The 96k 24 bit sflib marimba samples, in directory sflib96/mar, are organized
into the following subdirectories:

bend : tones played with medium mallets and subtle pitch bends (produced by
 pressing a second mallet agains the bars after the tone has been struck)
colleg : col legno multisamples; bars struck with the wooden end of the mallet
dead : dead strokes (the mallet remains on the bar rather than rebounding after
  striking, damping the tone)
gliss : glissandi on the rosewood bars  or else on the brass resonator tubes
handleacc : handle accents, produced by striking the bars simultaneously with
  the mallet head and the wooden handle ends of the mallets
hard : tones  played with hard mallets
med : tones played with medium mallets
soft : tones played with soft mallets
trem : tremolos (rapid repeated strikes, like drum rolls)

Within each of these directories the samples consist of multisample sets -- the
same mallet or technique is used to strike bars throughout the range of the isntrument.
Unless otherwise indicated, all multisample sets cover the entire range of
the five-octave marimba, from c2 (2 octaves below middle C) to c7 (3 octaves
above middle C).
In some cases there are two alternate multisample sets for a particular mallet
or playig technique. For example, within the hard subdirectory there are the
two multisample sets mar.hd.ff.acc and mar.hd.ff.acc2. Both contain tones
played with hard mallets, fortissimo and accented. These two multisample
sets were derived from two different recording takes, and contain subtle
differences between tones of the same pitch. The colleg subdirectory
similarly includes two complete sets of multisamples for tones struck with
the wooden handle of the mallet; the names of the samples within set 1 include
the string mar.colleg while the names of the samples within set 2 include
the character string mar.colleg2

Within a few directories there are alternate versions of particular tones
rather than two complete multisets. For example, within the hard subdirectory,
there is a multisample set for tones played "ordinario" with hard mallets
called "mar.hd". There are also alternative samples for the lowest two tones
c2 and ef2: 
 mar.hd.c2.wav and mar.hd2.c2.wav  
 mar.hd.ef2.wav and mar.hd2.ef2.wav
 
Abbreviations used in the naming of the marimba samples include:
.ff	fortissimo
.hd	played with hard mallets
.hacc   handle accent
.acc	accented tone 
.med	played with medium mallets
.soft	played with soft mallets


Multisample sets within each of these subdirectories:
--------  BEND:   ----------------------------------
8 samples struck with medium mallets and 7 struck with soft mallets
All tones within this directory are within octave 3 (the octave below middle C)

--------  COLLEG:   ----------------------------------
mar.colleg : 16 samples, c2 through c7
mar.colleg2 : an alternate set with 12 samples, c2 through c7

--------  DEAD:   ----------------------------------
A complete multisample set of 23 soundfiles in which the bars
were struckly rapidly with the mallet handles, producing hard attracks

--------  HANDLEACC:   ----------------------------------
This directory includes a single multisample set of 14 handle accent samples
pitched between c2 and c7

--------  HARD:   ----------------------------------
This directory includes :
  (1) A set of 27 "ordinario" tones, with ring, played with hard mallets
  (2) Two sets of multisamples played fortissimo with hard mallets, producing a sharp
     accent but less ring to the tone.
     Multiset mar.hd.ff.acc includes 40 samples; the alternate multiset group
     mar.hd.ff.acc2 includes 41 samples; These two sets sounds very similar, but
     with subtle differences in accentuation and ring on equivalent tones.

--------  MED:   ----------------------------------
This directory includes 2 multisample sets:
 (1) mar.med : 40 tones played "ordinario" with medium mallets, including a ring
   (There are alternate samples for a few of these tones, including gs2,c3, ef3 and c4;
   the names of these alternates include the character string "med2")
 (2) 26 short tones, with a quick decay and without the normal ring,  played with
     medium mallets. 2 variants are provided for the two tones c3 and ef3

--------  SOFT:   ----------------------------------
mar.soft : c2 through c7 struck with soft mallets
mar.soft2 : an alternate set of c2 through c7 struck with soft mallets

--------  GLISS:   ----------------------------------
5 groups of samples:
 (1) mar.gliss.dnhilo1 through mar.gliss.dnhilo6 and mar.gliss.dnhimidfast:
   these cover a fairly wide pitch range and descend ("dn" = "down") from a high
   to lower pitch register
 (2) mar.gliss.oct2 : glissandi primarily within octave 2 (c2 to b2)
 (3) mar.gliss.oct4 : glissandi primarily within octave 4 (c4 to b4)
 (4) mar.gliss.oct5 : glissandi primarily within octave 2 (c5 to b5)
 Within groups (2) (3) and (4) "dnup" indicates that the glissandi begin
 by descending ("dn" = "down") and end ascending ("up"). "updn" inidcates
 the reverse: the glissandi being by ascending ("up") and end by descending ("dn").
 (5) resbars : glissandi are played on the brass resonator bars rather than on
     the wooden bars;
     8 of these samples (those whose names include the strings "dnup" or
     "updn") are combinations of a downward and an upward sweep
     In 2 of the samples, mar.gliss.resbars.damp.buzz1 and buzz2  the bars
     were damped, producing a buzzy and muffled sound
     Generally medium mallets were used, but for 2 of the soundfiles
     (mar.gliss.soft.dnhimid1.wav and mar.gliss.soft.dnhimid2.wav) soft
     mallets were used.
--------  TREM:   ----------------------------------
 The 82 tremolo (rapidly alternating strokes) samples include two types of tremolos:
 (1) Those on a single note, such as mar.trem.hd.c2.wav (tremolo on c2
played with hard mallets)
 (2) Those that alternate between two tones, such as mar.trem.soft.e2-c2.wav,
in which soft mallets alternate on the major third interval c2 to e2. 
In these soundfiles, the lower note is always the pitch class C (either c2, c3
or c4),
and the samples include all 13 chromatic intervals between this bottom C and
the pitch class C an octave higher.

 - - - - - - - - -
Credits:
The marimbist for these recordings was Eastman alumnus Nate Barlett, playing
his own five octave instrument. The recordings were made by Ben Gateno and Kevin Ernste
in October of 2003 and edited by Allan Schindler.

