Martin Molin’s Marvelous Mechanical Musical Marble Machine

Martin Molin of the Swedish band Wintergatan built a delightfully complex machine that uses over 2,000 metal balls to play a vibraphone, drum, and a bass guitar, while he provides the power by crank. You might notice that one ball is black, in order to show the progression of the balls. If this reminds you of “Pipe Dreams” by Animusic, you’re not alone. Except this one isn’t animated!

It took about 14 months to design and build the machine -he says much of that time was spent picking balls up off the floor. There are quite a few videos showing the build process, but not many words. You’ll find more discussion on Facebook, such as the plans to automate the machine in order to use it in the band’s live performances. (via reddit)