I've been highly interested in this ‘Super MIDI Pak’ ever since the moment I heard of it's development. At first I really wanted one as a collector of Super Nintendo memorabelia, a strange music cartridge is right up my alley. This unique game pak has a small production run and can be used to create music. Now that is a brick right through my window.

The Super MIDI Pak, developed by Rian Hunter, is an intriguing piece of homebrew that is both hardware and software. The hardware comes straight through the cartridge, allowing a direct connection between the SNES and a MIDI-capable keyboard.

The Super MIDI Pak is like the unofficial successor to the NES Miracle Piano. Hmm, can I connect the Miracle Piano to this thing?

The software is the real time music making application that is stored on the cartridge. This is best seen in the introductory video for this tech.

For me, this one of a kind video game cartridge has a lot in common with the Playdate. I'm still waiting on that so I will probably blog about that soon. I ordered them both last summer (Super MIDI Pak in June, Playdate in July) and have been twiddling my thumbs in anticipation ever since.

Grab fan made Super MIDI Pak covers like this one, and the article art from Patrick Prine’s website PatrickPrine.com.

Both pieces of Hardware had a ship date of Early 2022 which has flew on by. Unlike my annoyance at Playdate in this situation, I'm not angry at the Super MIDI Pak since it is essentially a one man operation. Not to mention, the nicheness of the Super MIDI Pak means that the first run is not 50k units like the Playdate, it's only 100 (without a 'k'). I'm all about that ultra niche demo.

I assume that all roughly 100 cartridges were ordered by musicians that plan to create music with this new "instrument." I'm glad I started making beats recently or else I'd feel guilty for hogging one of these cartridges for myself when a true musician could really make use of it. This one's mine though, and I am probably going to be the most amateur musician with one of these Super MIDI Paks in their arsenal. Excited for all the time I;m about to waste on this fusion of games, tech, and music.

I recently started rapping and making beats, so now I’m very anxious to get this thing in my hands. Now that I have a use for this product, I need it more than ever.

I plan to use mine to make some SNES inspired hip hop beats. Really trying to get some deep bass out of this thing. I'm excited to check out all the other musicians that are getting their hands on one as well. If you are the owner of one of these ‘game’ carts, I would love to hear the sounds you get out of it.