The items listed below should be considered as ideas and options only. No definite plans will be committed to at this stage!

More Towers

It has always been a long-term idea (dream?) that Virtual Belfry would present the user with a choice of towers, so that bells from various places can be rung, listened to and enjoyed. The release of version 1.4 represents the first big step along this road. The program was restructured to support multiple towers (allowing one tower to be closed down and another opened up), and a couple of "virtual" new towers were provided (using the original photography).

The next "big step" will be the provision of a real new tower. Fortunately the original eight was augmented in 2005 and is now a ten with two semitones in an all-new frame, so this is the obvious candidate. In Virtual Belfry it can be faithful to reality - as a ten with sharp 3rd and sharp 7th - and it can be a twelve.

Better Sound

Even though the recordings of the bells for Virtual Belfry are quite good, there is some distortion when played at high volume, and rather too much resonance. Installation of some non-reflective materials in the bell chamber is planned, after which further recordings will be taken.

New Ideas for the "Moving Numbers"

Some big enhancements to this feature can be expected in a release at some stage in the near future. For more details you will just have to wait and see.

Improved Manual Control

Manual control of a bell using the mouse is difficult because of the absence of physical feedback, and it is hard to see how this can ever be improved upon so long as the mouse is the means of input. What is needed is a custom device that provides not only the input into the computer, but also output of some sensation of movement (and resistance to movement) by way of feedback. A solution to this problem is on the drawing board but is far from trivial.

Voice?

Virtual Belfry has no voice calls at the moment. This could be remedied subject to demand, but is not currently planned.

Jump Changes

Support for jump changes would be fun, but the implications stretch from extending the place-notation conventions all the way to calculating a new set of forces for all the additional manoeuvres that the bells would be required to perform.