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INTRODUCTION
Reverberation is a phenomenon quite distinct from echo.
Whereas the latter may involve at most a handful of repeats
per second, a convincing reverb requires thousands per
second. Furthermore, these must not be regularly spaced, or
an unpleasant "ringing" sound will result. This means that
conventional analogue delay lines are quite unsuitable for
creating reverberanteffects. A multi-tapped BBD such as the
RS310 can go some way to overcoming this, but even this is
incapable of creating realistic reverbs because it lacks the
sophisticated filtering and decay characteristics required.
Until the introduction of affordable digital signal processors,
studios used three methods to create reverberation. The first
was to place a speaker and one or more microphones in a
"live" room that possessed pleasing natural reverberation.The
second was to use a reverb "plate", a device that uses
transducers toexcite - and then pickup theresultingvibrations
within - a large, heavy metal plate. The third is a cheaper
version of the plate. It is the "spring" reverb.
Ofthese,theliveroom (ofcourse)producesthe mostauthentic
reverb.A good quality plate is also very pleasing, but this is
due less to the authenticity of the reverb than to the tonal
qualityit imparts.In contrast,the sound generated bya spring
is far from authentic, and it has proved unsuitable for many
natural sounds. Pass vocals, acoustic guitar, or percussion
through a spring reverb, and it simply goes "boinggg".
Nevertheless,spring reverbsare far from useless.Many guitar
amplifiersincorporate them, asdoa handful ofsynthesisers.
The presence ofthese springs allowsyou tocreate sounds that
would be impossible without them, so you should approach the RS320 as another signal "modifier" - a
module that allowsyou to generate newsounds,rather than one thatsimply attemptstoimitate a natural
effect. Furthermore, you can place the reverbwithin the signal chain ofyour synthesiser, thus using itas
part of the signal generation itself.
INSTALLATION
The RS320 comes in twoparts: the front-panel module, and the spring
/
mounting tray itself. Ifthese are
not pre-mounted in an Integrator case, you will need to install them yourself.
Firstly, you should inspect the plastic tray to ensure that it is completely flat, and that the spring unit
floats freely on its four mounting springs. If everything is in order, you must decide where you wish to
mountthe unitinside your Integrator. Choose a suitable flat surface such asthe inside of an RS15's side
or rear plates, and make sure that you avoid obstructionslike the power supply.
If you inspect the tray closely you will see that it has two small clips - one at either end. These are not
designedfor use with the Integrator, andyou should remove them using a suitable tool such as a pair of
side-cutters. You should now make sure that you can stick the entire length of the tray to the chosen
mounting point, andthatthe transducer assembliesdonot touch any part ofthe Integrator. Remove the
