
The Real Source of Smooth Criminal’s “Groovy Ambient Timpani” #smoothcriminal #michaeljackson #cmi
Published February 8, 2026
Views 2.24K | Likes 59 | Comments 8
At a glance
Views
2,241
Likes
59
Comments
8
Performance vs. channel
Outlier score
Engagement rate
More features coming
We're working on new analytics and tools. Stay tuned.
About
The “groovy ambient timpani” sound from Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal is not a timpani at all. It is a Fairlight CMI sound from the C.M.L. library called CBELLORG.VC, played back and looped. In this short, I recreate the sound using CMI V, showing how the Fairlight sample behaves when looped and processed the same…
- Published
- February 8, 2026
- Made for kids
- No
More features coming
We're working on new analytics and tools. Stay tuned.