thoughts on kalimbas? they're these instruments that are also called lamellophones or plucked idiophones. highest amount of keys is about 21, and the smallest is about 5. i have one with 17 keys and honestly it's fun to play. it's like a mix between a xylophone and piano in a way, you play with your fingers, but mainly the nails, but you also have metal keys. anyways, back to you bill.
i don't know anything about them physically, aside from what you just told me. But i know all about what they sound like, and i use the sound for similar situations as things like xylophone or marimba. the kalimba sounds similar but usually there is a bit of a 'fuzz' or rattle sound to it. it probably shows up in just about every arrangement i put out, because there are always several of them in my repository and i tend to like the sound and find it useful. then again, i think there are also some other instruments i have which sound similar but are named differently. my arrangement process usually does not involve looking up instruments by name