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Wintergatan - Marble Machine (music instrument using 2000 marbles)


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#1 Asriel Dreemurr

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Posted 02 March 2016 - 01:51 PM

Rather incredible stuff!



#2 Doctor Charcoal

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Posted 02 March 2016 - 03:20 PM

Must have taken that guy ages to make! I can't even try to imagine how complicated that thing is. I wonder how hard it is to move?



#3 Asriel Dreemurr

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Posted 02 March 2016 - 05:19 PM

It took apparently 14 months! 

 



#4 Coloratura

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Posted 03 March 2016 - 12:11 AM

This seems... Incredibly inefficient for actually making music.



#5 Slushie

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Posted 03 March 2016 - 03:50 AM

This seems... Incredibly inefficient for actually making music.


Wouldn't you have to build a completely different contraption for each song though? It looks like it keeps the same beats on loop

#6 R9000

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Posted 03 March 2016 - 04:22 AM

Wouldn't you have to build a completely different contraption for each song though? It looks like it keeps the same beats on loop

 

You'd probably have to 'reprogram' that huge lego loop-wheel, by changing the positions of the pins.



#7 ZeBraffels

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Posted 03 March 2016 - 07:05 AM

I'm amazed that all of those ball bearings made it into those hoppers and not all over the floor.  Be neat to see the same machine in brass/steel. :D



#8 Luna Lens

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Posted 03 March 2016 - 07:17 AM

Wouldn't you have to build a completely different contraption for each song though? It looks like it keeps the same beats on loop

 

It's a giant, rotating peg board. It looks like you can just rearrange the notes. Must be a pain to compose music for this thing.

 

 

This was, very clearly, hand-made. Those wheels and gears were wobbling like crazy. It still made great music though. I onwder how long it took to design a mechanism that delivered the exact amount of marbles with what looks like very loose hardware tolerances.



#9 Coloratura

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Posted 03 March 2016 - 07:26 AM

It's a giant, rotating peg board. It looks like you can just rearrange the notes. Must be a pain to compose music for this thing.

 

It would be a pain to compose for because of it's small range. The chimes are the main instrument, and they are either using the pentatonic scale or it's only making use of one octave. Either way the melody that was composed for it was wonderful despite this limitation. 



#10 Luna Lens

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Posted 03 March 2016 - 07:56 AM

I count 11 notes on the wheel. I don't know anything about music, so, do with that information as you will.



#11 R9000

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Posted 03 March 2016 - 01:09 PM

I count 11 notes on the wheel. I don't know anything about music, so, do with that information as you will.

 

Watched it again for a bit in 1080p; you may have noticed there are two wheels, one for the melody (left) and one for percussion (and bass probably) (right). The bass only needs four pins because he frets the strings by hand, and there are only four or five drums from what I can tell. You'll also notice that the beats of the melody are written on the right side of the wheels, and both wheels have space for 11 pin positions on each lego beam. Looking at the back of the marble-droppers for the glockenspiel (or chimes, or whatever), you can see notes written. It says 'E, D, C, H, A, G, F#, E, D, C, H'. Now apparently Scandinavian countries mark 'B' as 'H' because of the confusion between letters, and flat and sharp symbols. Reverse that scale (because we're looking at it from the rear) and you get 'B, C, D, E, F#, G, A, B, C, D, E'. This puts it at about 1.5 B Phrygian scales, or Em, or whatever other mode of that you like, it's all the same notes, just in different orders.

 

Also, there are marbles dropping all over the floor. This machine is deadly.


Edited by R9000, 03 March 2016 - 05:55 PM.


#12 High Orbit

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Posted 03 March 2016 - 04:33 PM

Also, there are marbles dropping all over the floor. This machine is deadly.

 

Considering the amount of marbles being used and how much the thing was shaking, I'm surprised there wasn't more marble loss.




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