Wintergatan exhibits mastery over both musical knowledge and mechanical engineering. He's documented his progress on the second version of this machine where it could run through 20,000 marbles without fail, and details how much of a nightmare it was just to achieve that. However, I think the more important takeaway is the blending of disciplines to create such unique results and inspire others to learn new skills.

@kelaarin

Жыл бұрын

Sadly, the second machine was a failure (or at least not up to his standards of perfection). He's working on designing the third one now.

@Jrakula10

Жыл бұрын

i wouldnt say hes mastered mechanical engineering but hes trying.

@d1oftwins

Жыл бұрын

@@Jrakula10 I would say one important part of mastering engineering IS to keep trying. Engineering is not a learned and done education deal because you cannot account for every solution that there might be for every problem, you are never prepared for everything there is. Engineering is an ongoing, highly iterative process that brings you closer to your goal with every new iteration of improvement. The only problem was his mal formed requirements that put form over function, which he knew well would be a problem yet as an artist he had his unrealistic priorities until he learned the bitter impractically of it. From that point of view he's half way there to be a master.

@ZevVeli

Жыл бұрын

What a lot of people who are only aware of him because of this video fail to realize is that he is primarily a composer for music boxes. I actually have a few of his other songs on some of my spotify playlists and they're all really interesting.

@elindquist5725

Жыл бұрын

@@ZevVeli I would say a musical composer full stop. Yes he likes to use different mediums, but there doesn't seem to be an instrument he can't play. Even when he was messing around aka procrastinating during MMX2.0 build, he would create some amazing music. I only wish I had a portion of his musical prowess.

Yes, this took Martin a long time to make. He wasn't satisfied with the reliability and precision of the Marble Machine, so he spent several years building its successor, Marble Machine X, whose construction he painstakingly recorded on his KZread channel. Still it wasn't good enough for his ultimate aim, a world tour, so now he is designing the next iteration. This is a beautiful obsession. I hope to see it in real life when Wintergartan goes on the world tour one day.

@amberjude2886

Жыл бұрын

I've watched him religiously and if I miss the world tour I will never recover.

@HANIMEME

Жыл бұрын

@@amberjude2886 same, ive watched every video upload since the original marble machine

@AndersJackson

Жыл бұрын

This is the first machine, which took about one winter to make. This isn't MMX or the newest design.

@michaelfink64

Жыл бұрын

@@AndersJackson Yes, I know. In think one winter is a pretty long time. I described MMX as "its successor" and the newest design as "the next iteration".

@AndersJackson

Жыл бұрын

@@michaelfink64 one winter for the first Marble machine are not a long time. Not as it was build on spare time. You could try to build one faster. Anyways, the first is also documented in videos.

You should see his development of MM3 - his latest videos. He's been through a lot, but the new machine is CAD-designed, 3d printed, and tons more detailed.

@georgeterzterz902

Жыл бұрын

Did he name it MM3 ? I suggested that he named it MMXL

@TheMaelstrom

Жыл бұрын

@@georgeterzterz902 I thought I saw MM3, but I am not involved in the design, I'm just a watcher, so I don't know for sure.

@georgeterzterz902

Жыл бұрын

@@TheMaelstrom I didn't assume you're involved. I assumed he said it and I missed it

@neopalm2050

Жыл бұрын

@@georgeterzterz902 he called it that several times, and the most recent video's title even mentions it. (though it wasn't out when you commented this)

@georgeterzterz902

Жыл бұрын

@neopalm2050 thanks for informing me mate. Though MMXL would be awesome. Anyway let's hope that there won't be any major issues with MM3

I love that even now, people are still finding this and reacting to it. His project to make a newer version of this that can be taken on tour and play more complex music is quite a journey to follow.

It is somehow disturbing and so cool, that there are people out there who just discover the original marble machine song NOW! :o I kind of relived my first time seeing it...

@billkeithchannel

11 ай бұрын

Just like this new generation has never heard of Animusic, the videos that inspired the creation of this machine.

@spplS.

10 ай бұрын

Me too. It really felt like the first time when I didn't know all the flaws it had.

