Glowing Marble Machine plays Moonlight Sonata

I've designed a machine which plays Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata by hitting piano keys with glowing marbles. To reach the keys, the marbles must pass through 4 layers of linked flip flops (splitters). This constantly changes the paths leading to each key. By calculating the perfect drop column based on the future board state, and adjusting the release timing to avoid collisions, every marble reaches its correct key at the right time. I love making things complicated!

My original concept for this video was to create a perfect grid of mechanical flip flops such that each branch of the split leads directly to another flip flop. This layout leaves some piano keys unreachable. I was considering using "guide" balls to arrange the flip flop board state to hit the intended key. The high quantity of guide balls necessary for each note proved to be too slow for playing music. This could be a very interesting puzzle to revisit by creating an AI which optimizes for the best ball drop positions to minimize the total guide balls needed.

Render Time: 5 days, 17:29:02
Total Server Hours Rendered Time: 15 days, 04:09:50
Total Frames: 11,000
Render Cost: $50
Music: Moonlight Sonata 1st Movement - Opus 27 No. 2

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