Hey elekronauts, long time lurker. This forum has been a huge resource for me the past couple of years. Hopefully this is the correct place for this.
I have two children ages 5 and 10, and three of their cousins that practically live here. They’re all smitten with the Synthstrom Deluge OLED and they are calling themselves “DJs” when using it. I’m trying to encourage their interests in music and take it further by creating a collaborative jam situation (rather than listening to the fight over whose turn it is)
The Deluge appears to have a special factor, which is that a 5 year old can successfully pull off live improvisation with minimal instructions. Muting/unmuting different tracks is enough to create movement and feel like a DJ.
I’ve combined the deluge with kaoss pads, first-gen electribes, DFAM, M:C, and pioneer EFX500 with middling success, but have failed to create a full group improv jam setup I’m imagining.
Best result so far has been a lowly rack setup with Symetrix 425 compressor and Aphex 104 Big Bottom to make the Deluge sound “big”
So I’ve sold all the other gear and have about $2,500 to drop on the next attempt.
Option 1 is simple, which is to get a second Deluge and a DJ mixer with a lot of fun FX for the kid or parent who is operating it.
Option 2 is the opposite. Generic mixer with an RMX-1000 (which seems amazing for a kid). Then adding something new for the second groovebox/synth.
I would appreciate any advice and opinions on this project.
Questions
Best performance DJ mixer for kids? My wife thinks the DB4 looks too complicated. I think the Denon x1850 might be easiest for a kid to comprehend.
Is the Pioneer RMX-1000 going to be more fun than any mixer? I could combine it with a generic mixer.
What other devices could compliment a Deluge? Ideally I’m looking for a device that can have scale/root set in advance by me, then a kid can easily enter in sequence info and tweak the sounds. Current contenders are: Circuit Tracks, Tenori-On, Toraiz SP-16.
What kind of rack gear can make this setup sound big and produced? I’m looking at adding an old SPL vitalizer for stereo image and bass enhancement to replace aphex. And then a multicomp like the TC finalizer express.
Thanks for reading this long and ridiculous post. I feel like Don Quixote on this mission but it’s a good excuse to keep trying gear I don’t need, and we’re making some great family memories so far.
You could buy one and learn how to use it, then casually leave it out. I bet someone will want to play with it. You could literally get 4 of them new and still have money left over to figure out the rest. Buy them secondhand and have a LOT of money left over.
I am not saying that this is of the same caliber instrument as deluge, but easy to grasp and probably a familiar enough form factor for a 5 year old.
Best of luck on your endeavor and welcome to the forum!
Thanks shigginpit, I’ve appreciated your posts in the groovebox thread just yesterday.
I really want a circuit tracks, I’ve seen them go for as low as $170 these days and I think someone here has been called the deluge the Circuit Pro. I’ll have to at least try one.
There is a cool option of circuit tracks + mc101 combination that I’ve seen Gabe Miller recommend. The more channels of audio feeding into the mixer the better DJing will be
A bit out of your request but what about a small looper ?
That’s a good idea too. Did you have one in mind?
The Xone DB4 has a looper on each channel (as I’ve learned from Dave Mech’s channel). Pioneer DJM2000 has a looper that you can live slice and send to separate channel. Denon x1850 has a weird breakbeat remix option with a touch slider.
With a 5 year old and 3 year old i’m also interested in this. The circuit tracks seems like a good option (can’t remember if it’s got a built in speaker, but the built in battery is a plus for kids to be able to pick it up and take it around the house)
My daughters love my Circuit Mono Station.
I think some pocket operators would be nice. I think kids like recording their own sounds, so maybe the PO-33 and PO-35.
Also the SP-133 KO II would be great.
A drum pad setup with sticks would be cool. Maybe the Nord Drum 3P.
Going to throw a keyboard in the mix too. A Reface would be cool: perhaps the CS or CP.
Some shakers, a kalimba, a cajon, a microphone, and a bass uke.
Don’t forget something to record their jams too. A good old stereo cassette deck should do the trick.
I think my kids are only half into music, I cared more at their age, but my experience with some of these:
PO (factory one?) - disappointed that it wasn’t a handheld videogame
Yamaha DD-75 electronic drums - very excited for one afternoon and then never touched again
I would like a keyboard and I’ve narrowed my interest down to the Novation MiniNova because it has: immediate access to ARP and latch buttons + performance pads AND you can mute parts of the arp. Then a big preset knob and filter knob What I’ve found with the kids so far is that nobody really cares to do any sound design. They want big crazy presets.
Also was looking at the modwave. The sounds impressed them a lot, but the knobs are a drawback. Theyre not interested in tweaking parameters.
The keyboard for jamming only has one problem: nobody understands what a scale or chord is. I could keep every jam in C major and say don’t touch the black keys too much but that seemed boring
The kids will definitely be into FX and sound mangling in general, but the Xone:db4 is serious overkill (plus it is discontinued, you know this, right?). I looked into the Xone:96 in depth because I had a chance to purchase one, but I passed for multiple reasons, and while I am no expert in anything, I have a bit more experience than your kids. As a comparison, I have a Zedi-10fx, same manufacturer, which also has EQ and send FX, and costs about a tenth as much and is much simpler to operate. No faders, but are knobs so bad? Plus the Tracks and Rhythm have their own FX, so each performer can be in charge of their own sound, and whoever is on mixing probably needs much less than what a serious DJ mixer can deliver. Some sort of end-of-chain distortion unit might be appreciated.
If you want cheap FX on the end of chain, the new Korg Kaoss Pad NTS kit seems like a good choice. They’re fast, intuitive, literally hands-on, and you get dozens of DJ style effects.
In no way do I want to kill the enthusiasm here but for 5-10 year olds, something of a distortion or fuzz pedal with a filter cutoff knob might be sufficient.
There is also a few other desktop polivoks filter clones that are a bit less expensive than the Erica Acidbox if that’s the preferred route.
Analogue Solutions Mr Hyde has filter, LFO and fuzz in one pedal format unit and can generally be found for $150ish USD.
(although, if you can find an analog heat mk1 for like $300 you really can’t go wrong)
I don’t know much about the minds of little ones, but I’m wondering if each having their own device and trying to make them sound good together might be more challenging and ultimately less satisfying than having to share. Is it the scarcity of the one Deluge that increases the appeal?
I think I would be approaching it along the lines of a ‘big picture’ device for the older kid that could take them down the path of structuring and capturing their jams, and maybe something shared for the younger kids that they can use together. But I would aim for going from 1 device between 5 to maybe 3 between 5 as the next step, rather than one each.
Anyway, some devices that came to mind:
Polyend Play - might have similar hands on sequencing appeal to the Deluge.
MPC One
Arturia Drumbrute - I don’t love the sound, but the sequencer is fun, and I think it’s probably straightforward for kids to tweak the sounds by ear to match what another device is doing.
