The Power of asking "Why?"

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Video edited By Martin and Hannes from the Trainerds KZbin Channel:
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[@bizmansion]

The only thing I don't love about the machine is that there are now years of Martin not making music, and I feel like that cost is just tremendous. I miss your music

[@nandakoryaaa]

yes

[@benjaminwells7714]

I agree. I just want to see you play music. Come to Australia - I will buy a ticket. F.A.I.L = First Attempt in Learning - also designers fail, it's part of the process... Don't refuse to fail - if you refuse to fail you won't have fun.

[@rantingrodent416]

Yeah. The Marble Machine journey has been entertaining, but I care about it *much* less than Wintergatan's music.

[@TheChrisYeah]

“Why should a machine be able to play like a human? This is a dumb design requirement.” YES! Martin, I have been waiting years to hear you say this!!

[@thomasbecker9676]

Don't hold your breath. It's an attitude likely to change in a week or two.

[@jackradzelovage6961]

@@thomasbecker9676 well no hes come up with this in pieces already. he got really excited when he realized he could still do that sweeping thing with the bass without humanoid playing devices. this will keep happening. as another much much older example, hes been playing drums with the marbles themselves instead of sticks run by marbles. hes gonna come around to that for all the instruments eventually as long as those methods can produce the sounds he wants

[@lasskinn474]

he has spent enormous amounts of time dallying around with making it play like a synth(while not using obvious ways to make it so) instead of making it error-compatible.

[@billkeithchannel]

@@jackradzelovage6961 Or maybe the drums gets "deleted to simplify" and they are played on stage by an actual human.

[@ninjafruitchilled]

@@jackradzelovage6961 The drums are fine as they are, it's not that crazy for a machine to play drums by dropping marbles on them. The bass was way harder because "fingers" are needed to fret it and he basically has to control it manually anyway. The bass should just go. It's cool but not necessary. But that said the drums are not really necessary either. The vibraphone is the heart of the machine, if he just nails that it will be a good machine, he can have band members play drums and bass along with it and no-one would think that is a problem.

[@Sharlenwar]

Martin, I don't look at all of your marble machines as failures. Failure in the sense you didn't do a world tour with them, but you still learned, and I hope you had fun while you were doing what you were doing. Now you have a good understanding of what you need to do and so with that experience you will move forward with whatever project you tackle. I wish you great success, you are going to reach it, just keep going.

[@mhenlopotter1612]

I just this video realized why Martin refers to his previous marble machines as failures. To me, it was always clear that MM1 was a proof of concept - a resounding success! MMX was (to me) to build a better version and bring in supporters - with ~10k people on patreon also a resounding success. But yeah, if Martin's #1 main goal was "get a machine reliable enough for world tours" from the start - of course he would classify them as failure. I mean I still don't agree and I would never outright call them "failures", but I kinda understand.

[@briancampbell179]

If Thomas Edison had given up after two failed attempts, we'd all be sitting in the dark.

[@spiller194]

Totally agree! The first two were essentially prototypes, and those aren't meant to be final products. You've done some great innovation, experimentation, and proof of concept with the first two machines. You've proven that it is feasible to make a marble based machine that plays music and you've learned a lot about doing so in the process!

[@macgyveriii2818]

Came to say the same. He learned, he had fun, he played music with marbles. Sounds like success!

[@dbtest117]

@@briancampbell179 Well in many cases it was Tesla who did the work for Edison. :D

[@ellieban]

I think there’s a huge “why” missing from this list: Martin, you love mechanical music machines and are utterly fascinated by the beauty of the mechanisms needed to tease soulful music from cold metal. It’s as clear as day to me that you want to make something that makes other people feel the way you feel when you stand in Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Cabinet. That’s why the 10ft engineered version doesn’t meet your goals, and it’s why you want the machine to play dynamic music.

[@nolivesmatter.]

5:43 i miss those days when he made songs for his videos with those things

[@changein3d]

truly, I hope to one day listen to another wintergatan album.

[@syoung_io]

I miss those days when he made songs.

[@TurboJLo]

This....this is exactly it, exactly how I feel and exactly why he needs to do this. I miss his music so more than I miss "the machine" or "the build" etc etc etc. Bring back the Modulin! The Hammer Dulcimer, the Saw! Moon and Star, Sandviken Stradivarius, etc Bring back the short music composed for your videos or instruments! Bring back the music!

[@tjtobin86]

This channel should be a master class in why engineers have project leads that keep them on track...

