DIY Plate Reverb Unit nearly finished.

  • Thread starter Thread starter pathdoc
  • Start date Start date
electronaut said:
A circular plate resonates so much, like a cymbal, that the reverberation builds up into a giant mess of mush, like a room with a million standing waves. The detail is totally lost and the effect is basically undesirable.
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Did you try relocating the driver and transducer to opposite edges of the plate? I can't help but think that moving the driver closer to one edge would decrease a lot of the resonance... Just a thought, it just looks too cool to not sound it...
 
I don't usually

tmix said:
PathDoc,
How do you decide what metal to use? And how thick?
I work at an Aerospace sheetmetal parts manufacturer and have access to basically any type of metal from carbon steel , stainless steel, aluminum,etc. to titanium, and in all tempers and thicknesses.

I am just curious, I don't have time to build one currently.

Tom
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put my 2cents in on tech stuff because I'm not really qualifyed but several years ago, I came across an article in an audio magazine that gave a detailed,step by step DIY on building a plate reverb. I believe stainless steel was the recomended material but I don;t recall the thickness,(guage). I don't think a small one would give very good results. The one in the article was in a 4"x4" frame and the plate was suspended with bolts on all 4 corners to allow tension adjustment. Criteria studios in N.Miami,Fl. had a seperate, isolated room for theirs and they were very large. I'll see if I can find the magazine article but I think I threw it out when I discovered that most effect devices and software programs have various plate reverb apps. Hope this info is beneficial.
 
Mine uses cold rolled steel that is approximately 1mm thick. I reinforced the corners so I could crank up the tension on the plate without riping off the edges of the plate.
 
How about this?

pathdoc said:
I think it would be much easier and simple to run the right channel mono through the unit then run the left channel separately. You'd cut your investment by 1/2 and it would only take a few more minutes. Just a thought.
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Record the track that you want reverb on, make an exact duplicate,(COPY) to a 2nd track. Pan each hard left and right and send both from each channels send to the plate during the mix. You might run the split returns from the plate to 2 different mixer channels for seperate eq and level. might work!
 
To get a true stereo signal out of the plate you simply need to have a second piezo pickup on the plate. The second pickup could be placed just about anywhere on the plate. I've got a second pickup but I've never seen the value of installing it.
 
I built mine in 2007 and had lost the link. Thanks for posting it. I basically followed their design but went with a wooden 2x6 frame since I'm not a metal working kind of guy. If I owned a welding machine I would have probably built the frame out of steel tubes. I wonder if an old bed frame might not work? I believe my plate is approx 3x5.
 
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Yeah, that is the article I was referring to.

willowhaus said:
Updated link to the magazine article at PSW:

http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/how_to_build_your_own_plate_reverb/
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Thanks for posting the link. I would like to correct a mistake in my post above. the dimensions should be as stated in this article, not 4'X4'.
Also, anyone interested check out Craig Andertons' Hot Sprongs Reverb project. It's 2 reverb springs in paralell.I built one and used it with my first DIY mixer,(also thanks to Craig Anderton.
 
Terry Wetzel said:
Thanks for posting the link. I would like to correct a mistake in my post above. the dimensions should be as stated in this article, not 4'X4'.
Also, anyone interested check out Craig Andertons' Hot Sprongs Reverb project. It's 2 reverb springs in paralell.I built one and used it with my first DIY mixer,(also thanks to Craig Anderton.
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I also built the hot springs. it sounds great but I have bad hum with it. I put it in a salvaged aluminum case. I've tried an Ebtech, which doesn't cure, so I'm thinking either pwr supply noise (uses basic 7815/7915 psu) or rfi. Did you have any issues with hum?
 
Added a second contact pickup and now plate has stereo output!
 
Yo Poop, it's an easy build. Biggest issues is where to put it. Hanging it up on a wall was the best solution for me.
 
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