In mid-2018 we learned how a turntable works, and the way audio is stored on vinyl records. A couple of months later we observed a CD-ROM under the microscope, a festival of dots and lines representing ones and zeros. What happens if we combine both concepts? The result is a binary turntable, created by YouTube user John Bumstead, with the ability to read text encoded on large wooden discs.
One of the most interesting aspects of the binary system is that we can use almost anything to represent it: lights, bottles, fruits, holes! Punched cards were our main allies when it came to storing and reproducing code, and although they are now considered obsolete, their legacy is enormous. But the card is just a format. Any object that receives holes has the potential to become a storage medium, as long as there is a method to retrieve the information later. So, what about a turntable? And I don't mean a traditional one: this one reads text.
The binary turntable is a development by John Bumstead, an optical engineer who decided to demonstrate how storage devices work, basically by changing their scale. The wooden discs have holes and non-holes (as Bumstead calls them) that block a laser or let it through, zeros and ones respectively. Through that combination, Bumstead can encode small text samples, which are then reproduced on an LED matrix and accompanied by MIDI notes. On average, his discs store about 700 bits due to the size of the holes, which forces him to use very short messages. By comparison, a conventional 700-megabyte CD stores eight million times more information. Both the video and his Instructables tutorial explore the construction of the device, which is more complex than it seems (the prototyping phase was difficult). Bumstead explains that he needs two detectors, one to read the information, and another so that he doesn't lose the timing (in other words, "the clock"). The list of required materials is long, and includes an Arduino Nano. Beyond its natural difficulties, we are convinced that you should replicate the project if you have the opportunity.
Access the tutorial: Click here
