DIY Speaker Pieizo Plate Reverb

Time to take reverberation to the next level of distortion, welcome the ice bucket plate reverb unit.

Combined with the DIY Speaker Kit and a bit of electronics, you can play your sounds through any old biscuit tin or metal box or tin that you can get your hands on.

Step 1: Step 1: What You Will Need

You will need:

1 x Metal vessel (ice bucket, biscuit tin, tin can etc)

1 x Double sided tape

1 x DIY Speaker

1 x Piezo sensor

1 x Audio Jack socket (1/8 or 1/4 inch)

Tools:

Soldering Iron

Safety Glasses

Blue Tack

To use the Spring Reverb:

A sound source (keyboard/MP3 player/Guitar)

A output device (computer or Amplifier)

Step 2: Step 2: Attach the Piezo to the Audio Jack Socket

Audio Jack Sockets are confusing at first sight, but not so hard to understand.
The Jack Socket needs 2 connections to make a mono sound signal: Positive (Signal) & Negative (Ground).

The Sleeve of the Jack Socket should be wired to the Ground (negative). This is the black wire on our piezo. The end of the Socket that connects with the tip of the jack should be wired to the signal (positive). This is the red wire on our piezo. Solder in place for a secure connection. (at a push you can twist and tape, but this is prone to coming loose)

Step 3: Step 3: Connect Piezo Sensor

Attach the piezo to the side of vessel using a small square of double sided sticky tape. This sensor is going to detect the vibrations of your metal vessel and turn them into an electrical signal.

Step 4: Step 4: Connect Speaker

Connect your exciter (the speaker part of DIY Speaker kit) using the speaker cable to the audio out sockets on the DIY Speaker.

Step 5: Step 5: Attach the Exciter

Place the exciter from the DIY Speaker kit on the top of the metal vessel, this will be where your input sound hits the metal vessel ready to be distorted.

Step 6: Step 6: Make Some Noise

The signal from the piezo will be too low to plug your headphones straight in, so you need to boost it with some software on your computer.

We used the free software Audacity to record the sound and add Gain to make the signal louder. Plug your sound input (microphone/keyboard/guitar) into the speaker. Plug the reverb unit into the computer through Audacity Listen on headphones.