30 Years of MIDI: The Commodore 64 Meets The iPad

At the 2013 NAMM Show, the MIDI Manufacturers Association is celebrating the 30th anniversary of MIDI by showcasing MIDI devices from the last 30 years.

in this video, Danielle of the MIDI Manufacturer’s Associates demonstrates how devices separated by 30 years of technological development can communicate because of their common support of MIDI.

The Commodore 64 is running the rare Sequential Circuits Music Sequencer, which is a hardware-based add-on that also adds MIDI IN & Out. The iPad is running Animoog, and connects to the C64 via an iRig MIDI interface. 

history-of-midi

The organization also showcased the first two instruments that ‘talked’ via MIDI back in 1983, the Sequential Circuits Prophet 600 and the Roland Jupiter-6.

19 thoughts on “30 Years of MIDI: The Commodore 64 Meets The iPad

    1. Yeah dude, beardy and “long hair” guys… I’m sure beardy could suits us now, but I think we could miss the hair stuff though!

    1. Readers – who’s up to this challenge?

      If you can make a video demonstrating this – let me know and I’ll post the video. Extra points if you have awesome hair.

      1. I have been doing that for a while, and actually able to edit the patches on the SID with my ipad as well as sequence at the same time! I’ll cook up a video and try to upload it before end of day sunday. 🙂

  1. Extra credit for using the iRig MIDI – which is the only compact MIDI interface I know of that actually charges the iPad while you play!

    Now if they could just add USB to it, it would be a perfect device!

  2. You know… as much as I like the iPad and Animoog, I’m a lot more excited about the Commodore 64 + Prophet-600 + Jupiter 6!!

    Fortunately the Prophet ’08 is a lot like the Prophet-600, although it perplexingly lacks the handy numeric keypad for random access to patches!!

  3. It just seems that CV/Gate has many advantages as there are no steps in modulation. So why don’t combine them? A CV/Midi-Hybrid who takes advantage of both worlds. I would like to see King Korg in practice as there are endless possibilities.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *