Using a Cricut to Make DIY Music Boxes

[@Coffeebrain_1981]

I made over 200 stripes (didn't count exactly, could be 100 more) by hand since middle 1990ies, some of them 1-2 m long ... I really will get it. Thank you soooo much for this video!

[@butwhytho4858]

Oh. My. Gosh. This is amazing. I own a Cricut AND I’m so into music boxes… AND AND the Wintergatan performances are MY FAVORITE VIDEOS ON ANY PLATFORM… I strangely feel choked up, like I might cry, it’s that beautiful to me (it’s a reaction I cannot make sense of lol) I stumbled upon this by pure accident, but I feel like my brain has been replaced with happy pop-rock candy hahah; how much joy I feel instantly because of this!!! I cannot wait to visit that website too! I think I’m in Heaven tbh 🤣 ok ok I need to calm down LOL Also, on a side note, ur voice is amazing. You should get into reading audiobooks. I’d buy em’ with a voice like that! Ty for giving my cricut new meaning!

[@MusicBoxRox]

Wow. Many thanks! Hope this continues to inspire you!

[@BoxOfMusic3]

Hey there! I just decided to peruse KZbin tonight to see what other music box channels were out there, and I have to say I was quite surprised when I heard you start talking about me haha! I appreciate the compliment and thanks for sharing some of your tips too :)

[@MusicBoxRox]

Thanks! Keep up the good work!

[@YourFriendGrace]

I’ve never used a cricut (or even heard of it) but I love music boxes so much, so KZbin recommended this to me and I am just soooo impressed and inspired to try this now! Thank you so much for the time and effort in explaining things so well! 💚

[@erinmusicbox]

This is fascinating! The amount of manual labor involved in punching holes has always turned me off of creating physical music box strips, but I love this idea! Thanks so much for this tutorial.

[@AllenPearcy]

A fellow TI-99/4A user! Great video thanks! I didn't know I was missing this Hobby until now!

[@RainbowHii]

Great video Rox! Music box brings me so much fun, so does watching your video!

[@AngelaMartinez-nb6ze]

This video is amazing-so comprehensive! Thank you for sharing your expertise and your findings!

[@maychan26]

Wow..... this is just.... WOW

[@jasenjacobsen4197]

Great job. You can use multiple colored pens, too. And the Cricut will do print & cut. Print on your printer with registration marks and then cut the full color image precisely aligned. There is a size limit, but it works well.

[@StrictlySteam]

Very interesting! I may have to invest in one of those cutting machines!

[@슈품-w1x]

Thank you so much! This is what I look for

[@Numocron]

I love music boxes so much❤️😍🥰🎶🎵

[@sharvilsawargaonkar5791]

One of the most underrated KZbinr I mean what a idea bro just awsome the thing that takes around days to be made it can be made in hour or maybe in minutes If the music is short thank you I ordered circut electronic cutter and it coasted me 50,700 rupees in india it can be also used for doing other DIY

[@markolucina9671]

Great idea for music boxes. Excelent tutorial. After a few days I bought Cricut Maker and I'm testing strips production. I want to use for street organ strips as well but first need to work with vectors and graphic software well. Thank you Box Rox.

[@danielcho1700]

Thank you for your inspiration. I love you man!

[@betsygrueninger5584]

Way to go JD!! Very precise (and artistic) tutorial😊👍

[@JasenWilson]

Pro tip for keeping the paper more flat, flip it over and pull the mat off the paper instead of the paper off the mat

[@j.c.cannon2112]

I really love the way you were presenting all the info, but the loud music makes it a little hard to hear your voice at some points and is a tad annoying to listen through to hear you, especially considering how sharp each note is.

[@JESKABILITY]

It causes sensory overload, sounds awful

[@katelynharris5453]

Thank you sooooo much for this channel!

[@joergenlang]

I use a laser cutter. Feel free to get in touch. :) I compose/arrange in Logic Pro, export as MIDI, then convert MIDI to PDF via a custom script. Then I use LightBurn to make the holes. The script also takes care of correctly drawing the shapes of the strips so the laser can cut them out *after* the holes have been cut. Connect the strips, play, enjoy!