[@dazley8021]

Before Martin falls into another rabbithole again: the reason "because i want to" is absolutely legitimate for a project like this. youre not here to solve a technical issue, like an engineer. No one really asked for marbles playing music, and the world doesnt depend on it. Youre not here to reinvent the wheel nor invent something completely new that would revolutionise the world. Your Marble Machine is a machine not in the sense of a lathe or mill, its a sculpture, an expression of yourself. Your goals arent necessarily financial, your goals are to express yourself through this machine. otherwise it's a waste of time if all you could do is just use a bunch of solenoids and a computer to play the instruments. Theres a guy who builds a marble clock. You might want to get in touch with him ;)

[@hyperteleXii]

One might argue that the first machine was a success, since it has enabled Martin to literally express himself all these years to an audience. I'm not convinced he actually needs to build anything, as long as he veils any expression under the guise of being part of the journey of the machine, even though he *started* with a working sculpture and has been moving further and further away into this engineering management design philosophy theory.

[@brentwheels]

I’m a subscriber to the marble clock channel. I was here, even a patreon member up until a couple years ago. Then he literally went off the marble rails. Martin’s problem is he listened to Elon talking about “making things less dumb” and then immediately set dumb goals for sub 3ms tightness which the human ear can’t even detect. SMH. This was a great channel, now it’s like a grift.

[@Skjoldmc]

At this point it's the Marble Machine 4. The third marble machine died in the planning phase.

[@innertuber4049]

MMX was the second machine

[@NoRemorse92086]

​@@innertuber4049 exactly...

[@SpaceCadet22]

I wouldn't go as far as a MM4... more like MM3 Mk II. The final version of the MM3 won't be the Mk II for sure, and we may never know which iteration of the MM3 that eventually goes on tour is. Really, both the original Marble Machine and the MMX were prototypes. MM3 was a design idea that didn't get off the ground. MM3 Mk II is more like the Marble Machine Mk IV, and that's really a great thing. The MMX took a long time to finally be put away. The MM3 was scrapped as an idea before it took much time at all. Each iteration that gets designed now should end up more refined than the last, and take less and less time to design and scrap than the last until the Marble Machine gets a design worthy of being built.

[@tommj4365]

it's still being planned, it's not dead, plans need time to evolve

[@NoRemorse92086]

@@tommj4365 when you go back to the basics like answering questions like "why", that's starting again. I'm a mechanical designer. When I get far enough into a design, see a flaw at it's core, and need to start nearly all over with the initial premise, it's a new version.

[@Danny-sb4jd]

"I dare to do exactly that" I'M NOT FUCKN LEAVIN

[@creageous]

All the people who watched every video over the years will appreciate this.

[@akaHarvesteR]

You can see Martin is rising out the right side of a Dunning-Kruger skill chart: MM1: he doesn't know what he doesn't know. This is the blissful, gleeful experimentation phase. MMX: He knows how much he doesn't know. This is where things get a loss less fun, as you realise now how difficult the task really is, but lacking the skills to get it done, you just know what the _correct_ way to do it is. MM3 (prototyping): He now doesn't know how much he knows. Now Martin has new skills, but it still feels like newly acquired knowledge, and every new skill learned is a new hammer, to which everything is nails. MM?: this is the other end of the valley. You know exactly how much you know, and with that comes the wisdom to _choose_ the things you want to do, simply because you want to do them, and you know now that you can. This fourth phase is I think called the Plateau of Mastery, and it is as positive as the 1st phase. Martin deciding he wants to make it because he loves it and because it's fun means he seems to be cresting the edge of the plateau. ...I hope 😅

[@ekkef70]

Wonderful words! Thank you very much!

[@terry_the_terrible]

Engineer and creator here. There is always another valley

[@craftedbyorre]

Great that you have found your “why”, Martin! You should display the “why” prominently in the room that you’re working in from now on, so that you are reminded of the “why” until the project is finished.

[@XYZ-cp2cv]

After almost 10 years of working on is a good question 😅

[@mrbfox1775]

Answer: KZbin revenue

[@isaiasabinadisosagarcia936]

While I'm sure that doesn't hurt him, I'm sure Martin would trade any KZbin revenue for a finished machine that would fulfil his dreams

[@PhantomPanic]

@@isaiasabinadisosagarcia936 Don't be so sure on that.

[@mrbfox1775]

@@isaiasabinadisosagarcia936 dude vacationed in south France on KZbin money.

[@hypersonicpiano6120]

​@@mrbfox1775I fail to see the significance of that. Especially if you live in Europe, France is a stone's thow away.

[@Dmitry_IMHO]

I live in Slovakia, in my daughter’s school, in the morning, I always can hear in the hallway your “marble machine” playing. So you have already achieved one of your goals. People like to listen to it even without looking on it. Just know it.

