Sound Lathe - Project Description
Sound Lathe is a new piece of work by the Owl Project that explores of the sonic properties of woodwork.

Combining a traditional pole lathe with custom built software, sensors and switches., Sound Lathe produces audio data, saw dust, noise and wood chippings. With this machine, turned spindles are shaped into complex sounds such as tones, glitches and beats. Unlike many electronic instruments, the Sound Lathe produces a unique wooden object at the end of each performance. This object serves as a memory of the performance, slightly faulty and incomplete as it represents the conclusion rather than an accurate recording of the process.


Log to Leg performance -
This is based on a traditional 'race' in which turners compete to produe the perfect legs from logs.

The performance starts with the splitting of a log with an axe and then the shaping of the resulting quarters of wood, amplified via contact microphones and processed via custom software the ripping and rendering noise signifies the start of the raw wood's journey to a shaped object, ready for the lathe. where it will be carved into a leg.

The Sound Lathe uses a video input and a muio interface (muio.org) to convert the shape carved into the wood into digital signals that generate audio within custom software written in MAX/MSP. The shape of the audio waves produced is directly related to the shape turned on the Lathe. The pulse of Lathe being used is sensed as the wood-turner pumps the drive pedal, this is converted to a midi clock pulse which is passed to custom written sequencing software written in SuperCollider.

Sound Chair

See the updated ARCHIVE section with texts and images...