[@julieflanagan9186]

Can you share the SVG file that you made for the longer pieces with the "puzzle" end connectors?" I would love to try this!

[@MusicBoxRox]

That's a great idea. Here's the Adobe Illustrator file: drive.google.com/file/d/12EMWPzrQiFCfCPSrPG57REyrCl09r9qq/view?usp=sharing

[@cocourtnae-9325]

My little sister in law is obsessed with titanic and Christmas is coming up 😁

[@Ronyal]

Es impresionante. Muchas gracias por compartir esta valiosa información con toda la comunidad de fans de las cajas de música.

[@smwmusic_]

Hello, I’m interested in composing for and building custom music boxes. Are music box combs chromatic? Thank you for the video

[@MusicBoxRox]

A great place to start is this guide, put together by my colleague Hanneke: musicboxmaniacs.com/news/music_box_guide

[@dpiddy022]

subbed, never saw this before but it's really cool, thank you for doing a full tutorial!

[@NarAliviaMaybe]

Could you do another video on how to do it on Adobe I can't figure it out

[@symester5o546]

I prefer music boxes with the metal cylinders. I have a cricut maker 3 which I think can cut but also engrave wood and metal. I'm wondering if it's possible with some flexible metal to have the cricut engrave the notes onto metal, then it be possible to self mark the notes on the metal sheet, then wrap the metal around a cylinder and attach the proper comb? It sounds simple or possible in my mind, but I'm not positive that it can work that way. There aren't many music box channels that can explain in detail how making the cylinders work and the proper sizing

[@ikegraul_]

Thank you for all of your help. I've been able to successfully use the template, and even make glissandos. Not really asking for help on this, but I'm curious: do you ever use the nudge feature to create triplets or do you have some other way of executing those?

[@MusicBoxRox]

Absolutely. I helped to put together a written guide for all these musical tips and tricks, including triplets, glissandos, and Shepard tones: docs.google.com/document/d/1Y1h9dfHP8igvYAC5mWoAiipjsDuiF-0OQytNn8-QD4s/edit?usp=sharing

[@victorerazo8605]

I’ve been trying to make a sheet for my girlfriend for weeks. Converting the song and cutting it is taking forever and i keep messing up. Granted im just a beginner and just wanna do this for her as a gift but man I’ve never struggled with something so much

[@krmdhn]

Really hope my sister will get me cricut next year :") like yours

[@Shoopity]

I'd like to pick your brain. I just got into this and I'm actually using an Aufero Laser 2 to do the hole cutting. 1) I'm getting a little bit of slipping of the paper; even though I'm using 110lb card stock. Do you have any suggestions? I also occasionally get stray notes, typically where I've joined the paper. Did you ever make another video, or do you have a website with more info?

[@MusicBoxRox]

Thanks for your interest! Unfortunately, I don't know much about laser engraving... seems a bit dangerous to try with flammable paper! Regarding the stock, I tried every kind of poster board out there, and once I found one that worked, I used it exclusively. Every mechanism is different... too thick and the paper won't go through, too thin and it will just spin its wheels. Go to different stores and buy different poster boards until you find one that works!

[@Doc-Holliday1851]

I have a laser engraver. I wonder if you could do the same thing without burning the paper up

[@PieOnPot]

Dude. Wow. Thank you for sharing. Reminds me of Martin - he was also an inspiration to me - so intelligent; yet so willing to share. I own a 30-note box, but have only hand punched out a few songs due to time. I’ve also seen the video by Josh Sheldon and other attempts at automation (all incredible). 12:11 if you ever end up covering this more, would love to see it - I liked with “Josh Sheldon’s” solution it was one continuous strip, but this seems more streamlined for an average user.

[@minhnguyenhoangnhat2559]

Thank you verry much

[@beranozdemir]

Can I do the same operations with Cricut Joy?

