NPR's Rachel Martin spoke with Martin Molin, creator of the marble machine, on Weekend Edition Sunday. You can hear their conversation at the audio link.
The "Marble Machine" is a musical instrument by way of a Rube Goldberg contraption, the love child of a barrel organ, a kick drum, a vibraphone and a bass — all powered by hand-cranked gears and 2,000 steel marbles.
The machine was built by Swedish musician Martin Molin, who fronts the Swedish band Wintergatan.
Molin told Wired UK that he had budgeted two months in his schedule to build his contraption.
Instead, it has taken him 14.
The video, beautifully filmed and edited by Hannes Knutsson, gives you a real sense of the instrument's size and engineering complexity in all of its carved wooden parts, which Molin built after drawing his design in 3-D software — the various elements are programmable, and Molin can change keys midsong. You can see videos about the process of creating the machine on Molin's own website.
As of now, Molin has built only one machine. Every time he needs to move it, the whole thing has to be broken down and rebuilt. He is hoping to build some new ones, including some that could be used for touring.
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