in the past year or so there’s been a real swell of appreciation for midi/keyboard/rompler music, so i thought i’d collect a few of my favorite tracks from these recent tributes, as well as some of my favorite keyboard demos!
View Track List
01. Edward Alstrom – [Casio CTK-631 Demo Tunes #00] Strong New Day
02. Rei8bit – [PURE MIDI Volume 2 #03] Tangled Tangram
03. Yamaha – Takeoff
04. R-Man – [PURE MIDI Volume 1 #18] Cyber Dance
05. Tatsuya Nishiwaki – [Roland – Fantom XR Demos] Moon Cluster
06. Kenichi Koyano – [STAFFcirc vol. 9 – MIDI MODULE FANATIX #14] Cascade rev.2023
07. Rin Jeon ~ mellorine – [CANVAS CITY #05] GS-SMP Go Go!
08. Yamaha – [PSR-220] Piano & Electric Piano
09. YAMAHA – [YAMAHA TG33] Why Wait
10. hardmint – [PURE MIDI Volume 2 #06] maze
11. CASIO Computer Co. – Casio CT-770 Demo
12. Tancla – [STAFFcirc vol. 9 – MIDI MODULE FANATIX #02] Ruins of the Forest Temple
13. Yamaha PSR-77 – Original Song 3
14. Match Grip – [STAFFcirc vol. 9 – MIDI MODULE FANATIX #18] Pleochroism
15. Wojtek Gogolewski – [Casio CTK-611] GROOVE IN-FORMATION
16. tenby – [Vivid-Soundz Vol. 2 – The Resort #07] The Last Sunset
17. YAMAHA PortaSound PSS-790 – Song B
18. Hunter Van Brocklin – [The Banana Bunch #07] Color-Flood
19. Yamaha – Castaway Demo Song
20. Jake Kaufman – [Choice Nuggets #15] Manny Stripe (Yamaha synth demo)
21. Yamaha – [PSR-220] Fast Bossa Nova
22. Tech-Note International, ltd. – [Casio CTK-631 Demo Tunes #01] Night Dreams
23. MelonadeM – [POWER! GS #13] Within End’s Reach
24. petet – [STAFFcirc vol. 9 – MIDI MODULE FANATIX #23] we were here once before
it’s been absolutely fantastic to see both general midi and keyboard/rompler-music make such a rousing comeback in 2023 and 2024! i’ve always loved keyboard demos, of course, and i think they are a very important part of the digital fusion “experience”. general midi is less in my wheelhouse, since i was always a tracker and thought general midi could not compete in terms of sample quality–however these recent general midi releases have definitely put me in my place on that front!
the task of writing a good keyboard demo presents some fascinating parameters: the song should demonstrate the keyboard’s full potential and sound quality, be immediately impressive, and not overstay its welcome. bonus points for touching many different sounds and styles within even one song!
for my money, ed alstrom made some of the most iconic keyboard demos, and he is one of the very few of these composers who you’ll see some level of fandom for (like, it’s nice, but you might find a folder of just his keyboard demos, with his name, on soulseek, and there is a youtube playlist focused on his work). i feel like it’s only right to open this mix with what i consider to be his masterpiece: strong new day!
i’ve included several tracks from the PURE MIDI vol. 1 and vol. 2 releases, hosted by tobokegao, which as the name implies are pure general midi. some of these tracks are simply stunning, and i would be fooled if you told me they were full production works. and they include the midi so you can check out just how it was done, too!
another recent release paying tribute to midi is STAFFcirc’s incredible vol. 9 – MIDI MODULE FANATIX, which features some of the superstars from the digital fusion community as well as some amazing guests that i’m still stunned they were able to recruit! special shout out to cubenoy22 for reaching out to some of the japanese artists featured here, and match grip, the mysterious duo.
and just as i was putting this mix together, adding other songs that fit the vibe, scarlet moon came out with a tribute to the soundcanvas, and i was made aware of melonadeM’s project POWER! GS–i had to at least include one track from both of these, too! phew
i hope you enjoy the mix, and if any of the tracks blow you away, please support the artists. (most of these releases can be downloaded for free!)
(also if anyone knows the composers for those tracks without credit, lmk! would love to give due credit)
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