Swede wows internet with steampunk machine

As it’s F-F-F-Friday, we thought you might not want to miss this video that has been doing the rounds this week. Not sure what the RRP is, but it’s safe to say it’s not a product that can be sold online. 

It features Martin Molin, of Swedish electronic band Wintergatan, performing a song using a unique wooden machine that’s a cross between a piano, a synthesizer, a glockenspiel, a guitar and a drum kit. It’s a sort of steampunk looper, although Inventor Molin has simply dubbed it the Wintergatan Marble Machine, on account of it being operated using 2,000 marbles.

The machine took 14 months to build, assisted by Gotherberg artist Marcus Dimbodius who helped with the design. 

“Marble machines always make music, but I was thinking maybe I can make a programmable marble machine, that doesn’t make chaos but is actually controllable in the sounds it makes”, Molin told Wired magazine. “It’s all about the grid. I grew up making music on Midi, and everyone makes music on a grid nowadays, on computers. Even before digital they made fantastic, programmable music instruments. In bell towers and church towers that play a melody they always have a programming wheel exactly like the one that is on the marble machine.”

Molin says he is looking at smaller versions of the machine, but you could always buy a Stylophone.