The Machine
Recipes
Each recipe builds one element. Every element stands alone, with its own power and controller, and only listens to the shared signal.
Bow Wheel
A rosined wheel on a small motor, tipped onto a steel string by a servo, so it bows the string like a hurdy-gurdy, on the beat and as hard as each note asks. It sits on any string element and plays on its own number.
Cannon
A clear tube that fires a weighted teardrop on a tether steeply down at a target, then reels it home and re-cocks itself as it reels. Mostly bought; only the teardrop and the holders are printed.
Catapult
A counterweighted arm lobs a wooden ball at a hanging plate. A snail cam lets the arm go and winds it back down, and the ball rolls home under the arm to be thrown again.
Chain Drop
A chain wound in coils on a rod. A servo swings the rod from level to straight down, and the coils slide off the end and crash onto a drum. A second servo spins the rod and winds the chain on again.
Chime Ring
A ring of chime tubes hung level, each one a note, struck from above by the cannon. The cannon hangs on a turret in the middle and turns to the note; or the ring turns, past fixed cannons.
Drip Bowl
A metal bowl holding a little water, rocking slowly in a cradle and struck by a mallet. The sloshing water bends the pitch while the bowl rings.
E-Bow
Two coils on a little tonearm, hung just over a steel string. One listens, a small amplifier boosts what it hears, and the other pulls the string in time, so a note swells in and holds for as long as it's wanted. It clamps to any string element and plays on its own number.
Gantry Pendulum
A ball on a chain hangs from a carriage that rolls along an aluminum top bar. A stepper slides the carriage in time with the swing to build it up, sends the ball into a target on either side, and catches it to a stop.
Gantry Pendulum #2
The Gantry pendulum with a second axis. A crosswise rail under the carriage lets the top of the chain move in any direction, so the ball swings forward and back as well as side to side, circles, and strikes four targets in turn.
Gravity Rod Machine
Identical steel rods stand in a column. Each cue pushes one in at the bottom, so the top one rolls off and falls onto a lever that throws a mallet up into a drum. The rod rolls home under the column to go round again.
Jar Flipper
Three jars of gravel, rice and beads ride on one shaft. A stepper flips them half a turn on the beat, and the sound is the fill landing, on the lid one time and on the glass base the next.
Lapless Steel
One guitar string over aluminum extrusion. A steel rod rides under the string on a belt-driven plate, so every change of note is a glide, like a lap steel guitar with no one playing it.
Looping Brush Drum
A piece of push broom sweeps a snare drum in loops, the way a drummer plays brushes. One motor and two belts draw the loops, so the swish swells on every beat, and a servo lifts the broom off to stop it.
Motor Pick
A stepper turns a small wheel of guitar picks beside a string. A quarter turn is one pluck, a spin is tremolo, and parked, the string rings untouched. It bolts to any string build and listens to Control on its own number.
Pellet Drum
A motorized pellet drum, after the damaru, three to a frame. Each drum rocks back and forth on a vertical axle, and beads on cords strike its head, two hits per rock.
Roll Call
A small app that reads out the names of the guests who are present, over and over: "Jane Doe, present. John Smith, present."
See-Saw Beam
A wiper motor rocks a long beam on top of a post, like a see-saw. Links hanging from the beam tip four spring-loaded mallets, which snap down onto four woodblocks, a pair on one side and then a pair on the other, so the strikes take turns left and right with every turn of the crank.
Shaker Shuttle
A shaker egg swings on the end of an arm, driven by a servo that's told how far, how fast and how hard to stop for every stroke. A fast stroke with a hard stop is loud and a slow one that eases in is soft, so it plays grooves with accents and ghost notes.
Swinging Striker
An arm hangs from the middle of an aluminum top bar and swings side to side, striking a drum on each side. A magnet under its tip nudges each pass, and the drums hang on chains, so they swing away when struck and come back on their own time.
Sympathetic Resonance Field
An autoharp lies on its back with every string free, and nobody plays it. A transducer breathes noise into its box, narrowed to a note, and the strings that hold that note, as their own pitch or as an overtone, pick it out of the hiss and ring on after the breath.
Tension Glide String
One guitar string over aluminum extrusion, bowed by the Bow Wheel's rosined wheel like a hurdy-gurdy. Nothing slides along it. A lead screw pulls the string tighter or lets it down, and the pitch glides with the pull, for swoops, drifts and vibrato.
The Click
An ordinary wind-up metronome swings and ticks like any other, but the Machine is quietly playing it. A hidden cord slides its weight to set the tempo, and a hidden magnet nudges each swing onto the beat.
Whirling Striker Drum
Spinners are motors whirling a wooden ball on a short tether. They run at full speed all the time and strike only when moved so the ball's path crosses the drum head.
Windmill Arpeggio Machine
A wheel of eight single-string arms turns past a pick. Each arm is one step of a step sequencer you can watch: the wheel's speed is the tempo, and the pick swings clear for a rest.
Wobble Star
A three-armed star on top of a short tower wobbles like a coin settling on a table, its high point going round once a turn. As each arm rises, its link tips a spring-loaded mallet that snaps down onto a woodblock, so three strikes go round in turn, low, middle, high.