Automated Glockenspiel playing - Sleigh Ride

email: libandorgan@outlook.com
This video clip is of an 18 note automated glockenspiel playing the familiar tune, Sleigh Ride, composed by Leroy Anderson, Feb. 1948. It is handcrafted but derivative of other common implementations, such as may be found on Rob Barker Organs, and the like. The wood is maple, and the finish airbrushed amber shellac. The electromagnets are Kimber-Allen HDA/2 Pull Magnets, mounted vertically with 6" spring steel moment arm and 3/4" acrylic sphere strikers. For decoding and drive electronics, I use midio128, 1 dout board, and 3 custom 8 channel FET driver boards. The midi music is sourced from Brotech Electronics Mega Midi Sequencer with remote tablet control. Fourteen of the bells come from a marching band style Lyre, with the additional 4 lowest constructed from aluminum bar stock, subsequently polished and tuned. Construction time was 2 months. This instrument is mounted on our band organ, Celebration, in a mostly hidden and definitely unobtrusive way. The midi music is the mostly melody section from a Wurlitzer 165 roll scan. As for the video itself, I use Pinnacle Studio 16 Ultimate for editing and compositing 3 separate video clips, 3 stills, 3 titles, and etceteras... The audio was recorded separately using a Zoom H2 digital recorder, with some mixing using Magix Studio software; this audio track then synced with the video. Merry Christmas 2014!