Celtic Sounds

1. Click Connect MIDI and allow browser MIDI access if requested.
2. Choose your MIDI Input and Input Channel.
3. Select an Instrument and the Expression Source you want the sound module to follow.
4. Adjust volume, drone volume (when available), master tuning, pitch bend range, pitch bend scaling, brightness, attack, release, reverb, and transpose as needed.
5. Play your MIDI controller and watch the Live Status and optional MIDI Message Stream.

Breath (CC2) follows MIDI CC2.
Expression (CC11) follows MIDI CC11.
Volume (CC7) follows MIDI CC7.
Timbre (CC74) follows MIDI CC74.
Channel Pressure follows MIDI channel pressure (aftertouch).
Note Velocity uses incoming note-on velocity.
Fixed Full Volume ignores expression and always plays at full level.

Your MIDI controller sends pitch bend messages, and Celtic Sounds interprets those messages using its current Pitch Bend Range setting. For example, when using a WARBL controller, the bend behavior originates from the WARBL Configuration Tool instrument setting. In Celtic Sounds, the Pitch Bend Range slider sets the global bend range used by the tool, allowing you to choose how many semitones of pitch change full bend up or down will produce. The default setting is ±2 semitones (±200 cents), but you can adjust it from 0 to 12 semitones. The final bend amount is also affected by the Pitch Bend Up Scale and Pitch Bend Down Scale controls.

The Pitch Bend Up Scale and Pitch Bend Down Scale controls adjust how strongly the incoming pitch bend affects the sound. These controls let you make bends feel more subtle or more dramatic, and allow different amounts of bend for upward and downward movement. A scale setting of 0 disables pitch bend in that direction. This can be useful for fine control of expression when playing the Tin Whistle, Irish Flute, Säckpipa, or Uilleann Pipes, and it also lets you optionally enable pitch bend for instruments such as Anglo Concertina, Accordion, Great Highland Bagpipe, Smallpipes or Northumbrian Pipes.

Brightness adjusts the tonal color of the current instrument with a single musical control. At 0, the sound is unmodified. Moving the slider left makes the instrument warmer and softer, while moving it right makes the sound brighter and more present. Use the Reset button next to the slider to quickly return the sound to 0. This control is saved separately for each instrument, so every instrument can keep its own preferred tonal balance.

Drone Volume is available only for instruments that use dedicated drone voices: Uilleann Pipes, Great Highland Bagpipe, Smallpipes, Säckpipa, and Northumbrian Pipes. This control adjusts the playback level of the drone voice independently of the main Volume control. It is especially useful when you want to keep the melody or chanter strong while making the drone softer or louder in the overall mix.

Master Tune lets you shift the overall tuning of the instrument by up to ±50 cents. This is useful for matching recordings, other players, or instruments that are a little sharp or flat. Unlike Transpose, this control changes pitch in fine increments rather than semitone steps.

Transpose shifts the playback pitch of the instrument up or down in semitone steps. This lets you raise or lower the sounding pitch without changing the incoming MIDI note numbers used to trigger the samples. In other words, your controller still sends the same MIDI notes, but the sound is played back higher or lower in pitch. This is useful for matching instruments in different keys or quickly shifting the overall pitch by up to ±12 semitones. Transpose is applied in addition to Master Tune, and for instruments that support it, also in addition to Pitch Bend.

All melody instruments in Celtic Sounds can respond to MIDI pitch bend, subject to the selected Pitch Bend Range, Pitch Bend Up Scale, and Pitch Bend Down Scale. Tin Whistle, Irish Flute, Uilleann Pipes chanter voice, and Säckpipa chanter voice use normal pitch bend behavior by default. Anglo Concertina, Accordion, Great Highland Bagpipe, Smallpipes, and Northumbrian Pipes also support pitch bend, but their default Pitch Bend Up Scale and Pitch Bend Down Scale are initially set to 0. This means those instruments will not bend in pitch until you choose to enable pitch bend by raising one or both scaling controls above zero. For all instruments, Transpose and Master Tune still apply normally.

Choose a reverb style, then adjust: Pre-delay = Delay before reverb begins
Dry = Direct signal level
Wet = Reverb signal level

When Uilleann Pipes is selected, incoming notes are split into separate playback behaviors: Melody notes
MIDI notes 62 (D4) and above are treated as melody notes. These respond normally to the selected Expression Source and also respond to Pitch Bend. Latching drone notes
MIDI notes 50 (D3) and 51 (D#3 / Eb3) are treated as dedicated drone notes. These notes are latching: sending a note-on starts the drone, and sending another note-on for the same note toggles that drone back off. MIDI note-off messages do not affect these latching drone notes. Their playback level is taken from the velocity of the note-on message that starts them, and they ignore both expression and pitch bend. Regulators notes
All other notes below MIDI note 62 (D4), which include all the regulators sounds, are played on a separate voice. These behave normally with note-on and note-off messages, but like the drone voice, they ignore expression and pitch bend and use the incoming note-on velocity as their initial volume. WARBL Fingering Pattern to Use
The Uilleann Pipes instrument is designed to be used with the WARBL Tin Whistle/Flute or Uilleann Pipes fingering pattern selected, with no transpose set on the WARBL controller. Lowest MIDI note for the chanter is 62 (D4).

