Sound Computational Art – “Sorting”

Eamonn Burke

My favorite hobby is drumming. As a drummer, a good sense of math is necessary for rhythm, but only at a basic level. However, being the CMU student that I am, I like to push the limits and find complex time signatures generated by complex algorithms. This is why I admire this project, “Sorting” because it’s taking a mathematical approach to sound and applies algorithms to it in an exploratory way. 

The software, Processing, uses data information and seven different algorithms to sort the data, visualize it, and convert it to sound. Beyond that it is honestly hard to tell exactly how the program works, but there seems to be a “ticker” that processes the numbers procedurally, creating radian ranges as it works and sorts the data into these radian ranges based on data information. 

The artistic sensibilities come across in the use of color and motion, which both serve to show how the data is being processed. The pairing of different sounds with the motion and color indicate what is happening, whether a confirmative ticking (with sparks) or a rejecting “thud” (with red flash).The varying line weights create a really beautiful and mesmerizing hierarchy of systems.