Marimba

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Todo: Add cool images showing the spectrals from that research, add music
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The Marimba One 4000 Series.

A struck idiophone and xylophone, the marimba is used in many genres of music, such as Jazz, Mexican/Latin, New Classical music, drumcore/marching bands, and percussion ensemble. Marimba samples are also used sometimes in electronic music, should that count. Most marimbas have a range of 4.3, 4.5, or 5 octaves.

Sound

The Marimba’s sound ranges from warm and rich, to brighter and piercing, depending on the choice of mallets and register. (Softer mallets bring a darker sound, while harder mallets bring brighter sounds, simplistically.) The harmonicity of the bars depends on how it is tuned. Typically in commercial marimbas, the bars’ spectra have a strong 4th and 10th harmonic, which is by some called “Triple Tuned,” as they stop tuning the transverse modes at the third. The prominence of these overtones can be heard by humans. There are also the lateral and torsional modes of the bar, which although possible to hear, are not normally present in performance due to the performer's placement of their strikes. It is also notable that resonator tubes amplify the third harmonic, which would not have its same presence from just the bar.

DIY

Music

Reference

Reference site for tuning a marimba by Jeff La Favre

Acoustical Studies of the Marimba pdf