Tubular Bells is an instrument made of brass tubes of graded length that are tuned to a chromatic scale and usually covers the range of 1½ octave. The sound is produced by striking the top edge of the tubes with a plastic-headed hammer. The instrument often includes an attached damping mechanism. It appeared for the first time in England in the late 19th Century, and is ever since part of major symphonic orchestras, known as symphonic chimes.
The Tubular Bells add-on is modelled after a Bergerault 18 Note concert chimes. Thanks to Pianoteq's powerful technology, the note range in the virtual copy is extended into a 4-octave instrument.
Similar to church bells, the tubular bells have the peculiarity that the pitch is not given by the lowest partial. In the concert chimes, the pitch is given by the third partial. The Tubular Bells add-on contains three variants:
- Variant A - partials corresponding to the original tubular bells pattern,
- Variant B - partials retuned in a major pattern, proportional to 5/16, 5/8, 1, 3/2, 2,
- Variant C - partials retuned in a minor pattern, proportional to 6/20, 6/10, 1, 3/2, 2.
The audio illustration for each variant consists in a major arpeggio followed by a minor arpeggio. Listen and decide which bell you find the most appropriate for each kind of arpeggio.