Uploaded September 2017 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Wintergatan (The Milky Way) is a Swedish folktronica band from Göteborg.
The machine was built by Swedish musician Martin Molin, who fronts the Swedish band Wintergatan.
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.
Marble machines are hand-operated devices that utilise the gravity and mobility of marbles to create music. Wintergatan’s iteration is comprised of hand-carved pieces of wood (a mixture of birch and plywood), various pulleys, siphons, a hand crank and a range of levers that are under Molin’s control. The inside of the Marble Machine features an extensive circuit of arteries that collect and redistribute the tiny metal balls among the machine’s collection of instruments.
The Wintergatan Marble Machine is essentially a mix of various percussions. It has a vibraphone, cymbals and kick drum - all of which are powered by the sound of colliding marbles.
The machine is powered by hand, and works by raising steel marbles through the machine into multiple feeder tubes, where they are then released from height via programmable release gates, falling and striking an instrument below.
Wintergatan (The Milky Way) is a Swedish folktronica band from Göteborg.
The machine was built by Swedish musician Martin Molin, who fronts the Swedish band Wintergatan.
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.
Marble machines are hand-operated devices that utilise the gravity and mobility of marbles to create music. Wintergatan’s iteration is comprised of hand-carved pieces of wood (a mixture of birch and plywood), various pulleys, siphons, a hand crank and a range of levers that are under Molin’s control. The inside of the Marble Machine features an extensive circuit of arteries that collect and redistribute the tiny metal balls among the machine’s collection of instruments.
The Wintergatan Marble Machine is essentially a mix of various percussions. It has a vibraphone, cymbals and kick drum - all of which are powered by the sound of colliding marbles.
The machine is powered by hand, and works by raising steel marbles through the machine into multiple feeder tubes, where they are then released from height via programmable release gates, falling and striking an instrument below.
