PiDeck project releases low-cost digital vinyl system for Raspberry Pi

PiDeck project combines the digital convenience of a USB stick with the hands-on usability of the classic turntable

64 Studio has announced the first official release of the PiDeck project which is an open source hardware and free software project retro-fitting the Raspberry Pi onto any turntable. The software is based on the ARM Hard Float port of Debian GNU/Linux and xwax and is built into a custom single-purpose distribution which users can modify or use as it is by copying the image to a micro SD card for their own Raspberry Pi.

Digital vinyl systems are useful because it saves the user from carrying heavy boxes of rare and valuable vinyl from place to place. However, laptop-based digital vinyl systems are complicated often proprietary and incompatible and require cables to be switched between DJ sets. Laptops are also hard to share between DJs which makes turntablism less accessible for the people who are just starting out.

PiDeck project combines the digital convenience of a USB stick with the hands-on usability of the classic turntable, in a way which is affordable and accessible.

Daniel James, Director, 64 Studio said, “PiDeck doesn’t have any mixing, sync or playlist features so that the DJ can take full credit for the sound of the mix. We have deliberately put no configurable options in the interface and there are no personal files stored on the device. This helps to ensure that the PiDeck becomes a part of the turntable and not unique in a way that a laptop and its data is. This makes the PiDeck easier to share with other DJs so that there should be no downtime between sets and should make it easier for budding DJs to get a turn on the equipment. If a PiDeck breaks, it would be possible to swap it out for another PiDeck device and carry right on.”

As the PiDeck software is fully open source and available on GitHub, developers can use it for new ideas in DJ’ing. Multiple PiDeck devices could be networked together or used to control another system via the turntable.