This thread is a goldmine for me.
As a pro musician AND music teacher, it’s really cool to hear your feedback.
I’ve been trying many things with many kids (ranging from 6 months to 20 yo).
There are some surprises. Definitely.
Oddly enough, the « Hits » category is either Playtime Engineering, Dato or iPads. Big hit with the Dato (even tho it misses a battery, ffs). The BlipBloxes are really fun but a bit daunting.
I’m eyeing that Bullgfrog XL and the incoming Dato Drums and MyTracks offerings. Could cover a lot of grounds with these.
In the « Misses » category, tho, things get interesting.
I initially thought Teenage Engineering would prove to be a hit. And the POs and EP could have been. But the build quality is not a match for the destructive energy of kids. I discovered that teenagers are used to durable, sturdy game controllers and don’t quite understand that not everything is as sturdy as their consoles.
I also thought that some Korgs would prove useful at minimum. The Volcas, the microKorg and its vocoder, etc. But it was fun for about a minute. And that was it.
On a side note, the all-time hit are the guitars.
I think this stems in the fact that kids are allowed to play with electronics (depending on their parents, of course) but are almost always forbidden to touch real instruments.
Give them a guitar, and they go into concert mode, they try stuff. They mimic what they saw, they explore every aspect of the instrument like no other.
I thought the DatoDuos and Blipbloxes would be the stars. But it’s the guitars everytime…as long as they can touch them.
I learned that you can trust kids with guitars. With the exception of some violent kids that like to break things (and they are easily spotted), every kid takes care of the guitars.
In my experience, my kids touch the hardware devices for a little while, and then leave it. Stuff on a tablet with touch screen seems to be much more attractive (fe music lab experience).
I would like to start a project with my 6 year old son to build a noise and crackle box with piezo.
Then I would like simple synth to loop, layer and mangle the sound.
I would like to privilege a simple and one knob per function interface over a complex and convoluted can-do-it-all synth (i.e octatrack) or software solution (i.e iPad)
I was thinking about the new Befaco Oneiroi that we could DIY together. Simple and effective all in one box.
Do you have any other solution in table top or pedal format?
Thanks!
my junior is currently 3 months old. while technically this is not a synth it’ll still serve the same goal: Meinl Nino 4 Percussion Set – Musikhaus Thomann
some of those things are not suited for a toddler but can be introduced when he gets older
What about a groove box for an 8 year old? He likes playing with my ‘machines’ but obviously I would prefer something a bit cheaper and more robust for him.
And you can plug other synth on the line in, use internal synth and drum machine, battery powered etc… No screen, the kid turn buttons and listen what’s happen.
I would add that the RazzMatazz is actually a super underrated beast, IMHO - provided you spend enough time to learn it. That’s one of my best drum machines (and more) for sound design, and I own a few much bigger/more expensive. Also, it looks like a toy, but when you play it on big PA’s your realize that looks can be deceiving.
Now I’m in doubt whether it was a good choice. It costs a lot for what it does. But that’s probably my opinion, and my 3 yo will likely pay just as much attention - if not more - to the flashing lights as to the feature set. I don’t know. She might also get instantly bored and I will be left with this expensive toy I will never use myself (totally not my kind of stuff)
I got a DATO Duo for my goddaughter last year, and her parents tell me she still plays with it occasionnaly (I don’t think they tell that to please me). She’s 2 and a half.
All in all, I think interest in music machines varies a lot depending on the child’s personality. Recently I took my Roland S-1 and OP-1 out for my 6 and 8 nephews who were staying at home with us for a week with their parents. They couldn’t stop experimenting with the sound of both, sampling themselves on the OP-1, etc. I was really surprised.
A couple of weeks later, a friend of mine came for dinner with his twins, and they were totally not interested with the exact sames synths when I took them out. They were a bit older, though (9 or 10). Maybe it’s age?
This is my experience as well. I’ve got a lot of kids in my family and some can spend an hour at a groovebox, while others won’t last 5 minutes. It’s also device dependent. The future engineer loves the DFAM while everyone else is perplexed and bored.
I’ve been hunting for the perfect setup for kids for a long time. The most recent insights were from the Metropolix Solo, LXR-02, and RMX-500, which I’ll info-dump now in case they help anyone.
My kids are impressed with EDM style sounds primarily. They don’t enjoy Rings into Clouds or Debussy. So that’s the starting point.
Metropolix Solo showed me how fun two scale-locked melodies can be. It has unseated the Deluge as the reigning champion for sequencing, since it’s so frictionless you don’t even have to think at all.
RMX-500 showed that big “corny” EDM effects are really a hit vs something like a Chase Bliss Mood pedal. Non-nerd people are rightfully impressed with Serum presets and Big Room House type noises, so i won’t fight it.
LXR-02 showed me the power of sliders on a drum machine. Previously every drum machine has been a total dud. Bringing percussion elements in and out of a premade beat is much more fun for a kid than trying to be Jeff Mills. This insight fits with the Metropolix insight too.
All of this is leading me to the next stage of the set-up - a kind of flow-state EDM generating machine with a lot of range that a 2 year old and a 70 year old could easily get results from. Currently working on a carefully chosen Eurorack case going into a TR-8s then into an RMX.
Eurorack contenders (I haven’t started buying yet):
Oxi Meta
Monumatic
Braids
Plaits
Desmodus Versio
Starlab
Bopp and Steve
Mimeophon
Good luck out there to everyone. Making music with family is a rare joy. I hope to be refining this for the next few decades and jamming with the grandkids one day
