Atari 2600 with Synthcart and MIDI 2600 MIDI interface

Synthcart is a cartridge for the Atari 2600 developed by Paul Slocum that allows you to play tones through the controller ports. Highly Liquid’s Midi 2600 is a midi interface that connects to these controller ports allowing you to trigger note playback of Synthcart. Our Atari 2600 Jr has been modified with an unbalanced audio output via a 1/4 inch jack. Due to limitations of the sound chips there are only about 16 notes available and they are not all chromatic. Using a combination of the A and B difficulty switches and the color/B&W switches it is possible to access a number of tones such as noise, square, bass, engine (think Pole Position) saw and “pitfall” which is a very distinct waveform you may recognize from the Activision game Pitfall. There are also 5 beats that can be triggered which are not programmable and cannot have their tempo adjusted. The midi channel can be set via a series of dip switches. Watch a demo here.