[@lynwaring2141]

Great idea ..... I'll have to research 'music box' .... I have a Silhouette Cameo digital cutting machine .... this is a great project ....Thank you

[@ikegraul_]

This is really an amazing tutorial. You got me up and running in less than an hour. I have an illustrator question, and I'm wondering if you can suggest some terms to search for. I'm trying to slightly nudge some holes around in illustrator to create a glissando effect, and I'm not sure if there is an easier way to do it smoothly, like, maybe draw a diagonal path, and connect the holes to that path? I'm not very experienced with Illustrator. Anyway, if you can help me with some search terms to find an Illustrator tutorial I would be very grateful! Thanks again!

[@MusicBoxRox]

That's an excellent question, and something I do all the time. The simplest way to nudge something is to use the arrow keys on the keyboard: click on a hole, then [press right arrow key]. Then click on the hole above it: [2 presses of the right arrow key]. And so on. Experiment with how many keypresses results in something that sounds right to you. For more complex glissandos, I use Illustrator's "Distribute" function, which automatically spaces multiple holes out equally. It's in the "Align" panel: helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/using/moving-aligning-distributing-objects.html Extreme example of this in action, the ending of my Rush E music box: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iIialJx6et5lo5I

[@ikegraul_]

@@MusicBoxRox Thanks so much!

[@dintyshideaway9505]

That was really cool. You made the Tunnels of Doom music box just as I was launching my channel. and it inspired me to email the original composer and get permission to use it as the opening theme to my channel. I share your channel whenever I can. The other day a friend of mine and I were discussing how it was possible to make the Radiohead you recently released. Now we know! What an increadilble way to revive this ancient art form in a new high tech way.

[@sumedhshinde8096]

Could you share what we need to do for a music box with 33 notes!?

[@JessicaLynnIllustration]

Hey there! I found this video over on the Cricut subreddit. It's not my thing (I make art, vlogs, and stickers with my Cricut) but I wanted to say this is really interesting, very informative, and you did a great job! It seems very time consuming! 👍

[@krmdhn]

Btw this really helps, thanks a lot!

[@mariaformy4097]

Hello!!! Loved the idea! I have 2 questions! 1. How to fit the paper in empty music box in order to sell it?is there a way? 2. How to create a file like this of an original song of mine?

[@MusicBoxRox]

Good question regarding how to package the paper strip. They can get awkward to store/ship. You have to wind it in a loop, but I recommend as loose a loop as possible, without sharp corners. I use US Priority Mail boxes (small flat rate), with the strip lengthwise, and the music box in the middle. As far as question 2, my colleague Hanneke just created a guide for how to compose your own music box songs: docs.google.com/document/d/1Y1h9dfHP8igvYAC5mWoAiipjsDuiF-0OQytNn8-QD4s

[@edenhermony7875]

Thank you so much for sharing this. You did an excellent job making this tutorial understandable 🙏 Can you please note which model of the cricut you are using?

[@bearnaff9387]

One thing your viewers may not know is that the DIY music box system has been modified to act as a controller for some attempts at building a microfluidic potable lab. Instead of triggering the ringing of a tine, the punched paper mechanically triggers the addition of a tiny bit of a specific chemical (out of a collection of multiple chemicals in various prepared containers) into a small reservoir. The idea behind microfluidics is that tests to detect certain substances don't actually require large amounts of the needed chemicals to run - if small containers and chip-sized pumps can be developed, it becomes possible to do certain laboratory tests out in the field in the same way people test pool water, or test themselves for pregnancy. In this case, instead of a computer driving tiny electronic pumps, the crank mechanism pushes down on small mechanical pumps to dispense the chemicals to run different kinds of tests, based on what paper strip you run through. Your technique would make manufacture of lab-procedure control strips far more straightforward.

[@MusicBoxRox]

Are you actively doing this? I would love to see more info?

[@bearnaff9387]

@@MusicBoxRox If only it was me. I'll try to find what I can on he project.

[@ourjustice7132]

Is there a way you can create words instead of a song. I would like for a music box to say statements such as a positive affirmations instead of playing a song.

