If you've been a long-time reader of Retro Dodo's, you will know that we are huge fans of the GAME BOY; it's what kick-started our passion for gaming, so when we see new, interesting accessories for this console, our inner child gets all excited, and that's exactly what happened when we were introduced to the Retro Song Bird.
The Retro Song Bird, quite simply is a music player that exclusively plays over 1,900+ GAME BOY cartridges, allowing you to skip through the cartridge's music files like you would an MP3 player or a modern-day speaker. All you have to do is dock your cartridge into the top reader, just like the Epilogue GP Operator.
It can even skim through sound effects too. The Retro Song Bird has physical controls on the side of the device, allowing you to skip next or previous, alongside volume functions. It has a stereo line out for hi-fi and has "accurate, register-level sound emulation" to make it sound as original as possible through its modern speaker.
Credit: Retro Bird Song
The genius behind this little invention known as BJ believes this music "belongs in a museum, and Retro Song Bird is here to help you preserve that carts that matter to you", offering not only a music player, but a way to back up and restore save files and ROMs; it can even flash-write new carts and export soundtracks as WAV to your PC, turning it into a multi-functional GAME BOY accessory.
Every cart is a music gem, and this accessory lets you remix its original instrument stems and create mixtapes, or rather, mixcarts that you can flash to a new cart:
- Edit each of the four sound channels (two square, wave, noise) as its own USB audio stream, ready for your DAW
- Plug in an LSDj cart to play back your saved songs
- Releasing an album? GBAlbum turns it into a ROM that plays on real hardware and Retro Song Bird
And I know what you're thinking: "Brandon, does this work with a GAME BOY Camera?", damn right it can buddy. This works with the GAME BOY Camera in a way that can be hooked up to your PC to be used as a USB webcam, taking full advantage of its 0.014 megapixels at 5 frames per second. Beautiful!
It doesn't stop there; there's an alarm mode that wakes you up with any cartridge that you insert, ready to wake you up at a certain time that can be put to sleep using the side buttons. You can also play the carts on your browser, using it as a console that can collaborate with apps and cheats naturally. BJ is also using an open API, offering tinkerers and developers a way to make this device their own alongside over-the-air updates for keeping this thing as fresh as can be.
This thing keeps sounding better and better... You see what I did there. This is not yet for sale, and BJ has only made a few prototypes, which we will hopefully be getting our hands on over the coming weeks. Once BJ has finalised this device, he'll likely crowdfund it or put it up for sale when it's ready. The best way to stay updated is by joining his newsletter on his website!
