event
Synthux Hackathon 2024

PhytoPhonics

Orchestra made by tracking and translating plants’ movements into sound.
TouchDesigner
Ableton
Electret microphone
prompt

Coaches & collaborators

Roey Tsemah
institute
Design Academy Eindhoven
Pulsating around us, is the rhythm of plants. PhytoPhonics, is an installation that captures and converts these rhythms into sound, offering real-time audio response to nature’s movements. From the sway of a leaf to the movement of a branch, each motion is captured and transformed into a distinct sound, giving each plant its own musical essence. Highlighting the uniqueness of each plant’s movements and personifying them, creating a diverse auditory landscape. An invitation to discover and engage with the music of the natural world, an encouragement to tune into the melodies played by nature.
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the tech

How does it work?

To build the installation, we recorded sounds outdoors and in a studio. These were edited audio software making tracks that we felt represented each plant and crating a sound library. Video feeds were analyzed in real-time using TouchDesigner's blob tracking feature, identifying subtle motions. By interpreting variables like movement intensity, speed and size, we program the pitch, speed, volume and when a pre-recorded track plays, mirroring the detected movement. To visualize the tracking process, we created visual markers like numbers, lines and boxes, to provide a clear, intuitive understanding of the movement data captured. This process is brought to life through mapping and a spatial audio setup, where the visuals are projected onto an array of objects, mimicking an orchestra setup.
Open source code
Click here to grab this project's code
TouchDesigner
Node based visual programming language for real time interactive multimedia content
Ableton
Music production program
Electret microphone
Record or detect audio gain (volume) changes
About the instrument
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