When Great Highland Bagpipe, Smallpipes, Säckpipa, or Northumbrian Pipes is selected, MIDI note 51 (D#3 / Eb3) is treated as a dedicated latching drone note. Sending a note-on for MIDI note 51 (D#3 / Eb3) starts the drone, and sending another note-on for MIDI note 51 (D#3 / Eb3) toggles that drone back off. MIDI note-off messages do not affect this latching drone. The drone uses the incoming note-on velocity as its playback level and ignores both expression and pitch bend. All other notes for these four instruments are treated as melody notes. Great Highland Bagpipe, Smallpipes, and Northumbrian Pipes have pitch bend available, but their default Pitch Bend Up Scale and Pitch Bend Down Scale are set to 0. The Säckpipa chanter responds to pitch bend normally by default. WARBL Fingering Pattern to Use
Great Highland Bagpipe and Smallpipes are designed to be used with the WARBL GHB / Scottish Smallpipes fingering pattern selected, with no transpose set on the WARBL controller. Säckpipa is designed to be used with the WARBL Säckpipa major or minor fingering pattern selected, with no transpose set on the WARBL controller. Northumbrian Pipes is designed to be used with the WARBL Tin Whistle/Flute fingering pattern selected, with no transpose set on the WARBL controller. Lowest MIDI note for the Great Highland Bagpipe and Smallpipes chanter is 68 (G#4 / Ab4). Lowest MIDI note for the Säckpipa chanter is 62 (D4). Lowest MIDI note for the Northumbrian Pipes chanter is 59 (B3) and the highest note is 86 (D6).

The Reset Instrument to Defaults button normally resets only the currently selected instrument. This restores that instrument’s sound settings such as: • Expression Source
• Volume
• Drone Volume (when applicable)
• Master Tune
• Transpose
• Pitch Bend Up/Down Scale
• Brightness
• Attack
• Release
• Reverb Pre-delay
• Reverb Dry
• Reverb Wet It does not reset your other instruments. Tip: Shift-click this button to reset all saved settings back to the factory defaults. After confirmation, Celtic Sounds will behave as if it were being run for the first time. This full reset restores the default selected instrument, default MIDI channel, default reverb, pitch bend range, live status and MIDI stream display settings, and the saved settings for all instruments.

Click Export Settings to save all of your current Celtic Sounds settings to a JSON file. The exported file includes: • the currently selected instrument
• the selected MIDI input channel
• the selected reverb style
• the global pitch bend range
• live status / MIDI log display settings
• the saved settings for all instruments When exporting, you will be prompted for a filename. The default filename is celtic-sounds-settings.json, and if you enter a different filename, that name will be suggested the next time you export. The saved file will always use the .json extension.

Click Import Settings to load a previously exported Celtic Sounds JSON settings file. Importing restores the saved global settings and the saved settings for all instruments. This makes it easy to back up your preferred setup, move settings to another computer, or switch between different saved configurations.

Custom Instruments allow you to load your own ABC Transcription Tools custom instruments into Celtic Sounds. A custom instrument is provided as a .zip file containing: • Individual note samples (in .mp3 or .wav format)
• A required .json metadata file describing how the instrument should behave To load a custom instrument: • Select Load Custom Instrument… from the Instrument dropdown
• Choose a valid custom instrument .zip file
• The instrument will be added to the selector using a shortened version of the filename Once loaded: • All samples are preloaded for smooth real-time playback
• The Release control is initialized from the custom instrument metadata.
• Custom instruments with drones also default Pitch Bend Up Scale and Pitch Bend Down Scale to 0.
• The instrument behaves like any built-in instrument, including all controls and expression options Persistence between runs
The most recently loaded custom instrument is saved locally in your browser. When you reopen Celtic Sounds: • The custom instrument will be automatically restored
• If it was the last selected instrument, it will be selected again
• All samples will be preloaded and ready to play Only one custom instrument is stored at a time. Loading a new one replaces the previous one. Factory Reset behavior
A full factory reset (Shift-click Reset Instrument to Defaults) removes the saved custom instrument and returns the tool to its original state. Export and Import
When you export settings: • The currently loaded custom instrument is included in the exported file
• Importing settings restores the custom instrument automatically
• The instrument selector will reflect the imported custom instrument as if it had been loaded manually

Custom instruments used in Celtic Sounds are fully compatible with those created for my This allows you to: • Use the same instrument samples across both tools
• Create instruments once and reuse them for notation, playback, and practice
• Share instruments with others using a common format Custom instruments are built using the This tool can create custom instruments from your own per-note audio samples of an instrument or from existing ABC Transcription Tools MIDI soundfont instruments. Full instructions for creating custom instruments are available directly within the Custom Instrument Builder tool itself. Walkthrough video of the entire custom instrument creation process for existing ABC Transcription Tools MIDI Soundfont instruments: You will also find several additional demo videos walking step-by-step how to use the Custom Instrument Builder in the ABC Transcription Tools User Guide: You can also create bagpipe-style custom instruments for Celtic Sounds using the This tool was used to create the Northumbrian Pipes instrument in Celtic Sounds.

