The smallest size of saron, properly named saron panerus, is one of the most prominent of elaborating instruments in the Javanese gamelan. Played with a small hard mallet made from a water buffalo horn, which gives it one of the highest registers of the gamelan, it has a softly biting, metallic sound. Saron panerus has distinctive patterns which make it different from the other sarons. It usually plays more often and keeps a constant beat going throughout a piece.