Thank you for doing a reaction to wintergaten's marble machine

@matticawood

Жыл бұрын

You are welcome 😊

@millesabords1654

Жыл бұрын

You were right to slightly insist on asking a reaction :-) Martin meets some discouragement sometimes, all support is welcome ! I'm a fan of his work. And, well, since I'm here I will check out a bit more of Matthew's channel

@thomasjay975

Жыл бұрын

@@matticawood he made a new version called MMX but he benched it because it was too feature creep and he hit a roadblock that he was struggling to pass. So right now hes in the design phase of rebuilding yet another version but hes currently solving all the design flaws of the 2nd version before building. Because he kept running into parts where he would fix something, and that would just completely break everything else so it was just not working out. His idea is to fix all the current issues, then make everything work together. Before it was aesthetics and functionality, now its functionality over aesthetics

@elindquist5725

Жыл бұрын

You should check out wintergaten's channel.

@ahumanioi

Жыл бұрын

Big dedication mate 👍

So cool to see that since all the years, there are still reaction videos coming about the MarbleMachine

One of the most interesting things I like when I'm watching Wintergatan's videos, is that I am watching someone's life's work in real time. It's being let in to watch a great mind at work and to understand the process and involvement it takes. Thank you for taking a look at his videos!

This video was actually pieced together by multiple takes. This machine never actually played the full song correctly. Not once. That's why he built a new one. But the new one couldn't possibly play a full concert reliably. So he's now trying to figure out if a machine like this is actually possible in the first place

@superdude3112

Жыл бұрын

Well the new one could do 20k marbles with no fails, which I’m guessing is closer to a full concert, but he’s still not satisfied. It’s 100% possible he just needs to lower his millisecond precision standards. Turns out people would be too mesmerized by the machine to notice a millisecond delay in a loud concert setting

One thing on this. From what I remember Martin saying about the Marble Machine, it was about 6 months spent originally building it but another 6 months recording and editing to get that music video. The original machine would break often during recording, marbles would fall all over the place, and other miscellaneous issues. Most of the video and audio is stitched together from the best clips. It's still an amazing work of art that I would bet has inspired thousands to work on engineering, music, or both.

Wintergatan himself told this was the 64th or 65th take to get it just right and he actually lost a lot of marbles

@JackDraak

Жыл бұрын

that dude has lost some marbles on this (set of) projects, no doubt! Amazing he has any left at this point!

@waltlock8805

Жыл бұрын

This was actually a lot of takes spliced together. The first machine was mostly smoke and mirrors, but it showed a lot of promise. The 2nd was much better built, but still flawed. Hopefully the third time will be the charm.

@saddlebag

Жыл бұрын

@@waltlock8805 I thought it was just two takes spliced together?

@waltlock8805

Жыл бұрын

@@saddlebag No. The first machine was a mess. It couldn't play the song through, so he used a lot of smoke and mirrors to create the video. Which is fine - it's what a LOT of concept prototypes actually are. It was a "proof of concept". The second machine (MMX) was much better built, but ultimately failed due to poor design choices and some over engineering (prioritizing visual effects over simple functionality). Hopefully, the third one will be the charm.

@lensers791

Жыл бұрын

I am sure he prob did lost a lot of marbles when making this instrument…if you know what I mean XD

I would suggest watching some of Wintergatan's other live or studio made music videos. A favorite of mine is Sommarfagal but honestly any of them would be epic. They play so many different instruments and switch between them so smoothly even though there are only 4 people in the band. It's really really impressive.

@roykale9141

Жыл бұрын

you cant do this å lol

@AndersJackson

Жыл бұрын

Sommarfågel. But I think the video of recording and then the video if the performing of "Visa från Utanmyra" is even better. 😎

@mrssriplo1

Жыл бұрын

@@roykale9141 I think I could I just haven't figured it out and when I'm trying to type quickly that definitely won't happen lol. Let me try... å ah there we go. Just took a minute.

@roykale9141

Жыл бұрын

@@mrssriplo1 😂

Here is the link to Wintergatan's KZread channel, if you want to find out more about his marvellous music machine: www.youtube.com/@Wintergatan

I think the most insane part to me (and you can see it a few times in the video), is that every single piece of everything that "directs" the marbles is outfitted with something to account for the margin of error and randomness when flinging little metal balls everywhere. The size of the screws, the shape of the catchers past the xylophone...just the math to accurately make those things work hurts my head.

He now perfected his machine with no marble hitting the floor. His newer version uses 10,000 marbles

What really makes this marvel of a song so good is not just the song itself but also all the mechanical noises and and built-in foley that just creates such a wider atmospheric feel to the tune.

I am consistently amazed by different pianists ability to accurately figure out the key of a song, but then replay it on their piano and make it sound absolutely nothing like the song lol

@spyfire242

Жыл бұрын

To me it sounded pretty much exactly the same, obviously the melody wasn't the same but all the notes were the same just played a bit differently.

