How would one make a very deep-sounding plate?

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mcmaxmcmc

30 Jun 2018, 10:44

I got into thinking of putting a keyboard to the extremes (shower thoughts) and I came up with making a keyboard sound very deep, but not quiet. Of course, the switches and the caps do most of the work, but I was just thinking about the plate. How would one create/modify a plate (maybe the case too) for the keyboard to sound deeper. What materials? Any special cutouts for more resonance? etc. Again, this is just a shower thought and I just want to put this on here in case anyone else has thought of the same question.

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fohat
Elder Messenger

30 Jun 2018, 15:31

My first thought is relatively thick copper. Harder metals are going to have higher overtones, and non-metallic substances will either dampen the sound or rattle.

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derzemel

30 Jun 2018, 17:09

dense thick plastic case with steel plate.
The plastic case will absorb and dampen all the high pitched sounds that a switch will generate and the steel plate is rigid enough that it will not cause pinging.
The best example I can think of is vintage alps switches. They work best in their original Zenith, Acer, IBM, WANG, etc, thick plastic cases. But in metal cases they sound too high pitched.

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mcmaxmcmc

30 Jun 2018, 20:46

I was also thinking about a wood case, reading from other threads. Of course, the type of wood would vary the sound greatly. Good idea?

xtreg

30 Jun 2018, 21:06

derzemel wrote:dense thick plastic case with steel plate.
The plastic case will absorb and dampen all the high pitched sounds that a switch will generate and the steel plate is rigid enough that it will not cause pinging.
The best example I can think of is vintage alps switches. They work best in their original Zenith, Acer, IBM, WANG, etc, thick plastic cases. But in metal cases they sound too high pitched.
But at least Zeniths are famous for their pinging noise.

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