Name that Instrument

August 25, 2012 10:47 AM

What is the breathy instrument playing the melody heard at 2:36 of this song?

I love it! Want more. I'm sure this iteration of the instrument is tweaked, as this is electronic music, but the basic sound must be the same. Thanks!

posted by 3FLryan to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

Best answer: A marimba, or at least a sample of one
posted by timsteil at 11:01 AM on August 25, 2012

Here's some more concentrated marimba
posted by merocet at 11:05 AM on August 25, 2012

Response by poster: Huh. It was playing tricks on my ears. Could have sworn it was a wind instrument, like some sort of panflute. Thanks.
posted by 3FLryan at 12:52 PM on August 25, 2012

I'm pretty sure that's a synth. Play around with the presets in Massive and you can find something similar....
posted by empath at 12:53 PM on August 25, 2012

Also, the attack is too hard for it to be a wind instrument but it's probably built on a square wave, which gives it that hollow sound...
posted by empath at 12:54 PM on August 25, 2012

Response by poster: Huh. It was playing tricks on my ears. Could have sworn it was a wind instrument, like some sort of panflute.

Follow up question: Is it the same instrument at 5:42?
posted by 3FLryan at 12:56 PM on August 25, 2012

Best answer: Yeah, the same synthesizer anyway. Synthesized (and I guess real, but less so) panflute sounds have a similar attack, I can see where you would think that's what it was. The second patch sounds more panflutey to me than the first, but it may be an issue of register not timbre.
posted by TheRedArmy at 1:50 PM on August 25, 2012