Okay, well, I am sorry I am about 2 months too late, but anyways:
Happy 10th Birthday MIDIbox!
Thorsten, thank you so much for all the work you’ve put into this incredible project over the years making this the finest MIDI plattform there is with the nicest boxes, best sounding synths, smoothest implementations and most awesome community!
nILS
Woohoo!!!
happy 10 Birthday Midibox, been here almost a year now, nice place!!!
Happy birthday!!! Rock Rock on!!
beers to you all guys!
Thank You, TK !!
Congrats MIDIBox,
thanks Thorsten this is a nice place to be and great playground, learned so much in these last 3 years.. dunno what it would be of me without this comunity.. buuhh booh snif 
.. the cake please…
Happy Birthday!! ;D (i’m really bad with remembering dates so this is great!)
Happy Birthday Midibox!
Happy Birthday Midibox!
I’d suggest a Party at TK’s house ;D
Yoh, also a Happy Purzeltag from me ;D
P.S. Cool avatar @ nILs …
Happy Birthday and long life to MidiBox!!! An applause to its father! Thanks TK!
What a surprise - thank you!!! 
I already considered to celebrate this anniversary somehow, but you know… I’m too busy…
Even the exact “birthday” is not clear to me. Is it the day of creation, or the day I announced the finished project? I remember that I experimented with the PIC after I won a “PICstart Kit” during a Elektor design contest (10th price for a 80C31 based MIDI mapper). For me it was obvious that the uC has to send some MIDI events first, because I already owned the tools to analyse such messages. It was also the time where a friend showed me Rebirth (for those who don’t know it: one of the first 303 and 808 emulations for PC) - it totally amazed me, but the mouse handling was so uggly, that I quickly combined my MIDI and PIC knowledge with the possibilities given by this software synthesizer (MIDI remote capabilities) - after one day the first MIDIbox was finished, and this was probably in June 1998.
The controller was only capable of sending predefined CCs, and the pots were jittering due to the poor conversion routines, but we already had a lot of fun.
I just noticed: my first song made with a MIDIbox is still available here: http://mp3.de/musik/genre/band/030303/12253/3 (Download “Do It”)
It seems that I haven’t changed my style so much in the last 10 years 
First announcement in the internet: an email to another friend at 1998-08-16 (sorry, german quote, use babelfish)
…da Du ja neuerdings ein ReBirth-Fan bist:
ich habe ja neulich bei einem Wettbewerb ein PIC-Evaluation-Kit
gewonnen, mit dem man PICs (minimal-Microcontroller) brennen kann.
Auf der Suche nach einer sinnvollen Applikation ist mir folgendes
eingefallen: eine MIDI-Controller-Box mit 8 Potis und ein paar
Schaltern. Diese kann man an jede beliebige MIDI-Schnittstelle
(z.B. an die einer Soundkarte) anschliessen und dann an einer
ReBirth-303 drehen und schrauben, wie man es von den richtigen
Teilen her gewohnt ist (die Mausbedienung ist einfach nur schlecht,
wenn man damit man vernuenftig loslegen moechte).
Falls Du also Interesse hast, kann ich Dir so ein Teil auch mal
zusammenbauen. Kostenpunkt: der PIC kostet ca. 8 DM, Potis gibt
es ab 1-2 DM, Gehaeuse kannst Du Dir ja selbst basteln.
The interesting point: 16 DM = 8 EUR for a MIDIbox, wasn’t this attractive?
He encouraged me to announce the controller in a newsgroup - so, this was the first announcement:
After this posting another guy suggested to announce the controller at Synth-DIY, a revised version was published in another Elektor magazine, etc…
…and the rest was out of my control
I must say that I’m very happy to get in touch with so many people who already have, or who are starting with the same hobby. Some years ago it seemed that do-it-yourself in MIDI Controller and Synth area will die off because prices of ready-made units get cheaper and cheaper. I’m working hard to prove, that there is still more benefit to DIY a device instead of buying a ready-made one
Best Regards, Thorsten.
wow, 10 years. coolness.
big thanks, tk. look what your “housings can you tinker itself” has become…
it’s customary to celebrate such major holidays on solstice or equinox.
therefore, i suggest june 22 as midiboxday.
there will be “it’s working dances” and solderingironkisses and *whack*ing etc
what will smashklaus bring me next year?
btw, wasn’t the midibox originally on a page on your personal webpage or likesuchas?
haaaaaapppy birthday to ya
haaaaaapppy biiirthday to ya
haappy biiiirth daay
My gift to you all: I will stop singing now.
Danke für all den Spaß am MIDI-Gerät!
Thank You TK!!!
Yours respectfully,