RatBells

Overview

RatBells is one bell you can see ring. Every note is three layers in a single voice: a real recording, a modal synthesizer that models bell partials (church, chime, bar, handbell, bowl, gamelan, Risset, or a Match mode tuned to the partials measured from the sample itself), and a classic FM bell operator for the glassy digital bells that trap, drill and future bass actually use. Strike, clang and position shape the mallet; a natural envelope lets bells decay the way bells do, with a damper pedal when you need them to stop. The Belfry engine turns one note into a carillon or a hard-detuned choir, with octave and fifth peal voicing, scatter and humanize. The FX chain is tuned for bells: EQ, five saturation modes, compressor, OTT, chorus, a dub-style delay with a throw pad, a shimmer reverb with a pitch-shifted feedback path, and a tempo-synced ducker. The animated belfry interface shows the bell swing, the partials ringing out as a halo, the decay of each layer, and where every virtual bell sits. Twenty-four presets run from Tubular Bells and Cathedral to Dark Trap Bell, Shimmer Cathedral and Alien Foundry. All samples are licence-clean: VCSL and VSCO 2 Community Edition (CC0) and the University of Iowa Electronic Music Studios collection.

Features

• ▸Seven sampled bell families, 449 zones, mallet and velocity crossfades
• ▸Modal bell synthesizer with eight profiles and a Match mode tuned to the sample
• ▸FM bell layer with five shapes, oversampled
• ▸Strike, clang and position: the mallet is a control
• ▸Belfry engine: 1–6 bells per note, spread, scatter, peal voicing, humanize
• ▸Shimmer reverb, dub delay with throw, OTT, five saturation modes, tempo-synced ducker
• ▸Animated belfry UI: swinging bell, partial halo, decay scope, belfry field
• ▸24 factory presets, user presets, every parameter automatable

Listen