For all music lovers

[harryb]

THIS IS AMAZING!



Turn your sound on for this. Read this first, then watch.

This is almost unbelievable. See how all of the balls wind up in catcher

cones.

This incredible machine was built as a collaborative effort between the

Robert M. Trammell Music Conservatory and the Sharon Wick School of

Engineering at the University of Iowa .. Amazingly, 97% of

the machines components came from John Deere Industries and Irrigation

Equipment of Bancroft , Iowa



...Yes, farm equipment!

It took the team a combined 13,029 hours of set-up, alignment,

calibration, and tuning before filming this video but as you can see it

was WELL worth the effort.

It is now on display in the Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall at the University

and is already slated to be donated to the Smithsonian.

[sleddy2008]

Wow,that is incredible!!!Great post Harry.

[bigge]

it their any way to post it in another file I can not get this to open.

[steelpicker]

very cool, have seen part of the series on PBS. great post

[steelpicker]

odd how this time of year there are fewer postings...maybe all of musician members are out gigging...hope so

[sneerboy]

Your inquiry concerning a musical instrument made from farm machinery pieces has been received in the Smithsonian's Public Inquiry Mail Service office for a response.

The web site you referred us to shows a computer enhanced or animated creation, as indicated by the caption "Musique Animation", and not an actual musical instrument. Further, we were unable to find any reference to a Robert M. Trammel Music Conservatory and the University of Iowa does not have a Sharon Wick School of Engineering nor a Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall.

The Institution cannot accept a donation of something that doesn't exist.
We appreciate your interest in the Smithsonian Institution.

[Kal-El]

it their any way to post it in another file I can not get this to open.

download winrar, and you should be fine.

[fonger]

anyone notice that it's a CGI?
and that cymbals don't make a crash sound with a ball?
also noticed that the pins light up when it's hit and that's impossible as it's made of a solid metal..
so i looked it up and it's just a E-hoax email but it's still pretty cool.

sorry
check out their site of more cool CGI music stuff:
/http://www.animusic.com/

[StanW]

Your inquiry concerning a musical instrument made from farm machinery pieces has been received in the Smithsonian's Public Inquiry Mail Service office for a response.

The web site you referred us to shows a computer enhanced or animated creation, as indicated by the caption "Musique Animation", and not an actual musical instrument. Further, we were unable to find any reference to a Robert M. Trammel Music Conservatory and the University of Iowa does not have a Sharon Wick School of Engineering nor a Matthew Gerhard Alumni Hall.

The Institution cannot accept a donation of something that doesn't exist.
We appreciate your interest in the Smithsonian Institution.
Those were my thoughts also as I was watching it - computer animation. I don't thing that we have the technology to create such a device at this point . To control the velocity and angle of every single one of these ball would take a bit more than farm equipment not to mention the computer required to control it all.

[sneerboy]

Those were my thoughts also as I was watching it - computer animation. I don't thing that we have the technology to create such a device at this point . To control the velocity and angle of every single one of these ball would take a bit more than farm equipment not to mention the computer required to control it all.

I researched it because not one single ball was to be found on the floor!

The consistency of the balls' paths is just too perfect.

A fun thing, nevertheless.