The Pianocade Makes Sweet Music With The Konami Code

The Pianocade Makes Sweet Music With The Konami Code


And to think your parents claimed you were wasting your life playing thousands of hours of video games as a kid. Little did they know you were actually building up important musical skills that could one day see you performing at Carnegie Hall — at least if they let you play this fantastic Pianocade keyboard/video game controller hybrid.

Targeted at the Chiptune crowd who want their performances to be as authentic as possible, the Pianocade is a digital synthesiser that not only sounds like a vintage arcade game, it looks like one too. A series of black and white arcade buttons stand in for piano keys, while other arcade-borrowed features include a joystick, and even a pair of fake coin slots for changing settings and sounds. The top-of-the-line two octave model will set you back about $US325, while a smaller $250 single octave model looks a little easier to travel with. And if you prefer to DIY, you can get just the electronics for a mere $US100, but the real retro charm here is the hardware itself.


[Pianocade via Engadget]


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