Morris bells are good at putting out a lot of sound, but it's muddy. [1] Even when the whole team is completely together, stepping exactly right, the bells ring for too long to really hear the footwork. [2] I want to swap out bells for something like the mini-cymbols of a tamborine [3], with a shorter decay so that you get a sharp peak when the foot comes down or the dancer makes an intentional leg-shake.

(The current bells mask a lot of inconsistency among the dancers, so with more precise bells you'd need to practice more on really being all together.)

[1] Not to pick on Maple; they're one of my favorite sides. I wanted a video that showed people doing it right and it still being overly resonant.

[2] This is similar to what I dislike about the way open strings have a very long decay.

[3] Or shin-mounted wireless accelerometers [4] connected to a synthesizer and portable PA system...

[4] Smartphones.