Marimba VSTs: 5 Great-Sounding Plugins (Free and Paid)

Vital Series: Mallets is an excellent pitched-percussion plugin from Big Fish Audio, the creators of Electri6ity, Mojo 2, and Apollo: Cinematic Guitars.

The plugin includes patches for marimba, xylophone, bells, chimes, vibraphone, and others.

The sample quality is incredible — when I listened back to my studio monitors, I felt like I was listening to real performers.

Vital Series: Mallets comes with multiple mallet types allowing for more flexibility and better dynamic emulation.

The instrument contains 122 samples from the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios public domain library.

The most disappointing flaw in this marimba VST is the limiting two velocity layers (hey, what can you expect, it’s free?).

Grand Marimba is a fantastic marimba VST that features a 5-octave Yamaha 6100, designed with the legendary Keiko Abe.

The 6100 is a flagship instrument with precision tuning, Honduran Rosewood bars, and welded resonators (rattle-free).

Grand Marimba is a Kontakt Player instrument, meaning you do not need the full version of Kontakt to use it in your DAW.

In addition to loops is a software sampler patch, which you can use to create your parts and melodies.

The marimba patch sounds much dryer than others I have previously listed in this article.

There is also much less sustain, but I think it still sounds excellent and has commercial production potential.

The articulations included for the marimba patch include hard mallet, felt mallet, and big-soft mallet.

Note: the full version of Kontakt is required to use Fine Mallets.

The developers have implemented 4 round-robin groups alongside up to 4 velocity layers, enhancing the authenticity of the sound.

Marimba by Cinematique Instruments features three distinct articulations. The hard articulation, produced using a hard plastic mallet, delivers a dry, thin sound characterized by a strong percussive attack. In contrast, the typical felt mallet provides a balanced sound, merging percussive attack with a warm richness. The third articulation utilizes a giant soft mallet, resulting in a warm, indirect tone. Notably, an articulation mixer allows users to blend the hard articulation with the medium and soft variations, creating unique sound combinations.

The Marimba also features an 8-step arpeggiator, enabling users to define their note selection for each step, along with additional effects such as an octaver and drive. The tremolo engine is user-friendly, facilitating easy tremolo playback upon key release. Additionally, the instrument includes six types of reverb, including a unique 'infinite' reverb, enhancing its immersive qualities.

The user interface allows for a flexible blending of five different microphone positions: Center (Neumann TLM 103), Stereo (Neumann KM184 pair), Wide (AKG C414 B-ULS pair), Ribbon (Coles 4038 pair), and Room (Neumann u87 pair). 

In terms of functionality, the Toy Marimba is sampled with both wood and bamboo mallets, offering a nuanced sound palette. It features 3 Round Robin repetitions and 3 velocity layers for the main hits, ensuring a more dynamic and realistic playing experience. Additionally, the inclusion of slides and glissandos—with three speed options—adds further versatility, allowing for creative articulation and movement within compositions.

The Kontakt interface is equipped with an extensive suite of sound-shaping controls, enabling users to customize aspects such as swell, attack, and release. Advanced features like an adaptable LFO system and a customizable arpeggiator further enhance creative possibilities. Additionally, the FX rack panel, which includes 27 DSP effect modules.

The design of Mallets 2 emphasizes both fidelity to traditional sounds and the creative flexibility synonymous with ImPerfect. Each preset is engineered to emulate authentic mallet sounds, allowing users to create both conventional melodies and innovative, abstract soundscapes.