Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 3:25 am Post subject: This Ludicrous New Instrument Makes Music with 2,000 Marbles
Swedish musician Martin Molin has long had experience with esoteric instruments like the glockenspiel, traktofon, or Theremin, but he may have topped his musical prowess with the invention of his own new instrument: the Wintergatan Marble Machine, a hand-cranked music box loaded with instruments including a circuit of 2,000 cascading steel marbles. As the devices cycles it activates a vibraphone, bass, kick drum, cymbal and other instruments that play a score programmed into a 32 bar loop comprised of LEGO technic parts. The marbles are moved internally through the machine using funnels, pulleys, and tubes.
Molin began work on the marble machine in August 2014 and hoped to spend about two months on the project. Its complexity soon spiraled out of control as all 3,000 internal parts had to be designed and fabricated by hand, a time-consuming process that eventually took 14 months. An early version was designed using 3D software, but it was easier for Molin to create parts on the fly leading to its Frankenstein appearance. The musician shared much of his progress in regular video updates that he shared on YouTube.
This is insane, hard to believe one man can do this by themselves!
I wasn't sure what to expect from your description but when I watched that video I was awe-struck.
It does look a bit silly though, could imagine something similar being in a haunted castle from an old n64 game or something haha.
Very impressive machine, but does anyone else remember this one from a few years back that took literally hundreds of hours to calibrate before they got it just right.
