What Do Tree Rings Sound Like?



Bartholomäus Traubeck is the genius behind this recording from an Ash tree’s year ring data. 

Data recorded from the rings, using a PlayStation Eye Camera,  is relayed to a computer using Ableton Live software to turn the digital information into a piano track.

Here's how Bartholomäus Traubeck's website (where the recordings are available for purchase) explains the process: "A tree's year rings are analysed for their strength, thickness and rate of growth. This data serves as basis for a generative process that outputs piano music. It is mapped to a scale which is again defined by the overall appearance of the wood (ranging from dark to light and from strong texture to light texture). The foundation for the music is certainly found in the defined ruleset of programming and hardware setup, but the data acquired from every tree interprets this ruleset very differently." 

This music  was generated on the Years installation in Vienna, January 2012 and released June 26th, 2013.


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