5 ms·

What happened to his 2nd evolution of it, that one was being built for a long time too?

by kzrdude 3y ago

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
fl7305 3y ago
It is up and running in a music museum in Germany.
proteal 3y ago
I haven’t followed it too closely, but he posted a video saying that previous iterations of the machine didn’t make good music. They were really loud (mechanical noise drowned out musical noise) and didn’t play music in time. In fact, the video from the submission has had its audio significantly edited to sound pleasing. I believe he posted the raw audio a few months ago in a video. His current design looks much more promising.
- vintermann 3y ago
  I think it was also throughput and reliability issues. He gave up on it in connection with a marble tube bursting.
  - DrSiemer 3y ago
    The guys that actually finished it also agreed that it would not have been possible to tour with this iteration of the machine.
kibwen 3y ago
It's a bit of a touchy subject. It's clear that he's a brilliant musician and self-motivated to the brink of mania, but he struggles with perfectionism and his insistence on reinventing the entire field of mechanical engineering from scratch precludes him ever actually finishing the project to his own impossible standards. If he didn't have a huge community of experienced, fascinated, and often frustrated engineers and manufacturers pointing out his most egregious missteps, he'd be sunk. The past near-decade has involved being sucked into fractal rabbit holes due to unknown-unknowns while obsessing over imperceptible details. The second machine was thrown out entirely and he started from scratch in an attempt to fix what he saw as fundamental flaws with it, and while his process with the third machine seemed promising at first, at this point it doesn't seem like he's really any closer to success. His videos are often entertaining (he's very charismatic and enthusiastic), and you'll learn a decent amount about engineering. But the most important thing that you'll learn are the unstated lessons: the necessity of compromise and the importance of setting measurable and realistic goals if you ever hope to actually achieve a given result. Though if nothing else, I applaud him for being so open with his efforts, especially when things don't pan out like he was expecting.
- SAI_Peregrinus 3y ago
  I think in the last video or 2 he finally had the revelation he needs to have a chance at success; he's found that the engineering must support the design, not control it. We'll see if it holds up.
  - themoonisachees 3y ago
    He has had this realization several times over the years. Good luck to him, but at this rate I don't believe he'll ever manage to finish it, and if he ever does he still won't be happy with it.
    - SAI_Peregrinus 3y ago
      Yeah, I'm not confident it'll hold. I figure someone will eventually make a marble music machine that's robust enough to tour, but I have doubts it'll be him.
- barnabask 3y ago
  I enjoyed watching his videos for a few years, but I eventually had to stop because it was so hard to watch what you describe. You put it very kindly; I would have called it a channel documenting a slow descent into madness. Maybe it was my own latent perfectionism that made me so uncomfortable watching him obsess, repeatedly restart, second-guess, overanalyze, self deprecate, etc. It’s a hard thing to relive vicariously.
  - neontomo 3y ago
    Exactly how I feel about it. When he made his video about engineering principles from Elon Musk (who I admire as an engineer), my heart just sank. I recognised that he'd begun setting standards for himself that are necessary for mission critical projects like space flight and driving, but lost touch with why we are interested in his Marble Machine - which is fun.
    - 3y ago
DrSiemer 3y ago
The second machine turned out to be unfit for one of the main goals: live performances. Following Martin's journey has been a privilege. His honest insights on the struggle of trying to balance hard design requirements with keeping that which made the original project fun and playful have been insightful and fascinating.
spamatica 3y ago
The second one is being completed (as far as I understand) by a team in germany at a music machine museum (Musikkabinett). Their channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Musikkabinett https://www.youtube.com/@Musikkabinett
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
Waterluvian 3y ago
His MMX video blog is the textbook go-to example for letting perfect be the enemy of good.

What happened to his 2nd evolution of it, that one was being built for a long time too?

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

fl7305 3y ago

It is up and running in a music museum in Germany.

proteal 3y ago

I haven’t followed it too closely, but he posted a video saying that previous iterations of the machine didn’t make good music. They were really loud (mechanical noise drowned out musical noise) and didn’t play music in time. In fact, the video from the submission has had its audio significantly edited to sound pleasing. I believe he posted the raw audio a few months ago in a video. His current design looks much more promising.

vintermann 3y ago
I think it was also throughput and reliability issues. He gave up on it in connection with a marble tube bursting.
- DrSiemer 3y ago
  The guys that actually finished it also agreed that it would not have been possible to tour with this iteration of the machine.

kibwen 3y ago

It's a bit of a touchy subject. It's clear that he's a brilliant musician and self-motivated to the brink of mania, but he struggles with perfectionism and his insistence on reinventing the entire field of mechanical engineering from scratch precludes him ever actually finishing the project to his own impossible standards. If he didn't have a huge community of experienced, fascinated, and often frustrated engineers and manufacturers pointing out his most egregious missteps, he'd be sunk. The past near-decade has involved being sucked into fractal rabbit holes due to unknown-unknowns while obsessing over imperceptible details. The second machine was thrown out entirely and he started from scratch in an attempt to fix what he saw as fundamental flaws with it, and while his process with the third machine seemed promising at first, at this point it doesn't seem like he's really any closer to success. His videos are often entertaining (he's very charismatic and enthusiastic), and you'll learn a decent amount about engineering. But the most important thing that you'll learn are the unstated lessons: the necessity of compromise and the importance of setting measurable and realistic goals if you ever hope to actually achieve a given result. Though if nothing else, I applaud him for being so open with his efforts, especially when things don't pan out like he was expecting.

SAI_Peregrinus 3y ago
I think in the last video or 2 he finally had the revelation he needs to have a chance at success; he's found that the engineering must support the design, not control it. We'll see if it holds up.
- themoonisachees 3y ago
  He has had this realization several times over the years. Good luck to him, but at this rate I don't believe he'll ever manage to finish it, and if he ever does he still won't be happy with it.
  - SAI_Peregrinus 3y ago
    Yeah, I'm not confident it'll hold. I figure someone will eventually make a marble music machine that's robust enough to tour, but I have doubts it'll be him.
barnabask 3y ago
I enjoyed watching his videos for a few years, but I eventually had to stop because it was so hard to watch what you describe. You put it very kindly; I would have called it a channel documenting a slow descent into madness. Maybe it was my own latent perfectionism that made me so uncomfortable watching him obsess, repeatedly restart, second-guess, overanalyze, self deprecate, etc. It’s a hard thing to relive vicariously.
- neontomo 3y ago
  Exactly how I feel about it. When he made his video about engineering principles from Elon Musk (who I admire as an engineer), my heart just sank. I recognised that he'd begun setting standards for himself that are necessary for mission critical projects like space flight and driving, but lost touch with why we are interested in his Marble Machine - which is fun.
  - 3y ago

DrSiemer 3y ago

The second machine turned out to be unfit for one of the main goals: live performances. Following Martin's journey has been a privilege. His honest insights on the struggle of trying to balance hard design requirements with keeping that which made the original project fun and playful have been insightful and fascinating.

spamatica 3y ago

The second one is being completed (as far as I understand) by a team in germany at a music machine museum (Musikkabinett). Their channel: https://www.youtube.com/@Musikkabinett https://www.youtube.com/@Musikkabinett

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

Waterluvian 3y ago

His MMX video blog is the textbook go-to example for letting perfect be the enemy of good.