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Mbira Sample Library?

SonicCouture has one, off the top of my head. One of the Olafur libraries I bought has a kalimba, haven't messed with it yet though.
 
Orange tree samples grand kalimba. As Whiskers said Soniccouture has array mbira and there's one in box of tricks as well. There's a mbira in Evolution Series World Percussion Africa. As mentioned by Willford Soundiron has a kalimba. Cinesamples also. And Embertone has their tomato paste kalimba.
 
Thank you guys.

Although a mbira is not the same as a Kalimba or an Array Mbira.
 
Thank you guys.

Although a mbira is not the same as a Kalimba or an Array Mbira.
You're probably technically right. But they are pretty much close enough, I'd say. Search Wikipedia for "kalimba" for example. Same entry.
 
If a kalimba would do, there's one in the Kontakt Factory Library, and Bolder Sounds also has a free "thumb piano":

https://www.boldersounds.com/index.php?main_page=product_music_info&products_id=98

Although a mbira is not the same as a Kalimba or an Array Mbira.

Yeah. I see there are some differences -- if they're significant to you, this might be one of those times where buying the instrument and recording it yourself might make sense, as @wilifordmusic says.
 
Thank you guys for all the suggestions.

There is indeed a mbira in the evolution series, and I was also able to find an european seller on ebay for a real mbira.

The other kalimba choices sound lovely as well.
 
Sonicouture's Box of Tricks also has a Mbira among all the other instruments. It is a pretty good deal.
 
Sifting through my own collection, this is what I found:



Evolution - World Percussion 2.0 --->
  • "Mbira (Zimbabwe).nki"

Best Service - Ethno World 6 --->
  • "Kalimba Hugh Tracey Loops BM.nki"
  • "Kalimba Hugh Tracey KEY.nki"
  • "Kalimba 5.nki"
  • "Kalimba 5 Original.nki"
  • "Kalimba 15.nki"
  • "Kalimba 15 Original.nki"
  • "Bass Kalimba + Loops BM.nki"

Versilian Studios - Versilian Community Sample Library --->
  • "VCSL - Kalimba - Kenya.nki", "VCSL - Kalimba - Tanzania.nki"
  • "VCSL - Mbira dzaVadzimu Nyamaropa - Zimbabwe - Low B.nki"
  • "VCSL - Mbira Mavembe (Gandanga) - Zimbabwe - Low G.nki"
  • "VCSL - Nyunga Nyunga - Mozambique - Low F.nki"

Doru Malaia - 230 Ethnic Drums and Percussions --->
  • "Kalimba"
  • "Mbira"
  • "Sanza"

UVI - World Suite --->
  • Mbira (Dzavadzimu, Nyunga, Zimbabwe)
  • Sanzas (7 models)
  • Kalimba Bass (loops and phrases)

EWQL RA --->
  • "Kalimba Hi"
  • "Kalimba Hi Untuned"
  • "Kalimba Hi-Wah"
  • "Kalimba Hi-Wah Untuned"
  • "Kalimba Low"
  • "Kalimba Low Untuned"
 
Although a mbira is not the same as a Kalimba or an Array Mbira.


Sometimes I don't know whether I feel more like a total lamellaphone or a complete idiophone when trying to parse the differences between these instruments, their tunings, countries of origin, &c.

Nevertheless, just to add nothing of substantive use here, let me add that I had the good fortune of seeing the late Francis Bebey perform at the Weill Recital Hall (tiny adjunct to Carnegie Hall) a few decades ago.

The resonator box of his sanza (Cameroon) was filled with dry beans that would rattle around gently as he played, and loudly when he shook the instrument. He explained that the beans' clamor represented the voices of his (and the traditional audiences') ancestors — similar in effect to the shells and other small objects strung around the perimeter of a Zimbabwean (tambourine-like) deze, into which a mbira might be placed. It lent a nice inter-generational continuity to his already lovely music:

 
The Versilian lamellophones listed above are part of VCSL and are available in SFZ format or raw .wav files (one of each key) here (see readme for download instructions)-
https://github.com/sgossner/VCSL

Demo of the instruments-


(at this time you'll have to download the whole collection to get the lamellophones in raw .wav or SFZ format)

Everyone's best feline friend Bigcat also made a Kontakt version of these-
https://bigcatinstruments.blogspot.com/2018/03/vcsl-instruments-for-kontakt.html

Don't want to spill the beans too much, but those are just a preview of something I'm working on. If anyone is highly interested in lamellophones, let me know; we could always use a few more testers. ;)

A good starting place to learning about different lamellophones and their tunings-
https://www.nscottrobinson.com/mbiratunings.php
 
Don't want to spill the beans too much, but those are just a preview of something I'm working on. If anyone is highly interested in lamellophones, let me know; we could always use a few more testers. ;)

Ah, this makes sense. I saw someone mention Versilian above and thought, "I don't remember any mbiras in VSCO2...."
 
