Handbells expansion

[cbolen]

Why is it that there is no sound when you try to write below an E4? I know handbells go a lot lower than that so where is the sound?

[Surfwhammy]

Why is it that there is no sound when you try to write below an E4? I know handbells go a lot lower than that so where is the sound?

It all depends on the specific virtual instrument and sound sample library . . .

Some instruments have limited ranges, but even when an instrument has a full range, if the full range of possible notes is not sampled, then the specific sampled virtual instrument and its sound library will have a limited range . . .

You can observe this with a lot of drumkits, harps, and other instruments, where for example these are the ranges of the NOTION 3 Harp, Miroslav Philharmonik Full Harp, and Miroslav Philharmonik High Range Harp, which are heard in the fabulous Avant Garde genre song "Thundering Silence" (The Surf Whammys) from the upcoming album "Electric Underpants™", which is fabulous . . .

[NOTE: It is not so easy to see, but the NOTION 3 Harp has the widest range by a whole tone (lower and higher) . . . ]





[NOTE: This is done with music notation in NOTION 3 using a combination of virtual instruments from Addictive Drums (XLN Audio), NOTION 3, and SampleTank (IK Multimedia). Some of the instruments are enhanced with effects processors from BBE and T-RackS (IK Multimedia), and it is mastered with T-RackS using headphones, mostly because I am too lazy to switch to loudspeaker mixing at the moment . . . ]

"Thundering Silence" (The Surf Whammys) -- MP3 (1.7MB, 273-kbps [VBR], approximately 47 seconds )

Fabulous!

[pcartwright]

It all depends on the specific virtual instrument and sound sample library . . .

I'm quite confident that the OP is referring to Notion's expansion handbells patch (considering the title is "Handbells expansion").

To answer the OP:
I honestly don't know what the traditional range of a handbell set has, but based on Wikipedia (for whatever Wikipedia is worth), "smaller [handbell groups] use only 25 bells (two octaves, G4-G6), the sets are often larger, ranging up to an eight-octave set (97 bells, C1-C9)" {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handbell}. I suppose that means that handbell sets vary in range from one set to another.

[Surfwhammy]

If you are looking for high-quality full-range handbell samples, then BOLDER Sounds has what probably is the definitive full-range set of handbell samples (C2 - C8), and it has 10 articulations or playing techniques:

[NOTE: There are audio samples on this page, and they sound very nice through headphones when played on the Mac . . . ]

Handbells V2 for Kontakt 3+ (BOLDER Sounds)

Handbell Clapper
Suspended Handbell with a soft rubber mallet
Suspended Handbell with a hard rubber mallet
Suspended Handbell with a plastic chopstick
Singing Handbells
Plucked Handbells
Malleted Handbells on a padded table
Handbell Shakes
Martellato (mart)
Martellato Lift (mart-lift)

This handbell sampled sound library requires Kontakt 3 or higher, and the most recent version specifically mentioned is Kontakt 4, where there is the additional requirement that it be the full version of the Kontakt SAMPLER 4 rather than just the Kontakt PLAYER . . .

[NOTE: Kontakt 4 appears to continue to be available from a few web stores, but the new version is Kontakt 5. I did a quick test using the BOLDER Sounds "Thumb Piano" demo sound sample library for Kontakt, and it worked with the demo version of the Kontakt 5 PLAYER on the Mac, which tends to suggest that the Handbells V2 for Kontakt 3+ sounds also will work with Kontakt 5 (PLAYER and SAMPLER) on the Mac, but it probably makes a bit of sense to send BOLDER Sounds an email to verify the compatibility . . . ]

To put the concept of "full range" into perspective, this is a photograph of Randy Richards (Denver Bronze Handbell Ensemble) holding a C2 handbell, which one might guess is the C2 handbell that is sampled in Handbells V2 for Kontakt 3+ (BOLDER Sounds) and probably explains why there are not a lot of full-range handbell sound sample libraries:


Randy Richards holding "Tiny" the C2 Handbell ("Deep C", 65.406-Hz)

Full version of Kontakt SAMPLER 3 or 4 required. Will only run on the Kontakt PLAYER for 30 minutes in demo mode.

[SOURCE: Hand Bells V2 (BOLDER Sounds) -- PDF (958KB, 14 pages) ]

"Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" (Tchaikovsky) is one of my favorite orchestral songs, and the audio sample at the BOLDER Sounds website is quite intriguing, especially since they also appear to have a library of crystal glasses, which probably sound similar to crystal glasses of the glass armonica, the musical instrument Benjamin Franklin invented . . .

Benjamin Franklin's Glass Armonica (wikipedia)

"Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" (Tchaikovsky) -- featuring William Zeitler on the Glass Armonica -- YouTube music video

Lots of FUN!

P. S. Considering the handbells and crystal glasses, as well as a few of the other vastly surreal sampled sound libraries available for Kontakt from BOLDER Sounds (including among other things Tibetan Singing Bowls and an assortment of Washer Machine and Dryer sounds), I am pondering the idea of getting some of this stuff and using it on a few of the songs that will be on the "Holiday" album the Surf Whammys are planning to do sometime, which will feature such non-standard holiday favorites as "I'm In The Mood For Christmas", "Santa's Got A Woody", "I Want A Holiday Tattoo (On My Ass)", and "Happy Chinese New Year (I'm Not Wearing Underpants!)", which is fabulous . . .



"I'm In The Mood For Christmas" (The Surf Whammys) -- YouTube music video

Fabulous!

[Surfwhammy]

After devoting a bit of attention to doing research both on Kontakt and Bolder Sounds handbells, which included downloading some demo stuff, which in turn added me to their mailing lists, (a) around Thanksgiving I received an email from Native Instruments about a 50-percent discount sale, which made it possible for me to get Kontakt 5 for half price, and (b) today (Monday December 12, 2011) I received an email from Bolder Sounds about their one-week only "Buy one get one free" holiday promotion, which continues through Sunday December 18, 2011, so this will map to getting "Handbells V2 for Kontakt 3+" as the purchased product and then getting "Crystal Glasses V2 for Kontakt" as the free product . . .

Bolder Sounds

And for reference, I sent Bolder Sounds an email to verify that these two sample libraries work with Kontakt 5 (Native Instruments), and they do work with Kontakt 5 . . .

Handbells V2 Kontakt 3+ (Bolder Sounds)

Crystal Glasses V2 Kontakt (Bolder Sounds)

The free "Toy Piano" sample library worked very nicely with the demo version of the Kontakt 5 Player, so I was reasonably certain that the handbells and crystal glasses sample libraries will work very nicely with Kontakt 5 (full version), but I like to verify everything . . .

The thing that intrigues me about the crystal glasses sample library is that there are samples of crystal glasses played with a violin bow, and this playing style produces a very intriguing texture which is familiar if you enjoy dramatic thriller and science fiction movies . . .

I always thought this particular sound was done with a synthesizer, but now I think it is done with bowed crystal glasses--or at least certainly can be done with bowed crystal glasses--and one might expect that if you filled a crystal glass with ice water, then the bowed sound will be even more chilling . . .

Lots of FUN!