“Shoes in the dryer” is one of the best ways to describe a beat that is going off-kilter, or the sound of a DJ who just can’t seem to get two songs beatmatched. That being said, Sina117 has made an amazing discovery while washing some clothes: His washing machine decided that it was a drum machine that can kick out some pretty cool beats.

Check it out:

Amazing, and all-analogue too! A user on reddit explains what’s happening:

It’s vibrating at its resonant frequency due to asymmetrical loading. Since the load is relatively small it can readjust itself when the chatter becomes really loud. If it was a large load that was off-balance, the chatter would be a consistent beat (sixteenth notes?) that would become increasingly loud. Additionally, the load is too small and heavy to evenly distribute itself, ensuring that it will make the machine go off-balance soon after it corrects itself. This is why it sounds like several sixteenth notes followed by a rest of varying length followed by more sixteenth notes.

I could go on about the dynamics but I’m actually procrastinating a report I should be writing on chatter in machining processes and it’s due in 50 minutes so I better get back to work.

Something tells me that this is the beginnings of a remix contest.

UPDATE: Win a copy of Ableton LIVE by remixing the washing machine!

• Remix the washing machine drummer and win Ableton Live
• Washing Machine remix winner
• Dave Smith/Roger Linn Tempest drum machine
• Arduino drum machine + synth module with MIDI input