What is it?

A Pi hat that adds MIDI, a screen and audio module to a Raspberry Pi. It's designed to work with the MT32-Pi software but it's easy to add soundfonts for General MIDI, Roland GS, or even Yamaha XG support.

This is the Pi Hat only, you'll need to add your own Pi (I have designed this to fit 3 and tested on a Zero 2W. I believe it fits and works fine on 4 and 5. See the MT32-Pi project readme (link below) for more details of supported Pis. I can optionally include an SD card containing the MT32-Pi software ready configured for this setup.

Why did you make it?

I wanted to make my own MT32 emulator and I love it. There are many MIDI hats but I wanted to make one to my own specifications, ie with a good DAC, the 2-button + rotary encoder arrangement, and just MIDI IN (OUT and THRU aren't required if you're using MT32-Pi to play music from MIDI.) I also wanted a face layer to neaten things up.

What makes it special?

The MT32 was built at a time just before MIDI was standardised and so it therefore has its own character. It has its own selection of sounds and special channel handling etc. Music is still being written for it today. Many games had MT32 support. I've used my MT32-Pi with Day of the Tentacle and Indiana Jones/Fate of Atlantis via the SCUMMVM engine on a modern computer and a simple USB-MIDI cable.

This device is switchable (with a press of the Synth button) to General MIDI compatibility and will take your own choice(s) of soundfont, which you can switch with the other button. The demo video below is using GM mode.

It'll take real MIDI via the 5-pin DIN, or MIDI over USB, although USB will need switching on in the config file (it's off by default since it makes the Pi take longer to boot.)