>Step by step

Programming marimbas in your DAW

1 Let’s start with a chord sequence. We can use up to four notes at once for this, each pair spaced apart by up to an octave, emulating the four-mallet technique used by the skilled marimbaist. I load the Marimba Alt preset from Garritan Instant Orchestra into Aria Player on a MIDI track and create a clip.

2 One eight-bar chord sequence later and I have a harmonic framework to build on. As I’m programming rather than performing the part, I subtly space out the notes of each chord to emulate the striking variation of a real player. The Marimba Alt patch uses round robins, too, for further note-to-note variation.

3 A marimba has decent low end, but a synthesised one is better for this setting. I’ve tweaked Live’s Collision-based Bright Marimba Instrument Rack, tuning Resonator 1 down two octaves, activating Resonator 2 and tuning it down one octave, dropping Bright Macro to 0, and raising Attack Macro. Nice and garagey.

4 Now for a melodic riff, staying mechanical in rhythm and melody. I’ll opt for the regular Marimba preset from Instant Orchestra. I’ll arpeggiate a chord sequence, so I insert Live’s Arpeggiator, and set it to the Classic Up Down Eight preset, but with Rate increased to 1/16, Repeats at 4, and Steps octave range at 0.

5 Next, I copy the first track’s chords, move them up an octave, stretch the notes to fill each bar, then thin and reposition them to get a pattern that compliments the chords. I EQ the riff, and pan it and the chords slightly to separate them, then insert Live’s Echo filter delay after the EQ for a sense of space.

6 Pads aren’t an option for marimba, but we get a similar effect using the single-stroke rolls technique. Let’s load the Marimba Alt patch and program a 32nd-note pattern at varied velocity. I lengthen Attack to soften it, EQ out much of the top end, and apply a heavy reverb send to smear the sound.