The WARBL Configuration Tool button in the upper-left corner of the page opens the official WARBL Configuration Tool in a new browser tab. This allows you to adjust settings on your WARBL controller such as fingering patterns, pressure sensitivity, MIDI output behavior, and other controller options while using Celtic Sounds. The WARBL Configuration Tool runs separately from Celtic Sounds, so you can switch between the two browser tabs as needed when adjusting WARBL settings.

This tool is designed to work best with standard WARBL instrument setups and recommended fingering patterns.
You can find a PDF of all of the WARBL fingering pattern charts here:
For best results, use the WARBL Configuration Tool to set up: • WARBL instrument #1 with the Tin Whistle / Flute fingering pattern
• WARBL instrument #2 with the GHB / Smallpipes fingering pattern
• WARBL instrument #3 with the Säckpipa (major or minor) fingering pattern If you keep the WARBL Configuration Tool open in another browser tab, you can quickly switch between these by selecting the desired WARBL instrument tab, which immediately updates the WARBL’s fingering pattern. Use the Tin Whistle / Flute fingering pattern for:
• Tin Whistle
• Irish Flute
• Uilleann Pipes (alternatively, use one of the Uilleann Pipes fingering patterns)
• Anglo Concertina
• Accordion
• Northumbrian Pipes Use the GHB / Smallpipes fingering pattern for:
• Great Highland Bagpipe
• Smallpipes Use the Säckpipa major or minor fingering pattern for:
• Säckpipa

The fullscreen button (⛶) next to the ? button in the upper-right corner of the page toggles fullscreen mode on and off. Using fullscreen mode can help keep Celtic Sounds more visible while you play and reduce distractions from other browser interface elements. In most browsers, you can also press Esc to exit fullscreen mode.

Celtic Sounds works best if visible on screen while you are playing. All modern browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc.) automatically reduce performance for content that is not visible to conserve CPU and battery. This includes:

• Tabs that are not currently active
• Windows that are fully covered by other windows

This behavior cannot be disabled by the tool. When Celtic Sounds is not visible, incoming MIDI data from the WARBL (breath, expression, pitch bend, etc.) may not be processed smoothly. This will cause:

• Reduced responsiveness
• Stepped or uneven dynamics and pitch
• Audio glitches, clicks, or pops

As soon as the tab or window becomes visible again, normal performance will resume. Important: This limitation affects all web-based audio tools. Best experience: Keep Celtic Sounds in the foreground, or if using a separate window, make sure some portion of it remains visible at all times.

Celtic Sounds converts incoming MIDI into audio by playing back sampled instrument recordings and processing them through a gain-based signal chain. The diagram below shows how melody, low notes, and optional drone voices are processed and combined before reaching the final output. How the signal flows:

• MIDI input provides note, velocity, expression, and pitch bend data
• Each note triggers a sampled audio buffer from the selected instrument
• Playback rate applies master tuning, transpose, and (for melody) pitch bend
• An envelope stage applies attack and release shaping
• A gain stage sets loudness based on expression (CC, channel pressure, velocity, or fixed)
• An additional instrument gain applies per-instrument level scaling
• All voices feed into a shared output chain
• The signal splits into a dry path and a parallel reverb (wet) path
• Dry and wet signals are mixed, pass through the master volume, and go to the audio output

Voice behavior:

• Melody voice: Uses pitch bend and continuously responds to the selected expression source (CC, channel pressure, velocity, or fixed)
• Low voice (Uilleann pipes only): Triggered for lower notes, ignores pitch bend, and uses note-on velocity instead of live expression
• Drone voice: Latched notes that ignore pitch bend and live expression, and include a separate drone volume control
• All voices share the same envelope and gain-based processing stages
• All voices run in parallel and are mixed together before the shared reverb and output stages

If you do not hear sound: • Make sure MIDI access was granted.
• Verify the correct MIDI device is selected.
• Check that the correct input channel is selected.
• Try clicking All Notes Off if a note gets stuck.

This tool requires a browser that supports WebMIDI. If your browser does not support WebMIDI, MIDI devices will not appear, and the tool will not function.

WARBL Sound Lab is my other highly customizable WebMIDI synthesizer designed specifically for expressive real-time control with the WARBL. While Celtic Sounds focuses on realistic, per-note sampled acoustic instruments for traditional Irish and Scottish music, WARBL Sound Lab provides a flexible set of synth-style voices that you can shape and tweak in real time. It includes six expressive patches (Air, Reed, Solo, Brass, Pad, Lead), along with deep control over tone, brightness, texture, vibrato, portamento, and reverb.

This tool was created by Michael Eskin.