NUSofting has introduced version 1.0 of Marimka VSTi for Windows.

Marimka is a virtual instrument that is targeted to ethnic folk sounds, in this case marimba and balafon. Marimka is also capable of other percussive sounds like frame drums.

Marimka is not merely an acoustic emulation, at extreme settings it reveals a strong synthetic timbre, so it’s also very nice for hybrid textures. Despite the few controls you see on the GUI, the range of different percussive sounds is huge.

Marimka is shareware; version 1.0 is freely downloadable as a trial, but for regular use a license is necessary, available for $19 USD. Moreover, the license purchase will also allow the users to receive free updates and support for the Marimka VSTi.

Marimka Controls:

• EG attack: from hard to soft mallet
• EG decay: note duration
• EG tune: pitch sweep
• FM tone: to add harmonics
• Pitch Fine: fine tuning
• Pitch Octave: octave transpose
• Volume: output level
• Bypass Limiter: to turn on/off the internal limiter
• Resonators Plate amount: to adjust resonance decay
• Resonators Gain: the audio level of the Resonators
• Resonators Width: the pitch of the Resonators
• Ping-Pong Delay: stereo delay effect synced to VST host BPM

More information is available at the NUSofting site.