On Wednesday, Somerville Sounds released the Gentle Vibes vibraphone virtual instrument as a standalone release.
Gentle Vibes is a macOS and Windows plugin compatible with VST3, AAX, and AU plugin hosts. The download size is approximately 200 MB.
Somerville Sounds originally released the instrument as a Kontakt prototype, but the dev has now repackaged it as a standalone plugin with expanded controls.
Gentle Vibes features a vintage vibraphone played with three types of mallets, presenting it as a dreamy, lo-fi virtual instrument.
The plugin is available via a ‘pay what you want’ format, and you can download the plugin 100% free; however, the creator, Jon Meyer, suggests a $5 donation.
Meyer used fleece, yarn, and rubber mallets to sample the vibraphone.
He noted that the fleece mallet created a thuddy, deep sound, and the rubber mallet created a ringing, pure sound, while the yarn is somewhat in between the two.
The plugin allows you to run the three mallet sounds individually or create a custom mix between the three sounds using the three individual volume controls.
You can therefore achieve a fair amount of tonal shaping via the mallet mix before you even get to the rest of the controls.
The mix panel also features a reverb control, which Meyer described as a modest “space provider”, noting that it’s not meant to create cavernous sounds.
Meyer explained that he sampled the vibraphone in a fairly tight space, so the verb is designed to provide some more room in the sound when it’s required.
The plugin’s adjustment panel features high-pass and low-pass filters, pedal sustain, and wow and flutter controls.
Wow and flutter are modulations that provide a subtle, “aged lo-fi” sound that can be used to add some vibe to the tones.
When the pedal sustain switch is off, the plugin responds with a modest sustain that fades out fairly quickly. If you want more sustain, you can switch the pedal sustain on, which Meyer describes as responding more like a piano.
Gentle Vibes also includes a preset selector, and you can hear Meyer demonstrate several of the presets from the three-minute mark onward in the introductory video linked above.
To pick up Gentle Vibes, just hit the shopping cart icon on the product page, enter a purchase amount (which can be $0), and click through to the checkout.
You’ll then be asked to provide an email address and details as if it’s a physical purchase. Note that the newsletter sign-up box is ticked automatically, but can be unticked.
After entering your details, you’ll be forwarded to a page where you can download either the macOS or Windows installers in a single click.
Overall, I must say that the download process is quite straightforward, and it’s a great little freebie.
I think it’d be easy to find applications for Gentle Vibes in any kind of chill, retro music, be it for songs or soundtrack work.
The no-frills nature of the plugin makes it great for anyone who likes to dive into composition without having to worry too much about knob-twiddling.
If you did want to customize the tones more, though, it’d be fairly easy to pair it with other plugins to get some more sonic juice out of the instrument.
Download: Gentle Vibes (FREE, pay what you want)
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