I have posted three more models of i-mic, including this very odd looking gothic i-mic.
We also have a contribution by Alan Elliott, designer of the superb Harmonica Honker microphone.
As always, if you have designed an i-mic yourself, please send a photo over to be posted in the gallery !
I received five more i-mic photos in the last few weeks, including another two by swede Jan Gulbrandsen who now has five entries in the gallery. You could do worse than check out the last two, very nice and polished. Aaron Rubenking's harpophone (seen here) is also a pretty amazing feat of home engineering.
Keep 'em coming, people!
A geographical i-mic update has just been made, since all the additions to the i-mic gallery today are either from Argentina or from Brazil. I particularly love the one displayed here, made by Flavio Fusuma from Florianopolis in Brazil. It's based on an old Ericsson phone handset, and doesn't it just look sleek?
The big question about the i-mic has always been which mic element or cartridge to use. Over the years, I received many queries regarding this issue, and all I can say is: Michel Triste explained to me that cheap cartridges generated a potentially great sound because they distorted easily. Unfortunately, they are fickle and the output level can vary a lot from one to the next. Here are the details of one specific cartridge used by Paul Anderson when designing his own i-mic:
25LM026 KOBITONE
Dynamic Microphone CartridgeSpecifications:
- Impedance: 500 ohms @ 1KHz (tolerance ±30%)
- Sensitivity: 76dB ±3dB @ 1KHz (0dB=1V/microbar)
- Frequency response: 100Hz~5KHz
- Operating temperature: -10°C~ +55°C
- Maximum sound pressure level: 105dB
- Potentiometer range: 50dB
- Lower lim frequency: 100Hz
- Rectifier: BMS
- Wr speed: 25mm per second
His source (mail order) was through: http://www.mouser.com.
This is all Chinese to me but it may help some of you locate at least some potential cartridges for your own mics.
A few years back, a reader of Planet Harmonica called Steven Dayton designed a flash animation detailing step by step instructions on how to build an i-mic. For various reasons, Steven's flash was no longer online and he agreed to send it to me so that I could host it here. Thanks Steve!
So, without further ado, here is Steven Dayton's step by step i-mic instructions
Have fun building it, and remember to send me photos. I added a few of those in the gallery, by the way!
I have posted four more i-mic photos. The creativity of these people never ceases to amaze me. Here we have a model from Finland, one from Greece, one from France and (I'm presuming), one from the US.
I have just posted three i-mic photographs in the i-mic photo album. They were sent to me ages ago by Jan Gulbrandsen of Sweden. They include an amazing model based on a bicyle headlamp! Check it out!
I dug up all the i-mic photos I've been sent over the years last night. Wow. I didn't think I had so many.
Today is my last day of work. I am finally going to get some rest, if the children allow. Consequently, the day at work is hectic, so I only found time at lunch to post three more i-mics in the gallery. I'll add the rest in the coming days.
I dug up the clean schematics as well, but they're in French. If anyone is knowledgeable on electronics and stuff, could you please send me an email so that we can discuss terminology. I'd like to avoid the blunder from last time and actually use the proper terms in the English language version this time!
In the second issue of Planet Harmonica, alongside a roadtest of various famous or less famous harmonica microphones, I published the schematics of a home-made microphone designed by Michel Triste, a retired electrical engineer who used to be one of Greg Szlapczynski's students.
The success of that particular issue, and specifically that particular feature, was tremendous. Even though it was published in 2000 and is no longer linked to the main page of the dying website, it's still the most visited page on the site. Over the years, I've received many photographs of people's i-mics and I kept them aside preciously waiting for the day when I'd have time to set them up on a page of their own.
Today, I receiced Arnout Deurinck's funky looking pepper mill i-mic and so I decided a photo album of i-mics was long overdue. I salvaged whatever was available online, and this week-end I'll skim through my dusty e-mail archives to salvage many more i-mics.
I also have somewhere a clean, revised schematic that was sent to me, and a no longer functional link to an amazing flash DIY instructions by Steve Dayton. I'll try to retrieve and post these in the coming days as well. And of course, if you have any photos of your own creations you want to send over, please do! This time, I will put them online !!!
The photo album will always be available in the sidebar on the right, so feel free to consult it regularly ! Long live the i-mic !