[@ilovemusic7194]

do all cricut machines have this capability?

[@gabrielinacio6350]

Hello, Jared Pike! I watched your video a lot of times, it’s a great video! But I have a question to you; exist some app or software that I can use to converting the songs to the model of the music box ? I wanna convert a playlist with 2h of duration, and this is very expensive in the site that you have recommended…

[@MusicBoxRox]

Yeah, there's no bulk way to convert songs to music box notation. Each one is a labor of love, done by a human being. If you have a specific one in mind, I recommend asking my friend Erin to help you: www.fiverr.com/erinmusicbox/arrange-any-song-for-your-diy-music-box-8343

[@ikegraul_]

Okay! I'm back for more tech support. :) I've been arranging and exporting and editing and saving as and uploading and cutting like a proper fool. And now I'm running into this: do you ever find that the chads get built up on your teeny tiny little blade until it stops cutting, even though it is still whirring around like a good little robot? Is that a sign that my mat needs to be cleaned? Maybe that I need to change my blade? I sure appreciate any insight you have.

[@MusicBoxRox]

That's great to hear! Yes, the chads getting stuck on the Cricut blade is a problem (especially heartbreaking if it's near the end of a cut, and the outlines of the strip don't get cut properly!) I don't know that there are definite solutions, but I would suggest: 1. After EVERY cut, remove the blade module and clear its contents into a trash can. 2. Try using the Poster Board+ setting on your Cricut, which cuts every hole and outline twice. 3. Go into your Cricut settings and change the pressure for the fine point blade... by default I think it's something like 300, I always max it out to 350.

[@ikegraul_]

@@MusicBoxRox Those suggestions have totally worked so far. Again, thanks for the support!

[@lakotacamp8533]

hello, i've been working on a gift for my gf for well over a year now and was wondering if the 30 note is the widest crank box available. I've made her a book that's hollowed out, the box fits inside and the music tape is painted with scenes from our dates. The problem is the window is about 4 inches wide, was wondering if there are any music boxes like this in your video just wider.

[@MusicBoxRox]

I don't know of DIY music boxes any wider than 30 notes. But that gift sounds amazing!

[@lakotacamp8533]

@@MusicBoxRox thank you so much for responding! I went ahead and got the 30 note you have and will use your method from this video for the music sheet. Thank you for all the videos, they help so many people!

[@emandavid3351]

Please reply how to know where you put hole in paper because i want to make a full song but i didnt know how to know where you put a hole

[@thekilljoy1193]

How did you insert the music box notes into the template?

[@Room502musicbox]

WOW... I REALLY REALLY WANT IT...... REALLY REALLY....

[@girlganggooddies1066]

I have a music box working with hole punch paper sheet but I can't make my favorite music can you help me pls.

[@HarveyDroke]

I also miss your mashup songs. Any tmbg or beatles medleys?

[@62141863]

Thank you for this insightful video! I was wondering if the cricut joy can achieve the same?

[@MusicBoxRox]

I don't know. They advertise being able to cut shapes up to 4 feet long, but that's only with their "Cricut Smart Materials." Don't know how it would handle plain old poster board.

[@philjohnson5415]

Thank you for making this video! Quick question: when importing the DXF file into Illustrator, is there any thing that needs to be pre-set for the DXF file to imported properly? When I import it into Illustrator (V25.0.1) I have to zoom in by 3,200% for me to view the marks for the holes.

[@MusicBoxRox]

There should be a dialog box when you open a DXF file in Illustrator, and under Artwork Scale you should check "Original Size," so that 1 unit = 1 inch.

[@philjohnson5415]

@@MusicBoxRox Thanks! That worked like a charm! The units were defaulting to pixels which added a lot of extra "noise" to the object. Thanks so much for replying and thank you for posting this video and all those wonderful 30-Note arrangements!

[@darkartprojects5749]

Is it possible to use vinyl on the strips? Just wondering if that would be too thick to run through the music box.

