congaplace.com

Hello guys,

Sometime I have interesting ideas of new products concerning the drums. I'm curious about the relations between inventors and manufacturers.

Do someone of you ever contact a manufacturer like LP, MEINL, REMO... to suggest his invention ? any experience to share ?

Cheers,
Gaël.

Alafia Abure Congalu!
I hope that you are well and abundantly blessed!

First of all, I would suggest a small precaution before sharing your idea with anyone of those, or any manufacturer. Put your invention/idea down on paper, design it, describe it, date it, then mail it to yourself. Once it arrives, store it away unopened. The postmark date on the envelope will serve as your legal proof if ever needed to show that the idea is yours and not an unscrupulous manufacturer. This is the least costly way of protecting your invention, if you ever need to go into court you can present the envelope you mailed to yourself as proof solid that the invention is yours.

Respectfully,

Onile!

There is also a legal document called a "non-disclosure agreement" basically if the company you present your idea to
signs it before you present to them, then they are prohibited from talking about it or presenting it as their own for a
specified amount of time.

Helo..i can tell u that i have a "registered" invention for the conga drum. There are currently 59 patents on a conga drum...my invention was turned down by a major drum company that told me it wouldn;'t sell because the market sells more congas to children than adults,so the children wouldn't need my product. My product is for older players not chiidren.. do ur homework first..u can call the US Patent office or go online and first do a 'search" on what ur product is and see if anything already exits like it.... u must do that first...let me know how far u get ...also do not tell anyone or share the idea u have with anyone...also i can tell u that garnering a patent(which is very hard to receive), does not give 100 percent protection on your product as well, but the right to sue if necessary...."JC" Johnny Conga

Hi Galou

I agree with the above posts.

Have a NDA signed (non disclosure agreement) and you can also talk to a notary.

I am not sure about the law concerning patents in France, but a notary could certify your invention.

Good luck with your projects.



B

Thank you guys for your advices,

I will send you a free exemplary of my invention when it will be on the market !!!

Any other experience ?

Galou.

Hello guys, here is the result of an invention I have patented.

For the moment, it's in progress, that's why I can't tell you more about the concept.

But I can show you the result and share my first experience with manufacturers :

When I build my pink drum, I had bad overtones, after a lot of work and research, I have find an effective solution to control the ringing and keep only that I want in the sound of the drum.

The sound of the vidéo is bad but you will hear the result.

My pink drum without the system :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HbwAesKTxU

My pink drum with the system :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJavS1dTkn0

I have try it on a manufacturer drum with synthétic skin and the result is very effective, no bad overtones, clean bass perfect open tone, cut slap.

I have share it to some manufacturers (after sign a NDA), they say that they are not interesting by it.

But, personnaly, I think that a lot of conguéros should apréciate to control the bad overtones... what do you think about it ???

For the moment, I'm asking if I will produce it myself...

I will keep you aware of my project. Any similar expérience ?

Congalou.

Congalou,
I have watched the before and after video and I must say that your invention is most amazing!
If possible in any way, I would like to share your knowledge and also pay a suitable price!

congalou,

Big difference with the system!! I'm curious to know how it works. Immediately I think it's something put on the bottom of the skin but perhaps that would change the open tone as well...plus not very innovative since it's been done forever!

I like the effect of your system and I think that it is a highly sought after item for anybody playing fiberglass drums.

Thanks for the posting and once you've mailed the idea to yourself and registered it, share with all of us how it works!!


6x8

Hi Congalou.
Listening to your YouTube recordings, there is no doubt that the method you are using has greatly reduced one of the main sources of ringing in congas. Your pink drum sounds a whole lot better using your system. You have not said what your system is, but it sounds like you have put something inside the drum to absorb soundwaves and prevent resonant modes from ringing. Putting a piece of sound absorbing material inside a drum to change the sound, mainly by damping the resonances that occur at some of the modal frequencies determined by the drum dimensions, is not a new idea, it is probably hundreds of years old. The general acoustical theory supporting this was worked out by Helmholz and other physicists in the nineteenth century. That mathematical formulation of the concept was predated by centuries in different cultures by practices of placing absorbing materials inside various types of musical instruments, including drums. Although it has been discussed only rarely on this forum, the method of placing an absorber inside the drum to dampen this contribution to the "ringing" is commonly used and is in the public domain. If your method uses some other physical principles, I would be very curious to see what you have invented once your patent is approved and you are free to share the idea with us. If it is based on reduction of modal resonances through absorption and diffusion, I am amazed you have been able to get a patent for something like that.

I'm curious if it works equally well on all congas (one device fits all), or if it would have to be designed for each conga that's out there (many different shapes and flavors!)

jorge wrote:Although it has been discussed only rarely on this forum, the method of placing an absorber inside the drum to dampen this contribution to the "ringing" is commonly used and is in the public domain.

Hi Jorge,
I didn't hear much about these absorbers, but sounds to be wothy of do some digging. Can you link some stuff about it? or I have to search it in area of physic knowledge? I've heard about name Helmholtz when I was reading about some speakers...

This can be an option for people who just cant alternatively get a decent skin on their drum.

In a quick search of "ringing" in this forum, the most recent suggestion I found is from the "Ringing Conga, New Skin?" thread on Jan 31, 2009, a suggestion by James Taikonoatama on the 6th post of the first page of the thread. I don't know how to quote directly from one thread into another, but this is a quote from that thread.

"2. Put a piece of soft foam padding up into the drum. Try different sizes, and either touching or not touching the inside of the head. You should be able to find a size and position that reduces the ringing with greatly affecting the rest of the sound."

There have been other mentions of this over the years that you will be able to find by searching.

Abakua, changing the skin can stop one kind of ringing, the kind you hear when you play an open slap or tone. You don't hear that type of ring when you play a tapado correctly, or muffle the skin with your other hand. The ringing from resonance modes inside the drum shell itself is different, and you can still hear that ringing even when you muffle the skin. That is the ringing you hear on Congalou's video, and that can't be corrected by either technique or changing skins. Generally it is too soft to hear over music, and is not a major problem in actual playing with a group, but it annoys people when they play by themselves and can sometimes be heard on recordings with close mic'ing. That is the kind of ringing that can be easily eliminated by putting a piece of cloth, foam, or other sound absorbing material inside the drum in the right place.

I've used foam rubber strips before with mixed results. The biggest problem I have found is that the tones can start to get duller/flatter/muffled. Especially if the foam touches the skin (even more so if the foam is actually attached to the skin itself).

I'd be interested in a product that would kill the annoying ringing while preserving a nice dry, yet round/rich tone. I realize thicker skins can be an answer, but it is not necessarily THE answer in all circumstances (for instance, I personally have some rhythms that I've created by incorporating the use of my thumbs... but thick skins kill the volume of the open tone I can get by bumping with my thumbs).

To the original poster-- perhaps your idea can work for me (and perhaps you can market the product yourself). Can you post a couple videos to compare how the open tones sound, before/after applying your product?