Slinky reverbs

[Doug Tymofichuk]

On Thu, 30 Mar 2000 14:22:11 EST ScotFraser at aol.com wrote:

> 
> In a message dated 3/30/2000 4:06:01 AM, 
> Colin.Fraser at scottishpower.plc.uk writes:
> 
> <<How about a reverb built from a slinky, with an actuator 
> at one end, and a transducer at the other.>>
> 
> Haven't driven a slinky but I have one that I attached a 
> piezo transducer to that shows up on occasional live gigs 
> with me, suspended from a microphone stand. Bit of a one 
> trick pony, the interest is all in the processing. If 
> someone has an idea for driving it with audio I'd think it 
> could get quite interesting, though.

I have had very good success driving large springs with 
speakers, also using a speaker for picking up the delayed 
signal. For a slinky, which is quite a bit larger spring 
than I have worked with, a couple of woofers should work 
well. Just drive the woofer at one end with a regular 
amplifier and connect the other woofer to a microphone 
input. The hard part is attaching the spring to 
the speaker, but with a little glue, hardware, and 
ingenuity it can be done. The speaker doesn't even need the 
cone in place to function, just the spider to keep the coil 
centered. Adjusting the spring tension can be interesting, 
particularly when sending a signal through the system.

Good luck!
----------------------
Doug Tymofichuk
dougt at cancerboard.ab.ca