[@zsupermicrowave_6553]

I watched this video a couple of hours ago and now I'm in my bed relaxing a bit, but at a certain point I really felt the need to go back to this video and say thank you. I love how you're documenting this journey from the start, this is the most important part of all projects and people always hide it. You showing this process to everyone is the best lesson that I could have had for project planning and management, I'm sure that all the things that I'm learning from your videos will be super useful in my life and I really need to say thank you Martin for all of this. I'll make sure to remember your lessons and honor you by not failing on my next project

[@polychronisdoumpas3081]

You will be surprised how a lot of big things are made bc of a 'why not?' It always surprises me

[@mf_rat]

@JonaasK "Why? Why not? Why not you? Why not now?" - Aslan

[@MrPointness]

I suspect that many, if not most, of those"'why not?"-s , if dissected, would be just padding for the real "why"-s like "because it's fun", or "because it's cool". I have a hard time imagining a project built solely around a "because why not?". I think a "why not" is only used to shut down criticisms when others find that reasons like "because its fun/cool" insufficient. Shut down in a potentially valid way, mind you, as the "why not" tries to imply that there would be no major downsides to attempting it.

[@polychronisdoumpas3081]

@@MrPointness yeah most likely, it shrinks doubt

[@thedoczekpl]

"Science isn't about WHY. It's about WHY NOT. Why is so much of our science dangerous? Why not marry safe science if you love it so much? In fact, why not invent a special safety door that won't hit you on the butt on the way out, because you are fired!" ~ Cave Johnson, 1958

[@theJonnymac]

why not, is just refusing the answer the question to begin with. The why is still there. Its a misdirect to kill the conversation around why.

[@PollyBonanzas]

This makes sense to me. Achievability is important. Not that you can’t make a massive, overcomplicated marble machine, but something more manageable makes more sense. In the end, I just want to hear more cool music you and your band mates create.

[@johnfrian]

The clips of the previous machine(s) playing music while parts are shaking and moving all over the place, huge cogs turning, funnels visibly struggling to catch the wildly falling marbles, the crude levers that manipulate parts of the geometry, a fully integrated bass guitar that looks like a wooden borg machine has assimilated it.. The artist working overtime with their hands to flip levers and play notes on the bass while stomping away at a floor pedal or cranking a crank for power. And it plays enjoyable music. It's absolutely mesmerizing!

[@m0rjjj666]

This channel went from "Let's build a marble machine" to "Let's learn project management"

[@dhyanais]

This channel is well its way to: Why perfectionism doesn't achieve anything except revolving around itself.

[@PabloEdvardo]

well to be fair, building a marble machine requires project management

[@jf41012]

Technically it went from "Hey, let's make cool music" to "why not build our own music instruments and experiment with sounds?" to "that worked quite well, why not build something that can play music with marbles?" to "let's improve that something and build the MMX for a world tour + make two albums for it" to ... well wherever we are at right now. And it makes me sad how the music which previously was THE CORE COMPONENT/REASON for everything has faded out completely by now 😥

[@tokero5199]

@@jf41012 Descending into perfection madness...

[@XanBos]

The one thing you may not know, is there those of us who are here for the long haul. Ok so you take a break before actually starting the next build. That’s ok. Those who truly believe in you will be here until the end. (I’m included in that) There is probably more than just seeing another machine being built that keeps me here, but I won’t go into that. What I will say is that you have sparked a fire that I think will keep people here to see this until the end. As an artist I never ask why…I usually reply with why not? Because mostly when someone wants to know why, I come back with”because I can” and that is reason enough. We don’t need to validate beyond our own understanding of what we can do, to make something from our mind, and bring it to fruition. Keep moving forward,and you will get there.❤❤

[@tigerzero5216]

I agree.

[@fleeb]

I work as a software engineer. Our team asked this very question today. In some ways, we didn't need to know... we could have just continued doing the task requested of us without knowing the answer. But, if we wanted to function both as engineers and artists, we needed to know. Because without knowing why, we can not modify the requirements while working on the project to make it better. So, weirdly, I don't view asking 'why' as an engineering question. It is an artists question, as applied to engineering.

[@EskoLuontola]

Sometimes asking "why" enables major simplification. For example, going from a multi-month project to "this could be just an email."

[@NickCombs]

I'm constantly asking why as a solo dev creating cross functional tools. Each stakeholder will give different reqs and only has a piece of the overall scope. Plus they are less detail oriented and tend to gloss over assumptions. So a lot of the work is teasing out the why of each req before writing line one. Then there's discovery. I mentioned it last week, but every project will discover new blockers and reqs during implementation. We're only limiting them with planning by covering the things we know beforehand. So there's a balancing act between too much and too little planning.

[@jhalanddesign]

it’s a design question. ‘Why’ is a really important tool, and a way to know if you’ve solved any problem.

[@PabloEdvardo]

I used to get annoyed when the grey beards would ask me "Why?" until I became the grey beard.

