Mobel Help (for v2.2.0)

Main View

When the Bells Are Not Ringing:

Tap a bell to move it to the bottom right of the circle, so you can ring it (see below).

Tap Start to start the bells ringing (see below).

Tap Show to see the blue line for the current method(s). If the current composition is Spliced, you'll see the list of methods for the composition: tap a blue button to see the blue line for a method. The Help button on the blue line screen gives further details: essentially, you can pinch to zoom, and double tap to change style.

Tap i to view and change method(s), composition, ringing speed, etc, and to see the blue line for other methods. The Help button on the Settings screen gives further details.

Drag the centre of the circle to move it to the other end of the display.

When the Bells Are Ringing:

With tower bells, tap the bottom of the screen to ring the bell at bottom right of the bell circle. It rings immediately you tap. If "Score Blows" is turned on in Settings, a score (0..10) appears to show the accuracy of your striking for each blow.

With hand bells, tap the bottom right of the screen to ring the bell at bottom right of the bell circle, and tap the bottom left of the screen to ring the bell at bottom left of the circle. If "Score Blows" is turned on in Settings, a score (0..10) appears to show the accuracy of your striking for that blow.

When you start ringing a bell, Mobel will not ring it any more. But if you stop ringing, Mobel will ring it again after a few blows.

Tap Go to "go next time". (Mobel will say "Go methodName" for common methods, and "Go next time" for others; the method name always appears on screen.) When a method is going, tap Rounds to call rounds at the next handstroke.

To conduct, tap the top left of the bell circle to call a bob at the next lead end (if bobs are defined for the method). Tap the top right of the bell circle to call a single (if singles are defined). Tap again to cancel a call.

Tap Pause to pause the ringing. Then you can tap Continue to resume it.

Tap Stand to call stand at the next handstroke. Then you can tap Stop if you want to stop immediately. If "Score Summary" is turned on in Settings, a score appears by the bell(s) you have rung, to show the overall accuracy of your striking.

Tap i to view and change settings. This will pause the ringing, and will abandon the current touch if you change the current composition, or show or change any method.

Blue Line View

What You See:

Mobel shows a tradional "blue line diagram" for a method, in one of three styles: rows, frame and grid. It can also show the diagram for a composition (up to 1440 changes), in rows or frame style.

In rows style, Mobels shows the rows (bell numbers) for a plain course of the method, or for a composition.

In rows and frame styles, Mobel shows a red line for up to two hunt bells. It shows a blue line for a working bell (and a green one for handbells), usually for the bell(s) you have selected to ring (ie, at the bottom of Mobel's main screen). If the bell(s) you have selected are hunt bells, Mobel shows working bell line(s) for the tenor(s) instead. For the blue line for a method (but not the green line for handbells), Mobel shows the place bell for each lead, to the right of the line. For compositions, Mobel shows the calls (bobs, singles, method changes) made duing the composition.

In grid style, Mobel shows a single lead of the method, with up to two red lines for hunting trebles, and blue lines for all the other bells.

For a method, if it has calls defined, Mobel shows diagrams for those too, with red lines for any hunting treble(s), and blue lines for all the other bells.

What You Can Do:

Show the line for a particular bell, by tapping the bell on Mobel's main screen before you show the blue line diagram.

Use pinch gestures on the blue line display to increase/decrease the size of the diagram. There are device memory limits: you won't be able to use the largest diagram sizes with long methods and compositions on high numbers of bells.

Drag the diagram left and right to view parts that are off the edge of the screen.

Double tap the blue line display to change the style.

Mobel remembers the current style and size for each stage (number of bells).

Settings View

Settings You Can Change Are:

Method Stage (the number of bells in a method). Tap Stage, then tap the number of bells you want to ring. Odd-bell stages automatically add a tenor behind, except for Doubles where the tenor is optional.

Composition. Tap Composition to select a different composition for Mobel to ring, and to add, edit or delete compositions. The Help button on the Compositions screen gives further details.

Method. Tap Method to select different method(s) to ring for the current Stage and Composition (see above), view the blue line diagram for methods, and add, edit and delete methods. The Help button on the Method screen gives further details.

Bell Type:

Ringing Speed. Tap Peal Time, then set the time on the picker wheel. The Help button on the Peal Time screen gives further details.

Stop at Rounds. If you turn this switch on, Mobel will call "That's All" when rounds occur during ringing, and will call "Stand" two blows later. If you turn the switch off, Mobel will just carry on when rounds occur.

Handstroke Gap. If you turn this switch on, Mobel will ring with a one-bell handstroke gap. If you turn the switch off, Mobel will ring "cartwheeling".

