Sometimes mellow and smoky: at other times creepy and disorientating.
The vibraphone adds a constant modulation to its resonator tubes with the use of motorised fans.
The resulting tone is the famous tremolo effect; shimmering, golden and wobbly.
Soniccouture's Vibraphone features True Tremolo & 23 velocity layers to bring the metal to life.
The main control panel.
Vibraphone can be taken further than a conventional sound if you desire. Use envelopes, LFOs and filters, allowing you to create varying sound textures and shapes.
Fine tune the response and performance of Vibraphone.
Create unique rhythmic patterns for each note you play. A bit like a delay effect but evolves differently according to what you play - strands of sound weave in and out of each other.
Vibraphone features a comprehensive effects page, with a configurable insert chain featuring Replika, Phasis and other cutting-edge NI effects. The Space Reverb module features Soniccouture's custom impulse library built up over many years and recording sessions.
The resonator tubes of the vibraphone
The recording setup in the Wood Room at Real World Studios.
Charlotte playing the samples
The control room at Real World
Desk setup - mic labels visible
Paul White has clearly visited Real World to do a Studio SOS.
Gratuitous desk shot.
Instruments that use global modulation (the Hammond C3/leslie is a similar example) are difficult to sample & model realistically, because if you record a single note with the tremolo active, it will be out of sync with all subsequent notes you record.
Previous attempts to sample the vibraphone usually recorded the instrument with the motor/tremolo switched off, then faked the effect using filters and LFO.
Soniccouture Vibraphone takes a completely new approach - by sampling the entire instrument twice. Once with the fans closed, once with them fully open, both times completely static - the motor switched off.
Once we have the full vibraphone sound sampled in both states - fans closed and fans open - we can then simply crossfade between them in Kontakt using a simple sinusoidal LFO. This gives not only the authentic sound, but also full control over the speed of the tremolo, another essential element of the instrument.
This is a Kontakt Player instrument. This means that you do not need to own the full version of NI Kontakt to use it. It will run as a plug-in instrument in any VST/AU/RTAS/AAX/WASAPI,compatible host program or DAW eg: Cubase, Logic, Ableton Live, DP, Reaper, Pro-Tools. No extra purchase necessary.
Requires KONTAKT 6 or KONTAKT 6 PLAYER version 6.2 or later
The ultimate solo marimba :
A 5 octave Yamaha 6100, sampled in forensic detail.
A 5 octave Schiedmayer Celeste.
The Original Sound Of Magic.