A

Album
A collection of selection titles. Each album has music that is appropriate for specific musical styles, seasons or occasions.
Almanac Selected Music Mode
Schedule your weekly music concerts so that the SmartAlmanacTM makes the appropriate title selections for the time of year. The music will be shuffled to prevent the songs from always playing in the same order. Just set it and forget it.
For example, if you would like to hear a song every Monday at 7pm, you can schedule a specific title like Amazing Grace, and every Monday at 7pm, no matter the time of year, Amazing Grace will play. Alternatively, you can choose Almanac Selected Music. You will always hear a different song on Monday at 7pm. When in the Christmas season, the song Monday at 7pm will be a Christmas song. This happens automatically with all the seasons you have enabled. During days which are not holidays, appropriate general hymns and songs will be chosen.
Angelus
a pattern of tolls (3 - 3 - 3) to accompany a prayer. It can be followed by 9 tolls, a swinging bell or any number of songs. Angelus is detailed in our Bell Encyclopedia.
Arrangement
Factory music selections are broken down into the following five arrangement categories:
  • Monophonic - melody only - suitable for any instrument, even the louder tolling bell instruments
  • Simple - a few harmony notes with the melody - can be played on any chime or carillon instrument
  • Three-Octave - artistically arranged for any carillon instrument
  • Five-Octave - embellished carillon arrangements with deep tones and soaring arpeggios
  • Two-Part - melody on chime or carillon accompanied by an harp bell instrument
Your preferences can be changed for SmartAlmanac music in the Settings - Music screen.
Automation Suspended
When your carillon is suspended, no scheduled Selections play. Manual operation will function as normal. The status icon will change to reflect that the Automatic Schedule is suspended. When the suspend mode is lifted, normal standby mode will resume so that scheduled and manual operation will function as normal.
Call to Worship
or Call to Mass, is often announced before the beginning of service by a swinging bell. The time is completely customizable but often, churches choose to start a one-minute swinging bell five minutes before service. Some churches choose to play music in addition to or instead of a swinging bell to call people to service.
Any bell will remain in motion for a little bit after it is swung. Expect some time for the bells to decay naturally before the next event.
Please note: If you are swinging real bells, the system will inhibit all stationary ringing for at least two minutes to prevent damage to the ringing mechanism.

C - H

Carillon
An instrument of more than 22 bells. See our campanology encyclopedia for more information.
Chime
An instrument of 8 to 22 bells. See our campanology encyclopedia for more information.
Chime.Center
Customer web portal that hosts web applications that will feel like a native mobile app and provide remote control and management access to our products.
Concert
a playlist of titles appropriate to the SmartAlmanac™ seasons.
Dimming
The touch screen will dim to black after 30 minutes of user inactivity. This feature saves reduces electrical consumption and extends the life of the display. Scheduled concerts and events will continue to play. The Power Button will remain gold to indicate normal status. Click it to wake the display.
Display
the touch screen of the Advanced eXperience product. Most of your settings and preferences will be edited here. A light tap with your finger or a stylus is all that is required. Pressing hard on the display may shorten its life.
Guided Setup
Initial setup screens clearly guide you with questions about your traditions, ringing preferences and schedule needs. If the system has not been pre-programmed at the factory, this guided setup will be displayed. You can skip it and set up the system using the menus or go through the setup procedure and use other menus to fine tune the results. You may return to clear all settings and begin anew by accessing Guided Setup on the Settings menu.
On each page of the guided setup, the default selection is the most common choice our customers have historically chosen for the selected worship tradition.
Home Screen
the first screen you see after entering your pin. Here you will find quick and easy access to the most commonly requested events. You can customize these buttons and add buttons depending on what is often required at your church or facility. The Home Screen can always be accessed by tapping Chime Master® in the Tool Bar.

I - N

Instruments
The Platinum AX includes refined recordings of many carillons, chimes, harps and tolling bells, founded in, and named for, locations all around the world.
Lock Screen
When you see the digital or analog clock displayed over the whole screen, the AX system is locked. Tap anywhere and you will be prompted to enter your PIN. This unlocks access to the AX system and brings you to the Home Screen. To prevent others from making unwanted changes, you can manually lock your AX system anytime by tapping the lock icon on the Tool Bar. After 15 minutes of user inactivity, the AX system will lock automatically. After another 15 minutes, the screen will dim to black. This feature is only to save power; the automatic schedule will continue to play. The Power Button will remain gold to indicate normal status. Click it to wake the system.
Next
Tapping the blue Next button will end whatever is playing and skip to the next item in the play queue.
Music ceases to play, but the bells continue to decay as if the player lifter her hands from the keyboard.
Swinging bells and peals will take awhile to stop as if the ringer let go of the rope when you press Stop or Next.

