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}
}