MarcusR
I was at the demo in Hammersmith last week, played them, and can confirm that:
1 They exist
2 They are very good indeed
3 They aren’t available for sale yet, but will be soon. Sticking point seems to be ensuring that they have enough reliable suppliers for a handful of critical components (they are aiming for triple redundancy). When they are up and running there will be about a 3/4 month wait between order and delivery.
Sam
Yes, I did. First time was one year ago at the William kennedy piping festival at Armagh and it was no difficult to start to play a couple of jigs. This spring I could play the vpipes again at Villaviciosa, Asturias (Spain) at final Pipe band championship and the vpipes was better than first time. It is now easy to play and with a fantastic quality, almost perfect. You can adjust a lot of parameters as you play in you real uilleann pipes. I know they are finishing the contracts with the suppliers for serial manufacturing. There are a lot of electronic components and few suppliers for each one, wich makes more difficult sign contracts. I keep waiting for playing this vpipes when I can´t play the UP at late night.
http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,1205,l=205868&s=27523&a=205861&po=6,00.asp?p=y
Here’s a link for more info…
Yes, I did. First time was one year ago at the William kennedy piping festival at Armagh and it was no difficult to start to play a couple of jigs. This spring I could play the vpipes again at Villaviciosa, Asturias (Spain) at final Pipe band championship and the vpipes was better than first time. It is now easy to play and with a fantastic quality, almost perfect. You can adjust a lot of parameters as you play in you real uilleann pipes. I know they are finishing the contracts with the suppliers for serial manufacturing. There are a lot of electronic components and few suppliers for each one, wich makes more difficult sign contracts.
There’s a lot of videos on youtube of the rig being played
In my series of interviews with UP makers the Swedish forum site www.piping.se will shortly publish an interview with one of the vPipes inventors, Ramon Maria Castro. It was made in connection with a demo gathering at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hanmmersmith, London. The interview is in English, with photos and links. Among the UP- av Vpipes-playing participants were Tim Dowd senior AND junior. Piping.se:s London correspondent swears that the thing is working.
I’ll be back with the link to the interview site, where you also can re-read my earlier interviews with Eugene Lambe and Cillian Ó Briain.
/The Liraman
…And here it is, the interview with vPipes maker Ramon Maria Castro (on new website Uilleann Winter):
http://www.tongang.se/liraman/Uilleann_Winter/The_Makers.html
Enjoy!
The Liraman
Anyone know what’s taking so long to get these v-pipes on the market?? Seth
Read my interview, part of the answer is there
/The Liraman
Very nice work Jan.
Your collection of pipemaker interviews make some very nice reading.
I hope you will continue, who is next
http://www.tongang.se/liraman/Uilleann_Winter/The_Makers.html
I think your pipemaker page is worth a thread of it’s on.
Cheers!
/MarcusR
How autonomous is the final product likely to be?
For the purpose of practising at night or while travelling, I’d be interested in something that you can pick up and play using small earphones without having to rely on plugging into a computer or audio system.
Rechargeable battery would be an ideal power supply, is this a realistic expectation?
Also, any indication of the likely price range?
I wonder if they’re thinking about making the pipes play in the Key of C#, D, C, B, B flat? Just think…all the keys with one chanter, and no finger stretching. This product could start a riot..LOL 
I wonder if they’re thinking about making the pipes play in the Key of C#, D, C, B, B flat? Just think…all the keys with one chanter, and no finger stretching. This product could start a riot..LOL
I don’t see why they wouldn’t… it would make a lot of sence. The Deger pipes (electric GHB) can be made to play in any key, even those not traditional to the GHB itself, which is super handy when playing in a group setting where all tunes aren’t necessarily in the key of D or G or Em.
Seems like you can tune it any way you like, and that the unit is selfcontained in that sense that you don’t need an audio system if you’re just playing with some plugged in ear phones
See this interview:
http://www.tongang.se/liraman/Uilleann_Winter/The_vPipes_men.html
their website says:
• Li-Ion rechargeable battery
• In system battery charger
• Compatible with 4 AA 1.5V standard batteries