Developed by Manfred Deger in Germany, the Degerpipes electronic chanter has been on the market for decades. It has proven over the years to be one of the most popular and reliable digital chanters. This is what Jim McGillivray uses to record the demonstration MP3 files for his pipetunes.ca website.

The Deger II replaced the first Deger some years ago. It offers five different sounds: Great Highland Bagpipe, Medieval pipes, Spanish Gaita, and two Scottish smallpipes.

The ‘holes’ on the chanter consist of metal sensors, and the chanter operates on two AAA batteries. Like most digital chanters, the Deger has no built-in speaker, with headphones being the most common playing option. The chanter can also be run through speakers. There is also a MIDI output which, for example, would allow you to run the chanter through an electronic piano keyboard and access all the sounds that keyboard provides.

The pitch of the chanter can be adjusted through three complete octaves. The drone and chanter volume can be adjusted separately.
Earbuds, a MIDI cable and a carrying case are provided.

Note that some users living in dry winter climates might encounter connectivity issues with the metal sensors. This can be rectified by applying a bit of moisturizer to the fingers.