SYNCHRON MALLETS III

Marimba and temple blocks

Synchron Mallets III is a subset of the Synchron Percussion III Collection and includes a marimba and temple blocks.

The Marimba originally is an African instrument consisting of a succession of differently sounding wooden bars. It was brought to Mexico as early as the 16th century, where it was developed further. Chromatic instruments as they are used in the modern orchestra were introduced at the end of the 19th century.

The low register of the marimba has a warm, wooden timbre, while the sound of the higher register is sharper and shorter, similar to the xylophone. They are suited for accompaniment as well as for soloistic purposes.

The Adams Alpha MAHA50 with a range of five octaves recorded for this Collection was played with hard and soft mallets, with up to eight dynamic layers and up to nine round robins for single strokes. Additionally, the following effect articulations were recorded: harmonics (playing at the suspension point and depressing the bar in the middle); glissandos; played with the mallet handle; played and rubbed with a superball, bowed regular and creating harmonics, and rubbed with a rasping stick.

Temple Blocks are wooden slit drums originally coming from East Asia and used for Buddhist rituals. Tuned chromatic sets were first used in the late 20th century, when they also began to be used sometimes in jazz and western orchestral music. Temple blocks have a short, snappy sound and are well suited for quick, rhythmically succinct phrases. The Kolberg Temple Blocks used here were played with hard and soft mallets with up to six dynamic layers and up to eight round robins for single strokes.

Microphone Positions

Both library portions include the same set of articulations. The Standard Library offers close, mid and main (Decca Tree stereo and center) microphone positions. The Full Library adds surround, high stereo and high surround outriggers that enrich your stereo output or can be used to mix in immersive audio formats such as Dolby Atmos and Auro3D 9.1 using the Synchron Player’s full-fledged mixer. A host of mixer presets deliver a masterfully crafted sound out-of-the-box or serve as starting points for your own sonic creations.