It looks ripe for circuit bending that’s for sure, I could imagine eBay loaded with them, all festooned with silver switches and primary coloured patch points!
Hackattack!
I got one in December after contributing to Playtime Engineering’s Indiegogo campaign earlier, and recommend it.
Kids pushing your buttons? Give them their own.
There are a number of start-up configurations like setting lights to show settings (or lights off) and reducing maximum volume.
You may want to borrow it from your child as there’s MIDI in.
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Polypumpkins did this with a Blipblox and a Novation Launchkey Mini Mk3, plus a drum track all edited down with Ableton Live. Good performance – i like that he starts the whole thing with the Blipblox miked all by itself so you get that plastic button click with the sound.
Under 3 minutes.
Quite tempted by this for my 2.5 year old but not sure if he’ll be bothered about using different gear from me. He tends to just want to join in with what I’m doing on the AK - basically twiddling and prodding like mad and making me scared of losing everything I’ve just done 
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My 3 year old loves hers, although it may be driving my wife crazy.
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I didn’t realize they were assisted with the physical design by Axel Hartmann.
Hey folks.
Anyone purchased a Blipblox for their children? Thinking of getting one for my 5-year old’s birthday. Obviously a lot depends on the kid, but wondering how engaging it is for youngsters and if it’s a decent product.
Cheers!
I bought one for my five year old a while back. While she doesn’t play with it a whole lot, it’s one of those toys that get dragged out from time to time, so I guess it’s a long-hauler 
especially when friends come to visit.
Overall I’m happy that she has this around, it’s totally leftfield for her but she still plays with it from time to time. Just be prepared for lots of odd noises coming from your 5 year old’s room for extended periods of time
Same here, it’s basically been passed down to my youngest now… he walks around with it everywhere and jams… really great to watch him go!
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Many thanks for the feedback. Think I’ll give it a go. It’s rather pricey here in Canada. But hey, saving money on a birthday party this year.
Cheers.
There is now an SK2
(Ignoring the sampling groovebox)
I was thinking about the original, wonder what has changed…
In one of the NAMM videos, the SK2 is described as “being in between the Blipblox and the After Dark”. Since those two are not that far apart, I suspect the differences are small and mostly related to styling.
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There are more melodies built in to the SK2. Also i think they improved the light show, and obvious made it more colorful. Not sure if there is anything else.
By the way, SK, stands for Synth for Kids.
I still can’t figure out which one to get…
Who is it for?
My son, almost 2yo.
I bought the After Dark for my grandson when he was almost 2, mostly because it was on sale at Perfect Circuit. I don’t think he cared that it didn’t have that primary-colour look of most toys. It is partly for you, too, so you might consider that. The After Dark is out of stock right now, but I assume you’re not in a hurry.
Here’s what they told me:
"The SK2 and After Dark have the same functions and synthesis engine. The SK2 had a fun LED light show, whereas the After Dark uses the LEDs to show all of the modulations happening with the sound. The SK2 has a few other fun kids functions, while the After Dark is designed to look more like a real synthsier would
Right now the After Dark is pretty much sold out until later this summer. You might be able to find it at some of our retail partners online. However, the SK2 is all ready to ship now from our California fulfillment center."
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Here’s a video with the SK2 from NAMM 2023, done by Sonic State :
I think it’s great that Playtime Engineering has been so successful that they have been able to do multiple versions of the Blipblox, and soon they’ll have the MyTracks ( thread ) out too. And all at such a good price.
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