More often than not, auxiliary percussion instrument are often maligned as "toys" or "utensils" by other musicians ignorant of the subtle technique required to give the versatility of expression these "toys" can deliver. This has resulted into some percussion instruments just being sampled for the sake of ignoring the fact that they can sound more than just what they're known for. Changing that rend is QuikQuak Barchimes, an emulation of a set of bar chimes or Mark Tree.

Barchimes is not your instant one-hit chime glissando. In fact, each key in your MIDI controller represents one chime in a tree of many. To make those famous descending and ascending glissandi on the bar chimes require you now to perform an actual palm glissando along the length of your keyboard, just like Keith Emerson would do as he sweeps along the waterfall keys of his Hammond L-100. Now, upon doing this you'll discover how amazing it sounds. QuikQuak also took pains to consider the physics behind the bar chimes. They actually simulated how will one chime react when struck, and therefore hitting just two notes could trigger off a series of chimes, much like what a real array of chimes would do. To play this instrument, you only make use of the naturals (or white keys) in your MIDI keyboard; playing the black keys with this instrument is an exercise in futility.

FEATURES:

• A detailed 36 bar physics simulation.
• Collisions, gravity and audio accurately portrayed.
• Photo-realistic 3D representation.
• Velocity and sweep analysis simulates movement through the chimes.
• Highly optimized.

If you haven't managed to get yourself a real Mark Tree or bar chimes set, then this is the best alternative that you've got. The pre-release version is fully functional that can be downloaded at no cost at all. The final release will feature parameter controls, alternate layouts, gravity, material and audio tone, and pitch controls.