[@DaShikuXI]

A marble machine is something that is inherently imperfect, simply due to physics. The more you chased perfection the less you allowed this machine to be a marble machine. The machine was losing its identity. I hope that with this altered mindset you can bring it back.

[@patrickradcliffe3837]

This absolutely nails where Martin has ended up at.

[@skorp5677]

He does not chase the perfect machine, he want to perfectly fulfill his design requirements. Maybe the millisecond delays were a little over the top but besides that, he got closer to the MM3 with every video :)

[@Imperial_Squid]

Exactly, if you taking mechanical perfection to the end state, the marble machine just becomes a device that drops a marble onto the play button of a wav file. I appreciate that Marten may care a great deal about some perfectly done machine but I think the janky "oh my god how is this thing still working?!" aspect was one of the greatest elements of it's charm

[@bennspray]

Simple = achievable In a moment I thought Martin was losing his mind, now I think he just realised that we just want him playing good music, the machine is just complementary not the main thing.

[@bimbom3745]

it's slowly morphing into a philosophy channel now

[@ilyaholt8607]

Welcome back to Philosophy Wednesdays with Wintergatan!

[@TheBookDoctor]

I don't think this process reduces my interest in watching the videos. Rather, I'm finding that the lessons you're sharing about planning and project management, clarifying goals, etc., are proving to be very useful in my own life and work. I know me, and I would not have set out on my own to learn about project management. So for you to do that and to share the journey with me is an incredible gift and a benefit. It's very interesting, and gives me new and better ways to think about my own life. I will definitely keep watching!

[@thriftynifty859]

Isn't it funny, if you were to watch all of Martin's videos backwards you would watch a great series of making a brilliant machine from design to full stage production 😂 maybe that's the point?

[@hyperteleXii]

First video: Artistic demonstration of functioning machine Last video: Here's why I'm going to build one

[@skorp5677]

He was very lucky in the beginning. Now he is preparing for success. This is the difference.

[@arielkoo]

In the time you're spending finding the reasons to build the machine, Dough from sv seeker has built an entire ship and now the guy is sailing aboard his own dream, why? well, because his dream wasn't related to KZbin income.

[@viktorekhojd3345]

Next episode of Wintergatan "Why do we even exist?"

[@jeenio]

I don't know how many years I've been following Martin, this video really spoke to me more than anything before. This is not about the great engineering solutions or the process of finding out which escape gate works the best. It's a journey of self discovery and soul digging for the utmost purpose of an artist. I've been dealing with depression and lots of wrong turns in my artistic career, and watching this video really made an impact. Martin, or whoever reads this, it's wonderful that you allow yourself going this path and I truly hope you can achieve your goals. And because this is one of the few of the latest videos that you didn't say it, I will say "good luck with everything that you're doing".

[@sarinhighwind]

Martin could write the best book on procrastination.

[@yorisfreshie]

This seems to be going in a great direction! Seeing you go from the design goal of "greatest mechanical music machine of all time" to "fun" has been a huge relief, cause after the bass slide videos i was convinced the machine will never be. Also I really enjoy the learning to plan videos and don't mind them at all. For this one and the previous one i have been sitting down with a notepad and writing down ideas i could use for my future projects!

[@n9ghtb9k5r]

The other marble machines were certainly not failures, especially by your current criteria and reasons why: they both allowed you to learn and have fun, they were total success in that regard. I also think that the requirement for tight robotic music and not losing marbles are dumb, there I said it, elephants out now, maybe this is just me being me and not being a music aficionado, but to me the sounds, imperfections and unintended memorabilia (aka marbles on the floor) are part of the quirks that endear me to the marble machines and their journey. Cheers!

[@wouter7641]

Moreover: timing imperfections make music sound human. I think it's a good thing to be quite honest

[@YozhikvTumane]

Finally I heard Martin say what I've been thinking all this time I've followed this project: let the machine sound like a machine playing music and use the humans, i.e. the Wintergatan band members, to sound like humans playing music. The whole purpose of an autonomous machine is appealing to me and I would like Martin to reconsider using an electric motor to power the beast instead of a complicated manually cranked huygen drive. The highlight of a live concert would be the machine playing a tune all by itself while the band goes offstage for q refreshing intermission

[@Visible.Friend]

Martin, I love the way you think. I am going through the simplify stage in my own life. Thanks for sharing your deep dive one step at a time. It's been terrific. I'm sending you a hUg, Lee

[@jeremybristol4374]

I love that you're asking "why?" Design is is modeling. But the mind is infinitely creative. Design gives us the tools to make better decisions. By asking why you're designing the scope before you design the elements. I'm here for the journey.

