Bongo Machine v. 2

The bongo machine was the first automaton that I built, which perhaps makes it appropriate to sacrifice on the altar of technological progress. The picture at left shows the new version under construction, and you can see that three legs from the original have been cannibalized for the new machine. I hope they carry some residue of rhythmic wisdom with them.

The new machine has a quasi art deco look (perhaps hard to see at this stage and in this pic) and will allow me to adjust the vertical and horizontal position of the solenoids over the drum head, just as with the djembe machine. This is very important. If you’re building your own percussion automata, I can’t emphasis how useful flexible positioning of the beaters is. When you’re designing the machine, you don’t necessarily know what will make the best beater, how big it will be, or where to position it. If you give yourself the flexibility to change the position of the solenoid later, you can experiment with different beaters and positions over the drum. This is a lesson I learned the hard way with the bongo machine and incorporated into the djembe machine.