TISH

• SUSTAINS: Sustains were recorded in two styles — with soft mallets and wooden sticks. Even the loudest dynamic was performed incredibly softly. Using high gain in various tube preamps, we captured every nuance. This preset also includes randomly played octaves on the X-slider side, which sound especially beautiful when playing chords.
• MUTES: Short muted notes recorded in two versions — with soft mallets and with wooden sticks.
• BOWED: Played with a cello bow, this articulation has two velocity layers: short and wavy in soft dynamics, longer and more intense in louder ones.
• TAPE SUSTAINS: A sustain vibraphone recorded on several reel-to-reel tape machines (Studer, Telefunken, and Uher) in two versions:

• • Type I – Recorded at half speed, combined with tube compressors and EQs
  • Type II – Recorded at double-half speed for a more degraded, lo-fi character

This preset’s X-slider includes multiphonics played on the vibraphone tubes with a bow — a rare and mysterious technique. Another layer is vibraphone tremolo, where the playback speed of each note varies based on round robins.

• PREPARED: Prepared vibraphone was recorded by placing different objects on each note — coins, paper, foil, wood — all vibrating from the mallet strike. Each of the 8 round robins uses a different object, making the sound unpredictable. The X-slider includes fast accented tremolo, and its processed version run through tape delays, loopers, and pitch shifters.