[@jmkool01]

One of the most powerful things this process of asking 'why' does, and it's important not to skip over this, is highlight the *wrong* reasons for a project. To call out the poor excuses your brain creates. You know they are poor excuses, and if they're weighing you down then it can drag your whole project down and kill your motivation. By reminding yourself that they are terrible reasons and you have much better ones, you can refocus mid-project negativity into positivity.

[@corb805]

As a first-year engineering student, seeing you go through this massive change in mindset is genuinely inspiring. I am just as interested in watching your videos as before, not because of my own sunk-cost fallacy of wanting to see your project be finished, but because seeing you take this journey to become an artist-engineer is compelling in of itself. Do not worry about people leaving because you aren't building. There is a real story that you want to tell, and the people who watch you have come to see you narrate this story. Work hard, Martin, you got this.

[@thomasbecker9676]

As a first-year, you're still wearing your rose-tinted glasses. That'll change real fast when you get into the real world and people that approach projects like Martin does will infuriate you.

[@corb805]

@@thomasbecker9676 Don't get me wrong, I know that I know very little about engineering. But I do think that watching Martin gain an engineering mindset and learn things to help himself design and construct better is genuinely entertaining, including from my perspective of a engineering student.

[@grahamthomas9319]

lol 😂 first rule of engineering school never ever give one of these numpty heads a reason to feel superior. They will run with it to the moon. From now on, start every post with as a 50 year seasoned engineer.

[@thomasbecker9676]

@@corb805 Sure, but as someone with 15+ years as an engineer that remembers how I was as a freshman, your mindset will change.

[@sirzebra]

@@thomasbecker9676 or maybe you just lost sincere interest for art and curiosity by working for too long in environnements that can be tough for your expectations and your sanity. Still, dont try and ruin the kid's sincere candor about having the perspective of an artist delve into his subject of study. I get it, passionate irrational people make shitty engineers to work with, but there's enough old bitter and cold hearted drones out there, don't ask him to skip the steps straight to where you are, because i'm sorry to say, there still "old" people that know how to dream, to enjoy the process, to create for no reason, even if they've been harassed by their work or their colleagues or their unreliable clients. Not everyone ends up in a place where's they are fine with having no "childlike" quality to their thoughts, no place for wonder and curiosity.

[@3D_foos]

congratulations on finally finding the starting line. now remember slow and steady wins the race. best of luck on making it to the finish line!!

[@idunnoimjustbored]

When we make digital music, half the time we focus on splitting sounds via frequency ranges. That might work to simplify the intrument too! Maybe one bass string with a whole octave and semitone range, maybe 2 whole octaves on midtone instruments, and the rest is simple percussives. No need for a mega sized drum, when modulating it on stage for a clean impact is always possible. Those contact mics worked wonders before.

[@lapointdaniel]

Martin’s project isn’t the marble machine. It’s a KZbin channel.

[@marcusf4266]

Hi, Martin. You're search for the fundamental question and you willingness to question and reqestion the process makes you're canals one of the most intressting on KZbin. All love to you

[@felixokeefe]

I'm worried that your quest for perfection will be your undoing. Part of the charm of the first marble machine was how flawed it was.

[@justinnaramor6050]

OK, but please remember the first machine was "flawed" so much to the point it could not play that first tune reliably. That is just unacceptable, whether the listener is a musician or not. That video literally required hundreds of takes or something like that, it was that bad. Shit, even a simple scale couldn't be played reliably on that thing!

[@Kayakvet]

So proud of you! Living to embrace Youthful Curiosity nonjudgmentally IS the why we do things. That’s why we love being here with you, this journey. Ask Bilbo, the journey started scared with one step, being judged by his peers, he became the hero when he asked ‘what is in my pocket?’. In the end he reflected in peace and wrote his journeys while Sméagol chasing loss. Take care, recharge your dopamine, we’ll see you when you have the energy to write your adventures again. You got this!

[@X22GJP]

Gotta’ be honest, I’ve followed this journey with great interest and respect. I loved the original machine with all of its flaws, still listen to the album at least once a month and look forward to the next. Would also be great to see live. But…all of this theory and chasing what, why, and how, just screams to me of procrastination and makes it feel like it’s all just an idea now. Of course, it is, but you know what I mean. At the end of the day, through all that has transpired, there is more than enough experience, data, information, knowledge and even some wisdom to build what you know you want to build to the tolerances and specification you’re happy with. Rather than being all philosophical about it, it needs to get back on track with some practical development.

[@wejzu8516]

I'm here for the journey. :) You don't owe us anything. These videos are more than enough. Cheers Martin.

[@davesmith9325]

Actually some think he does : people contributed cash to fund the mmx. Not endless contemplation philosophical procrastination

[@gregself6203]

Finally, you have realised that it does not have to play like a human. The Moog synthesizer didn't but it changed music forever.

