aHachinohe Institute of Technology
bGraduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University
Abstract :
A set of wooden-keyboard percussion instruments, namely
xylophone, marimba and xylorimba are acoustically compared. Since
the size of xylophone and marimba has not had a standard size, their
size and tone have a variety among them. More concretely, an
American company Deagan produced the xylorimba between 1920-
1930, which was played by a xylophone player Yoichi Hiraoka, and
then conveyed to Japan. The timber of xylophone is felt as to have
the features of both marimba and xylophone. The acoustic feature is,
however, not measured until now. A professional marimba player
cooperated in our experiment. She is asked to play a single note C4
with a consistent hard mallet. The power spectrum of recorded
acoustic signal is evaluated in terms of salient peaks on the recorded
sound. Although the salient peaks on marimba and xylophone are
almost well-known shapse, the one on the xylorimba has a distinct
feature, which has 1) consonant peaks to F0, such as 2oct and
3oct+perfect 5th and 2) dissonant peaks to F0, such as 3oct major 2
degree (detuned to +1 and +22 cents). Therefore, the xylorimba is
acoustically confirmed as to have both xylophone and marimba’s
features.