These pages document my final (graduate thesis) project at the Media Laboratory. The five month-long project concentrated on the development of a hardware/software interface for controlling musical events on a computer using a set of disk-jockey turntables and paper "records" that can be printed or drawn. These records contain visual markings representing programming information for synthesis and/or sequencing of music, which is optically interpreted by a plug-in cartridge (aka spinal cat) for the turntable tonearm. The cartridge then communicates with software on a host computer via MIDI or serial protocols. For additional information about the technical and conceptual development of this project (including a look at the history of optical turntable-based electronic music instruments), take a look at my   thesis (pdf)