[@Ayshel]

Even if i prefer mechanics above everything, I love this serie so much, wow. WOW

[@niclash]

Simple is much harder than Complicated.

[@mbcommandnerd]

5:34 - I just KNEW that one was coming! Thanks for finally mentioning Animusic in a video, Martin! And to all the people in this comment section who are saying that “the marble machine 3 died in the planning phase” or “every time Martin reads a book the project gets sidetracked:” HAVE SOME F***ING PATIENCE. Martin is trying to teach us lessons that could come in handy in the future. You never know when you could be tasked with a massive project (or you choose to do one voluntarily). All of the problems that Martin is talking about here are ones that any of us could hit at any time. So long story short: be patient, and let Martin cook. It may take months, years, or even decades-but one day, Marble Machine 3 IS going to become a reality!

[@br52685]

You act like the rest of us have never tackled large projects before, or ever needed to be organized. That's simply not true. As far as "taking lessons"...sorry, but when I need to learn something, I turn to someone who's accomplished (ie., finished) something.

[@YogiTheBearMan]

He showed animusic in a previous MM3 video, didn’t he? he was considering a rotating shaft with different instruments on the same marble channel like one of the animations.

[@OrafuDa]

9:04 You have no idea how positive I see this pause. It’s a dopamine boost. You are looking at the most important things again, the “whys”, at a point where you might have just about enough experience to make a good design. Maybe. This feels like absolutely the right thing to do.

[@Zant5976]

Horseshoe theory is going to bring us right back to the OG Marble Machine :^)

[@Smrts955]

Heres another positive reason to build the marble machine. It brings enjoyment to your youtube audience

[@lapointdaniel]

You bring an interesting point to the surface. He does not include us, some who have been viewers for several years. We have invested time (and for some, money), to see the marble machine be realized. Potential proof that this journey is an internal, cyclical ego itch…or a grift.

[@fredrikjohansson]

You maybe forgot “To share the adventure creating the machine with all your fans”

[@JohnLeePettimoreIII]

*_Science_* asks, "Why?" *_Art_* asks, "Why not?"

[@JoeTaber]

Engineering is the union of those two questions.

[@RupeeRhod]

Science asks as much "Why not?" as art does. Maybe more.

[@psgouros]

Engineering says “it’ll work!” Science asks “you sure about that?” ;-) Art does ask “why?” But it’s worth remembering that the medium is part of the message… in this case, why is it important to the music that it be created (or at least executed) by a complex mechanism?

[@dazley8021]

@@JoeTaber No, engineers ask: "Please don't?"

[@OrbvsTomarvm]

basically: now ive got the cash - CYA

[@mrbfox1775]

Yup. They why is the KZbin revenue

[@OrbvsTomarvm]

@@mrbfox1775 concurred. 👍🏻

[@jerther_]

"Why? To learn and have fun." This. You spoke to my soul, Martin. It's the reason I'm alive. I almost shed a tear.

[@ChuTV_poketchu]

Glad to see you setting your project on a pace that lets you time to ask yourself the big questions.

[@ussarng4649]

I've been following, for a long time, this journey that Martin is on. I've not been disappointment in the experience, mostly I learned a few things. I haven't given up on Martin and his Marvelous Marble Machine. I was a bit worried when it was going to be a stage. I thought that that would be less magical and more of a prop. But if he had done it I would have been impressed. I like the gears and the marble runs. I think that could be part if the music. I though know little to nothing about music. Martin though knows a lot about music and has come to know a lot about marble machines. Loving your journey Martin.

[@ThatRedHead717]

I don't think these videos are less interesting than your more mechanical hands on building videos. I think these are beautiful in their own way! I am working on some big design projects myself and your videos on this topic are helping me understand how I can be successful in my own life. The self-help KZbin channel I never expected. Thanks Martin!

[@Alexander-jc9yx]

Even if you don’t succeed in building this marble machine, you will not have failed! You will successfully have entertained people through your content, successfully created a community around your machines and inspired a whole lot of other ideas. Your first machine didn’t succeed but was still a huge success! Or at least that’s my view…

[@DerSascha]

My dear Martin, please be assured, for me, as a viewer from the first marble machine on, I will continuine follow you on your journey to a funktional marble machine you play marvelous music on in a world tour. Keep up to good work! WE WILL FOLLOW YOU!

[@Endoe.McKronic]

Like "why do people continue giving Martin money on Patreon?"

