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Hey everyone!

I've been working hard on this project for a little while now. It's not the first nor the fastest machine that cuts out these music box strips, but I'm very happy with the results.
Here it is in action!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etWETnmRU74

A python script I wrote takes GI30F exports from this site (or MusicBoxComposer 30-Note .MBC files) and converts the note data into a Gcode program, which can then be run on a small laser cutter. The roller designs were borrowed from this Instructables (https://www.instructables.com/Making-Music-Box-Punch-Machine-With-Arduino/) though modified slightly to work a little better.

As a Christmas gift to my mom, I've also been working on another way to play these songs. She has a "Mr. Christmas" music box player, that is tuned identically to the GI20 format on here. A small modification to the script lets one input a GI20 DXF or 20-Note MBC file and output an SVG, which a laser cutter can then use. I used 1/32" clear acrylic for the material. It's a little thicker than the actual disks, but it works well enough! The song choice is a little challenging, because it must fit within a 26 second runtime. I've put a few of the disks up on the Github, if anyone else wants to cut one out!

Here's a disk in action!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm_uzP-zMU4

If anyone is interested, the code can be found here:
https://github.com/ThePhotoChemist/MB2Laser/

Oh! And the last thing. I've noticed that sometimes trying to import a song from MusicBoxManiacs to MusicBoxComposer via MIDI file doesn't quite work. MusicBoxComposer will sometimes try its best to scale notes for a "best fit", which makes things sound a bit wonky. I've included a tool called dxf2mbc.py, also in the Github, that lets one convert a GI30F or GI20 DXF file to .MBC file, which retains the proper notes. Hopefully someone finds that useful!

i cannot get midi files to transfer, all it does is let me select and then nothing happens

It seems churlish to criticise what is an excellent FREE tool so this comment is made by way of observation. I am experienced in music theory/notation etc and have used commercial editing programmes but am lacking in memory retention. Is it possible to 'insert' a missing note which could then move the remainder of the notes along.? I have tried the arrows button but they seem to operate only from starting position and of course when you try to position your cursor somewhere else you get a note. Sorry if it's a dumb question.

I bought a 30 note music box from eBay. How can I tell what scale it is?

Hello everyone, I'm having a minor difficulty with printing out the strips; - the print is too far to the edge of the paper resulting in one of the guiding edges not printing. So, when I attempt to cut the strips with scissors, there is no way of being certain that the width of the cut out strips is accurate. The problem then becomes apparent when I feed the strips into the 30 note music box as the some of the notes played are wrong. This is due to a misalignment. Anyone got a solution as to how to centre the image on the paper before printing?

Since for some reason this website's editor doesn't allow you to select notes, I edited the midi in another website and imported it here. However, no matter what I do, the imported midi is always 3 semitones below what I originally worked on. This is incredibly frustrating and pretty awfully designed. Can I have some help with this?

Knowledge of music is 0.
I want to read a MIDI file with (create) and arrange it. It doesn't make a sound like Minesweeper on the score screen, but I'd be happy if it could be marked.

Hey everyone, so far I have no music box so far but it seems really interesting and after reading the really helpful guide the other day I wanted to give it a try.
As said before, I don't have a music box that works with paper strips yet and I don't know whether I should get one with 20 or one with 30 notes.
Do you have some recommendations for me, on what I should start out on? Or how I can determine what the right music box for me would be?

And another question, how long does a paper strip have to be depending on the song? How long are the normal ones that are not a role and long would it have to be if you had a song with (for example) a length of about 250?

Hello!

My name is Brooke. I am new to the music box world. I really want to either make or have a music box made for a very special person in my life. The vision I have for this music box is that the case would be made out of resin with decorative inlays and the music box itself would be programmed to play the first few measures of Clair de Lune. I'd want a music box that could be hand-cranked so the person I'm giving it to can choose how slow or fast to play it.

Is there anyone out there who would be able to help me create this music box? I have no experience so I'd prefer not to have to make the music box myself. I see the person I'm giving this to in mid-November so I have a bit of time.

If there's not anyone who can create the entire music box (program and resin casing), I'm up to working with someone who can just program the music box. And if that's not possible, I need guidance on how to get started purchasing and programming the music box myself.

Thanks so much!

Hello everyone,

I have crafted a lot of song I've found here, but I come across a new problem; storage. I don't have enough place to store them, neither do I have a good way to easily find the roll I want to play. I have sort of addressed the latter problem by coloring the sides in different colors, but I ran out of distinct colors to use. Currently I roll up everything, because I have some really long songs too.

So I wonder how everyone else does it :)