MusicMachine 1

Overview

MusicMachine 1 contains all the traditional, time-honoured elements of a superlative high-end music box, but designed and configured in a totally unconventional way.

But then you would expect nothing less from a collaboration between REUGE and MB&F. REUGE, the premier manufacturer of music boxes on the planet, with 160 years of expertise and experience. And MB&F, the award-winning artistic and micro-engineering laboratory acclaimed for its avant-garde, three-dimensional Horological Machines.

MusicMachine 1

About MusicMachine 1

Each of the cylinders on MusicMachine plays three tunes, all personally selected by MB&F founder and creative director, Maximilian Büsser. On the left, “may the Force be with you” with the ‘Star Wars’ theme, ‘Imperial March’ from ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, and the theme from ‘Star Trek’. Back on earth, the right cylinder plays Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’, Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on the Water’ and ’John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ – all tunes synonymous with MB&F's radical, nonconformist attitude.

MusicMachine 1

The Jedi master of music boxes

One of the biggest challenges for REUGE was respecting the mechanical symmetry of MB&F’s design, and it meant breaking with a few music box conventions to achieve it. MusicMachine actually has two independent movements, each comprising: winding propeller; mainspring barrel (looking like a piston under the propeller); horizontal cylinder with pins creating three melodies; and vertical comb with individual hand-tuned teeth sounding each note.

When music is playing, the speed that the cylinder unwinds at is governed by an air regulator in the form of a circular fan outside each propeller-topped, piston-shaped mainspring barrel.

While it would have been much easier to duplicate the two movements and just change the melodies, MB&F's original concept called for perfect symmetry and if the movements were identical, the comb on one cylinder would not be on the outside. So REUGE took the unprecedented step of configuring the two movements as mirror images of one another, which meant completely inverting the design of the movement components and architecture.

The end result is a visual and acoustic tour de force that even sci-fi fan Büsser finds hard to believe: “REUGE is the Jedi master of music boxes. It is incredible how REUGE has been able to turn our design into reality. And that’s not even mentioning how good it sounds!”

MusicMachine 1

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MusicMachine 1

Reuge x MB&F

Limited editions

MusicMachine is a limited edition of 66 pieces: 33 pieces in white and 33 pieces in black (the latter for those with a preference for 'the dark side').

Main body: walnut sound amplification body; white or black piano lacquered (white lacquer UV resistant)
Outriggers: bead-blasted and anodised aluminium; black matte-anodised for black version

MusicMachine 1 features two 3.72 movements (3 refers to the number of melodies on each cylinder; 72 refers to the number of notes on each comb); one movement is ‘right’ configured; one movement is ‘left’ configured (they rotate in opposite directions).
Main plate: nickel-plated brass, decorated with Geneva waves. The main plate holds both movements; each movement includes a mainspring, cylinder, comb, and regulator.

Start/stop and repeat/continue functions
3 melodies per cylinder
Length of each melody: 35 seconds
Power reserve per cylinder: 15 minutes

Dimensions: 395 x 475 x 165 mm
Total weight: approximately 2.97 kg

MusicMachine 1

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MusicMachine 1

Inspiration

With its dual propellers and twin silver cylinders mounted on sleek outrigger landing gear, MusicMachine 1 looks like a spaceship hailing from a galaxy far, far away.

MusicMachine doesn't just look like something from a science fiction film; three of the melodies have been beamed directly from sci-fi classics. “Like many kids, saving the world was my full time job when I was a boy,” says Maximilian Büsser. “For MusicMachine 1, I delved into my childhood dreams and fantasies inspired by heroes such as Luke Skywalker and Captain James T. Kirk.”