P - Q

Peal
A few pleasant-sounding bells (usually three or four) in swinging together. Clearly a celebratory sound, a peal is often used at times such as Easter or weddings. Many professionally designed peals are included in your AX system or you can create your own. As you customize your own peal, keep in mind, not all combinations sound good together. Knowledge of musical theory is suggested.
See our campanology encyclopedia for more information.
PIN
Personal ID Number. Used on the front panel screen to log in a user. Each user should have an individual login PIN to access features customized for them. The PIN can be set to a memorable number.
Play Selection
A Home screen button that launches a manual play screen. Choose from a list of all titles then play using your music settings or select other arrangements and instruments to audition.
Power
When you plug the Platinum AX into a power source, it will automatically turn on after testing the power reliability. Because of this, the system always returns to automatic capabilities after a power failure. The clock continues to run, powered by a super capacitor that recharges when plugged in. The solid state data drive retains scheduling and music while power is removed.
To the upper left of the front panel display, a power button also serves as a status light. Other functions include Stop, Display dim, Display wake and Shutdown (see instructions.
Quick Functions
Available on the Home Screen, these preset selections will play with a touch. This is the screen that will appear on the remote control device which can be customized for each user (depending on Chime Care/ Chime.Center subscription level). On the front panel or remote app, each Quick Function displays a confirmation message so any accidental commands can be dismissed.

S

Schedule
Events which will automatically play weekly, monthly, yearly or only one time. Guided Setup assists creating the schedule and the Schedule menus allow you to review, add and delete scheduled events.
Season
Seasons are days or ranges of days defined in the SmartAlmanac. Seasons can either be defined by annual dates or in relation to movable dates such as Easter (both Eastern and Western calendars are supported). Seasons can be enabled and disabled based on user preferences. Albums of season appropriate music are linked to each season so that when the season becomes active, appropriate music will play.
SmartAlmanac™
is what we call the intelligence that allows the ringing system to always play a variety of appropriate music with a simple set-it-and-forget-it Guided Setup. Decades of experience have informed the SmartAlmanac and Guided Setup menus to set up the SmartAlmanac seasons to satisfy most worship traditions.
The AX enhancement of SmartAlmanac provides further customization to Chime.Center management portal users.
Status Icon
is displayed in the tool bar near the time. It represents the current state of the AX system.
Stop
Tapping Stop on the Home Screen will end whatever is playing and will cancel anything else scheduled to play at the current time. The Power Button can be double-clicked to get the same result as Stop. It will briefly display a red light, to acknowledge that the command was accepted, then return to gold.
Swing
This quick function initiates the sound a single bell in motion, often used to call people to worship.

T - Z

Time Strike (or Hour Strike)
A tolling bell can be used to strike the number of the hours. (i.e. 3 tolls at 3 o'clock) Additionally, you can choose to recognize the half hour or other quarter hours with a single strike. A time strike melody, like the Westminster, can proceed the hour strikes or play a fraction of the tune at the appropriate quarter.
Title
songs and hymns as opposed to functional bell patterns
Toll
a single, steady strike of a (typically) low-pitched bell. A tolling bell is often used to acknowledge a death. A tolling bell is also used to count the hour. The hour strike is traditionally a faster pace than a funeral toll.
Tool Bar
the line which stays at the top of the display and has these options: LOCK, MUTE - which toggles the inside monitor speakers through loud, soft and off (Extended Volume Settings can be configured under Menu and Settings), BACK, and CHIME MASTER - homepage. The date and time are displayed here as well as a status icon, also defined in the glossary.
Tune
the music of a song, separate from the words. It is common for different texts to be sung to one tune and vice versa. For example, the tune Regent Square is commonly remembered as the Christmas Hymn, Angels From the Realms of Glory. Another set of lyrics titled, Easter People, Raise Your Voices can also be sung to the same tune. Without the words for reference on the bells, most of us hear a Christmas hymn.
Most hymnals have an alphabetical index of song titles and first lines. Many times you will also find a tune name index.
Utility Ringing
purposeful bell ringing patterns such as a tolling bell or the Angelus. Various churches include these ringing rubrics as part of their liturgical traditions.