Sounds great Tom. I'd be glad to help out with the hardware, or some PIC assembly code when it comes time.
you by chance don't have some midi handling uart code for the 18f452 lying around? just midi in and out. something like that could serve as the guts for a very tiny interpreter to get it bootstrapped.
I could also design a printed circuit board if it helps.
alright. a standard board included in the package :)