Ooloi: An Organism Evolved

Glenfiddich Highland Pipes in G sharp

17/3/2026

The complete bundled instrument library is now documented.

The new guide, Instrument Library Catalogue, lists the default instrument set that ships with Ooloi: modern orchestral instruments, historical families, keyboards, plucked strings, voices, choirs, percussion, special-effect instruments, and various things that have no fixed abode but nevertheless turn up in scores. A total of roughly 270 instruments, yielding just over 1,000 language-specific library entries.

The architectural decisions behind it remain where they belong, in ADR 0045: Instrument Library.

This catalogue is not a theological statement about which instruments deserve to exist. It is the default library: broad, practical, and sufficient to start work. If you find yourself asking, 'You have ocarinas but not Glenfiddich Highland Pipes in G sharp?!', the answer is simple: not by default. Add them in the Instrument Library window, save them, and they are yours permanently.

In other words, the bundled set is a starting point, not a border guard.

28 Comments

Ulrik Bodén

18/3/2026 06:20:10

I had a quick glimpse at the library and I saw you dedicated only 1 staff for the accordion, notated accordion use a grand staff

Peter Bengtson

18/3/2026 08:21:53

Hi Ulrik – and Schakt has six accordions, so I should certainly know. You're right: the default definition should be a grand staff, and I'll correct it. What your observation also points to is that nothing in the library is fixed. You can clone any instrument, adjust the staff configuration, and keep both versions simultaneously – so if you prefer vibraphone on one staff and I ship it on two, or vice versa, both can coexist in your library without conflict. Or a nine-part choir, for that matter. The bundled definitions are a starting point. The library is yours to shape.

As it happens, I'm implementing these very editing mechanisms right now – so your observation arrives at exactly the right moment.

Magnus Johansson

18/3/2026 11:39:02

While we are at accordion instruments in the Instrument Library Catalogue:

"Concertina (English) 1 — Bisonoric; same note in/out
Concertina (Anglo) 1 — Unisonoric; different notes in/out"

should be

"Concertina (English) 1 — Bisonoric; different notes in/out
Concertina (Anglo) 1 — Unisonoric; same note in/out"

shouldn't it, Ulrik?

Peter Bengtson

18/3/2026 12:23:08

Fixed – and I corrected the Bandonéon too, which I know is decidedly bisonoric, having tried to learn to play one. Two bisonoric keyboards with really weird layouts, and you don't see your fingers... A nightmare, but a delicious one.

Ulrik Bodén

18/3/2026 17:59:19

Magnus, I think you're right

Magnus Johansson

18/3/2026 15:43:28

What does 1-2 mean in the following example? Are there two versions, one with one stave, and another with two staves?

"Electric Piano 1–2 — Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and similar; concert pitch"

Peter Bengtson

18/3/2026 16:42:23

Yes.

Roland Gurt

18/3/2026 21:14:21

Dear Peter, under "pitched percussion": shouldn’t the note "1–2 staves" apply to the marimba instead of the vibraphone? (if I’m not mistaken)

Possible additions to the default selection:
- a general "Voice/Stimme/Voix" in treble clef (solo, for songs with no specified male/female voice)
- an instrument for "Electronics" with a "0-line staff"? (to be filled with graphical notation)

And may I ask how to approach a SATB choir work notated on a grand-staff? Is there a separate "instrument" for that?

Best regards! Roland

Magnus Johansson

18/3/2026 21:55:35

"shouldn’t the note "1–2 staves" apply to the marimba instead of the vibraphone? (if I’m not mistaken)"

This sounds probable, but I think the default for marimba should be 2 staves, especially since 5 octave marimbas are becoming less and less uncommon.

Magnus Johansson

19/3/2026 10:46:51

Here is great playing on a 5 octave marimba: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP5woAYEGxg

Peter Bengtson

18/3/2026 22:10:11

Dear Roland,

You're right on the marimba – I'll correct that. The '1–2 staves' notation in the catalogue means there are separate definitions for each configuration; most of the pitched percussion instruments ship with both a single-staff and a grand-staff version, so you can choose whichever suits the score without needing to create anything yourself. However, should you need a Marimba using 3 staves, you simply add one to a copy of the instrument. Similarly for multi-staff variants of Piano.

A general unspecified Voice is a good suggestion, and it will be added.

Electronics, Tape, and related instruments with a zero-line staff are equally worth including; the staff-line count is a simple parameter, and a zero-line staff is perfectly valid notation for exactly the kind of indeterminate or electronic material you describe.

The SATB grand-staff question points to a gap in the default choral section, which I'll address. One thing worth noting: in Ooloi, a choir – however many staves it occupies – is a single Musician. This turns out to have real practical consequences: courtesy accidentals propagate correctly between the component staves, because they share a single harmonic context. A naïve four-instrument SATB arrangement loses that.

Best regards, Peter

Peter Bengtson

18/3/2026 22:12:36

Magnus – that's exactly why most of these instruments are defined with both configurations: the catalogue entry '1–2 staves' means both versions are present in the library, on equal footing. There is no default; you simply pick the one that suits the score.

