Before lossless audio files and before MP3, MIDI was the king of digital music. Now, I am sure you knew that, but do you know Japanese maker of electronic musical instrument, Roland, had a MIDI music player during MIDI’s heyday? Well, if that’s not surprising enough, I am sure your mind will be blown if I tell you that this particular music player, designated MT 80s, media storage of choice was 3.5” floppy disks? Yes. Floppy disk! Imagine that.
I don’t know about you, that’s totally news to me. Probably because Roland wasn’t on my radar when I was still schooling. All I knew during those days were Sony Discman and Ericsson dual LCD display pager. Anywho, also known as the “music tutor,” the MT 80s boasts several interesting features including the ability to isolate tracks, metronome function, and of course, plays MIDI files straight off the now obsolete 3.5-inch floppy disk.
Anyways, we shall leave it to tech blogger/YouTuber Mat Taylor, AKA Techmoan, to take you through this little known retro gadget. OK. Just to clarify, by years, it may not be a retro tech yet, but by tech age, it certainly qualifies as one. Just saying..
via Laughing Squid.