Programming beats is a standard way to make music, but it's usually done on computers. Not for Norway-based Georgian artist Koka Nikoladze, who makes analog beatmaking machines by hand, using springs, coils, wood, and metal.
The instruments are called Koka's Beat Machines. Nikoladze is a trained violinist and composer, as well as a technologist, and combines these skills together for his whimsical instruments. This is the second Beat Machine he's made, and it's electromechanical, featuring an Arduino microcontroller inside to amplify the sounds and connect the different components. It also has a light on the front the flickers along to its jangly sounds.
You can take a look at the first instrument in the series here. It's a little different, in that it was a mechanical windup instrument featuring a row of handmade cogs producing sounds on a jumble of objects, including a ruler and a bent fork. But both are programmable to create different rhythms and melodies. Watch the second of Koka's Beat Machines in action below:
Click here to visit Koka Nikoladze's website.