Plate Reverb

General

– Plate Reverb is a Large, Thin Sheet of Metal Suspended Upright Under Tension on Springs

– Transducers Attached to the Plate Transmit a Signal that makes the Plate Vibrate, causing Sounds

– a High Initial Diffusion

– Relatively Bright and Colored Sound 

– Plates have an Instant Onset of Reverberation

– Plates have an Instantly High Echo Density

– a Bass RT60 (Reverberation Decay Time) that is Considerably Longer than the Midrange

– but a Fairly Short RT60 for the Treble Frequencies, No Matter what the Reverb Decay Setting is at

– Traditionally “Plates” are Mono-In > Stereo Out

– Interestingly Enough that these Characteristics are Shared by Reverberation Chambers

– Well Suited for Percussion, Vocals

– Designed to be Heard as a Part of Music

Plate vs Reverb

– the Dispersion in a Plate will Result in Different Stereo Imaging than in a Reverb Chamber

– the Speed of Sound at Low Frequencies is Much Slower than at High Frequencies

– the Reverb will have a Higher Modal Density than a Plate (Modal Density = Number of Resonant Modes that can be Heard in the Sound of a Resonant Object or Space) 

– the Resonance Density of a Chamber will Increase with the Square of Frequency (the Case for All 3D Physical Spaces)

– Plate Reverb have a Roughly Uniform Resonance Density with Regards to Frequency, which Makes the Plate Model a Reasonable Goal for a Digital Reverb (Similar to Artificial Reverb Based on Delay Lines)