Two Turntables and a Mobile Phone

Nicholas J. Bryan, and Ge Wang

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

A novel method of digital scratching is presented as an alternative to currently available digital hardware interfaces and time-coded vinyl (TCV). Similar to TCV, the proposed method leverages existing analog turntables as a physical interface to manipulate the playback of digital audio. To doso, however, an accelerometer/gyroscope–equipped smartphone is firmly attached to a modified record, placed on a turntable, and used to sense a performers movement, resulting in a wireless sensing-based scratching method. The accelerometer and gyroscope data is wirelessly transmitted to a computer to manipulate the digital audio playback in real-time. The method provides the benefit of digital audio and storage, requires minimal additional hardware, accommodates familiar proprioceptive feedback, and allows a single interface to control both digital and analog audio. In addition, the proposed method provides numerous additional benefits including real-time graphical display,multi-touch interaction, and untethered performance (e.g“air-scratching”). Such a method turns a vinyl record into an interactive surface and enhances traditional scratching performance by affording new and creative musical interactions. Informal testing show this approach to be viable,responsive, and robust.

Citation

Nicholas J. Bryan, and Ge Wang. 2011. Two Turntables and a Mobile Phone. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1177971

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{Bryan2011,
 abstract = {A novel method of digital scratching is presented as an alternative to currently available digital hardware interfaces and time-coded vinyl (TCV). Similar to TCV, the proposed method leverages existing analog turntables as a physical interface to manipulate the playback of digital audio. To doso, however, an accelerometer/gyroscope–equipped smartphone is firmly attached to a modified record, placed on a turntable, and used to sense a performers movement, resulting in a wireless sensing-based scratching method. The accelerometer and gyroscope data is wirelessly transmitted to a computer to manipulate the digital audio playback in real-time. The method provides the benefit of digital audio and storage, requires minimal additional hardware, accommodates familiar proprioceptive feedback, and allows a single interface to control both digital and analog audio. In addition, the proposed method provides numerous additional benefits including real-time graphical display,multi-touch interaction, and untethered performance (e.g“air-scratching”). Such a method turns a vinyl record into an interactive surface and enhances traditional scratching performance by affording new and creative musical interactions. Informal testing show this approach to be viable,responsive, and robust.},
 address = {Oslo, Norway},
 author = {Bryan, Nicholas J. and Wang, Ge},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1177971},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 keywords = {Digital scratching, mobile music, digital DJ, smartphone, turntable, turntablism, record player, accelerometer, gyroscope, vinyl emulation software },
 pages = {179--184},
 presentation-video = {https://vimeo.com/26835277/},
 title = {Two Turntables and a Mobile Phone},
 url = {http://www.nime.org/proceedings/2011/nime2011_179.pdf},
 year = {2011}
}