DEADBEATBLAST - Zombie Slam Dance

Perhaps you, dear reader, aren't familiar with the concept of the "Midi NES". Perhaps you aren't up to date on the controversy surrounding the insane level of demand for this product, or the myriad complications involved when one desires to acquire one. Allow me to write for a minute, here. The MidiNES cartridge is something that allows for any program capable of controlling a device via MIDI connection architecture to interface with the NES on a core level. This means that you can write a neat little melody in your favorite piano roll program, like FL Studio, Reason, Cubase, etc. (the bane of many a chip-artist for reasons of "authenticity": most people using these programs output sounds that are merely emulations or at best samples of dated hardware), and then have the legendary 2AO3 (the name of the NES's CPU/Sound Chip) belt out your music in a fashion that would please the most hardened elitist. It, in short, offers composers the best of both worlds. So it's no wonder that this cartridge is incredibly sought-after. Cool, right? There's no shortage of LSDJ cartridges, and they're available instantly to anyone who asks, it would make sense that the same goes for an NES cartridge (especially since there are far fewer NESes lying about than there are all the various generations of Game Boy capable of playing LSDJ), right? Wrong. The creator of the midiNES, a guy who goes by x|k on the ol' internet, makes every cartridge himself. By hand. He finds old game cartridges, restores the plastic shell to its original pristine condition, replaces the guts with his own PCB and MIDI cable, and then sells it to you for a cool $100 (partly 'cause he can, partly 'cause it takes forever to make one of these carts). Despite this high price, demand for the cartridge has so far proven to be endless, and a number of forums the scene over are flooded with attempts to reach x|k and nervous inquiries as to the whole operation's validity. Honestly, I feel bad for x|k, shouldering the intense burden that has resulted from his light-hearted desire to form a shortcut from PC composition to authentic hardware noise output, but as he churns out midiNES after midiNES, an extremely powerful tool makes it into the hands of one more lucky composer.

All this is setup for what I'm about to play for you. This is a song by DEADBEATBLAST, who reports that he just got his midiNES. While I make no guarantees that you'll make music like this the instant one of these coveted cartridges makes it way to your house, this is a sampling of the power of what you can do with one, and it sounds like it's worth the wait.



DEADBEATBLAST's Website

Get It!