Ecoplate II controller

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Seditionary

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 20, 2011
Messages
114
Location
Los Angeles, California
Hey!

Anybody out there have the schematic for an Ecoplate II controller?  I ended up finding an Ecoplate II, but it doesn't have a controller -- just a long wire coming out of it where I could wire up a controller ;)  I tried contacting Studio Technologies, but unfortunately, the person who used to give out information on the Ecoplate there has retired.

Thanks friends.
 
http://www.platereverb.com/manuals/Plate%20Construction.pdf it should be something like this, I suppose.
 
Thanks 12afael -- cool & helpful read. 

Unfortunately, I didn't see anywhere in the article about how to build a controller.  The plate works, the preamp section, etc... I am just trying to build a controller to the external wire to move the damper in or out.  It seems like it would be just some kind of a simple switch...
 
Am I right in thinking that Ecoplate was designed by the guy from Western Recorders ?
I believe he was something of an expert on getting EMT plates to sound good - and certainly the sound of the reverb at that studio was always revered. So when the patent that EMT held for plate design ran out, he set up Ecoplate. Unfortunately digital reverbs took over from the 80's onwards.
It certainly used to be the case that as far as EMT plates go, you could get a good one or a bad one. There were a few guys here in England who knew about tensioning and maybe moving the transducers to get a better sound, but I think Ecoplate had found the best way of incorporating all those things into a better design.
 
I know that EMT put an internal motor for the damping but I have no idea about the ecoplate. I have seen in some cases external motors for the damping maybe you can build one with a stepper motor and some digital chips.
 
COOL!  Thanks Emrr -- There is a motor connected to the actual plate with a little up or down adjust buttons to control the damper... there is a cable coming out of the box with 5 cables -- white, green, red, brown, black.  Apparently, you can connect a switch to them as an extended controller.  It seems there are just 4 outs from your schematic?  Do you have the values for K1 and K2?  Apologies as always for my electronics beginnings and thanks a lot for your time y'all.
 
I don't have any more info, but I do have an Ecoplate I with the motor attachment.  I think I plugged it in once and it worked via the onboard pushbuttons.  I never connected it to the plate, I always just move the damper manually.  If you have that same setup, you should be able to wire a dual momentary switch extension as shown.  I'll try to have a look at mine and see if there's anything I'm missing in my current blah blah blah. 
 
Hey!

Did you find out anything more about a controller? I'd still really love to build one (or find one to buy). Again, there are 5 cables coming out of the breakout cable from the motor that controls the damper. It would be really helpful to have this so that I could adjust the length of the reverb from my desk in front of my monitors instead of having to walk over to the plate when mixing (and just guessing and using headphones) :)

Thank you again for any ideas!

emrr said:
I don't have any more info, but I do have an Ecoplate I with the motor attachment.  I think I plugged it in once and it worked via the onboard pushbuttons.  I never connected it to the plate, I always just move the damper manually.  If you have that same setup, you should be able to wire a dual momentary switch extension as shown.  I'll try to have a look at mine and see if there's anything I'm missing in my current blah blah blah.
 
Does the box work with the pushbuttons on it? 

Mine only has four wires, and like yours they are cut off with no remote.  Still looks easy to trace out the wires if they aren't labeled on the box and hook up a pair of momentary switched in a remote. 
 
What are you guys using for pickups/transducer? The originals?

I blew the coil on my transducer at one point and was never able to get the replacement voice coil centered enough, so I eventually got a Vidsonix ghost transducer thingy that DIY folks have been using. It seems to work pretty well.

I'm curious about pickups though. Something is wrong with the original amp on my Echoplate II. I've spent enough time trying to figure it out. I'm looking for a pickup/amp option that doesn't cost a fortune. ???
 
Mine are orig/Cunningham replacement low noise.  I haven't explored any of the aftermarket replacement reality. 
 
JW,

I think Jim Cunningham used three kinds of piezo contact microphones of all time, the first a silver teardrop-like, the other a black flat Bercus Berry, and the last a round flat type like a speaker into a Christmas card, this was also the best with the highest output which then resulted in the lowest noise.

--Bo
 
Doug, sorry I did not see your attached document, but I enclose a text sheet to the remote that might be interesting.

--Bo
 

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