In our history of MIDI, we covered the very earliest mechanical music machines.
MIDI History:Chapter 1- 850 AD to 1850 AD –
To really understand the origins of MIDI, you need to go all the way back to before there were digitally controlled synthesizers and computers, In fact you need to go back before there was even electricity to the very first mechanical music machines
Now Kogumi‘s Anatole Buttin and Yan Godat have developed new mechanical boxes that combine Arduinos, marbles, mechanical devices and MIDI together to appeal to kids in educational electronic music workshops
Arduino Blog – These boxes make music out of metal and wood
Check out the article on the Arduino blog.
There’s even a mode that allows users to control it all via MIDI notes on a computer.
Arduino Team