@themustardman219

Жыл бұрын

@@spyfire242 that's what I'm talking about. They completely change parts of the melody for some reason, making it sound very different

@spyfire242

Жыл бұрын

@@themustardman219 I don't think they are changing it on purpose, they just don't know exactly how it is played and are approximating something that sounds similar in their head. And it does sound very similar.

@Quickened1

Жыл бұрын

@@themustardman219 and in a completely different octave... I agree with you man! That was the first thing I thought after watching this, "that sounds nothing like MM". Good ear...

@Quickened1

Жыл бұрын

I thought it was just me... Thanks, now I can sleep well...

"He's not playing all the bass notes there." That's because the video is spliced. He said himself it never worked enough to play the song the whole way through so he had to splice it, and it never worked after. He is working on a 3rd version (version 2 was abandoned) that will be massive and be able to be heard in person. EDIT: there are also open string notes as you mentioned.

Remember, that video is the result of aprox 70 combined takes according to Martin.

"The marbles are falling out the bOtToM!" 💀💀

Important to note about the Marble Machine is that Martin (the creator playing it) has deemed this model a failure. He went on a jurney to create a functioning version he wants to play at Wintergatan koncerts. H enamed that project the Marble Machine X. After 3 year of developing it he came to the conclusion the Marble Machine X is also a failure and started a new project for the 3rd itereation. All is documented on his Wintergatan YT channel. It is an extremely interesting journey. He was doing a lot by himself but later started to oursource parts of the project which improved the process significantly. Martin is a true Renesaunce man being a musician first he learn metal welding, CAT design, CNC machining, and he leard many new lessons about himself too.

Martin took so many different takes of the MM because it would constantly fail, and the fact that it operated as well as it did is insanely impressive, IDK if its still there but it was being displayed at the Speelklok Museum, and he has now begun work on a 3rd machine after his 2nd attempt got out of hand

I dont know what more amazing, the fact that he built this machine, getting everything in key and timed correct or the fact that he accounts for the movement of the marble and holds everything in tempo. The melody took me about 20 minutes to get nailed on keyboard, but he incorporated percussion and bass guitar and had all those timed perfectly. In a seperate video he said the timing was all in the mathematics due to it being gear driven with known ratios. Yes this thing looks incredibly fragile and crudely built, but its as much of a piece of art and engineering as much as it is an instrument

That's Martin Molin - the biggest flex Sweden has to offer!

You need to check "all was well", in that song he only used a music box that he made it and a "modulin" witch is an electric instrument he also made it, its a beautifull song

Wintergatan is an absolute master at work - knowledge, skill, talent pure genius - been following him for years and our whole family love ❤️ him to bits - hope to see him play live 😊

Should check out his current progress on his 3rd design. Dude is as mechanically brilliant as he is musically talented.

@billkeithchannel

11 ай бұрын

Yeah he self-taught the Fusion360 CAD software, machining, welding, and 3D printing for the second version the MMX.

I'd like a Bill Wurtz reaction if ever possible. They way he switches things around is wild.

He's on the third iteration of the machine. The second (MMX) wound up being a failure due to feature creep and over-engineering. MM3 is looking to come full circle using simpler mechanisms, but he's got a ways go to with prototyping before we will see any assembly occurring.

Marble machine is my favorite musical thing on the internet. The pure genius of it amazes me every time I see it.

I don't care about the Marble Machine song on its own. there are only 2 things that can make it a good song to me. 1 is playing it on a machine with those mechanical sounds, 2 is when Martin put together all the covers that the fans of Wintergatan have made.

Matt saying 'the machine must be very well constructed' is really quite funny considering Martin has spent the last 5 years or so trying to make a newer, better version that wasn't 'thrown together'.

The bass: There are four channels, to drop marbles on each of the four strings. If you do not interact with the bass, the machine will only play the E, A, D, and G. strings. (the "open" notes on the bass) He as the option to reach in and "slap bass" the fret board, to insert more notes if he wants.

He built another one that kind off failed, so now he is creating his 3rd one that is gonna be way better.

3:45 Matthew: "It's a very well constructed machine" Martin: "It's GARBAGE! And so was MMX!"

thats his v1.0, He's now working on v3.0

3:46 the most understatement of the past decade

I don't know why the piano rendition hit me so hard, even if it is just a section.

