As I type this we are in the middle of the tenth annual Holiday Music Week over at r/Retrobattlestations. For this season’s contest, I decided to interface my wife’s Radio Shack music keyboard with my Atari 520ST using its built-in MIDI ports and let the system do a bit of caroling.
One of the first programs I ever had on my original 520ST back in 1986 was a Christmas slideshow and music demo from Audio Light, Inc. The graphics in the slideshow were drawn by Peter Wickman with Audio Light’s N-Vision paint program and the music was surely created with some iteration of The Music Studio, a music composition program also created by Audio Light.
Back in 2010 I wrote a short post on this blog about this demo and uploaded a video of it running under emulation. In fact, it was that post that kicked off my yearly Holiday Demos posts that have been going for over 10 years now. One thing in this demo that always got my attention was the last line on the final, informational slide that says, “If you have a MIDI instrument, plug it in!” And, so, I bought some cables and have done just that!
Without further ado, for Holiday Music Week X I present the 1985 Audio Light holiday slideshow and music presentation, as played by my Atari 520ST and the Radio Shack MD-981 MIDI keyboard (which was likely produced for Radio Shack by Casio).
Here’s wishing all of my vintage computing readers a wonderful Holiday Season and a bright New Year!
Using the Atari 520ST’s built-in MIDI ports to turn a Radio Shack keyboard into a seasonal setup captures what makes old hardware interesting: its original interfaces can still support playful, practical experiments decades later. The tenth annual Holiday Music Week context also gives the project a clear purpose beyond a technical demonstration. I’d be curious whether the arrangement relied mainly on sequencing software, live input, or a mixture of both, since that choice would shape how much of the final performance came from the computer versus the player.
Using the Atari 520ST’s built-in MIDI ports to connect a Radio Shack keyboard makes this holiday project feel both practical and delightfully specific. The setup shows how older hardware can remain expressive when its original interfaces are put to use, rather than treated as museum pieces. That combination of seasonal music, accessible gear, and technical creativity gives the contest entry a clear personality.
Using the Atari ST’s built-in MIDI ports to connect a Radio Shack keyboard makes the holiday entry feel especially well matched to the machine’s original strengths. The choice also gives the project a clear, physical connection between instrument and computer rather than treating the ST as a novelty prop. It is a compact reminder that older hardware can still support expressive musical play, including careful attention to cursive-like performance gestures.
Connecting a Radio Shack keyboard to the Atari ST’s built-in MIDI ports is a fitting way to make vintage hardware part of a holiday performance rather than just a display piece. The detail about the old Audio Light slideshow and music demo gives the project a pleasing continuity with the machine’s original era. It also shows how MIDI can turn a familiar computer into an active musical instrument, preserving both the melody and the hands-on character of the setup.
so good