Types

Carillon bells are usually suspended high up a tower, allowing the sound to spread far and wide, to be enjoyed by large audiences. The sound of a carillon is certain to draw anyone’s attention. In order to properly sound in unison with the other carillon bells, a bell needs to comply with very high standards in terms of tone purity.

• Back in the day, the automatic carillon was mechanically driven by a playing drum that had pegs which dropped the strikers onto the bells through the force of gravity. These kinds of installations are now being restored with great care.
• New automatic carillons are computer–controlled, offering very high reliability. Their capacity too is as good as limitless. They allow for music to be programmed and changed with ease. Using an electronic masterclock moreover allows for the melodies to be adapted to the current season or specific public holidays.
• Larger carillons are played by hand by the carillonneur by way of a baton keyboard.  The bells are struck by way of batons and pedals. As the carillon is a mechanical musical instrument whereby the keyboard strokes are directly transferred onto the clapper, this also makes it a touch-sensitive instrument. Which makes it perfectly possible to play the manual carillon with soft and harder strokes, depending on the force with which the keyboard’s batons are pressed down. There is a very wide number of elements that make a hand-played carillon unique: the quality of the keyboard, the design, etc. In addition to the time-honoured baton keyboard, most carillons are linked to an master clock.
• Typically, a chime has fewer and smaller bells than a carillon and is automatically played through a carillon computer. A chime may be incorporated into a public monument, a garden, a church tower, etc. Lots of architects integrate a chime into public buildings, parks or shopping centres. Music played on a chime draws the attention of the members of the public and livens up the local neighbourhood.
• Where it proves impossible to install an actual, cast bronze carillon for practical reasons, we are able to provide a Digital Bell Carillon in which we have digitally recorded accurately sampled carillon bells (digitally recorded). We are keen to offer you the sound of your original bells. Carillonneurs also use this Digital Bell Carillon system to study and practise their carillon music.