Wait for Me. If you turn this switch on, then hesitate when ringing a bell, Mobel will wait for you to ring it. If you turn the switch off, Mobel will carry on ringing its own bells at the right time, even if you hesitate when ringing yours.

Score Blows. If you turn this switch on, when you ring a bell a score (0..10) appears beside it to show the accuracy of your striking for that blow.

Score Summary. If you turn this switch on, when you stand the bells a score (0..10) appears beside the bell(s) you have rung, to show the overall accuracy of your striking.

Orientation Lock. If you turn this switch on, Mobel ignores changes of device orientation while the bells are ringing. Mobel always responds to orientation changes between portrait and landscape when the bells are not ringing.

Tap Done on the Settings screen to ensure any changes are saved and return to the main screen.

Compositions View

The Compositions Mobel supplies for all Stages are:

Plain Course. A plain course of any method. You can insert bobs and/or singles yourself, by tapping the top of the screen during the ringing. Tap top left for bobs, top right for singles.

Touch with Bobs and/or Singles. Mobel will call bobs and/or singles during the ringing of a single method: about one call in every three leads.

Touch of Spliced. Mobel will call method changes and bobs during the ringing. At a method change, Mobel will say the method name for common methods, and "Change method" for others; the method name always appears on screen.

These Touches are different each time you start the bells. They are not necessarily true (ie, some changes may be repeated), and do not necessarily come back to rounds. They may go on for a long time - or not.

For some Stages, Mobel provides a few other compositions; you can Add to these, or use Edit to see details of the composition.

What You Can Do:

Tap any composition to select it for ringing. If you select a Plain Course or Touch with Bobs and/or Singles, or any composition that does not specify its own methods, you can then select the method to be rung by tapping Method on the Settings screen. If you select a Touch of Spliced, tap Method to select up to 100 methods from the method list.

Tap Add to add a new composition for the current Stage. The Help button on the following screen gives further details. When you add a composition it will be selected automatically.

Tap Edit if you want to change the details of a composition, then tap the composition you want to change (or tap Cancel). The Help button on the next screen gives further details.

Tap Delete to delete one or more compositions. For each composition you want to delete, tap the button beside the composition then confirm by tapping the red Delete button that appears (or tap elsewhere to cancel). When you've finished deleting compositions, tap the Cancel button. You can also delete a single composition by left swiping it then tapping the red Delete button to confirm.

Tap the blue 'i' button for a composition to see its blue line.

You cannot edit or delete the compositions Plain Course or Touch with Bobs/Singles/Spliced. You cannot show a blue line for them, since the touches change each time you ring them, and you show the plain course of a method from the Methods page.

Add/Edit Composition View

Adding or Editing Compositions

Mobel allows two forms of composition, called "Lead End" and "Call Place". A Lead End composition specifies calls for every lead end, eg, "bpppbbpppb". A Call Place composition specifies that calls are made when an observation bell is at specific places such as Wrong or Home, eg, "WHWH".

When adding a new composition, tap Lead End Comp or Call Place Comp. Then tap in the box below to give the composition a title.

When you tap in the title box or the composition box, a keyboard will appear. Tap and hold to position the cursor. Backspace to delete characters (if you delete any part of a method name, the method is deleted from that place in the composition). You cannot cut and paste within compositions. To hide the keyboard (it may cover the method list and the Reset/Cancel buttons), tap the "Kbd ↓" key or button.

The tenor is usually the observation bell for Call Place compositions. To specify a different observation bell, start the composition with the bell (1234567890ETABCD) and an exclamation mark (eg, 5!).

If the composition is for use with a specific method (or spliced), you must tap the method name in the list, to insert it in the composition (do NOT type the method name). The method name (the first method, for spliced) must be before the rest of the composition. You don't have to specify a method, if the composition is true for various methods.

For Lead End compositions, use p for plain, b (or -) for bob, s for single.

For Call Place compositions, use h for home, w for wrong, m for mid (not for "make it!"), i for in, o for out (or "before"); 4, 5 etc for other positions. Precede by s for a single, or p for a plain (eg, sH).

Use a number and brackets to repeat a section of a composition up to nine times, eg, "3(pb)" or "2( 3(WHW) sH)". Don't forget the brackets!

If rounds occurs within the composition (eg, quarters of minor, 240s of doubles), end the composition with @ and a number, to make the ringing stop on the nth occurrence of rounds. You can specify @1 if you want the ringing to stop at rounds even if the Stop At Rounds option on the Settings page is off.

Use spaces and new lines to make the composition readable. Include comments by starting them with a # on each line.