This is going to be a long preamble with background information on the Mbira family of instruments. I will post library-specific comments in a separate reply.

Unfortunately, there are no good Mbira libraries currently, unless the two listed above that I haven't gone into yet, turn out to be the exception:
  • Versilian Studios - Versilian Community Sample Library
  • Doru Malaia - 230 Ethnic Drums and Percussions
Terminology is still coalescing, but is quickly reaching consensus these past few years, but unfortunately quite a few sample libraries are mislabeled or misleading. It is unlikely that any of them sampled quality instruments played by knowledgeable players. I was rather horrified when I went through all of them yet again tonight, armed with ever-deeper knowledge that I have gained over the past few years.

The umbrella term is now considered to be Mbira, and Kalimba mostly just now refers to the modern chromatic single-row instruments initially popularized by High Tracey in the 1950's (I owned one of these in the 80's). Most westerners approach the more traditional instruments the same way, but they are played quite differently. Furthermore, instruments continue to involve, and thus there is a "traditional" non-chromatic variant that is NEWER than the Kalimba!

On top of all of that, there are special tunings, and also indigenous terms for the modes, that are sometimes applied to the instrument itself, but not always.

I had previously found all of the sources listed above, but this still left me with some confusion, all of which was resolved tonight after a lot of cross-referencing that led me to two specific resources that in conjunction with the main Wiki page for Mbira disambiguate most of the naming issues.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbira

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikembe

https://kalimbashop.com/en/content/20-what-is-a-mbira

https://kalimbashop.com/en/content/19-what-is-a-kalimba

It would take too long to go into all of the regional naming differences, only some of which result in actual instrument design variants of any note. There is variation within each type anyway, but there are some broad generalizations that can be made.

In the Congo region (including Rwanda and Uganda), the main thumb piano is mostly now referred to as the Ikembe (or Likembe), and sometimes as Sanza (falling out of favour). Some of these have sound boxes, most are single-row, and they come in all sizes. Interestingly, this is the one that is closest in concept the the Hugh Tracey Kalimba -- his main innovation was to make it chromatic.

The Mbira originates mostly from Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and is a VERY different instrument as it is/was used almost exclusively in religious ceremonies and had specific adaptations that served a role in such activities. These instruments almost always have buzzers of some sort, tend to be large and in the tenor range. They also are usually played inside a large round calabash shell when used at ceremonies, to serve as natural amplification. Almost always, they have one hole in the lower right.

Things got a bit confusing though, when another instrument called the Mbira came into being in the 60's or 70's. This one borrowed some ideas from High Tracey's Kalimba, but steered clear of western chromatic tunings and tended to have duplication of notes in the upper register.

Mbiras are two-row designs, with the lower octave below, and the upper octave above. Some notes are played upwards vs. downwards, and by the index finger vs. the thumb. The sound can be fairly similar to other instruments in Africa that follow the wood-plus-metal-tine design basis, but the two-row concept seems to be fairly unique to the Zimbabwe region, along with the deeper range.

The older Mbiras that are mostly used for religious events, are generally referred to as Mbira Dvavadzimu, and the top row is split between left-side bass duties and right-side treble duties whilst the bottom row is only a half-row on the left for bass accompaniment to the right-hand treble.

The newer Mbiras are used more for social music, and have two full rows, as well as being more in the alto and soprano range, much smaller, only occasionally played inside a "deze" gourd shell, and tend to have some redundant symmetry along the top treble row of tines.

Most can be tuned for major/mixolydian modes or minor modes, and as the latter is less common, it is the one that is more often called out and sometimes used as the name of the instrument: Mavembe (as opposed to Nyamaropa, which rarely is even mentioned as it's the default).

This is all meant to be background information for people trying to figure out which instrument they actually want to model in their work, and also is meant to serve as a caveat that the label that you see for a library, or even a recording, may be incorrect, or at least misleading in terms of guiding you to the sound you're actually looking for.
 
The reason I say that there are no good Mbira libraries currently (unless either Versilian or Doru Malaia is good; I'll try to check those out tomorrow), is that literally NONE of them get very close to an authentic sound. That may not be a problem for someone who just wants a modern Kalimba sound, with or without buzzers. If you are layering similar chromatic percussion sounds though, it can start to become a problem even if you're not terribly concerned about authenticity though.

