Audio Interpretation of the Rings of a Tree Trunk

Artist Bartholomäus Traubeck is one creative dude. Take a slice of a trunk of a tree, a PlayStation Eye Camera, a stepper motor attached to the control arm, and music program Ableton Live and what do you get? A surprisingly good visual interpretation of what the rings of a tree trunk would sound like on a record player (via Gizmodo)

His latest project, Years, has transformed a record player so that it appears to be playing the rings on the tree trunk. It’s actually a visual interpretation – your record player can’t play wood, silly! But like snowflakes, every tree trunk ring differs (warning: this might not be true), meaning that you’ll get a different soundtrack with each piece of wood you put in the turntable. This particular tree gives us an awesome, dark piano track. Very cool stuff.

YEARS from Bartholomäus Traubeck on Vimeo.