Check out this reflection from our member Jeffrey Roe on returning to a project he first worked on over a decade ago.
Back in 2009, I moonlighted as an art technician, working with artist Liam O’Callaghan on an ambitious audio-visual installation involving vintage record players, relays, and looping vinyl. At the time, I didn’t give much thought to cable management. I just wanted it to work, and it did.
Over a decade later, that same installation was pulled out of storage for a new showing at the 2025 Drogheda Arts Festival. Rebuilding and repairing something I made in my early days was a humbling and hilarious experience. I was faced with mystery wires, unlabeled plugs, cryptic C++ code, and lots of “why did I do it this way?” moments.
The Technical Overview
The installation is made up of eight vintage record players, each with a unique vinyl record acting as a sound sample. They’re all triggered in a choreographed sequence, starting and stopping in time to form a layered mechanical symphony.
To achieve this, two Devantech USB-RLY16 relay boards (8-channel, 16 Amp) control the power to each turntable. A C++ program communicates with the boards over serial to switch them on and off at precisely timed intervals.
Audio from the turntables is routed through a M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R into AudioMulch, which is used to smooth transitions and apply real-time effects like fades and filtering. The whole thing runs on a laptop with Windows XP(yes, really), using the Windows Scheduler to automate playback sequences.
The Refurbishment Timeline
Here’s how it all came back together over five repair sessions:
Night 1: Repaired two record players, replaced worn-out speaker wires, and rewired new plugs.
Night 2: Fixed a turntable spinning in the wrong direction, replaced a few needles, and swapped out a failed unit.
Night 3: Reconfigured the soundcard defaults and added much-needed labels (finally!).
Night 4: Final testing and adjustments to get everything running smoothly.
Night 5: Automated the entire performance loop and added safeguards for show reliability. That meant rechecking the schedule triggers, failover behaviour, and adding some emergency manual controls in case something went wrong mid-show.
Lessons From the Past
Seeing my younger self’s wiring choices was a reminder of how far I’ve come and how much I’ve learned. If I were rebuilding this today, I would:
- Use modular smart nodes like ESP32S with MQTT or OSC for cleaner communication
- Create a simple web-based interface for testing and configuration
- Avoid the cable jungle with proper labelling, documentation, and good cable management
Still, there’s a charm to seeing something so handmade still working after all these years.
The Show and What’s Next
Bit Symphony was exhibited over the May bank holiday weekend at the Former Methodist Church on Laurence’s Street as part of Drogheda Arts Festival 2025. The response was fantastic. Visitors were fascinated by the tactile, analogue-meets-digital nature of the work.
📸 Check out a gallery of photos from the rebuild and exhibition here: [Photo Gallery Link]
Thanks to everyone who stopped by, asked great questions, and appreciated the slightly chaotic beauty of eight record players making music together. Who knows, maybe in another 10 years, I’ll be repairing it again (with better cable ties this time).
