New Nintendo Cartridge, Chip Maestro, Turns NES Into A MIDI Synthesizer

Developer Jarek Lupinski is working on a new NES cartridge, Chip Maestro, that turns a Nintendo Entertainment System into a MIDI synthesizer.
Here’s what he has to say about Chip Maestro:

The cartridge will accept a MIDI input from any instrument, and by passing the MIDI notes through the NES, the cartridge will make the NES synthesize 8-bits of awesome in true NES squarewavey goodness. See the video for more details!

Most chiptune artists today use ‘software synths’ to try and recreate the sound we grew to love. By providing artists with a low-cost and easy to use hardware solution, they can use a real NES to compose their music, and even play it live on stage! And if you don’t have a MIDI instrument, don’t worry; you can use your PC with an inexpensive USB-MIDI converter, or create your own instrument using Arduinos or other microcontrollers that can output MIDI, so you can turn anything into an 8-bit instrument!

Lupinski is currently raising funds to produce the cartridge at Kickstarter.
via SonikTech, matrixsynth