The Arboretum is (at least at present) a network of 13 Linux-based computers, connected by a network. There is one "server," "head" or "queen" node, which acts as a gateway for the 12 "client," "compute," or "worker" nodes. The sound-card output of all of the worker nodes (and the server node) is mixed together on a mixing board. You can think of the worker nodes as musicians and the head node as a conductor, if you like. Sometimes we do.

A parallel architecture in a sound-making context allows us to execute computationally intensive tasks in a shorter amount of time. To prove our point, we will re-synthesize a recording of a participant's voice using spectral grains (very small audio pieces) derived from some other sound source, such as a teakettle, a cat's meow, or the sound of shattering glass.