Doctor Octoroc
Offline
Philadelphia

This isn't exactly chiptune related but it is a NES mod involving music so I think some people here will like it. I'm actually surprised that I couldn't find anyone who had done something similar, probably because it's so ridiculous but, as I was thinking of ways to promote my upcoming chiptune album on vinyl, I had the idea to turn my NES into a record player. I had a Crosley Cruiser sitting around, barely being used, so I figured what the hell, it's a cheap player to begin with, if I destroy it, I'll just buy a much better record player - win/win!

It's a tight fit and the platter hangs off the edge but given that a 12" vinyl record on its own is larger than the system, there isn't much of a choice there. Thus far I've gutted the system and the player, carved the top of the NES to fit the main assembly (platter, tone arm, 45 adapter, and a few other switches), rewired the power LED from the NES to the board where the power LED of the player is located, and determined the eventual location of the other components.

The power/volume knob will be located on the front-right of the NES, right in the middle of the upper black section, with the headphone jack in the white area off to the right side (they're mounted on the same board so they need to be next to each other at a fixed distance - luckily, putting the knob where I want it puts the phones jack in a semi-convenient location). The aux in, L/R RCA audio outputs and power supply will be on the right side where the A/V out would be on the original system. The speakers were tricky to find a place for them but since I'm going to plug this into a sound system, it's not that important - they'll be on the bottom of the system, over the vents on the bottom of the NES, so sound will come out - and since the NES has four feet holding it a few mm higher than whatever surface it's on, the sound should be fine even with the crappy built in speakers from the player.

Hoping to be finished by tomorrow night! Now, pictures of some of my process thus far.

Duck
Offline
London, UK

excellent work!

egr
Offline
Abandoned on Fire

Neat smile

Doctor Octoroc
Offline
Philadelphia

Okay, all done! I haven't committed to the positioning of the internal speakers yet so they rattle around while playing and it sounds awful but they were crap speakers to begin with so line out it is for this one. Some progress pics as well.

I wired the board to the NES power LED for effect but since the on switch for the player is also the volume, I didn't see any feasible way to have the NES power button switch it on. But it can be pressed in as usual to appear as if it activates the player.

I'm also going to replace the flip top with one that doesn't have a chip broken off of it - that's going to bother me until I do haha.

Orgia Mode
Offline
Sea of Souls

Nice, how is the weight distribution? Might need to find some steel chunks to glue down to the inside to make it more bottom heavy.

Doctor Octoroc
Offline
Philadelphia
Orgia Mode wrote:

Nice, how is the weight distribution? Might need to find some steel chunks to glue down to the inside to make it more bottom heavy.

It's pretty light overall since the NES guts are long gone and the original record player parts aren't very heavy-duty so it's not top heavy or anything. I cut out so much from the top of the NES shell in order to fit the platter and tone arm that the player bits on top don't add much more weight that the whole top shell used to be.

Doctor Octoroc
Offline
Philadelphia

Here's some video of it in action!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuIJY1hh8sj … hare_sheet

OCPDMusic
Offline

This is such a neat project. Thanks for sharing the pictures of the progress and a video of the result!

TylerBarnes
Offline
Dallas, Texas

I think it would be funny if instead of a 33.3RPM and 45RPM selector it was labeled PAL/NTSC or something. tongue Cause they are very close but PAL is slightly slower. Just like the 33.3 and 45 relationship.

Doctor Octoroc
Offline
Philadelphia
TylerBarnes wrote:

I think it would be funny if instead of a 33.3RPM and 45RPM selector it was labeled PAL/NTSC or something. tongue Cause they are very close but PAL is slightly slower. Just like the 33.3 and 45 relationship.

Haha, that's a good idea. I ordered a new lid for the front since this one is chipped and entertained the idea of getting a blank one and putting a custom label on the front but decided the 'stock' one would be best. But that is a clever idea I would actually use...although those labels are embossed on the plastic itself next to the switch so it's not an easy task. If it was a decal I would definitely create a custom one to put in its place.