Link Player

A modern mixed media artist named Atsushi approached me seeking a solution for a portable surround sound system that he could use for his outdoor music performances. I suggested a fully battery-powered system consisting of one main Raspberry Pi and six Raspberry Pi Zero devices. By utilizing Ableton Link as a timing library, all the Raspberry Pi devices connected in a private local network were able to accurately play Atsushi's surround sound compositions. The main Raspberry Pi was equipped with a touch panel controller for real-time playback control and monitoring of the network status. (In the photo bellow, the mouse and keyboard were used for setup purposes, not for the actual performance.) Initially, we planned to use a Bluetooth connection between the mobile speaker and the Raspberry Pi Zero, but due to connection instability, we utilized the pHAT DAC for analog-to-digital conversion and established a stable wired audio connection.