3D Printed Record That Actually Plays Music On Ordinary Record Players

I remember a year ago when I wrote about the world’s first Chocolate Record that plays music on an ordinary record player. At the time, I thought that was the neatest thing ever. I’d like to think I have grown a little and gotten a bit more sophisticated in the past year. Today I’d like to share with you another insanely cool record that actually plays music. This one is 3D printed, and it was created to test the limitations of 3D printing technology. The best part is, there is a tutorial.

According to Amanda Ghassaei’s Vimeo, “I’ve created a program for converting digital audio into a 3D model of a record and printed some functional prototypes that play on ordinary record players. The audio on the records is very low resolution, it has a sampling rate of 11kHz (a quarter of typical mp3 audio) and 5-6 bit resolution (less than one thousandth of the resolution of typical 16 bit audio), but the result is easily recognizable.”

She used raw audio data to set the groove depth in the record itself. By doing that, she created a way that the record player stylus can recreate the original audio signal. The pictures and video below are fabulous, and they really make a statement about how versatile 3D printing technology is.

Seeing and hearing this 3D printed record that plays music is such a testament to the power of 3D printing. You can access Amanda’s processing code, 3D model downloads and design process on her Instructable at 3D Printed Record. It seems Amanda can’t get enough of creating records from unusual materials, and after she posted this 3D printed record, she posted another tutorial for how to make a Wooden Laser Cut Record. Yup, that one really plays music too. She describes the second type of record as being a little bit easier to create.