Magnus Johansson

19/3/2026 10:35:44

From the Instrument Library Catalogue:

"Celesta 2 Two octaves above written"

This is good, I think, instead of what is said regarding celesta on https://www.orchestralibrary.com/reftables/rang.html#keyboard. It makes the notation more centered on the grand staff (written C-c³), and of course I use treble clef quindicesima alta and bass clef quindicesima alta for a celesta part.

Magnus Johansson

19/3/2026 14:19:46

From the Instrument Library Catalogue:

"Glockenspiel treble; bass Two octaves above written 1–2 staves

Xylophone treble; bass Octave above written 1–2 staves"

Shouldn't it be like this?:

"Glockenspiel treble Two octaves above written 1 stave

Xylophone treble Octave above written 1 stave"

Rune Brynsholmen

19/3/2026 15:31:42

Seeing you people checking every little thing is great. With such throughout helpers, this program is going to be marvelous!

Peter Bengtson

19/3/2026 15:53:15

Fixed.

Magnus Johansson

19/3/2026 16:15:36

Peter, clef changes to octave transposing clefs caused problems in Igor Engraver, especially regarding the tonal ranges of instruments. Have you started to think about how this will be solved in Ooloi?

Peter Bengtson

19/3/2026 15:54:08

And I completely agree, Rune! It's very rewarding with this feedback on musical things.

Magnus Johansson

19/3/2026 17:52:43

Let's continue with the following in the Instrument Library Catalogue:

"Vibraphone treble; bass — 1–2 staves
Tubular Bells treble; bass — 1–2 staves; Chimes / Röhrenglocken
Crotales treble; bass Two octaves above written 1–2 staves; Antique Cymbals
Crotale treble; bass Two octaves above written 1–2 staves; single instrument, specific pitch
Kalimba treble; bass — 1–2 staves; Thumb piano / mbira; Crumb, Reich
Glass Harmonica treble; bass — 1–2 staves; Glass armonica
Soprano Steel Pan treble; bass — 1–2 staves; Tenor pan; highest register
Alto Steel Pan treble; bass — 1–2 staves; Double tenor
Tenor Steel Pan treble; bass — 1–2 staves
Baritone Steel Pan treble; bass — 1–2 staves; Guitar pan
Tuned Gongs treble; bass — 1–2 staves; Pitched; Puccini, Messiaen, Britten
Bass Steel Pan treble; bass — 1–2 staves"

that I think should be

"Vibraphone treble — 1 stave
Tubular Bells treble — 1 stave; Chimes / Röhrenglocken
Crotales treble Two octaves above written 1 stave; Antique Cymbals
Crotale treble Two octaves above written 1 stave; single instrument, specific pitch
Kalimba treble — 1 stave; Thumb piano / mbira; Crumb, Reich
Glass Harmonica treble — 1 stave; Glass armonica
Soprano Steel Pan treble — 1 stave; Tenor pan; highest register
Alto Steel Pan treble — 1 staves; Double tenor
Tenor Steel Pan treble — 1 stave
Baritone Steel Pan treble — 1 stave; Guitar pan
Tuned Gongs treble; bass — 1–2 staves; Pitched; Puccini, Messiaen, Britten
Bass Steel Pan bass — 1 stave"

Magnus Johansson

19/3/2026 17:58:45

"Alto Steel Pan treble — 1 staves; Double tenor"

that I wrote should of course be

"Alto Steel Pan treble — 1 stave; Double tenor"

Peter Bengtson

19/3/2026 17:59:44

Fixed.

Regarding clefs: I will deal with clefs a little later in the cycle, when music formatting comes into focus. The clef implementation is very flexible, though, so I don't foresee any particular problems.

Magnus Johansson

19/3/2026 18:05:23

Thanks! Sounds good.

Magnus Johansson

20/3/2026 18:51:52

Adding all the special percussion instruments of the Orff instrumentarium to the Instrument Library Catalogue would probably be very appreciated in the Orff-Schulwerk world being a global phenomenon. Here a charming young Colombian Orff ensemble takes it away in the jazz classic "Sing, sing, sing": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpliR8ATC7M&list=RD7JMyfRO2s9I&index=3

Peter Bengtson

21/3/2026 11:05:36

This is actually a perfect illustration of why the instrument library is user-extensible. The Orff-specific instruments that aren't already covered – the sized metallophones and the register-specific xylophone and glockenspiel variants – amount to about eight instruments, and every one of them is a minor adaptation of something already in the bundled library. You duplicate the nearest match, rename it, adjust the range if needed, and you're done. Thirty seconds per instrument.

Bundling them would add clutter for the overwhelming majority of users who will never write for an Orff ensemble. The bundled set covers the common ground; anything else is one copy-and-edit away.

That said, your suggestion does point to something worth thinking about: a mechanism for sharing user-created instrument sets. An Orff pedagogue who has built the full Schulwerk instrumentarium ought to be able to export it for others to import. Let me think about it.

Magnus Johansson

21/3/2026 11:27:03

Yes, do think about it. If the Orff instrument entries are deemed clutter there is also the option of placing them in their own category in the instrument library like e.g. "School music".

