[sdiy] Percussion MIDI controller - again

[Magnus Danielson]

From: harrybissell <harrybissell at prodigy.net>
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Percussion MIDI controller - again
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2005 00:05:54 -0800
Message-ID: <42490C60.9CB9BDFE at prodigy.net>

> I'd try a bar of something quite rigid (so that all the resonances are
> high in the audio range) and then support it from each end in a can
> of jelly (like RTV) so that any waves that get to the end are heavily damped.
> 
> Wonder if there is a way to pick up just a surface acoustic wave and not even
> see main resonances ?
> 
> OTOH if you use a bar of steel (which would probably work real good) it would
> suck to hit it with a stick.  Early Simmons pads anyone ???

The trouble is that you need to terminate the steel bar so that all the energy
is swamped up, or else it will ring like hell, and you've got yourself a single
rod of glockenspiel or something. PVC tubing is good since it is cheap, can
handle some abuse and rings out fairly quickly due to the fortunate losses.
It is also easy to help it on the way with loses which just improves the
response if done properly.

Cheers,
Magnus - just home from work where I played with the new network analyser, yum!