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MIDI Sprout enables plants to play synthesizers in real time.
Our vision is to give people the ability to convert the activities of plants into music. Anybody with a computer or synthesizer can use MIDI Sprout to investigate the secret life of plants.
MIDI Sprout represents a growing community interested in learning about nature by turning its biofeedback into music. This is the beginning of the global DIY biofeedback movement.
We have had a lot of fun exploring the role of biorhythms in art and music. It’s time to share this technology with the public and invite new innovators to the conversation. By donating to this Kickstarter you will make the MIDI Sprout hardware available to people of all ages, locations, and backgrounds.
How it works
Each MIDI Sprout comes with two probes that measure small electrical currents across the surface of a plant’s leaf. When applied to a human this is called the galvanic skin response (GSR). GSR readings provide insight into humans’ inner emotional states and are the basis of simple lie detector circuits.
The MIDI Sprout converts these fluctuations into MIDI notes and controls that can be read by synthesizers and computers. This information can be scaled and played through synthesizers or used to activate pre-programmed sonic environments.
What does this actually tell us about the secret life of plants?
We don’t know. Nobody does. Jury’s still out on this one. Using human medical equipment on plants to investigate the complexity of their being is a fascination started by Christopher Bird and Peter Tomkins’ seminal book, The Secret Life of Plants. Whether or not these micro activities reveal a hidden consciousness in plant life is yet to be determined.
But what we do know is that monitoring the invisible complexities of plant life yields beautiful and intricate data that can be harnessed for elaborate biofeedback art. By spending time with your plants as they play music, music that is an expression of their physiological changes, you’ll find that your plants are as perceptive of their surroundings as you are. Maybe even more.
