I’ve always loved the skirl of the uilleann pipes ever since I first heard it used in the James Horner’s *Titanic* OST as a kid. I don’t know much of anything about the instrument (or bagpipes generally) yet, but I have one particular question:

Something I’ve noticed in uilleann pipes music is the lowest note of the chanter, a D, usually sounds distinctly louder than the higher notes. A good example of this is in [this track from the aforementioned *Titanic* OST](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3cVeqyyhXk) (note the harsh D at the 8-second mark).

I’m an amateur composer and I use lots of sampled sound libraries, and of the uilleann pipes patches I have, one (from ProjectSAM’s Symphobia 2) has that distinct louder lower D tone, whilst the others (EastWest’s Ra, Cinesamples’s CineWinds, and Native Instruments’s Kontakt 5 Factory Library) have a lower D that isn’t notably different in loudness or tone than the other notes.

So this is my question: Is the uilleann pipes’ lower D meant to sound distinctly louder than the other notes when played by a human, or does that depend on technique or something? I’d really appreciate it if someone could explain it.