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  • Question about the lowest octave of the marimba

    A few years ago I created a computer simulation with Vienna Instruments of an orchestral composition by a student. The composition is written in the style of minimal music (certainly influenced by Philip Glass). Parts of this composition consist only of an E minor chord played by the marimba in the lowest octave.

    Back then I used the Vienna Instruments marimba, which blends well with the sound of the strings, vibraphone and harp.

    In the meantime I have the synchronous libraries and wanted to use them now to create a new, better simulation for the website of her publisher and also as a demo for conductors and orchestras who are now interested in a live performance.

    On this occasion I heard the lowest octave of the Synchron-Marimba for the first time and wondered about the sharpness of the sound due to the strongly protruding overtones.

    In the orchestral simulation (together with Elite-strings), the marimba now sounds unpleasantly dissonant, also with soft-mallets.

    I'm a bit confused now: What is the cause, what does it have to do with the sampled instruments, with the recording technique, how will it sound in the real orchestra?

    I know the sound characteristics of the marimba in principle (including the lowest register), but I am now wondering whether I have misjudged the low sounds.

    In my opinion, the marimba should be perfectly integrated into the overall sound in the enclosed example.

    What do you, fellow readers, think about this?

    If the marimba can be integrated into the overall sound, what do I have to do to achieve this in the computer simulation? (Maybe I should buy the synchron-ized marimba for it?)

    Or should I advise my student to avoid the lowest octave?


  • A Andreas 1 referenced this topic on
  • @Andreas-1 said:
    Parts of this composition consist only of an E minor chord played by the marimba in the lowest octave.

    Sorry, I wanted to say:

    'Parts of this composition consist only of an E minor chord played by strings, vibraphone, harp and the marimba in the lowest octave.'


  • I just bought Synchron-IZED Percussion. Problem is solved, it sounds know as aspected.

    A colleague thinks there might be a problem with the settings of the (Synchron-)marimba's resonators of the lowest notes, which forces the dissonant spectrum of the overtones in the sound (that would surprise me because I know about the quality of VSL instruments, but I would like to put it up for discussion anyway). The tuning of the resonators must be in a certain ratio to the tuning of the wooden plates in order to obtain the optimum shape of the overtone spectrum.

    Since I like the sound of the Synchron Marimba in the higher registers, I will try out what possibilities the Synchron Player offers me to reduce the sharpness of the lowest notes without giving the sound an ‘synthetic’ character. Tips are welcome!