The Ming Mecca is a pixel art-oriented modular sound and interactive video synthesizer designed by Jordan Bartee, manufactured by Special Stage Systems, and released in 2014.
[1][2] These two cores allow the creation of glitch art videos, however the unit is intended to allow users to explore the game world and to use it as an "ontological toy" with sprites, backgrounds, and effects like gravity and object interaction.
[2] In addition, a third module, the Oscillographic Block (which also interfaces with Eurorack) has provided expanded audio capacity via the Texas Instruments SN76489 chip so that it can allow chiptune, glitch music, synthesized voice, etc.
Launching a Kickstarter campaign in February 2016, the Ming Micro was fully funded in early March and manufacturing began with an estimated June delivery date.
[7] The roots of the Ming Mecca emerged from Bartee's research into ontological toys as he worked on a doctoral thesis for Brown University's Department of Music.
[4] Borrowing the voltage-control (a central element of the original TLL), the NES graphics, and the modular aspects of fellow Brown student Chris Novello's "Illucia" program, the Ming Mecca was designed to interface with Eurorack synthesizers and produce visual output directly to an NTSC composite display.
[10] Generally positive about the Ming Micro, which they referenced as "the ultimate pixel art instrument", Fact magazine did complain that the retro aspects like the composite video output requiring old CRT displays boosted "authenticity" at the expense of usability.