[@michaelfink64]

I think one (among many) of the reasons I like watching your videos is that I also love marble runs. I grew up in the 1970s, so way before the internet and video streaming, but, probably like many kids my age, I independently (I think - can't remember seeing anything about them at the time) discovered marble runs. In my case, it all started with Lego, with which I was somewhat obsessed. I remember making towers supporting complex runs made of the edges of thin (1 dot wide) lego pieces or Lego train tracks with rotating features. I would race marbles down parallel slots and try to guess which one would win. I agree that this childlike sense of fun has to be an important motivation for the MM3.

[@atrus3823]

So happy you reworded it. As soon as you were talking about “why”, I was thinking, “‘why’ leads to a bunch of false justifications. Better to ask, what do I hope to achieve?” You basically mirrored this in your rephrasing. Edit: if it works for you, that’s great, but my experience has told me not to dive too much into personal motivations. The problem is, there is always another why, and ultimately you cannot really know yourself or your motivations. Everything basically comes down to, “because I want to.” I have found that it is often better to just have faith that you know what you want and focus on achieving it. So much more enrichment comes from achievement than trying to satisfy some nebulous and mercurial concept you have of yourself. Only update your preferences based on evidence.

[@MrBluelightzero]

I'm starting to think this project is going to outlive you.

[@MidwestSirenProductions]

Martin, I’ll never stop enjoying this style of content, and my excitement to watch the next phase of the project grow slowly and methodically has not wavered. I’ll be here, and many others will be too. You’ve really helped me mature as a practical engineer. More often than not I find myself not asking “why”, because I would just turn to the reason: “because I was told to do it”. As I work on new projects, I will make it a point to start listing off reasons “why”, and to sort out the impractical reasons and focus on the ones that matter. If anything, doing so will greatly help me work on my troubles of assigning priority.

[@posnikao]

I love how I started watching this projet as a engineering student, in the hype for learning mechanical machines, and now I sit every Thursday morning with my coffee to listen to awesome design tips and tricks by Martin

[@jannepeltonen2036]

Why -> have fun -> simpler -> more achievable. This sounds like a really healthy path to be on. This video actually raised my motivation to see throgh your journey :)

[@NotDrDre]

I’ve learned so much about engineering and design processes from you. Thank you for sharing your hero’s journey with us. 😊

[@Cuperino]

Thank you for this. It makes me realize that I also need to ask myself these questions. Thank you for sharing your process!

[@bluplacebo]

This was a very insightful video, Martin. You really analyzed your motivations, obstacles, and goals and distilled them down to their essences. Remember that you are building a musical instrument that has never been built before, which is a huge undertaking. The guitar was not born fully realized. It took centuries of experimentation and refinement to arrive where it is today, and it is still being refined. You have built two highly complex versions of the marble machine, and while they weren't everything you wanted them to be, they were still marvelous. They were necessary for you to learn from, to develop an understanding of what works and what doesn't, and to envision a better, more evolved version of the marble machine. Don't look at the earlier versions as failures, look at them as stepping stones.

[@victorboyer187]

Your journey of becoming a better engineer has been fascinating and inspiring watch, I have learned so much by watching you learn. Keep up the good work!

[@LReBe7]

Martin, I am actually really enjoying seeing you going through the entire design process. I feel like it's making me a better engineer and more in control of my career.

[@27Jaak]

Great insight! I am currently working on a new project of my own and have applied a lot of the wisdoms I learned through your and fellow influencers openly growing projects. Being a silent observer of your videos for years, I came to the same conclusions while working on this over the past 2 months, each time I made significant progress, I see your videos not long after displaying the same kind of evolution, breaking it down for us even more consicely while adding your own ideas and thoughts. And I wanted to thank you for this, you helped me open my eyes on a lot of things and processes I took for granted. Your work is greatly appreciated and I, for one, will keep watching this beautiful journey of evolutionary birth and rebirth not just of a machine, but also of it's maker and everyone following along. Peace

[@strati5phere]

I have and will watch all of your videos Martin. I am not a musician but I have a passion for creativity and that is enough for me to enjoy living vicariously through your creative process. I believe in you.

[@Littlelurch85]

I love this process that you are going through Martin. This machine is going to be perfect by the time that you are done! Keep it up.

[@stianmathisen166]

I've been following you since the start, since the Lego and the wood. I love all of your design and planning videos, as I'm in a similar place myself, taking on a massive project that ended up becoming my dragon.. I'm starting a company, and we have been working on our infrastructure. Several of your videos have released on times where we have been struggling to get things to work, integration hell.. but every single video about design, critical thinking and asking why have gotten our gears back running as we see a lot of similarities between our project and way of thinking, we feel we are rediscovering our project after seeing your content, and that has helped us a lot. Keep making good and informational videos, looking forward to the next discovery with you ❤

[@noahgoldmanman]

Hi Martin! Starting each video with a bit of music on one of your custom instruments might help with viewership during the planning & pre-planning videos. I know I'd enjoy it! We love watching you play and tinker 😄

[@solsang]

This is the most profound and useful series ever, I fully resonate my with projects where feature creep has gotten out of hand, looking forward to each new episode!!

