Sound engineering - how to create an adequate coin drop sound?

[Akuma]

Okay, one or two of you guys might think this topic is meant as a hoax - IT IS NOT!

As I am wiring my coindoor now, I realize that I have to think about solutions for little details. One of them is the sound of the dropping coins as the sound of them dropping on wood is like a V8 Mustang sounding like a lawnmower. If you have seen my project, you will know that I don't got a over/under coindoor - instead just an ordinary coindoor - but hey, it was only 1,- Euro on Ebay (and 12,- Euro shipping from Austria ; )

I wonder what material original arcade coin containers are made of and how they are placed (e.g. on the cab's floor or "floating" under the coin mechs) or how they look at all and what would be the best way (except of replacing it by a new and original coindoor) to make the drop sound more satisfying. Any solutions? I already looked on ebay but all I can find on our german ebay are coin containers for those modern day european slot machines...

So, anyone who likes to tinker? Any ideas?

[MonMotha]

Every US and Japanese machine I've messed with (other than candy cabs) has a plastic coin bin sitting in either a relatively tightly enclosed wood or sometimes metal (more popular on Japanese machines) housing.  The coin bin housing is entirely enclosed, save a slot for coin entry, and this does create a sort of resonance sound when the coin drops in the bin and hits either the plastic or other coins and bounces a little.

[RandyT]

How about 4 pinball solenoids connected to the corners of a metal pan full coins that are triggered by a secondary coin drop switch going to a 24v relay, so that every time a coin triggers it, all the other coins are sent 6 inches into air ?

That should make enough noise 

Seriously, though, even one solenoid popping the bottom of such a tray might give you a pretty powerful sound.

RandyT

[patrickl]

I thought the classics did have wood boxes. What's wrong with that sound? Otherwise use a bucket and fill it with coins. That gives you a more modern sound.

[HaRuMaN]

I just take a plastic tupperware and fill the bottom layer with quarters. 

[vorghagen]

I've found that sounds are incredibly hard to describe in words. So, really your best and only option here is to try a heap of different containers and configurations and decide which you like best.
Of course, try some of the suggestions made by everyone here but try everything else you can think of too. And I do mean EVERYTHING!!!!! Sometimes what seems like the strangest choice will become the perfect solution.
- Old paint tin.
- Tupperware.
- Wooden box.
- Metal pan.
- Motorcycle helmet.
- Novelty ashtray from that weekend roadtrip 4 years ago.
- Next door neighbour's casserole dish.
- The traffic cone you "found" the other night.
- Hell, you can even use the deformed ceramic bowl you made for your mother in third grade which doesn't sit flat and has a badly drawn picture of a 3 legged dog on the side. It's not like it needs to look good, it's inside the cabinet.

[DaOld Man]

My first machine had a Williams door I got off ebay. It did not come with a coin bucket.
I used cardboard peanut cans that have metal bottoms (like Pringles chip cans, only much bigger in diameter).
These sound pretty neat when a quarter falls into them.

[ChadTower]

I thought the classics did have wood boxes. What's wrong with that sound? Otherwise use a bucket and fill it with coins. That gives you a more modern sound.

I can't say I've ever seen a game with a wood box that wasn't obviously an improvised solution.  They've all been metal with a few plastic.

[bfauska]

My Magical Spot cabinet has a wooden coin box that looks original.

I would think that once there is a layer of quarters on the bottom of any container it is going to start to sound "right"  I am sure that there are several types of bins/trays/boxes/drawers in any given arcade and the only consistent sound from all of them is the coin mech clatter and the coin/token landing on the others.

[ChadTower]

Yeah, just keep a layer of coins in the box at all times - it can't hit wood if the wood is covered in coins.  This is a serious case of overengineering.

[XyloSesame]

<<SNIP>>
...make the drop sound more satisfying.
<<SNIP>>

I've provided foley for shadow-puppets for non-mic'd stage - the effects have to be over the top to be heard. I needed coin drops for a production and found that a metal mixing bowl provided the best resonance. It had to be a cheap one, though - thin metal - as the better quality bowls tend to dampen the sound. The width of the bowl will also determine how you can project your sound; if you can find a medium sized bowl with a good depth, you should be able to mount/position it in a way that will project the sound of the drop toward the player (or coin-dropper, as it were). Also, you can experiment with denting the bowl (slightly) for variation in both pitch and resonance.

[patrickl]

I thought the classics did have wood boxes. What's wrong with that sound? Otherwise use a bucket and fill it with coins. That gives you a more modern sound.

I can't say I've ever seen a game with a wood box that wasn't obviously an improvised solution.  They've all been metal with a few plastic.

The Nintendo (Donkey kong etc) and Namco (Galaga, Pac man etc) cabs of that era had wooden coin boxes.

[ChadTower]

My Pac cab has a metal box... possibly added later?  Not sure but the few Namco cabs I've been in also had metal boxes. 

[MaximRecoil]

My Super Punch-Out machine has a factory metal coin bucket, while my Dynamo machines came with plastic buckets.

For a loud, resonant, metallic sound when you drop a quarter in, use an empty food container that is a cardboard cylinder with a thin metal bottom like DaOld Man suggested. Quite a few types of food come in containers like that. I'm using a large iced tea mix container in one of my Dynamo cabinets because it is missing its original plastic bucket. It sounds better than the original plastic bucket in the other Dynamo, and better than the much heavier factory steel container in the SPO machine (the heavier metal dampens the sound more). 

[Jeffy]

 I read somewhere that the old Atari Cabs had bread loaf pans in them. My Xevi cab has a full over-under, with a plastic bin dated 1981., but really, any container with a layer of coins in it should give you that plink. The loaf pan idea is pretty good though.

[ChadTower]

When I get home I can check my Tank II.  I'm pretty sure it's a primitive metal bin and that cab is straight original down to the dirt inside.

A coffee can would make a really loud sound.

[brandon]

folgers coffee tin fun of washers... or pennies... much cheaper than being full of quarters but still make a coin sound  

A coffee can would make a really loud sound.

EDIT: oops.. must've posted at the same time

[ChadTower]

Pennies would be perfect.  Washers are too heavy to make the right sound.

[RandyT]

FWIW, I just used the plastic top from a 50-count spindle of CDR's. Sounds pretty good to me and it was free.


RandyT

[ChadTower]

Maybe he should hook his coin switch to a breakin alarm.  Those always sound cool.

[brandon]

Maybe he should hook his coin switch to a breakin alarm.  Those always sound cool.

how about an ooga horn? haha

[ChadTower]

Have you ever tripped a cab's breakin alarm?  It's like getting punched in the face with sound.

[Akuma]

FWIW, I just used the plastic top from a 50-count spindle of CDR's. Sounds pretty good to me and it was free.


RandyT

That's exactly what I used when starting this topic : )

I will look for suitable things while shopping tommorrow. At the moment I more tend to something metallic rather than plastic.