@billkeithchannel

11 ай бұрын

There is an orchestrated version that is simply beautiful. He has an entire playlist of cover versions that range from quirky to awe inspiring.

he's building a v3 of the machine that promises to be much better, and more automated than v2, absolute madness

He’s actually in the process of designing the 3rd version of this machine

He's so young in that video...

You should see the work he's been doing on the updated version of the machine

when you're the son of engineer dad and musician mom

playing a piano blindfolded?????? Ray Charles didn't have a problem

The marbles hit the bass where you would normally strum or pick. To get anything other than an open tuning, he has to reach in and press on frets.

If I remember correctly the sound you're hearing isn't made by the machine. They recorded it on man-played (?) instruments afterwards because the machine was playing too inconsistently.

you deserve to have atleast a million subs! keep up the good work mate!

5:31 "the marbles are falling out of the bottom" 🤣

The sounds marble machine is pleasant to listen to. Feels like drops of rain.

Don't ask Martin if he thinks this is a well built machine 😏. It's what we fell in love with though!

FINALLY!!!

The bass has a marble gate for each string. The notes that are played when he does not have his hand on the neck are simply open notes, no fingering or frets involved. As you noticed, he has a marble recycling system, you can actually follow the black one through the entire loop in the video. That said, at the very end you can see that quite a few HAVE escaped and he would eventually have too few to continue playing the entire machine. This is why he never took it on tour and started on MMX, abandoned that because it was more focused on form than function and is now working on MM3. I'm surprised you didn't make note of his unconventional drum heads, the belt drive for the vibraphone's fans that he was able to slip off and on seamlessly when switching between manual and automated playing or the fact that he had two different speeds he could set the base at to slow it down while the percussion and vibraphone were still running at full speed. Sorry if you've already been inundated with comments like these. This is one of my favorite songs and one-man-band solutions.

Ps it played once now sits in a music museum next to its big brother marble machine x

It is worth noting, though, this took at least about 20 takes, edited together. And he has spent the last 7 years trying to make a machine he can actually tour with, and still isn't there. But he's learned a ton, and is a very fine composer, at what he does.

You can actually see a couple marbles on the ground but the machine still has the other 99.75%

He finally watched the willy wonka of music

Martin is a perfectionist to a fault. He's said before how he hates his original Marble Machine for how unreliable and prone to breakdowns it was - apparently this video is a compilation of several runs that combines those precious moments when it didn't break apart and spill marbles everywhere. With his second attempt, Marble Machine X, Martin wanted to make a device that would never break at all. People advised him to make a machine that would allow for failures and could be easily fixed instead but no, he wanted it to be perfect. Spent several years on that beast and had to give up eventually. Now he's back with his third attempt, Marble Machine 3. Hopefully he'll do it this time.

I was watching a Wintergaten concert the other night and in it he explained it took 60 days to produce this video as the machine kept having issues and the fact the entier room is white is what made it easier to edit 60 days of takes together into the one video.

and thats just version 1. he was working on version 2 and got it pretty good, but he scrapped it and sent both to a music museum and he is starting from scratch now. should next react to marble machine X (version 2) and whenever hes done with version 3, that one

Actually, Martin wasn't satisfied after he created that machine. And all that years passed since he posted that video he tried to make some more accurate and precise machine. You should look for his latest videos to watch how dramatically he rised over himself.

He did make a second machine that was improved and he is working on a third one.

It should be built with several cat wheels so that it is capable of being powered by a few fluffy cats

As great as the presentation of the first was, it could not be played again after it was recorded and he had to decline an appearance on Conan O'Brien because of it. The goal was to bring it along for a world tour, which he's starting on his 3rd marble machine now due to the MMX, the 2nd one, having problems too.

There are so many marbles on the ground!! Haha! Many moles were whacked since this video came out. 😂😂

What you should know is that the first marble machine (this one) is not actually a working model. It was a hack job and it takes some movie magic to show the video we see here. This is why he is making Marble Machine X (also failed), and now he's on his way on making a MM3 that will focus on functionality over visuals.

very cool, keep up the good work friend

@matticawood

Жыл бұрын

Thanks! 😊

My 4th grade music teacher showed up my class this

I love the band Wintergatan, thanks for doing this reaction!

5:07 it just hit me thoese are lego pieces as music box bumps FUCKING GENIUS MOVE

The marbles are falling out the bottom... exactly why Martin has built machine after machine after part after part chasing perfection of no dropped marbles. One dropped marble out of 100,000 is simply not good enough. You could get an engineering degree simply by watching his channel.

If you ever get the chance, watch the videos on him building the marble machine. It's fascinating how much time and effort he put into this machine. And, how he worked out the mechanics of the song.

This video actually too 15 hours to record because the first Marble Machine because it was notoriously unreliable and prone to braking. It is now sitting in a museum but it still really isn’t functional. He is working on a third variation that he hopes to take on a world tour.

Don't lose your marbles!

Hopefully in his new machine, he made the legs thicker and more stable. They were thin and wobbly.

Check out his channel. He is working on his 3rd machine now. This was his first

Wintseguddens mubble machine. 😂

@5:50 he's currently working on the third iteration of the machine that WILL be precisely CNC machined and 3D printed

You mentioned the changing chord structure. The super interesting thing about that is the melody/xylophone notes are fixed in the programming wheel and can't be changed mid song. So the only way to change the sound/feel for different sections of the song is the bass line.

I don’t believe that music is coming is coming out of that crude, wobbly machine. I think it’s more of an artist expression.

Everyone needs to follow the Wintergatan KZread channel to see Martin's progress. The Marble Machine in this video was only good enough to make this video, not good enough to play consistently. His next iteration, the MMX, was far more playable but not good enough to play live in front of an audience. Currently he is designing the MM3 with the goal of playing it on a world tour.

Martin published piano note sheets for the song. The marble machine and the MMX are now in Rüdesheim am Rhein in Germany in a museum and the guys there are trying to get both in presentable and somewhat functional shape! If you are around, make a visit to Siegfrieds Spielautomaten Museum!

It is a great bit of building, but it's a shame it was a one and done machine. 😢 He's trying to build a new one and how he makes shore things are in time ect is so interesting. Apparently he wants to do a tour with it, but I think this is going to be more of a challenge as we don't know if things could go wrong while on the road

@liamgilmartin466

7 ай бұрын

You should watch him with the moduline that thing is nuts aswell

There was... a second machine...

according to his videos it didn't work as well as it looks, but is still awesome

5:50 - looking at you, MMX

I can't hear this video anymore without thinking of the Death Grips mashup one lol Wintergrips - Takyon Machine

0:59 welcome to the Wintergatan; cheers. 1:26 beautiful rendition(s) you know all the sheet music is available suggested donation I believe) 😊 but you probably already knew that (or don't even require it 😊)

Well... He's still working on this project... Check his channel

this is the prototype

Wintergatan has a sheet music book available for sale in his merch store, for those interested! Enjoyable review and assessment.

The bass isn't actually set to a mechanism for the notes, it's just an usual tuning of EGEG so it fits most of the chords well on open notes

Wintergartan and Martin are something I look forward to seeing on the world tour. Martin is brilliant. I love the music he creates from various instruments. Music Box, Harp & Hackbrett - kzread.info/dash/bejne/hpyNr6eSpLypaNI.html

I watched the real video sounds good 😂😮😊

Animusic in real life!!

Good God that song is bringing back so many old memories. Absolutely love it.

I'm just a Singer In a Rock and Roll Band

That's his first version he's already made his second one and now he's working on a third one he's getting the timing so right maybe you should go back and watch what's really going on

@Matthew Cawood, amazingly, he is still "building" it. He is often adding things to improve it, to smooth out the "rough edges". I think it's an amazing music instrument. here is the song being played on church bells: kzread.info/dash/bejne/k2Rpj9RphsapirQ.html

@matticawood

Жыл бұрын

I did see some newer versions of it after I filmed this and it looks very different now! 😊

@namewithheldbygoogleforsec673

Жыл бұрын

@@matticawood yes, it does! It's changed more than Dr Who has changed faces! LOL Merry Christmas to you and yours, Matthew!

@JeroenBouwens

Жыл бұрын

@@matticawood Not really, he's basically built a completely new machine (MMX) from scratch which shares absolutely nothing with the original you are reviewing here apart from the idea of playing music with marbles. Unfortunately MMX didn't work either, and it remains to be seen whether the third machine he's currently conceptualizing will ever actually get built.

He lost some marbles, but you should see his MMX much more refined but he now he is working on a version 3, since the MMX wasn't accurate enough. The new MM3 will have some 3d printed parts, with millisecond accuracy. watch "This Design Trick Surprised Me!" around 8min to get a summary of the MMX.

He is starting to build a third version and it's going to be 3D printed this time.