Consul
Well-known member
So I have a 100-ft coil of steel cable, 6-strand, 20-gauge per strand, and I'm thinking about what to do with it. If I wanted to make it into a mechanical reverb of some kind, the easy way would be to get some kind of steel frame, like an old bed frame, and string it in, out, and around the frame at varying lengths and tensions. Attach a transducer at one end, a contact mic at the other end, and Bob's your uncle. Maybe. Easy enough to try, I guess.
Then I had the thought about making a mechanical comb filter. The idea would be to have the vibration traveling along a single cable, with other cables intersecting it, taking it a distance, then bringing it back, thus introducing a delay. It's a bit of a flight of fancy, but if nothing else, an interesting physics conversation might result. In the end, I'll probably do option one and see what happens.
In case you're curious, I originally bought the cable with the intention of stringing it across a large room, putting it under a massive amount of tension, and striking it in various ways, recording it with contact mics. I'll likely still do that, but after I dismantle that contraption, I'm still left with 100 feet of cable.
Then I had the thought about making a mechanical comb filter. The idea would be to have the vibration traveling along a single cable, with other cables intersecting it, taking it a distance, then bringing it back, thus introducing a delay. It's a bit of a flight of fancy, but if nothing else, an interesting physics conversation might result. In the end, I'll probably do option one and see what happens.
In case you're curious, I originally bought the cable with the intention of stringing it across a large room, putting it under a massive amount of tension, and striking it in various ways, recording it with contact mics. I'll likely still do that, but after I dismantle that contraption, I'm still left with 100 feet of cable.
