KVR Audio

woodie · Post by **woodie** » Sat Nov 26, 2005 4:54 pm

OK, I'm sure some of you are probably in the same boat now..or will soon be

, but I need a little help here with ideas.

We've got 2 girls - ages 2.1/2 and 4.1/2. So my wife and I were talking this morning trying to think about "what to get the kids for Christmas".

I'd like to get them something MUSICAL as they really don't have anything (in their room) that they can play around with that makes sounds/music. We have an upright piano in the Living Room that they occasionally bang on and drive us crazy, so I'd like to get them something small that they can make noise - in THEIR bedroom. I bought my elder girl a nice "junior" Yamaha acoustic guitar from GC last X-Mas, but that stays in "Daddie's office". The younger one is a riot, so no way I can leave that in their room!

I was thinking along the lines of a small Casio or Yamaha keyboard that they both can play on....or buy them 2 smaller ones for the each of them. I'm not really familiar what's out there or what is good/bad, but I was thinking this, this morning:

Not sure if this is out there, but it would be cool if they had a small keyboard - like the size of an Alesis Micron - that accepts say...a Compact Flash card...that you could load up a bank of SoundFonts (or some other multi-sample) - plug it in and they can just scroll thru the sounds playing the keys. When you get sick of hearing the same sounds.....upload another bank of SoundFonts to CF and plug it back in. Easy...only a volume and patch selector is needed.

PLEASE tell me there's something like that! If not....any other ideas would be wonderful.

Thanks!

ross g · Post by **ross g** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 7:25 am

not to go off of your request, but if your little ladies like to bang on stuff i might suggest one of Yamaha's little drumpad thingies...i saw that the have one selling now at Aldies (not ure where you are located) for around 30-40$, it has rythyms one can play along with, lots of sounds, etc...i have one of the older units, not as good at all, and my kids have have lots of fun with it...but i have a little old casio sampler for them they love also, my son figured out stuff on it i didn't know it could do!

words of advice: get headphones for whatever you decide and MAKE them use 'em! (you'll retain that much more sanity)

rg

woodie · Post by **woodie** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 2:54 pm

good idea! pretty much the only drum thing they have now is a little Indian drum we got in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but that Yamaha electronic drum sounds pretty cool as well and big step up from what they have now!

I've been looking at the Casio (& the like) Keyboards this morning on the 'Net and so far the most basic Casio (Model SA75: ~$50.00) could do the trick, but it's only got 4 note polyphony.

If they want Daddy to play it in their room...Daddy won't accept 4-note polyphony.

Very cool, though...I'll surely take a look at the Yamaha drum thingy.

Thanks for your input, ross!

xoxos · Post by **xoxos** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 3:04 pm

soundfonts/presets?

don't shop, sculpt!

knobs! sliders!

knockman · Post by **knockman** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 3:41 pm

i'm not sure if you need something the kids can set up themselves as it were, but in my case i've had alot of fun myself through my kids afinity for music.

i suggest something tactile and 'expandable' - i got one of those yamaha drum pads (dd50?) with midi capabilities, from a junk shop, for my 2 1/2 year old son and he loves it. connected to the computer and triggering samples there's no end of fun to be had. if you're practically inclined you can easily make triggers to control just about anything - i built some pads using junk shop joysticks that you can step on, whack or just abuse, which can trigger sounds this way, and my son seems delighted.

simpler option but no less fun, a vocal mike, a multi FX pedal and one of those micro-amps is an idea.

don't know if this helps, but i've relised my job as a father is to create 'magic' and my kids' job is to enable me to explore my latent child once more. seems to be working.

regards

atomic_(no)afro · Post by **atomic_(no)afro** » Sun Nov 27, 2005 4:26 pm

For the kids, you can't beat musical games like:
Electroplankton for the Nintendo DS. It's in Japanese, but the menus and games are simple enough that you don't need to know Japanese to play them. Really fun stuff!
Buy it here

Or, if you have a Gameboy Advance/SP/Micro:
Nanoloop

These sorts of games (in my case Mario Paint) got me started in making music. They're great tools to get the kids interested in electronic music.

ATA

No name · Post by **No name** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 11:34 am

Well, I know of something good and cheap, but it doesn't exactly have those specifications. If you want to get them a cheap little keyboard to play on, radio shack has these small ones for children that run only about $20-$40. This is a smart idea in getting them involved with music at such a young age though, I wish my mom had done that with me, and I guess by the way she talks she wishes she had gotten me started on music much earlier too. I'd suggest getting them something cheap at first that way if it gets broken from excessive banging of the keys and all you could always go out and buy something else, and plus if they show no interest in it then you won't have to worry about the insane amount of money you spent.

deleted · Post by **deleted** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 11:40 am

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deleted · Post by **deleted** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 11:42 am

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woodie · Post by **woodie** » Mon Nov 28, 2005 7:47 pm

Hey fellas...really appreciate the input - all great ideas!

@ Jon - oh yes! you can bet pots and pans are already very popular around here

Thanks again everyone!

smp · Post by **smp** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 2:25 am

Maybe a thumb piano? I love those things

Or perhaps a small xylophone?

I'd suggest a tin whistle or recorder, but as a parent-to-be in April, I don't want the karma of that suggestion to bounce back on me in the future

-s

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 2:49 am

ask chase what hes after

Reverse Engineer · Post by **Reverse Engineer** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 3:00 am

Buy both a keyboard and one of the yahamha drum machine thingies.....that'd set you back a whole $100 - $150 or so at most, and even REALLY cheap keyboards are midi compatible nowadays. so even daddy could have some fun with the drums

Oh, and since the pads are quite small, it would be great for teaching motor / hand / eye coordination too.

atomic_(no)afro · Post by **atomic_(no)afro** » Tue Nov 29, 2005 4:59 am

vurt wrote:ask chase what hes after

ATA

[derek] · Post by **[derek]** » Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:29 am

I have two girls, ages 6 and 8, and have showed a predisposition towards music (my eldest has an amazing voice, with flawless pitch). Their birthdays are two weeks apart, and I was shopping around, musicians friend had some cheap casio keyboards (around 35 bucks), so I picked two of them up on a whim.

They have been used every single day since march, best present I have ever purchased for them. My only regret was not verifying they units had headphone jacks. I bought them headphones, however, the units do not head headphone jacks. A little solder and an afternoon this can be fixed, however, I haven't done it yet. So word to the wise, check the specs

Kids - need help - something Musical for Xmas