Turnt-table.

This sketch is meant to portray an LP player also known as the Turntable but in a sort of twisted way, hence, "Turnt-table". We're hoping for this project to bring an element of fun to music while creating a full sensory experience. The project utilizes mouse, key as well as auditory functions. Using all 3 functions allows the viewer to fully interact with the turnt-table. Having surprising visual and auditory outcomes would hopefully allow the viewer an immersive and exciting experience.

The idea of the turnt-table came about from a culmination of different ideas from our group of 3. We combined parts of our ideas that we really liked and decided that a twisted turntable will be an interesting idea to create and play with. The process of the combination first started on paper where we picked apart ideas and added them to each other. Following that, we started the coding process by searching for codes that would fit into our final sketch. Studying the different codes allowed us to stitch our own code together. We considered the benefits of having more songs against lesser songs with more interactions in each song and we settled on having just 2 songs. These songs are a sort of reflection of us in their own ways and we hope that through this twisted turntable or "turnt-table", you'll be able to play around and have some fun with music.

Keywords

Turntable, Music, Play, Visuals, Audio, Mouse, Keyboard.

Issues Encountered

Coding this project was pretty problematic in itself as even though we found different codes for inspiration when putting them together they sometimes don't work out. An example of an issue that we experienced was using the lerp function to create a smooth entry for the disk and before fixing it, the disk would spin far away from the axis. It took a lot of trial and error with the code until we found a solution, which was to use "if (mouseIsPressed)" to create a condition whereby when the mouse is pressed, the disk would be able to spin at the same spot. It's the same with the rest of the problems, with trial and error, reading more to understand the code, we managed to overcome the problems that arose.

Achievements

Our achievement would be that we managed to create this project despite not having prior coding experience. Even though we did quite a bit of help from "The Coding Train" on YouTube and general searches on Google, but we never gave up regardless of the challenges we faced. We could have chosen not to include certain parts of the code when it didn't work but we insisted on having it in and worked on fixing the broken parts of it. So we would have to say that the biggest achievement is finishing the code together.

The Sketch

The following sketch was created using the creative coding environment p5js and is called Turnt-table, its original source can be found here. Follow the instructions on the screen and those that follow the mouse. Pay attention to what it says and try it out for yourself!

Getting Feedback

During our testing phase, it was suggested that we should focus on the quality of each music state rather than creating more states. We reduced the number of songs from 11 to 2 songs and focused more on creating a better experience when playing with the song. Thankfully, the interactive segment of the project was understandable and immersive enough which meant that all we had to do was make edits to the states and refine the 2 states that we chose for the final outcome.

Reflection

We feel that this project was interesting and mind-bending as the 3 of us do not have coding experience, it is good that we worked together to solve problems and came up with this final outcome. Having a project like this allows us to creatively problem solve in order to produce a unique outcome. Getting feedback also allows us to improve on what we have and push our project further. All in all, it was a good experience for us and we are thankful for it.