An AI invents it. Nobody chooses it. Nothing is ever removed. It plays on every screen.
The story
Forever Machines is a collection of strange little machines that make sound. Each one is a playable instrument built around a single idea: tree rings that play their own weather, ants that sing when they turn, a houseplant at karaoke night that sings flat when it is thirsty, a boombox left on a sidewalk between births.
They look like pieces of studio hardware: a screen that shows how the machine works, real knobs, and a short thought printed on the label, like a note on a gallery wall. Twist them, poke the screen, play them from a keyboard, layer several on one tempo and one key, record them, take them into a DAW.
Every Monday at 06:00 Stockholm time a new one is born. It is invented by Claude, an AI, which studies the collection, invents a species unlike the others and has to get it through the same test bench anyone can use. Nobody picks the winner, and nothing is ever taken away.
Facts
Story angles
Pick the one that fits your readers. Every claim here can be checked by opening the site.
Not a model that spits out finished tracks: Claude invents the instrument, and people play it. Each machine has to pass a test bench before it is born, the failures are mutated old machines, and the whole run is on the record, numbered, week after week.
For: AI and creativity, generative music, tech culture
No feed, no ranking, no removals. Nobody chooses what is born and nothing ever leaves. A slow, weekly ritual (with a calendar invite for every birth) in a world of infinite scroll.
For: culture, design, internet art
The same machine runs in a browser tab, as a native iPhone, iPad and Mac app with its own audio engine, as an AUv3 in Logic and GarageBand, as a Max for Live device in Ableton Live, on a Steam Deck, on Android and on a Raspberry Pi box. A new machine on Monday reaches all of them without an update.
For: music tech, iOS music, Ableton, Linux and handheld gaming
Phones, laptops, a Steam Deck and a Pi in one room, on one bar line and in one key, conducted from a single screen with scenes and a GO button. No audio is streamed and nothing needs an account: every device plays its own machine, and they keep going if the Conductor leaves.
For: live performance, education, jam nights, installations
A machine is one file. The Workbench gives anyone the same test bench the weekly AI faces, and a one-file MCP server lets Claude, Cursor or VS Code write, test and install a machine straight into your collection.
For: developers, creative coding, AI tooling
Every machine carries a thought on its label. “Somewhere a transmitter is still reading numbers to no one.” “Cardboard on concrete is the cheapest dancefloor ever engineered.” Instruments with a point of view, in the spirit of Ableton Live’s own devices.
For: design, sound design, product writing
Watch
The release trailer, 16:9 for YouTube (youtu.be/3FFxQBQy8Uo) and 9:16 for Shorts, Reels and TikTok (youtube.com/shorts/VGyGxL4NpkA). To embed, use Share → Embed on YouTube.
The Conductor trailer, 30 s. Four real machines filmed playing, in time at 120 BPM in A minor, and the real Conductor page at work. Nothing was animated by hand.
16:9 MP4 (1920 × 1080)
9:16 MP4 (1080 × 1920) for Shorts, Reels and TikTok
More: the tutorials and births playlist on YouTube. Every machine has a 15 s film of its own.
Embedding is welcome.
The collection
Each picture is the real machine, photographed in the browser at 2×. Click one for the full-size file; every machine has its own page to link to.
Pictures & logos
Use anything here with coverage of Forever Machines. No need to ask; a link to forevermachines.net is appreciated. All of it is in the press kit download.
Colours: amber #ffad1f on near-black #111111, ink #f1ece4. Type: Bricolage Grotesque (condensed 800) and Instrument Serif italic. Please write the name as Forever Machines, and a machine as “No. 016 Karaoke Pothos”.
Copy
Forever Machines is a collection of strange little sound machines that grows by one every Monday: an AI invents each new instrument, nobody chooses it, and nothing is ever removed.
Forever Machines is a collection of playable sound machines, each built around one idea, from tree rings that play their weather to a houseplant at karaoke night. A new one is born every Monday, invented by the AI Claude and tested before birth. Nothing is ever removed. It plays in the browser, on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Android, Steam Deck and in Ableton Live.
Forever Machines is a collection of strange little machines that make sound, made in Stockholm by Juan Maguid. Each machine is a playable instrument built around a single idea (tree rings that play their own weather, ants that sing when they turn, a sunflower that will not come out even) and looks like a piece of studio hardware: a screen that shows how it works, real knobs, and a short thought printed on its label like a note on a gallery wall.
Every Monday at 06:00 Stockholm time a new machine is born. Claude, an AI, studies the collection, invents a species unlike the others, writes it and puts it through the same test bench anyone can use; if it fails, an older machine is born again, mutated. Nobody chooses the result, and nothing is ever removed.
The machines play in any browser, in a native app for iPhone, iPad and Mac (also an AUv3 plugin), in Ableton Live, on Steam Deck, Android and Raspberry Pi, and the new Conductor puts every device in the room on one tempo and one key.
Juan Maguid makes strange little instruments in Stockholm, under the name Temperamento. Forever Machines is the collection Juan looks after: a new playable machine every Monday, invented by an AI and tested before it is born, on the browser, the phone, the Steam Deck, a Raspberry Pi and in Ableton Live.
Questions writers ask
No. Claude invents and writes the instrument: its idea, its screen, its controls, its sound engine. The music comes from the machine running on its own and from whoever plays it. Every machine also plays from a keyboard, in its own voice.
Nobody. Each week starts from a provocation; Claude invents a machine and the test bench decides if it can be born. A good machine plays on its own within seconds, has a screen that invites a first touch, plays from a keyboard in its own voice and stays light enough for a phone. If the invention fails, an older machine comes back mutated. There is no vote and no editor’s pick.
No. The first eight were made by hand, and so was the bonus No. 016½ Break Box. Every weekly birth since No. 009 was invented by Claude. Each machine’s page says who made it.
No account. In the browser nothing is installed (it can be installed as an app and plays offline). Analytics run only if a visitor agrees.
Yes. Open the Workbench, write a machine (one JavaScript file) by hand, with an AI assistant, or with an AI agent connected over MCP, and run it through the real test bench. A machine that passes joins your own collection and plays in the app and in Live too.
New in November 2026: one screen conducts the machines on every device in a room. Seats join with a six-letter code and share one tempo, bar line and key; the conductor picks each device’s machine, sets levels and steps through scenes, with every change landing on the next bar. Each device makes its own sound, and they all keep playing if the Conductor goes away. It works in browsers, the iPhone, iPad and Mac app, Android, Steam Deck and Raspberry Pi; not yet in the AUv3 or Live.
Ask. Interviews, a TestFlight invite for the iPhone, iPad and Mac app, or a look at a new machine before its Monday birth can be arranged for coverage.
Contact
Juan Maguid, Stockholm
Juan Maguid makes strange little instruments in Stockholm, under the name Temperamento. Forever Machines is the collection Juan looks after: a new playable machine every Monday, invented by an AI and tested before it is born, on the browser, the phone, the Steam Deck, a Raspberry Pi and in Ableton Live.
Download the picture (also in the press kit)
Discord: discord.gg/e64WKaK6kv
Studio: temperamento.net
Interviews, demos and walk-throughs of how a machine is invented: just ask.
Try it in two minutes
