My daughter will turn 10 years. I am thinking, as a present, to get her a recording device.
she likes singing, She got 2 years piano lessons and her goal is to play songs and sing. She is talented for it. Sometimes, we spend time together on the OP1, she is able to play/record and overdub.
I would like to get her a multitrack recording device. It should be as simple as possible, as little menu diving as possible. It can be hardware, or maybe an app for iPad (but I’m not convinced at the app, as she would need to manage an audio interface). Long ago, I had a Boss BR, I’m thinking to something similar, but I really would like the simplest one.
It can be new or second hand.
An OP-1 for a 10 year old! In my day, this was the only looper recorder we’d expect to receive.
You want to loop, just keep playing jingle bells over and over again!
however this
would be what i’d recommend. has a drum machine in it too, FX, and decent mics. She can record piano and singing and get a good intro to hardware MT.
Never used it myself, but I believe an ipad with korg gadget and a bluetooth midi keyboard (or a proper usb midi keyboard with the apple camera kit) could do. No need for a sound card, she can use the ipad’s mic to sing and plenty of sounds and likely as immediate-ish as an op-1 with a bit of prior guidance.
This is not exactly what you’re asking for but a Ditto x4 (or the EHX mentioned above) might be a good introduction without having to get bogged down in multitrack recording. I love the x4 because it can run 2 loops in parallel and its pretty quick to layer some stuff up and fade in and out via the oversized knobs (plus some effects). I’m mainly thinking about my 11yr old who loves making music but does not have the attention span for any sort of multi-tracking device, no matter how simple.
One of the push button Boss RC Loop Stations for sure. Dead simple to use, a hell of a lot of fun and can be saved to a computer for more editing later on.
Love that guy! Also love how he always appears to be in some hotel room or other wearing the stock issue hotel dressing gown like he’s only got two mins to record a jam before some high profile meeting or other haha
Digging up this thread to see what option we have in 2025.
I’m thinkin the Befaco Oneiroi could be a nice all in one solution with few effects, sound on sound and a simple interface also when omitting the shift function.
I love modular, but unless you’re looking for a “backdoor” way to add to your own modular setup (i.e. “Honey, it’s not for me, it’s for little Susie!”), I think the Oneiroi is a poor solution for a kid.
Plus you’d need to factor in a case with power and some IO modules to have something minimally usable you could hand to someone else and say “have at it!”
For the same or less money you can get a RC-505 Mk2 and an SM-57 mic (or something cheaper) and with minimal instruction your kid can be off to looping / sound mangling land. The basic interface of the 505 is simple and intuitive – press these big button to record or play, change the volume of each track with these sliders, etc. If you want something cheaper / smaller you could go for the RC-202 instead, but then you just have two tracks.
The addition of a external mic allows for voice input (my experience is kids really like mangling / looping their own voices) and recording other instruments that don’t have line/instrument outs (recorder, uke, drums, empty bottles, pots and pans from the kitchen). Plus you have two stereo line inputs you can use if the kid has access to a guitar or a keyboard…
I see your point and I’ve been through modular myself and don’t want to get back in. I see it as a standalone device in a small case.
The RCs are nice but I see with my son (6 years old) what works really well is 1 knob / 1 function and everything at your fingerprint.
The DFAM works very good in that sense and I see the Befaco the same way.
On the RCs they’re very few knobs to tweak, many button combo and you can access menu for config and whatnot which is exactly what he will do and can loose interest by being lost.
I’ll look more demo of them, maybe I’m wrong.
