Entomophone
The entomophone (from the greek antomon for insect), is a piezo based contact microphone initialy designed to listen very tiny sounds made by insects or others small creatures.
It can pick up ants walking on it, snails chewing, or wasps landing on it.
Snails festing on the entomophone. Food was provided daily to lure insects, but slails where welcome as well.
It is a two piezo circuit, intended to be used with a balanced XLR input.
There is two way to wire the piezos to the XLR plug:
The balanced way, that can't be used with the hydrophone/piezo preamplifier.
The chained way, that can be used with the hydrophone/piezo preamplifier, and provide very good level.
With this circuit, a support plate with a metal cover can be used as a shield connected to the ground. Be carefull to keep the piezo from ground contact.
Epoxy glue is a good way to attach the piezo to the support plate. It is recommended to cover the piezos with silicon or some kind of coating.
Grégoire Lauvin. 2018
last changed: 2023/03/13 15:35