At 10:43 AM -0700 9/3/11, Blake Richardson wrote:
>
>I didn't even know the instrument had a motor. 
>All I know about vibraphones is that they're 
>analogous to xylophones/marimbas with a 
>different sound/timbre.

Well, it's a metallophone--metal bars instead of 
wood or plastic--so that explains the different 
sound as well as the much longer decay time.  But 
having a motor that runs a series of small fans 
in each resonance tube to produce a vibrato--and 
often a variable speed motor at that so the 
vibrato can be varied--is the defining aspect of 
a vibes sound!  Just as the rotating Leslie 
speakers and their vibrato are a defining aspect 
of the classic Hammond Organ sound.

John


-- 
John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music
Virginia Tech Department of Music
School of Performing Arts & Cinema
College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
290 College Ave., Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411  Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:[email protected])
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html

"Machen Sie es, wie Sie wollen, machen Sie es nur schön."
(Do it as you like, just make it beautiful!)  --Johannes Brahms

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