Kalimba Swarm

A couple weeks ago, I tried out an unusual experiment with my Kalimba. I was not fully satisfied with my Kalimba library (titled Kalimba Experiments), it was sounding good but I wanted to create something that would actually standout in a “sea” where Kalimbas are left right and centre. “How does one go about that with something as simple as a Kalimba?” I asked myself, and so I was looking at my story for Kalimba Experiments.

I mentioned how I wanted to create an “odd swarm” articulation, something that normally would be done maybe with Marimbas and any other pitched percussion other than a Kalimba. The reason it didn’t work before is because I recorded it on my phone, which was caked in dust, causing it to be muffled. If you have followed my YouTube, or seen on Kalimba Experiments, you’ll know that I have a new microphone which is a TONOR TC-777. Very good mic for the price, anyway, I decided to record this swarm articulation with that and the result was already 10x better than what I originally tried.

I was then making the “ooh very quirky” sound design, when I had a kooky idea that came to mind… what if I created sound design… of THAT sound design?? The result is something that does not sound like a Kalimba at all… I tested this blindly with a couple of people, one said it sounded like an ambient guitar, and another said it sounded like a polyrhythmic synth.

Kalimba Swarm was very fun to make and I made it in a couple of weeks. I hpe that you agree that what I have created here is something truly magical.

UI:
Volume (CC11) – self explanatory
Gloss (CC1) – Controls 1 of two very special sound designs which are chosen via a knob variation menu.
Reverb – Controls the convolution via the convolution menu.

You can watch the walkthrough here: