We’re so used to reverb effects being simply another software plugin that it’s easy to forget the electromechanical roots of the effect. Decades ago, a reverb would have been a metal spring fed at one end with a speaker and attached at the other to a microphone. You may not see them often in the 2020s, which is probably why [Ham-made] has produced one. It’s not the type with a speaker providing the sound, though. Instead, this is a microphone in its own right with a built-in spring line.
Perhaps it’s not the best microphone possible, with a somewhat heavy diaphragm and 3D printed body. But the hand-wound spring transmits the sound down to a piezo disk which serves as the electrical element, and the whole thing screws together into quite the usable unit. There are a selection of sample MP3 files that provide an interesting set of effect-laden sounds, so if you fancy building one yourself, you can judge the results.
We think this may be the first reverb microphone we’ve seen, but we’re certainly no stranger to reverb projects. More common by far, though, are plate reverbs, in which the physical element in the system is a metal plate rather than a spring. We like it when the sound source is a Commodore 64.
That is just plain cool.
it turns the microphone into an instrument in its own right.
awsome idea,zillabuttuggly,hope they keep iterating and explore the full potential
Definitely not the first. Google “echo mic toy” and you’ll find the exact thing as a bright plastic kids toy that’s been around for decades (there’s a spring but no electronics though, it just resonates). I still love the physical simplicity of it.
I’d be shocked if that weren’t the inspiration, but making an electronic microphone with the same mechanism is pretty great; I was messing with a couple of those recently but ended up breaking them down to use their springs in a guitar effect’s spring tank.
Zube Tube.
I’m thinking back to the 80s… the weird spooky villain voice changing thing that was part of skeletor’s castle toy. Is this that?
I had one (actually I think its still in my parents attic) and yes it was just a spring
In the 1960’s the cool guys had a spring tank reverb attached to their car radio. As most car radios were AM the reverb was essential to upgrade the sound of the one speaker in the dash or the deluxe upgrade to drive a speaker mounted in the rear window shelf.
My cousin had one of those mounted in his trunk (Dodge Super Bee) and going over bumps caused weird sounds over the speakers. Thanks for bringing back those memories from so long ago….