I received an interesting piece of gear courtesy of the folks at Amazing Machines, a small company based out of Brazil. It's the MIDITRIBE I/O, and it's a mod for the Korg Monotribe to give it MIDI In and Out. The installation doesn't require any soldering, just opening up the Monotribe, screwing in the board, plugging in a small plastic clip to the Monotribe board, and looping in the MIDI In and Out cables through the back cover of the Monotribe (it's worth noting, this mod will void the warranty on your Monotribe immediately). The MIDI ports themselves are high quality and metal, so they won't crack or break. There are a few different ways to have the MIDI cables attached; I have the way recommended for quickest use by Amazing Machines which has the MIDI cables coming out of the battery compartment. I haven't been able to shut the battery compartment due to the cables, but the batteries stay in well enough where I don't need it for now. If you have the wall adaptor for the Monotribe, you don't need to worry about this. You could, of course, drill small holes in the side of your Monotribe to let the wires hang out and close the battery compartment, or even create proper MIDI ports right in the side of the Monotribe. It's up to you, but the very basic setup is easy and only requires a medium size and smaller screwdrivers.
