MIDI to SuperCollider, 8-bit style
January 04, 2026 02:09
A tool that takes MIDI and turns it into SuperCollider code with an 8-bit / chiptune flavour. You get runnable .scd that you can tweak and re-run instead of fighting with generic MIDI playback.
I wanted to take existing MIDI and hear it through SuperCollider with a clear 8-bit aesthetic—square waves, simple envelopes, that kind of thing. So I built a converter: MIDI in, SuperCollider code out. The output is meant to be human-readable and editable; you can change synths, note lengths, or effects and re-run the file.
The pipeline is basically: parse the MIDI (note on/off, channels, timing), map that to SuperCollider patterns or routines, and wrap it in a minimal 8-bit-style synth def. No DAW, no black box—just code you can run in SC and modify. Some of the results are up on YouTube Music; the project itself stays private for now, but the idea is to keep the bridge between “MIDI on disk” and “something that sounds like a game from the 80s” as direct as possible.