_   _               _                 
 ___ _   _ _ __ | |_| |__   ___  ___(_)_______ _ __ ___
/ __| | | | '_ \| __| '_ \ / _ \/ __| |_  / _ \ '__/ __|
\__ \ |_| | | | | |_| | | |  __/\__ \ |/ /  __/ |  \__ \
|___/\__, |_| |_|\__|_| |_|\___||___/_/___\___|_|  |___/
     |___/                                             
  __              _            _     _ _               
 / _| ___  _ __  | |_ ___   __| | __| | | ___ _ __ ___ 
| |_ / _ \| '__| | __/ _ \ / _` |/ _` | |/ _ \ '__/ __|
|  _| (_) | |    | || (_) | (_| | (_| | |  __/ |  \__ \
|_|  \___/|_|     \__\___/ \__,_|\__,_|_|\___|_|  |___/
                                              .....   .. |   |  . .
                                   .|  \__/ /      ...   |  . .
                           ______   |.    \__  /\____/\.  .
            ______  _____ |      |  |  |..     \  oo  /..
           /      \/ _/=  |      |     |    . . | +  |   ...
           |  o o | /     |      |          _____\  /______  .... ...
          __\____/___'/   |      |          \____     ____/| ___
         /__________/_/   |      |      ___     /     \ . __/   \_
         /      /    _  __|      |     /   \ ooo    ooo  |_ ___ __|
        /      /____| ||         |     \___/ \  \  /  /    O   O
        \_____________||_________|            \O/__\O/

This article was send in by Rusuden:

I've recently become a father and of course want my daughter to have a
chance at sound exploration ASAP.  She's currently 17 months old. I've
been experimenting with different pieces of gear in my studio to see how
she interacts and responds to each one.  Here's my research notes:

In general, kids like sound.  This is obvious, I guess, as many kid toys
have annoying audio repetition that drives you batty.  I think my daughter
really digs sound though as I catch her trying to sing stuff all the time. 
She even mimics weird noises coming from my studio with her own squeaks
and squeals!  When I play records, she touches the speakers’ subwoofers to
“feel the sound”.  Kids also like blinking lights and screens, and this
may attract them to more flashy machines, or newer ones that have big
LCD/OLED displays.

Roland SH-01a
By far the most interaction I've seen from my daughter has been with
the Roland SH-01a (the boutique SH-101). Even though there's not a
“flashy” screen, the size of the machine matched with the boutique
keyboard is just about perfect for a kid her size.  The synth panel full
of sliders and toggle switches have her busy for quite a long time. 
She’s not afraid to mash down the small keys on the keyboard, push
buttons and sing along with the sounds.  There’s a reason the 101 is
popular with everyone.  It’s super easy to use and just sounds amazing. 
As for durability, while not indestructible, it can take toddler use.
The detachable keyboard is somewhat more fragile than the synth module
itself.  Bonus: Runs on batteries and has a built-in speaker!

Dave Smith Mono Evolver Keyboard
A fun and brightly colored wonder machine… the MEK can make just about
any sound.  My daughter really enjoys the gazillion LEDs and the big keys. 
However, the size of the synth itself for her is just a bit big.  Holding
her up to let her mash on the keys, she has to reach to twist any of the
knobs. She definitely gets bored quickly if the knob twisting results in
unfavorable sound. (which is easy to do with all of those knobs!)  However,
if I tune in a nice patch with some interesting sequence… she’s laughing
and all-smiles as she transposes the running sequence by hitting different
keys.  It’s built fairly tough… however, I cringe sometimes about the
unknown durability of the pots/encoders.  Note: Replacement parts could be
hard to find?

Yamaha Reface DX
Here’s a synth I’ve wanted to try out for awhile, and having a kid in the
house just made my decision in to get one a lot easier.  It’s a perfect size
(like the SH-01a) keyboard where she can hit the keys and touch the buttons
and sliders at the same time.  It sounds fantastic and offers some non-analog
(4op FM), 8 note polyphony to broaden the sound creation pallette.  With only
a few sliders and one bender, most of the interface is touch or push buttons. 
So, she can mash away at this machine and I have little worry.  For some
strange reason she loves the “Store” button (because it’s red?).  So the
saved patches are starting to sound a little wonky… The Reface DX has a small
LCD screen that she thinks is a touch screen (maybe it should’ve been!),
so keep your screen protector on!  Bonus: Runs on batteries and has a
built-in speaker!

Elektron Analog Rytm (mkI)
The last one I’ll mention is the Analog Rytm drum machine.  While we don’t
get to play with this one as much - mostly due to the machine needing to be
plugged into the wall socket, the times we’ve jammed on it have been a blast.
It’s got pads that light up and change color!  What kid isn’t going to love
that.  I feel like she can bang away on those pads with little worry of
machine damage.  They feel pretty tough.  I’m usually the one who’s crafting
the sound here, obviously since that’s all done on a small screen (which she
also thinks is a touch screen).  But she gets wide-eyed at the booms and
pings of the analog engine, and loves it when I dial in a vocal sample of
“Maddy!”

So, I’m loving this side-time we have at sound experiments when we’re not
playing with My Little Pony or changing diapers on Elmo.
I think she is as well.

Rusuden https://music.rusuden.com