Turntangilism: Enhancing traditional Turntable Setups with Tangible Controls for Digital Sequencing and Live Sampling

Thomas Geissl

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

Turntangilism 3000 is an interactive musical system built around a traditional turntable setup, extended with tangible elements for live sampling and sequencing. It preserves established DJ workflows and gestures while introducing physical tokens and modular devices for real-time audio manipulation.At its core are reusable tangible objects, termed Tamples (Tangible Samples), which represent digital audio samples. These tokens can be placed on different devices to access and manipulate audio, allowing performers to engage with sequencing and modulation directly, while remaining integrated with the turntable workflow and avoiding screen-based interfaces.The system includes modular devices for distinct performance roles: the Tamplifier for recording, the Tamputer as a central unit, the Tamplate, a 7" for granular playback and modulation, the Tamphall8r, a magnet-based 10" radial step sequencer, and the Tamplepack8 for loading samples.Custom hardware uses ESP microcontrollers, color and motion sensors, and a Bela audio platform, providing low-latency, continuous control. The work also introduces ESP-NOW MIDI, a low-latency, low-power wireless MIDI protocol for real-time interaction between distributed devices. Together, these contributions explore how digital technologies can extend analog musical systems while preserving the gestural logics of existing musical practice.

Citation

Thomas Geissl. 2026. Turntangilism: Enhancing traditional Turntable Setups with Tangible Controls for Digital Sequencing and Live Sampling. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20784157 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{nime2026_47,
 abstract = {Turntangilism 3000 is an interactive musical system built around a traditional turntable setup, extended with tangible elements for live sampling and sequencing. It preserves established DJ workflows and gestures while introducing physical tokens and modular devices for real-time audio manipulation.At its core are reusable tangible objects, termed Tamples (Tangible Samples), which represent digital audio samples. These tokens can be placed on different devices to access and manipulate audio, allowing performers to engage with sequencing and modulation directly, while remaining integrated with the turntable workflow and avoiding screen-based interfaces.The system includes modular devices for distinct performance roles: the Tamplifier for recording, the Tamputer as a central unit, the Tamplate, a 7" for granular playback and modulation, the Tamphall8r, a magnet-based 10" radial step sequencer, and the Tamplepack8 for loading samples.Custom hardware uses ESP microcontrollers, color and motion sensors, and a Bela audio platform, providing low-latency, continuous control. The work also introduces ESP-NOW MIDI, a low-latency, low-power wireless MIDI protocol for real-time interaction between distributed devices. Together, these contributions explore how digital technologies can extend analog musical systems while preserving the gestural logics of existing musical practice.},
 address = {London, United Kingdom},
 articleno = {47},
 author = {Thomas Geissl},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.20784157},
 editor = {Benedict Gaster and João Tragtenberg and Anna Xambó and Tom Mitchell},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 note = {},
 numpages = {7},
 pages = {403--409},
 title = {Turntangilism: Enhancing traditional Turntable Setups with Tangible Controls for Digital Sequencing and Live Sampling},
 track = {Paper},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2026/nime2026_47.pdf},
 year = {2026}
}