ELEVATOR MUSIC BOX > technical construction > hacking switches on digital music devices

Most digital devices such as CD players and mp3 players use momentary switches for power on/off, play, ff, rw, stop, settings, etc. In that case, it is easy to use relays to send a short pulse to temporarily connect the terminals that would otherwise need a finger to press. Soldering into the switches was probably amongst the most dangerous, delicate moment of building the project because the lightest jitter of the soldering iron could lead to an expensive disaster.

Here is a picture of the Rio 300 mp3 player hooked up to the relays that were used for the elevator box. Each switch on the mp3 player had two wires which ran to their own relay awaiting a connection; in this case, (1) a play switch (which also luckily turns on the mp3 player and begins to play), (2) a forward-a-track switch, (3) a reverse-a-track switch and (4) a stop switch.