 "QUANTUM SHOT" #52Link - by Avi Abrams IMAGINARY & REAL MUSIC MACHINES: 1. The Most Amazing Music Machine you will ever see! (but not at the Smithsonian)     Some of you have probably received this video by email, with accompanying text: University of Iowa Farm Machine Music 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. Well, do not hurry to book your trip to the Smithsonian to see this modern wonder of technology and every steampunk composer's ultimate fetish. The status of this story is FALSE "The device depicted in this video does not exist, at the University of Iowa or anywhere else. It's an example of a computer-animated music video, this one entitled "Pipe Dream" and taken from one of several similar segments on a DVD produced by Animusic" back in 2001. Make sure you see the original video of this phantasmagorical music device, as it plays funky jazz by continuously shooting balls at various percussion instruments. Even if it's computer-generated, this music machine DOES capture the imagination, and I would rate it as one of the coolest fictional devices ever realized on screen. 2. Real music machines are incredible works of art This site offers us a glimpse at some vintage music machines (never mind the quality of resulting music, the craftsmanship of these antique wonders is exceptional):  The Disc Music Box detail: with bells, and the Automatic Disc Changer:   Here is a rare Polyphonic Style Art Nouveau Autochanger (Brazil) with the saucer bells:  ... and even before there were CD changers, you could have... this:  Simply gorgeous.
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