Evolution Series doesn't say what they sampled, but I figured it out after LOTS of comparative listening: it's an Mbira Dzavadzimu. But it doesn't sound authentic, as it's chromatic (and with no indicators for which notes were sample-stretched to accomplish this), not much buzz, certainly no deze, and way too ambient even when using only the close mic. It sounds "pretty" though, and almost as resonant and bell-like as a modern kalimba (maybe that's what they sampled after all :)).

UVI World Suite has a gazillion, with different names and yet none of them particular authentic, but at least there is some buzz control on many of them, and indicators for which notes were actually present on the sampled instruments. The ones from MOTU Ethno are all labeled as Sanzas and are from the Congo region, also meaning they come in all sizes (even just 5 tines). There's some good variety in there, but it sounds to me like they didn't buy quality luthier models as the basis.

Precisionsound's Zimbabwe Mbira library got pulled into World Suite as well. It has three variants, two of which are Dzavadzimu and the third of which is a Nyunga Nyunga. For these, the natural range markings do not seem correct: Nyungas started as 13 tines, went to 15 (now standard) and sometimes up to 19; whereas Dzavadzimus usually have 22 but sometimes as many as 28 or 30, and of course a much larger body and deeper tone as they're in a lower register. These all have roughly the same range though. The UVI version is a big improvement though, due to better scripting.

Garritan World Instruments has the most variant names, and they helped me in my research, but the actual samples are questionable as to their source and whether more than one or two instruments was actually used. I still think of that library as a useful ethnomusicological source though.

Soniccouture's Mbira library is actually a Congolese model with a single row of 7 tines. As the entire instrument family can be correctly referred to as Mbira, it's no big deal, but conventions are starting to move towards clearer delineation at this point. This could be a great library if they update it with modern scripting at some point.

The Soniccouture Array Mbira is an absolutely wonderful library, and I use it in projects. It is thoroughly modern, of course. But that's OK, as it has a lot of character and depth, rich harmonics and complex textures, and also morphs its character across the registers. I give this library my unqualified endorsement, but of course it is not a traditional Mbira library so may not fit everyone's purposes.

As for modern chromatic kalimbas, I no longer like them as I feel they have too much resonance, are too pure, and lacking in character. I of course grew up on these due to Earth Wind & Fire, and bought the first one I saw in the early 80's. I then got a gourd-style model in the 90's, only to discover it too was inauthentic, as I began getting more into world music and hearing a much more exciting sound that had some buzz to it (just as with many variants of the marimba).

If you really want that sound though, the only library that I can recommend is Orange Tree Samples Grand Kalimba, which is three octaves and on the edge of being an Array Mbira except for that Array Mbira is a trademarked name and is larger still (5 octaves).

In my final post, I will reveal that I lied earlier, and that there actually is a quality Mbira library available, but it was mislabeled so you might not know that's what it is. :)
 
So, as I revealed above, I "lied" when I said there are no good Mbira libraries. This is only true because the ONE good Mbira library is called Kalimba, even though it's actually an Mbira Nyunga Nyunga with 17 tines, in Eb Major (or C minor if you prefer, and as they label it themselves).

The library in question is Cinesamples Kalimba, which often goes on sale and which I bought during a sale as part of a bundle with some of their other excellent world libraries. It is 8 GB in size, so it dwarfs all other Mbira choices by a factor of over 100!

The problem is that I haven't really wrapped my head around its interface yet, but I plan to do that soon. For reference, this is the real-world model that their source most closely resembles:

https://larkinthemorning.com/collections/kalimbas-sansulas/products/nyunga-nyunga-style-kalimba-17-key-thumb-piano-lotus-tuning?variant=12255641272416

It's another model though, as it has more traditional tines than the one shown above. I tried to buy that one yesterday but the store was sold out. Instead, I'm going to order these two soon:

https://kalimbashop.com/en/mbira/25-large-mbira-in-g-special-edition-black-white.html?cid=13

https://kalimbashop.com/en/kalimba-nyunga-nyunga/24-kalimba-large-in-e-flat-brown.html

The Cinesamples audio demos are almost as out-of-character as those of Orange Tree Samples for their Grand Kalimba. I don't mean to judge though, because these instruments are finding their way into Celtic and New Age music as well as other Folk genres, and some brands now even offer D Dorian tunings for such purposes. But I personally exclusively like these in more of an African context.
 
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