It’s sweet harmony as Korg and Nintendo come together at last.
A musician from lower Saxony named eVADE/duality micro has produced a cable to sync up Game Boys running popular homebrew software with Korg drum machines and synths.
On the Game Boy side, you need either LSDJ or nanoloop cartridges for music tracking. The cable then connects to the Gamelink Port or your Nintendo handheld.
On the Korg side, the volca series and monotribe can take that input via their sync port. (The Game Boy has to be the clock master with LSDJ, at least, for now; nanoloop appears to work both directions. A future LSDJ may also send.) I believe this should also work with devices like Teenage Engineering’s Pocket Operator line or some iOS apps – anything capable of responding to the Korg-style sync pulse, which has become something of an unintentional de facto standard.
Here’s a closer look at the arrangement:
Clever, nerdy stuff. But the best part is, there’s some rather lovely music coming out of these stupidly-inexpensive machines.
More music from Germany’s eVADE/duality micro, who’s been doing this stuff since the mid 90s.
eVADE is a nice left-field act:
duality micro is a side project inspired by “small machines”
And there’s this album:
Grab the cable for a few Euros here:
Korg Monotribe/ Volca Sync Gameboy DMG01 Cable (For Nanoloop/ LSDJ) [Bandcamp]
Or make your own, via instructions on the Nanoloop site (also in the RSDJ manual):
http://www.nanoloop.com/sync/