[@MusicBoxRox]

It would have to be pretty thin. Poster board barely makes it through, and if your music box had plastic gears they would likely break from the tension.

[@romein138]

Is it possible to put that type of player in an enclosure box and tape the paper together so that it is in an infinite loop and wraps in on itself instead of being manually fed?

[@MusicBoxRox]

Anything's possible!

[@ikegraul_]

Oh man, I hate to bug you, but now I'm wondering how you split the strip in order to arrange it on the multi-strip template. Do you flatten the holes and border to a single layer or use grouping somehow? I know, "tell me you are an Illustrator beginner without telling me you're an Illustrator beginner." 😂

[@MusicBoxRox]

No shame in being a beginner! That's why I made this video! It's somewhat hard to explain in a KZbin comment, but I'll do my best, and perhaps you can follow along in the video at the 12:10 mark, watching the video at 0.5x speed. The key is the grid... I have a 0.25" grid set up in Illustrator, with "Snap to Grid" turned on. Each strip is exactly 2.75" wide, and the top/bottom tabs are exactly 0.25" high. With that info, you can do the mathematics and type in the proper numbers in the "Properties" tab to move things without having to eyeball them. I use the red outer border as a guide, lining it (and the dots) up with the black border of the template. Then at the bottom of the black strip, I use the Pen tool to add two anchor points to the red border, at exactly 0.0" x 23.5" and 2.75" x 23.5". If you then Cut the path at those two anchor points, and Ungroup the result, you'll now have two red borders. Select the bottom red border in tandem with the bottom half of dots, and move the whole mess over to exactly 2.75" x 0.25". Repeat the process for the third/fourth strips, if necessary. When you're finished, delete all the red outer outlines, leaving the dots on one layer and the strip outlines on another layer (which you can then adjust separately if you need to).

[@ikegraul_]

​@@MusicBoxRox this is an outstanding explanation. Can't wait to get home to try it.

[@PieOnPot]

Just bought a Cricut Explore Air 2 - will give this a go! Could you re-upload your 4-strip template? Link is dead. Thanks again for all the detailed info -- inspiring share.

[@MusicBoxRox]

Oh dang, sorry... link should be fixed now! drive.google.com/file/d/12EMWPzrQiFCfCPSrPG57REyrCl09r9qq/view?usp=sharing

[@PieOnPot]

@@MusicBoxRox Thank you! Looking forward to playing around with this.

[@rosyisGREAT]

Amazing!

[@sabrinaflipse7732]

What song?

[@Shadowbrothe]

Not trying to be mean, but you and many others say “they make music boxes” when you are just making the sheet music for them. I’ve been looking for how that style of music box works mechanically for days and every search result I find of DIY hole punch music box is just people hole punching strips 🤨 it’s frustrating. Your songs are cool though! Don’t get me wrong, but the title is misleading

[@dianefrank3190]

Peel that mat off the paper instead of the paper off the mat its doesn't bend or curl the paper

[@jasenjacobsen4197]

Yep. Cringed when I saw him doing that.

[@yvonneredford490]

I cringed, too. I was trying to log into my account to mention the same thing!

[@MusicBoxRox]

Thanks for the heads up. This isn't my area of expertise, so I'm always learning!

[@SalemFU]

just... make sure you read the end-user agreement(s)* on their page and make sure you're ok with giving over all your human and privacy rights before buying a cricut or any other provocraft product or service

[@nbbloodbought9958]

🤯

[@phonotical]

Sounds like the website isn't great... Giving 6ou a file that's actually unworkable

[@yueyou4693]

I’ve seen people using auto punching machine to make paper tape. Do you want a product like that or do you enjoy the process of punching a music paper tape?

[@pauldunecat]

TI 99/4a

[@paulaa.7798]

Flip your mat over and curl the mat instead...so much easier

[@clicksandbeeps61]

After seeing all that work and money spent, i think i would rather punch in the wholes myself

[@Lively_1185]

It's honestly a calming stress reliever to punch all the holes out by hand, you'll just need slight musical skill.