Tap Save to save the composition and return to the previous screen.

Tap Reset to restore the original values for all the fields.

Tap Cancel to return to the previous screen without saving the composition.

Here are some examples of Lead End compositions.

Here are some examples of Call Place compositions.

Methods View

What You Can Do:

Tap a blue 'i' button to see the blue line for a method.

If the current composition is Plain Course or Touch with Bobs and/or Singles, or any other composition that does not specify a method, tap a method you want to ring, replacing the previously selected (ticked) method for all these compositions.

If the current composition is Touch of Spliced, tap any method that is not selected (not ticked) to add it to the composition; tap any method that is already selected (ticked) to remove it from the composition. The 's' beside the ticks is to remind you this is a spliced composition. To remove all methods from the composition, tap Deselect All.

Tap Add/Browse to add a new method for the current method stage or browse the available methods, then tap the method type you want. The Help button on the following screen gives further details. The last method you add will be selected for the compositions Plain Course, and Bobs and/or Singles, and any other composition that does not specify a method.

Tap Edit if you want to change the details of a method, then tap the method you want to change (or tap Cancel). The Help button on the Edit Method screen gives further details.

Tap Delete to delete one or more methods. For each method you want to delete, tap the button beside the method then confirm by tapping the red Delete button that appears (or tap elsewhere to cancel). When you've finished deleting methods, tap the Cancel button. You can also delete a single method by swiping it then tapping the red Delete button to confirm.

Tap Settings when you want to return to the Settings screen.

Add/Browse Method View

What You Can Do:

Tap a blue 'i' button to see the blue line for a method. The calls shown (if any) are those that Mobel will assume if you add the method (you can then use Edit to change them).

Tap any method that is not selected, to select (tick) it.

Tap any method that is already selected (ticked), to deselect it.

Tap Deselect All to deselect all the methods you have selected.

Tap Save to save any methods you have selected and return to the methods screen. After this, you may want to tap Edit, to change details of the method(s), as explained below.

Tap Cancel to return to the methods screen without saving any methods you have selected.

What Mobel Does:

Mobel gets methods from the microSIRIL library, which contains more than 19,000 methods and is included in the Mobel download.

The microSIRIL library gives the names of methods without any spaces or capitalisation. After you've added a method you may want to Edit it to put spaces and capitalisation into a name (but Mobel does it automatically for plain methods that end in Bob, Place or Slow Course).

Mobel adds a Short Name for a method, which it uses on the Settings screen to show the list of methods in a Touch of Spliced, and in compositions that you add. It uses the first three characters of the method name. After you've added a method you may want to Edit it to change the Short Name to something more meaningful to you.

The microSIRIL library gives the place notation for methods, but does not give any calls (bobs and singles). For most methods, Mobel takes a guess at what bobs and singles you want - and it is usually right! Note that Mobel doesn't add calls for Principles; and that for Doubles methods it follows Central Council rules - which are sometimes different from the calls given in the Diagrams book. Thus when you've added a method, you may want Edit it, to add calls for a Principle, change the calls to match Diagrams or local convention in your tower, or specify a Doubles variation.

Edit Method View

What You Can Do:

Tap any of the fields and a keyboard will appear so that you can make changes; touch and hold to position the cursor.

Tap Restore to restore the original values for all the fields.

Tap Save to save your changes and return to the methods screen.

Tap Cancel to return to the methods screen without saving your changes.

The Method Name should not include the method type (eg, Surprise) or Stage (eg, Minor).

The Short Name can be up to three characters; Mobel uses it only on the Settings screen, to list the methods in a Touch of Spliced.

Place Notation. Mobel accepts most common forms of place notation. For example, Plain Bob Minor can be specified as:

Contiguous places can be separated by a dot or a space.

For Bobs and Singles you specify the place notation, how often the call can occur, and the row within a lead where the call first occurs (1 is the first (handstroke) row, 2 the 2nd, and 0 is shorthand for the last row).

Peal Time View

What You Can Do:

You set the speed that Mobel rings by setting the peal time, typically between 1 hour 40 for six handbells rung quickly and 4 hours for 16 tower bells rung slowly.

You can set different peal times for each number of bells, from 4 to 16, and also different times for tower bells and handbells.

Setting the time on the picker wheel sets the peal time for the current number of bells (Stage) and bell type, as specified on the Settings screen.

Due to device limitations, at some speeds the ringing rhythm is not absolutely steady. (It's unsteady if the inter-bell gap is a submultiple of 1.50 to 1.54 seconds.) If you notice that the rhythm is unsteady, change the ringing speed slightly.

When you've made any changes, tap Settings to return to the Settings screen.