Premium Marimba, Xylophone & Vibes. Effortless idiomatic writing.

The Instruments

Scoring Mallets includes 3 instruments – Marimba, Xylophone, and Vibraphone.

Recorded in a beautiful large scoring room, its primary use is for scoring applications, however, due to its full-featured mixer and microphone balance options, it fits virtually every musical style!

Marimba

Custom Marimba made by ‘Marimba One’. 5 Octaves with Basso resonators to enhance the fundamental pitch.

Xylophone

This Xylophone from Malletech features a robust tone and strong attack. The mallets we used extend the rich sound and offer a nice balance between warmth and punch.

Vibraphone

This Yamaha Vibraphone is very special. It has a very direct sound with a lot of dynamics. There is some nonlinearity of harmonics throughout the tonal and dynamic ranges that makes it sound detailed and grainy, which works well within a modern orchestral context.

Features & tech

Scoring Mallets offers an abundance of features all targeting seamless Composition and idiomatic writing that compliments modern scoring. The robust 38,000+ sample count along with up to 5 microphone perspectives translate to ultra authentic playability, while powerful features such as the Acoustic Positioner™ and numerous intuitive playing techniques extend this library to boast unparalleled quality.

Premium instruments – Detailed Scoring Sound

Scoring Mallets features premium custom instruments from Marimba One, Malletech and Yamaha. We chose custom Mallets that combine medium soft outer material with a harder more articulate core to bring out both warmth and resonance from the instruments.

The recording process in the scoring room results in a lot of flexibility of tone. We captured the instruments from 5 Microphone perspectives: Tight, Loose, Stage, and Wides/Surround.

The microphone placement was prepared in such a way to give maximum flexibility from intimate and a more ‘pop’ sound to authentic Cinematic tone with a lot of body, air, and spatial focus. Unique microphone arrays and placement were used in order to make our stage positioning engine possible!

Ultra idiomatic playback – From single notes to Ripple Rolls

Scoring Mallets makes effective use of its massive sample pool for a lot more than plenty of velocity layers, round robins and release samples. We have designed custom scripts for authentic Trills, Rolls, and Glissandi with complete control over tempo and humanization. You can apply Crescendo, time shifting, and velocity drifts all in real time if you wish.

With the built-in Step Sequencer you can design polyrhythmic and polyphonic Ostinati and change tonal structures on the fly by playing chords. With added features for time drifts and custom velocity maps you can create evocative loopable Ostinati and intricate polyphonic lines on the spot.

And finally, Scoring Mallets includes special 4-mallet playing techniques which bring authentic multi-mallet playing styles to the virtual instrument world. Choose between various types – Basic, Independent, and Ripple rolls – each with special scripting to replicate proper timing and velocity relationships between inner and outer mallets.

Acoustic Positioner™ – Truthful positioning around the stage

We have developed a totally new concept with instrument positioning. Unlike panning, instrument positioning is a spatial effect which relies on the acoustic properties of the recording space. Scoring Mallets was recorded in a beautiful scoring room and with our Acoustic Positioner you are now able to move instruments around the stage to better fit your production, especially when doing scoring and using a variety of instruments from different libraries.

Acoustic Positioner offers true positioning capabilities without relying on convolution and panning mock-ups. The engine is based on specific microphone arrays and placement that allowed us to create a comprehensive time and phase matrix that is entirely sample-based. There are no gimmicks and no simulation. You are actually moving the instrument around the stage smoothly with virtually no extra CPU usage!

Playback control – Complete control over timing and performance

We enhanced the playability using a logarithmic velocity sensitivity control that allows you to fit the velocity curve to any playing style. There are key performance controls that include Crescendo/Diminuendo and auto detection of Rolls, Trills, and Glissando. Playback can be controlled further utilizing adjustable time and velocity drifts.

Every performance nuance is easily controlled. The custom playback scripts infuse performances with a ‘human’ feel through a variety of built-in humanization algorithms.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

Scoring Mallets features 3 instruments – Marimba, Xylophone, and Vibraphone. Recorded in a beautiful large scoring room, its primary use is for scoring applications, however, using its full-featured mixer and proper microphone balance it excels in virtually every musical style!

Scoring Mallets offers an abundance of features all targeting seamless Composition and idiomatic writing that compliments modern scoring. The robust 38,000+ samples along with up to 5 microphone perspectives translate to ultra authentic and playable instruments. Additional powerful features such as the Acoustic Positioner™ and numerous intuitive playing techniques extend this library to boast unparalleled quality.

Premium Marimba, Xylophone, and Vibraphone

Recorded in a beautiful Scoring room and includes multi velocities, extreme dynamic range, round robin and release samples for ultra realistic playback.

Extremely Sampled

Features over 38,000 samples and up to 5 microphone perspectives – Tight, Center, Loose, Stage, and Wides/Surround. Custom scripts were designed to enhance each instrument with versatile articulations and enhanced playability. (14GB uncompressed).

Effortless idiomatic writing

With Scoring Mallets you can elegantly play single notes, Trills, Rolls, Glissandi, and for the first time, have dedicated access to 4-Mallet playing techniques. These options allow complete freedom of idiomatic writing without the use of pre-recorded loops.

Polyphonic Step Sequencer for Ostinati generation.

Design sequenced patterns and trigger them in realtime. Create up to 4-note polyphonic and polyrhythmic Ostinati with complete control over timing, tempo, and dynamics.

Acoustic Positioner ™

Place the instrument anywhere on the stage with HandHeldSound’s innovative Acoustic Positioner™. Unlike other positioners that rely on convolution or panning mockups, our positioner uses no artificial processing. It uses dynamic phase / time relationships, calibrated to replicate an authentic and smooth spatial positioning with minimal CPU usage!

Playability enhancements

Scoring Mallets includes a customized Logarithmic velocity control and extensive realtime performance, timing, and humanization options that ensure ultra realistic playback.