SPATIO Plate

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Before electronic reverberation became widely available, studios often created artificial ambience by using dedicated echo chambers. A loudspeaker reproduced the recorded signal inside a reverberant room, while one or more microphones captured the resulting reflections. Although effective, this approach required a suitable architectural space and offered only limited practical control.

Plate reverberators provided a more self-contained alternative. One of the best-known early systems was the EMT 140, introduced at the end of the 1950s. Despite being described as portable, it weighed approximately 270 kg and occupied considerably more space than modern studio equipment. It was nevertheless far easier to install and operate than a purpose-built reverberation chamber.

A traditional plate reverb uses a large, thin sheet of metal suspended within a rigid frame. An electromechanical transducer applies the input signal to the plate, causing complex vibrations to propagate across its surface. Pickups positioned elsewhere on the plate convert those vibrations back into electrical signals, producing a dense reverberant response.

The decay time can be modified by moving a damping element closer to the metal surface, reducing the duration of its vibrations. The dimensions, tension, material and pickup positions all contribute to the resulting response, giving each physical system its own characteristic behaviour.

Digital signal processing makes it possible to reproduce the essential behaviour of this electromechanical system without its size, weight and mechanical limitations. SPATIO Plate translates these principles into a flexible algorithmic instrument whose response can be shaped directly within the production environment.