This article was taken from the September 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content ...

“First, it’s important to say I didn’t invent the culture of the marble machines,” Martin Molin says. “Are you aware of the marble machine culture? It’s such a scene.” I was not aware of such a scene, ...

When Swedish musician Martin Molin set out to make a musical instrument that runs on marbles, he figured it would only take a couple of months. The process turned out to be a little more complicated ...

For a musician, nearly anything can be used as an instrument: Garbage bins can be played like drums; rubber bands can be plucked like the strings of a bass guitar. Even your own hands can be employed ...

Over the centuries, man has developed wonderful and intricate instruments that would delight our ears and pluck at our heartstrings. But what if you could somewhat undo all that and replace them with ...

Back in 2016, we featured a stunning wooden machine that employed falling steel marbles to play a merry tune. As plans are drawn up for a new version, its builder has looked back to the designs of ...

He added: ‘You put a lego technic nail into the 32 bar loop grid and every nail drops one marble. There are 22 tracks for the nails and the marbles.’ ...

There have been plenty of impressively elaborate musical machines in recent years, but this might top them all. Swedish band Wintergatan has crafted a Musical Marble Machine that, as the name suggests ...

[Martin] of [Wintergatan] is on a quest to create the ultimate human-powered, modern marble music machine. His fearless mechanical exploration and engineering work, combined with considerable musical ...

Stringed instruments make noise from the vibrations of tuned strings, using acoustic or electronic means to amplify those vibrations to the point where they’re loud enough to hear. The strings are ...