Virtual Belfry, a new and intriguing piece of bell-centred computer software, is the brainchild of Doug Nichols of Hobart, who describes it thus: "This program presents a photographic-quality animation of church bells, viewed from above, ringing whatever you want them to ring. The bells are the original installation at St. David's Cathedral in Hobart, Tasmania (8, 14-3-19 in F#, Taylors, 1935). These bells were augmented in 2005 and reinstalled in a new frame, so the scene you are looking at is truly virtual: it no longer exists!"
That simple statement belies the complex but elegant software which drives the fascinating images of the old Hobart 8. How those images were acquired is a story in itself, which you can read on Virtual Belfry's own website at http://www.belfryware.com/ - look for the link to "The making of …" As Doug puts it "Virtual Belfry's animation is achieved by over 600 separate images of the bells. The number of images per bell varies from 68 for the treble to 98 for the tenor. Taking these photographs required some problem solving and a lot of work..." Indeed! And then there was the "simple" matter of linking the images to a program which would offer a flexibility of control to meet Doug's exacting standards.
My copy of Virtual Belfry, delivered on a handsomely produced CD-ROM, installed in a matter of minutes and I was "ringing" in next to no time. Navigating and controlling the program is quite intuitive, and if you've used other bell ringing software you might be able to wing the first hours without any resort to help at all. That said, I think the help is some of the best written user assistance material I have seen for software of any kind – clear, informative and thorough. See the Virtual Belfry website if you need to get a flavour of Doug's style.
Once the initial excitement dies down, it's time to get into some methods, and the default range is pretty comprehensive, with all sorts of touches available at a click. As well, there are methods waiting in the wings that can be summoned simply and added to the default pull down menu – Blue Gum and Pullet Surprise Major weren't on my agenda, but there they are. And you can add your own methods and compositions too – either manually or by importing them from the microSIRIL method library. For those that want to dabble, the program is flexible in its support for compositions, allowing them to be specified in ways that closely resemble the way they are written normally, and all the methods and compositions are stored on disc as plain text. There is a whole world to explore and experiment with. Again the supporting documentation is impeccable.
Another feature of the program is the "moving numbers" display. This is an option in addition to the traditional "historical" display of each row of ringing. Instead, a separate moveable and resizeable window displays a single row of numbers showing how each bell is behaving in the current change, with swapping pairs of bells being highlighted. It's a clever way of showing what's happening and a great learning aid.
Then there is the novelty of playing with ringing speeds, tenor notes and general fiddling about and watching how the bells behave. Try setting the clock speed to 35% of real time and watch the fine detail of the bells in action, clappers striking, ropes, wheels and pulleys behaving as we're told they should – but have never seen from 7 metres above. See the Virtual Belfry website to read the role "Sputnik" played in that.
There's even a single bell manual ringing option – no ropes or sallies provided – the control of which takes a bit of getting used to, it but teaches you something in the process. Probably that the precise striking of the automatic ringing is a joy to listen to and learn from! Leave it running in the background while you're doing other things, listen, and come back every now just to check that those well-behaved bells are still on track – they will be.
Virtual Belfry (for Windows) is a finely constructed adjunct to ringing. It will be a useful tool for those interested in training, learning and public relations; and it is sophisticated enough to satisfy any who enjoy experimenting with different and difficult methods. And yes, it is fun and easy to use, and has those astonishing images of the bells in "motion". Virtual Belfry is set to carve out new territory in the ringing software world – you read about it here!
Simon McMillan
ANZAB Webmaster