So, last October, I got an email from a fellow by the name of Jeff Leiberman. It turns out he's a very clever fellow, with a penchant, shall we say, for a little prestidigitation - electro-digital style, that is; a fellow after my own heart, in many ways. He and MIT colleague, Dan Paluska, wangled a dream project contract from the Absolut vodka people. Many of you will be familiar with the works they've commissioned, over the years, by notable artists, featuring the Absolut vodka bottle silhouette icon, in some fashion.

Anyway, Jeff and Dan convinced these folks that they could produce a real, working instrument, along the lines of a well-known piece of 3D animation, that's made the rounds for a few years. I refer to the "Animusic" video that features a futuristic, circular vibraphone that is miraculously played by a fountain of balls that spray up into the air from its middle. Whether or not such an instrument could be made to operate exactly as depicted, is subject to serious debate. However, messrs. Jeff and Dan figured they were up to it, somehow.

Now, many of you know that I, myself, have toyed with ball catapults for many years and that recently I've begun posting video of my works on Youtube. I have to say, that has been one of the best things I've ever done, as in the year since I started putting up these little, crunchy, low-res clips, I have made the acquaintance of quite a few remarkable people. Thus did Jeff find me out, and lo we did have fun talking about this project.

We had maybe a dozen exchanges of ideas and information, over the next couple of months. I even thought I had a method for realizing an aimable ball fountain, as seen in the 3d animation. But, perhaps wisely, they took a pragmatic approach to the problem, and built a machine with... are you ready for this... FORTY-TWO catapults, each shooting a hard rubber ball at a corresponding, custom-made, rosewood, marimba key.

So, they had a big party to unveil the work. What a mob scene; three layers of security, invited guests only, wall-to-wall Absolut cocktails, sushi hors d'oevoures, blast your head off thumpa-bumpa on the PA system. You might not have realized there was a fantastic machine at the far end of the hall, that was the real focus of the event. So, With my daughter in tow, we threaded our way through the crush, to see it. The boxy array is about fifteen feet long, and six feet deep, by four feet high, mostly black painted metal, accented by a row of graduated, glass dividers between each key; almost unassuming, until it starts to play.

The catapult loaders and triggers are controlled by a computer, as is the rest of their wonderful contraption, which also features a row of about thirty, spinning, tuned, wine glasses, voiced by little, robotic fingers, ala Franklin's Armonica. Topping it off, the work, entitled "Absolut Quartet," includes a solenoid-operated, mini drum kit.

The flying balls, seen against the black painted background, lit by some fancy, programmable light system, remind one of a high-end hotel fountain. The sounds that are produced are an eerie mix of marimba boop-de-boop against an almost subliminal background of tones from the wine glasses, punctuated by a decidedly jazz-influenced percussion section.

It gets even better. You - and I mean ANYONE - can play this fantastic instrument, without foreknowledge, or musical ability, or even permission. That's because it is made freely available to whoever signs up for a web-based queue. You might have to wait for players who've signed up ahead of you. Each player gets about a three minute experience, including a quick practice with the virtual keyboard; inputting of the desired notes; then watching and listening to the result.

Yes, I did say "watching." There is a live webcam pointed at this instrumental array, feeding your browser in near-real time. The few seconds of keyboard input you give are first echoed by a synthesizer, and then algorithmically processed into a "score" of sorts, whereby the balls begin to fly, glasses to sing, and symbols zing. It's nothing short of a miraculous thing that all this works so well, much less at all! And.. as if that all weren't enough, when your piece is done playing, enter your email address and receive a movie of what happened. Fuggin brilliant.

Jeff and Dan have my total admiration for having gotten away with this monumental undertaking, the nitty gritty of which I'm just barely able to imagine. I just hope they will include me in whatever might be next!

To access the "Absolut Quartet," (you are the fourth part, by the way) point your browser at -
www.absolut.com/absolutmachines

-Brad Litwin