Record player

CD player that plays like a record player.

The construction of this Compact Disc player started with a crazy idea: to make a CD player that would play like a record player.

It was built in a month from a Sony CDP 75 base. Just lifting the arm from its stand switches on the laser diode. When you put it on the cart, the disc starts to spin. Tracking is provided by a small motor on the chassis. The needle display shows the position of the groove in relation to the laser diode: the motor moves the pickup whenever the needle reaches the value 4

This reader was not built for full time operation and does not achieve the performance of an industrially manufactured reader (this was not the aim). Indeed, the laser diode will receive any ambient light as information, and the arm clearance is larger than the focal point of the beam (1 micron). For example, if you take a picture with a flash while it is reading, the disc will stop rotating and the display will show “ERROR”. Anyway, I just wanted to know if it could be done, and I was very happy when it delivered the first notes of “Electric Ladyland”..

The sound machine

This was a project produced with students from the ECAV (Ecole cantonale des arts visuels) in Sierre. The aim was to imagine, design, build and use a machine capable of recording and reproducing sound, the only limitation being that it should not use already invented systems.

The aim was not to copy any existing system, but to create one. Similarly, sound quality is not crucial: what is important is what will be done with it. The system is therefore designed to be modulated and improved according to the results.

The system chosen was to record and reproduce sound in wax using a hard disk pick-up. In recording mode, the alternations coming out of an amp move the electromagnet in the pickup, while in playback mode they produce current when animated by the groove shapes. The idea of using a hard disk drive head is interesting in many ways: everything is visible and understandable

The mechanical part was created from scratch with a saw and a file. The feet are from a Technics SL1200 MKII and the platter from a Lynn. The drive screw was used to move the focal points of a Berkel scale. The two front VU meters indicate the platter and carriage speeds.

First attempt at reading..

Made by playing an old 33 rpm record. Head used: large computer hard disk, unbalanced output and recording on Mac Powerbook