The Youtube Algorithm must be recommending similar videos to the both of us as I started getting the same kind of content a few weeks ago. I'm pretty partial to the Ace of Base "I saw the sign" cover that it's been recommending.[0]

I did a little bit of digging and found this guys website: https://www.mechanicalmusicman.com/

It would be neat to see a humanoid robot feed the tape into the machine and press play and then have the camera zoom out to a bunch of robots dancing together.

Something about robots dancing to music that's produced by a mechanical MIDI machine feels right. Like a prelude to the impending replacement of humanity.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owAXxcx2uGQ

This would play MIDI files, not MP3s. Midi files are the digital version of that book with the punched holes, it's a sequence of note events over time.

The physical book with holes forms a series of air valves. So what you do to convert it is attach a bunch of pneumatic solenoid valves instead. Then there is some interface board that lets you control a bunch of solenoids from a laptop. It's not really that complicated but you need one valve for each note, so you need a lot of them, and you have to physically plumb in each one to the organ.

Have a look at Look Mum No Computer, he does this kind of stuff: https://www.lookmumnocomputer.com/projects#/joans-church-org...