Friday, March 07, 2008

The Snopes Amazing Music Machine



This is an entertaining animated music video from a couple of years ago. It comes, typically, as a forwarded viral email, with a pretty rough video copy, obscuring much of the detail of the robotic device, making it look like a real, if improbable machine. The Youtube link above actually has a fairly good video copy. The following introductory text is usually included:

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.

That this little fable isn't real doesn't change the fact that it is really an excellent animated music video. But for the rest of the story, and it is an interesting one, be sure to go to:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/musicmachine.asp

1 comment:

NP said...

very enjoyable.