Peter Bengtson

21/3/2026 12:50:38

Yes. However, creating user-definable instrument categories is quite a different matter. We'll return to this.

Magnus Johansson

25/3/2026 11:41:02

Peter, you have perhaps done this already but I have compared Igor Engraver's instrument library with Ooloi's and the following instruments are in Igor's library but not in Ooloi's:

Flute in E flat
Oboe in E flat
Clarinet in D
Basset horn (Strauss) in F
Contra Alto Clarinet in E flat
Panpipe
Didjeridu
Rankett
Ney
French Horn in C alto
French Horn in A flat
Alto Horn in F
Mellophonium in G
Mellophonium in F
Mellophonium in E flat
Mellophone in E flat
Cornet in C
Cornet in A
Soprano Trombone
Tuba
Tuba in F
Tuba in low C
Tuba in low B flat
Cello Steel drum
Almglocken
Musical Saw
Tubaphone
Dulcimer
Xylorimba
Piccolo snare drum
Chinese tom-tom
Sizzle cymbal
Ride cymbal
Bell plate
Tibetan bowl
Slit drum
Drum sticks
Log drum
Bamboo chimes
Rattle
Quijada
Washboard
Chains
Police whistle
Bird whistle
Duck call
Auto horn
Sand paper blocks
Klaxon horn
Pistol shot
Hand clap
Jew’s harp
Typewriter
Finger snaps
Kantele
Whistling
Chorus TB
Chorus SAB
Chorus SMzaTBarB
Irish harp
Alto guitar
Archlute
Steel string guitar
12-string guitar
Jazz guitar
Fretless bass guitar
Pedal steel guitar
Moog bass
Clavinet
Musette
Regal
Keyboard
Huqin
Rebec
Fiddle
Vielle
Crwth
Violin III

Peter Bengtson

25/3/2026 20:23:36

Magnus, thank you for going through the Igor list so carefully. This is exactly the kind of thing that benefits from a second pair of eyes.

A few of these are already present under different names: 'Tuba' is our Bass Tuba; the Mellophonium variants are covered by Mellophone; and the Basset Horn in F is already there. So that accounts for part of the list.

Of the rest, I think there are genuine gaps worth filling: Clarinet in D, Soprano Trombone, and Ride and Sizzle cymbals. I'll add those. The choir selection will be expanded to include SAB, TB, and several more configurations – but here too the same principle applies: drag-copy a staff, rename it, and you have any choir configuration you need.

The remaining instruments fall into a category where the right answer is: add them when you need them. You duplicate the nearest match by dragging it with a modifier key, adjust the name and, if needed, the range or transposition, and it's yours permanently.

In Igor Engraver, the large instrument count was driven by Synth Matrices – text files that mapped instrument names to hardware synthesiser presets. The Crwth was in the list because some synth had a patch for it, and the matrix allowed automatic playback setup. That's why the Igor library contained instruments like Typewriter and Duck Call: they mapped to sounds. Without the Synth Matrix context, that instrument list was not a statement about what a notation program ought to bundle – it was a reflection of available synthesiser patches.

Having said that, Ooloi is not a resurrection of Igor Engraver. I don't have the code, I don't have any manuals, and I haven't run it in 25 years. In fact, you know Igor far better than I do at this point. The ideas, however, are the same kind of ideas I've always had, but expressed through modern means. Synth Matrices have been superseded by OVID – the Ooloi Virtual Instrument Definition – which maps notation semantics to virtual instrument libraries. Pizzicato, tremolo, spiccato, flutter-tongue, hairpin crescendos: OVID translates these directly into the playing techniques and expression data that the sample library understands. A glissando on a harp is not a glissando on a trombone. A trill on a flute is not a trill on a kettledrum. OVID knows the difference, just as Igor did – because creatives need to hear what they notate, as a live musician would play it. The goal is a zero-effort workflow where you write your musical ideas and Ooloi plays them back without a DAW, without hours spent hand-editing continuous controller messages to make a crescendo wedge actually sound like one. Composers are rarely in Hans Zimmer's position; they generally don't have a team of assistants to draw every expression curve by hand.

There's also the multiplication factor: every instrument appears in up to four language editions, so 80 additions means up to 320 new entries – many of which (Quijada, Washboard, Pistol Shot) the overwhelming majority of users will never encounter. The library has language filters and name search, but navigability still matters, and somewhere one has to draw the line.

Then there's the long tail of percussion. There will never be an end to percussion instruments. The bundled library covers the orchestral and contemporary standard; beyond that, you're in territory where every tradition and every composer has their own list. The instrument library is designed for exactly this – you duplicate the nearest match, adjust what needs adjusting, and it's yours permanently.

As for Violin III: Strauss, *Elektra*, bar 1. One of my favourite pieces. Violin III is essential when you need it, but it is a one-click duplication of Violin II with a changed number.

So: Clarinet in D, Soprano Trombone, Ride and Sizzle cymbals, and an expanded choir selection. The rest are yours to add or copy and shape as you want – it's a doddle.

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Glenfiddich Highland Pipes in G sharp

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