Years

A record player that plays slices of wood. Year ring data is translated into music, 2011.
Modified turntable, computer, vvvv, camera, acrylic glass, veneer, approx. 90x50x50 cm.

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.

A limited edition recording of ‘Years’ can be found here.
A regular 12″ vinyl LP edition of ‘Years’ can be found here.
A digital album consisting of seven different recorded trees can be downloaded here.

Motor controls + engineering for Years v0.2 (not visible in the video) done by Christoph Freidhöfer.