Have you heard the latest track by gzip? Maybe it’ll end up on a “Greatest Hits” album alongside Philip Glass.

Visualization techniques such as animated algorithms can help programmers better grasp the abstract theories that make software work. Could auralization, the sound equivalent of visualization, provide similar insights? Postgrad student (and J. S. Bach fan) [Cessu] developed a program to do just that. By carefully mapping registers to notes, and slowing the tempo to a human timescale, the result is a cacophonous machine that offers a glimpse into the operation of various programs. You might find the resulting minimalist “music” insightful, entertaining…or maybe just incredibly grating.

[thanks Shadikka]