The Concentric Sampler: A musical instrument from a repurposed floppy disk drive

Timothy Tate

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract:

This paper focuses on the redundancy and physicality of magnetic recording media as a defining factor in the design of a lo-fi audio device, the Concentric Sampler. A modified floppy disk drive (FDD) and additional circuitry enables the FDD to record to and playback audio from a 3.5” floppy disk. The Concentric Sampler is designed as an instrument for live performance and a tool for sonic manipulation, resulting in primitive looping and time-based granular synthesis. This paper explains the motivation and background of the Concentric Sampler, related applications and approaches, its technical realisation, and its musical possibilities. To conclude, the Concentric Sampler’s potential as an instrument and compositional tool is discussed alongside the future possibilities for development.

Citation:

Timothy Tate. 2022. The Concentric Sampler: A musical instrument from a repurposed floppy disk drive. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.21428/92fbeb44.324729a3

BibTeX Entry:

  @inproceedings{NIME22_17,
 abstract = {This paper focuses on the redundancy and physicality of magnetic recording media as a defining factor in the design of a lo-fi audio device, the Concentric Sampler. A modified floppy disk drive (FDD) and additional circuitry enables the FDD to record to and playback audio from a 3.5” floppy disk. The Concentric Sampler is designed as an instrument for live performance and a tool for sonic manipulation, resulting in primitive looping and time-based granular synthesis. This paper explains the motivation and background of the Concentric Sampler, related applications and approaches, its technical realisation, and its musical possibilities. To conclude, the Concentric Sampler’s potential as an instrument and compositional tool is discussed alongside the future possibilities for development.},
 address = {The University of Auckland, New Zealand},
 articleno = {17},
 author = {Tate, Timothy},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.21428/92fbeb44.324729a3},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {jun},
 pdf = {131.pdf},
 presentation-video = {https://youtu.be/7Myu1W7tbts},
 title = {The Concentric Sampler: A musical instrument from a repurposed floppy disk drive},
 url = {https://doi.org/10.21428%2F92fbeb44.324729a3},
 year = {2022}
}