Tubular bells are geometrically simple representatives of three-dimensional vibrating structures. Under certain assumptions, a tubular bell can be modeled as a rectangular plate with different types of homogeneous boundary conditions. Suitable functional transformations with respect to time and space turn the corresponding initial-boundary value problem into a two-dimensional transfer function. An algorithmic model follows according to the functional transformation method in digital sound synthesis. As with simpler vibrating structures (strings, membranes) the synthesis algorithms consist of a parallel arrangement of second-order sections. Their coefficients are obtained by simple analytic expressions directly from the physical parameters of the tubular bell.

Long before middleware became a market topic and professional providers offered out of the box functionality, industry like Asea Brown Boveri (ABB), had to provide solutions, which were based on what we today call middleware. Consequently, many industrial firms developed their own solutions. We describe an ABB proprietary middleware product called Object Management Facility (OMF). We present all its architectural properties and functional features. Wherever meaningful, we compare OMF's abilities with those offered by DCOM and CORBA and for some aspects important to the domain of control systems, we show that even today, OMF can compete with commercially available middleware products.