Marimba Lumina, A Unique MIDI Percussion Instrument That’s Played With RF-Enabled Mallets

Guitarist Eric Haugen asked his Uncle Mark (Mark Goldstein) to explain the Marimba Lumina, a really fun and unique electronic vibraphone style instrument that he and synthesizer pioneer Don Buchla designed together and was fully realized by Joel Davel.

The instrument is made up of a MIDI-controlled pad that uses four color coded striking mallets to make music. The embedded RF technology independently recognizes each mallet, so notes can be combined, bent and otherwise manipulated.

Marimba Lumina can identify which of four color-coded mallets has struck. This allows one to program different sounds or instrumental responses for each mallet, to implement musical structures in which one mallet selects a course of action while others modify or implement it, or to simplify voice leading and give each mallet independent expressive control it’s assigned sound.

Uncle Mark Is Good at Explaining Things