Leaves originating from SCP-CN-1440, some of which had fallen naturally and some of which were trimmed. Leaves alone do not possess any anomalous effects.
Item #: SCP-CN-1440
Object Class: Euclid
Special Containment Procedures: SCP-CN-1440 is to be contained in a standard 5 x 5 x 5 m Standard Containment Chamber and fixed in the center such that it is 2.5 m away from all four walls, the floor, and the ceiling, so as to reduce the possibility of the object's anomalous properties manifesting outside the chamber. Update: With the exception of the fixtures necessary for the above procedure, no other structures or objects may be placed in the containment chamber. While it is unknown whether SCP-CN-1440 requires trimming or irrigation, to maintain the object's current state, personnel assigned to the object are encouraged to regularly trim and water the anomaly while maintaining a strict standard of safety. Update: Personnel entering SCP-CN-1440's containment chamber must change into standard clothes and may not bring any unnecessary objects into the chamber. With the exception of moving the object into a larger containment chamber due to possible increases in size or radius of effect, all requests to move SCP-CN-1440 out of its containment chamber will be rejected.
Description: SCP-CN-1440 is a bonsai tea tree. Its anomalous effects manifest when a musical instrument is brought within a 1.8 m radius of the object, at which point the instrument will autonomously play a piece of music at an extremely high tempo on loop. The performance is typically too fast for a non-anomalous human to replicate. Affected instruments remaining in the area of effect will continue to play with a resonant timbre and strong, accented rhythms, which may cause the instrument to become damaged. As the object is capable of determining whether an object is a "musical instrument" or whether a sound is "musical", and its effects typically involve performing relatively popular compositions (see Experiment Log CN-1440), it is believed that the object possesses some degree of sapience.
Discovery: SCP-CN-1440 was initially discovered in ██████ City, Jiangxi, China. Mr. ████ ███, a resident of the city, complained to the media about "the incessant sound of a piano playing with no melody to speak of"; it was confirmed that the neighboring apartment contained a piano, but had no occupants. Foundation agents embedded in the relevant media agency noticed a draft of an article relating to the story and suppressed it before it could be published.
After receiving the report, Foundation agents were dispatched to acquire the deed to the apartment from its owner; subsequent investigation confirmed that the piano was being autonomously played, but that the sound itself was non-anomalous. The agent in question later discovered that Mr. ████ had "just placed the bonsai pot on the shelf when the piano noise started"; as such, it was believed that the object's anomalous properties had affected the piano in the next apartment. After the object was moved away from the wall, the piano noise stopped, and the agent purchased the bonsai pot for twice the original price and moved it to the relevant Site. As Mr. ████ had been convinced that the sound was a hallucination caused by extreme stress, he was not amnesticized.
At first, the object was designated as Anomalous Item AI-CN-11182, and described as a "bonsai plant that causes instruments brought near it to produce noise". During the next routine test, the sound produced by the piano used in the experiment was slowed down, revealing that the piano was playing a coherent piece of music at a significantly higher tempo. Further testing indicated that different setups resulted in different tempo multipliers; at this point, the anomaly was designated SCP-CN-1440 and its description was revised.
Experiment Log CN-1440: The following tests were performed after the object was redesignated as SCP-CN-1440. The instruments were placed 1 m away from the object. It is believed that the tempo at which the instrument performs under SCP-CN-1440's effects is important; thus, the tempo has been recorded in beats per minute (BPM).
Subject: One grand piano, "Xinghai 113"
Music played: Fantaisie-Impromptu in C♯ minor, Frédéric Chopin
BPM: 784
Note: During this test, the affected instrument played at exactly 4 times the speed of the original piece. Theoretical analysis indicated that some keys were pressed repeatedly in quick succession, leaving no time for the key or hammer to rebound; nonetheless, slowing down the recorded audio showed that the performance strictly followed the original score, with no technical errors.
Subject: One grand piano, "Xinghai 113"
Music played: Flight of the Bumblebee, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
BPM: 864
Note: This occurred after the piano was moved out of and then back into SCP-CN-1440's range of effect. The autonomous performance was found to be different from the previous experiment; the speed of playback was exactly 6 times that of the original place. As in these two experiments the speed of playback was always an integer multiple of hte original, this reinforced the hypothesis that the object possesses some degree of sapience.
Subject: One erhu, Suzhou style
Music played: Er Quan Ying Ye (The Moon's Reflection on the Second Spring), Hua Yanjun
BPM: 768
Note: This experiment was carried out to determine SCP-CN-1440's effects on different instruments. Instruments affected by SCP-CN-1440 will tend to play popular pieces composed for or suited to that instrument. Of note is that Er Quan Ying Ye is intended to be played at 48 BPM, but the speed of playback was similar to those of the previous experiments; in addition, after the test, the strings and bow of the erhu were completely undamaged despite the fact that such a performance would almost certainly cause both to snap under standard conditions.
Subject: One children's xylophone, brand unknown
Music played: Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman", Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
BPM: 70 (average); 980 (maximum)
Note: This is the first time SCP-CN-1440 has been observed to cause a performance at a tempo similar to the original piece. Due to this, it was initially theorized that SCP-CN-1440 was unable to or did not wish to accelerate the performance. However, upon reaching the █th movement, the tempo suddenly increased to the fastest value recorded to date. Of note is that after this sped-up section was slowed down and played back, notes outside the range of the instrument, alongside sounds similar to a human voice, were discovered.
Subject: One drum set, "Pearl" [Interview request rejected by HMCL]
Music played:
BPM:
Note:
Subject: One Apple Macintosh notebook computer with the digital audio workstation ████████ installed
Music played: (Unknown)
BPM: 256 (average); 2048 (maximum)
Note: When the subject was brought into SCP-CN-1440's area of effect and ████████ was opened, an audio file labeled "███████ █████.mp3" appeared on the desktop; further analysis of the audio file is ongoing. This experiment indicated that SCP-CN-1440 may possess the ability to produce "original" music.
Subject: [DATA EXPUNGED]
Music played: (Unknown)
BPM: 1600 (average); [DATA EXPUNGED] (maximum)
[DATA EXPUNGED]
Incident CN-1440.1: On 2019年03月25日, Junior Researcher ███ ███████ was unexpectedly killed while experimenting within SCP-CN-1440's containment chamber. Autopsy revealed an open wound in the shape of a circle 25 cm in diameter in his left abdomen, with the inside of his chest clearly visible from the exterior. Several of his left ribs were pulverized, and some of his internal organs (including his heart, left lung, and spleen) had burst. Researcher ███'s fountain pen was found wedged inside the cavity, completely undamaged save for bloodstains. Interviews with the victim's associates indicated that he had a habit of rhythmically tapping the surface of the table he was working on with his pen, and often stored it in his left shirt pocket. It is thought that SCP-CN-1440 considered the fountain pen an "instrument" and began to "play" it when it entered the object's area of effect; however, Researcher ███ was not considered an "instrument" and was not protected by the object's anomalous properties.
In view of the possibility that SCP-CN-1440's definition of an "instrument" may be wider than previously thought, it is now considered dangerous to bring the vast majority of objects into SCP-CN-1440's area of effect (for instance, if the object considers a handgun as an instrument and begins to "play" it). As such, the Special Containment Procedures for the object have been revised.
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