I was in the studio with my Omega (Morningstar Studio). The engineer walked in the room to make sure I had AC for my motor. Why, because he couldn't hear the motor in the mics.
He came in the room and looked at my instrument and saw the wings moving (wings are how Omega does tremolo). He said "OMG your motor is on. I can't hear it in the mics. That made me feel really great about my instrument. He's used to noisy instruments and this is the first time he has heard a very quiet instrument.
Now let's be clear, I'm certainly not putting down anyone's instrument. I have two Mussers and I have fun playing on them. Leigh wouldn't want me to say that, but we all know it's the truth. It's a good sounding instrument. And I like playing on the Yamaha's as well.
However we all know these are instruments that can be noisy. I have never gone in a studio with my Musser without using Duct Tape on it in some way. Don't get angry with me, still not putting the instruments down. They sound good. And with Duct Tape you can make a great recording.
What I do want to say is that the Omega is the first time a company has really thought about this. Really thought about quiet. Why? Because the owner is a classical marimba player. Not a business man (no way), not a vibe player. I don't know if I owned a company if I would work on making the instrument quiet. I'm always in loud bands.
But Leigh is playing Bach in theaters with hundreds of people quietly listening. He knows what an instrument should sound like. This is why the best guy to make a modern vibraphone is a classical marimba player.
The point of the story is that I was happy to hear a sound engineer comment on how quiet the Omega is. Not another musician but someone who specializes in listening to sound so he can record it. That's the ultimate compliment!