Physical Modeling and Optimisation of a EMT 140 Plate Reverb
Author
Russo, Riccardo
Term
4. Term
Education
Publication year
2021
Pages
65
Abstract
The EMT 140 is a classic plate reverb that creates reverberation by vibrating a large metal plate. It was a studio standard in the 1960s and 1970s, and its sound remains popular today. This thesis develops a physical model of the EMT 140 using a modal approach: the plate’s vibration is decomposed into many simple modes. A physically based damping model is introduced to describe how vibrations decay, drawing on previous studies, and it includes a simulation of the unit’s adjustable damper. The equations for the modes are then discretized with an exact numerical integrator so they can be computed accurately. Because physical models are computationally demanding, an optimization based on linear least squares is applied. Results show that this optimization reduces computation time by about 80% while maintaining high sound quality.
EMT 140 er en klassisk pladereverb, der skaber rumklang ved at sætte en stor metalplade i svingninger. Den var en studiostandard i 1960’erne og 1970’erne, og lyden er stadig populær i dag. Denne afhandling udvikler en fysisk model af EMT 140 med en modal tilgang: pladens vibrationer opdeles i mange simple modi. Der introduceres en fysisk baseret model for dæmpning, der beskriver, hvordan vibrationer dør ud, baseret på tidligere arbejde, og den omfatter en simulering af enhedens justerbare dæmper. Ligningerne for modene diskretiseres derefter med en eksakt numerisk integrator, så de kan beregnes nøjagtigt. Da fysiske modeller er beregningstunge, anvendes en optimering baseret på lineær mindste kvadraters metode. Resultaterne viser, at optimeringen kan reducere beregningstiden med omkring 80% og samtidig bevare høj lydkvalitet.
[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]