TISH

Concert Vibraphone

This is a rare instrument that spent decades in a European opera house, filling grand halls with its voice.

We brought it to our studio and recorded it in an intimate setting with a remarkable musician.

Despite its history, it speaks in a quiet, introspective tone — just the way we love it.

WALKTHROUGH:

The instrument includes 5 presets, each with its own X-slider blending four sound layers.

All layers are based on the original vibraphone tone, along with sounds from rare synths, oscillators, and test equipment. It was recorded extremely softly using 8 microphones — mostly ribbon and tube — with up to 5 velocity layers and 8 round robins:

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.

One of the sound design layers is synthesized through a tube oscillator modulated by the vibraphone itself. Another layer is a cassette-recorded version of the mutes, captured multiple times at reduced speed on an old Japanese tape recorder.



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.

The X-slider layers mimic the bowed tone using oscillators, LFOs, and function generators — some running fast enough to produce musical tones we sampled for this patch.

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.

TISH: CONCERT VIBRAPHONE

INSIDE THE

INSTRUMENT

Source

The core sound is shaped by four sliders controlling each mic type's volume, each with its own panning slider. The instrument features 5 patches, each with four additional sound layers blended with the original sound via an X-slider.

FX

Classic effects with vintage charm:

• Vibrato - Adds small periodic changes in the pitch of the signal.
• Warm - Creates rich, nonlinear distortions for a gritty, edgy vibe.
• Tremolo – Introduces subtle amplitude modulation that adds motion and pulse to the sound.
• Echo and Reverb - Make the sound ethereal and mesmerizing.
• The Master section has a filter and a shelving EQ, allowing for precise sound sculpting.

Movement

The Movement panel houses a 12-step, highly customizable sequencer and two LFO modules—the heart of our instrument—that can be connected to all key elements.

Master

INSTRUMENT

PROFILE

FEAUTURES

• 5 different variations of the main sound
• Custom tape designed and eurorack style patches
• Up to 5 velocity per note and 8 RR
• VST3/AU plugin for macOS (10.11+) and Windows
• NOT compatible with Pro Tools and any other DAWs that do not support VST3/AU formats.
• 5.5 GB compressed
• 7.6 GB uncompressed

INSTALATION

Use the PULSE app for the installation. It's free and has the fastest speed for downloading. You'll have your own watermarked copy of the instrument. The whole process is described in the Manual.

 Support & Updates

From the moment you acquired TISH you will have all the future updates for free. These updates will include not only the technical fixes, but also new patches and sounds.
If there are any issues with the instruments, please, contact us at hello@elementarysounds.com straight away. We are usually very quick to answer.