Mending Bells and Closing Belfries with Faust

Abstract

Finite Element Analyses (FEA) was used to predict the resonant modes of the Tsar Kolokol, a 200-ton fractured bell that sits outside the Kremlin in Moscow. Frequency and displacement data informed a physical model implemented in the Faust programming language (Functional Audio Stream). The authors hosted a concert for Tsar bell and Carillon with the generous support of Meyer Sound and a University of Michigan bicentennial grant. In the concert, the simulated Tsar bell was triggered by the keyboard and perceptually fused with the bourdon of the Baird Carillon on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor.