Pressure Project 2 – New Age CD Player

Posted: October 22, 2026 | Author: Vince Hart | Filed under: Uncategorized |Leave a comment »

My intention with this project was to create an interactive music experience. I was inspired by CD players, specifically the Fisher Slim 4000 (a CD player that allows the listener to see the disc spinning, while also having the capability to change between CDs) and basic CDJs (which allow for pitch correction of discs, sort of like a record player).

My node setup is fairly straightforward, and is driven by a set of switches. I have a switch for my audio and a switch for my images, both of which are controller by the same data (“nose X” in MediaPipe). This allows the user to cycle between the 5 songs I provided depending on where they are standing. Further, I incorporated pitch correction by using the nose Y in MediaPipe, using the value to change the speed of the audio files. To sync the audio speed the with speed in which each disc turns, I added a transform TOP after my image switch, with the rotation driven by a ramp LFO. I referenced nose Y to the LFO speed, which makes the CD turn faster or slower depending on the speed of the audio.

In terms of aesthetics, I designed all my visual elements in Adobe Photoshop, looking to make them as engaging as possible. I chose my songs first (I opted for more electronic sounds that would sound the most interesting when pitch corrected), and then designed each CD based on the vibe of each track. I originally wanted to create some feedback visualizers behind the discs, however, instead of complex loops I settled on a simple loop that increases in size. This resembled a CD player tray, which I liked, and also helped to emphasize the main disc. I framed the whole scene with some speaker designs, which helps to keep the attention on the center.

4/5 of my CD designs (the 5th one would not load)

During the demonstration, some of the movement cues were not apparent. I think this is because the projects we did in class focused mainly on hand tracking, while this experience involved body tracking. However, once everyone realized how the system works, everything ran smoothly.

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