[@gobbel2000]

I wonder who Martin will be remembered as in 100 years. As a musician? A videographer? An engineer? An inspiration? A philosopher? I cannot tell.

[@douglascaskey7302]

Nobody. Martin is like the joke " what runs around the yard, but never gets anywhere?"... a fence.

[@detBits]

@@douglascaskey7302unnecessary and rude

[@peterdilworth3110]

Be careful not to be too hard on yourself for the Marble Machine. I think it was a great way to prove to yourself that the idea has merit. You need to believe in it, If you don't believe, you can't bring anyone else along for the ride. Good work and enjoy it!

[@Holistacia]

these videos are not less interesting to me and likely a large portion of people watching! this is really interesting and it makes me happy to watch, as this not only helps your marble machine but helps me open up too! ive been very close minded with projects but ive taken help from your videos and it really made a difference. im so glad to see how the marble machine project is changing. keep up the great work

[@staticrodent]

It doesn't matter to me what your form your marble machine design videos take. I will always be here to see whatever you have with bated breath. Even videos like this!

[@JDoors]

Reminds me of a quote by Colin Chapman, the creator of Lotus cars, which were famous for being quick and nimble, made possible by using smaller, lighter components, "Simplify, then add lightness”.

[@TijgerPapa]

You did not fail on the marble machine x, you learned. you learned things needed to proceed on this journey. You're not procrastinating, you're giving your mind time to catch up and structure ideas. When you go for a walk in the park, there are benches for a reason 😉.

[@stabilini]

a couple of years later... and we are again on the right path... thanks !

[@11Rastafari11]

maybe you know the feeling, which could also be a reason WHY. me as an teen loved building stuff in the field of electronics, high voltage high frequenzy and chemistry stuff.. but i also asked me those questions and in the end i always come to the clue, that i just love the process of building, educating myself, learning new stuff and the most depressing part of every project or idea was, when it was finished, worked and there was nothing more to improve. I just love the phase of building, learning and the little perfectionist in me and maybe this could also be an "why" for you which needs much self-consciousness to see that. i love your work and i could relate much of your style of inventing thinks in the art of perfectionise smth. to myself. greets from germany

[@Menown7]

Some may call it "boring" but i love to see you go through this whole process and hear what you have learnt

[@sodmade9446]

The instant you release the tour dates, I'll get a ticket, doesn't matter if I need to fly from Mexico to the heart of europe to see you (and the machine) live

[@zekodun]

@wintergatan While one wishes to use the machine as a muse to compose music, one has become a muse for project management and startup culture. Thank you greatly for diving into the behind the scenes in these videos.

[@gcwarkenyout]

Martin, I've religiously watched every single video on your channel since I got mesmerized by the original marble machine video so many years ago. In a way, I feel that your marble journey mingle with my own journey in life, and I got a little worried with the path the project was heading with that overly functional centered design process, 10m 90 degrees stern machine. However, with the last few videos I got really happy to see you steering back to the roots of this decade long artistic endevour, I love seeing you are connecting back to that artist that created weird musical machines to make music that sound like the Milky Way, that's what made this whole thing unique. It is true the channel viewship may decline, but I for one am quite pleased and happy with this shift. We're back at having fun, and that is really precious.

[@buidelrat132]

To build the machine, first build the man. Don't listen to the haters bro, I'm here for the journey. ❤

[@Ragdollmaster333]

I think i realized the design of the past machines was so mesmeizing becasue you can see the chaos of all the marbles making beautiful music. From chaos, comes order.

[@scaredyfish]

I love this series. It’s inspiring me to think in more detail about my own projects. I’m behind you 100%, Martin!

[@TheSws64]

I truly love when you stop your process and think about everything. It really shows your care for craft and want to make sure this succeeds. Stopping your process isn't stopping anything, it's just putting the focus on where it needs to be to grow and develop the best thing you can! Love ya, Martin, and keep on keepin' on!

[@musicbro8225]

Guess what Martin - You're not getting younger, neither am I... With respect!

[@AnalogOrchard]

I’m so glad to hear that you are making this machine for fun. I believe you can and will make an awe-inspiring and fun machine. And I am here for it as long as it takes. Keep it up, Martin.

[@UnfamusOfficial]

I'm here for this kind of content. I really enjoy your chatter and scribbles.

[@SuperSpatman]

I think that the time I've spent watching this channel is turning into a sunken cost fallacy.

[@Yous0147]

This is awesome Martin. Genuinely life altering stuff, not only for you, but for us following along too, especially those of us with our own projects in mind.