Advice for a budding (10yr old) producer...

Also, with Musikmesse and Superbooth only weeks away it might be worth waiting to see if something new and shiny is released.

 

Gadget actually comes with a copy of Live Lite. There's a link to the request page under the export to Ableton Live menu.

 

He likes Skrillex and dubstep... although I'm training him in the history of other electronic artists (Underworld, Orbital, Chem Bros, Bukem, etc.). I like the idea of not worrying about him learning the sequencer yet. Maybe I learn that while he gets to play around with just making sounds. So he could just bash around on the pads on the MK2 without worrying about sequencing? He's been playing around with Figure on his iPhone and frustrted he can't make longer tracks/songs...

 

I guessed it. He likes Skrillex-Type dubstep, you can trow away half the advice you got in this thread.

He doesn't need to worry about sequencing at all at this point, your totally right.
IMO Maschine's whole design (Super MPC inspired) is very sample oriented, Dubstep producers don't usually use Maschine... at all. If you just want him to be able to load some sounds and bang on pads i guess its fine and that part should be easy enough to learn.

But i can bet anything that as soon as he starts understanding it better and having friends who also make beats he is gonna switch to FL Studio, its even sponsored by Razor and kids sure love Razor.... We can bet on that.

 

Thank you everyone for your advice/tips.... He's really into Skrillex and Dubstep. I want him to be able to record/sequence entire songs rather than looping the same 8 bars forever - it seems like a lot of the iOS apps do that. Right now I'm starting to think:

Novaction Circuit - the stand alone aspect is appealing, not sure how long of a song can be saved
Roli Blocks - but seems pricey for what it does and I downloaded the app which I found limiting/frustrating
Pocket Operators - good fun for kid and accessible, but worried they don't have ability to record entire songs
Novaction Launch Key Mini - but I'd need to pair with with some software (Ableton? Or could I use it with Novation Launch for iOS?)

Or I just get Ableton Live along with a control like Push, Maschine, Launch so that I can learn along with him and get more advanced...

 

We are running Macs at home so FL Studio isn't an option

 

Let me clarify a little (sorry for all the posts)... I want him to learn to create/sequence a whole song rather than loop a set of predetermined patterns/sounds over 8 bars (like a lot of the iphone apps). The infinite looping of the same 8 bars is driving his mother nuts so want him to move to the next level of creating actual songs/tracks.

 

You can use the launchpad app on ios also with launchkey. I would go with maschine mk2 and the drop squad expansion for dupstep after everything you wrote. Then he can first just load sounds and push some pads, record it or not and to learn the sequencer is easy even for a ten year old, and later with maschine he can do full songs. And you can also help him if necessary and have some good father and son moments paired with some horrible noise.

Uwe

 

With a Mac Logic is the best value you will find for a DAW. But it is a linear Daw. It does not operate like Maschine or Ableton. Most of your modern DAWs are very capable environments and dollar for dollar Logic, IMHO, is the winner. I think it still runs 199$ in the App Store. Now with a Roli Lightpad Block at 179 and Logic at 199 you would have an excellent set up but there are less expensive controller you could use. You and your son should go to YouTube and watch some videos of the different sugyrations given here takes some notes and then decide. Truly if it is a set up he won't like he won't use it. I just went through a similar thing with my 11 year old.

 

The only NI advertise i liked so far:

Maschine (and generally all pattern based sequencers) put you this way by nature IMO.

That would be best of both worlds

 

I disagree with alpert at the point that maschine not only let's you loop the same pattern, you can but you also can do really varying stuff. And that will grow with the learning curve.

Uwe

 

Fl studio is just a step sequencer there are no magic Cheerios inside it , Maschine is a step sequencer as well, but it is a more tightly integrated hands on physical instrument that is a step sequencer as well as a realtime 'bang on, drum sequencer that you can use with samples, or that you can use with plugins... the song mode is rudimentary enough for a 10yr old that still leaves some room to grow into... I would suggest ableton live but that would probably be something better for him after he grows out of maschine and at that time he will have pushed maschine and be even more ready for what ableton live has to offer. He can make loops of however many bars he wants with maschine but in addition to that he can string many patterns and loops into a song, most importantly he'll be more engaged, not just clicking with a mouse or swiping a screen with a finger.... he'll be all hands on and relating his movements to the creative process.

 

the novation circuit is more trouble than it's worth, the knobs on the unit give you no idea what they are controlling and if you want them to all be uniform then you have to edit all of the patches on a computer and unless that's the mood he's looking to get into which I assume he's not cause the circuit is more frustrating than figure and doesn't offer much better in the limited song mode it offers.

 

FLStudio would have been great fit however there is something very similar that is awesome. Works both on the iPad and on a Mac (though they are separate purchases) and your kid will be able to make full tracks (they even allow you to upload track directly from the app to their site and you can see top ten tracks of the week etc that people have made only using it).

Thats Korg Gadgets 3 for Mac. It has easy to understand gadgets that any kid can pick up (big knobs) and it now has audio track recording. On top of that if they decide to get more serious and maybe go into a more "serious" DAW like Ableton or Logic, they can use the Gadgets included in the App as plugins.

Check it out.

 

Oh and get one of these too while you are at it.

Cheap, portable easy to use.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/nanoKEY2bk

There is a pad one too

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/nanoPAD2bk

and one that is a bit of both



All of them can be used with an iPad as well.

Saw @nrgb already posted this. Lol.

 

Here is in action on an iPhone.

 

Cool thread. I have a 6 year old daughter who just loves my maschine and push2 controllers. She (tries) to bang out melodies and beats but is still too you to really understand music. Someday she'll get it. To OP -- I hope your son sticks with the music thing -- he's still at a ripe young age, so it could take him somewhere if he sticks with it. I would recommend investing in it if he's really interested.

 

This is not a bad idea at all but the sampling game on gadget is atrocious, which provides an opportunity to suggest that if you go this route ,also get a used mpc 1000 and a record player, both you can get for super cheap, this will give him all he needs for his sampling game and going digging for records with your son will undoubtedly be allot of fun not to mention by digging with him for samples he'll learn allot about history, music, production, and how not to be stuck in front of a computer for the rest of his life. Best of all just through listening to different records it will all start to come together for him, once you show him that edm is not a thing but a great many things that come together to make a thing it will probably blow his mind as he begins to not just listen to the surface but hear the roots of the music

 

You probably misunderstood me.
I did not mean that
I also do very varying stuff with maschine, too.

What i've said was: pattern based sequencers (both hardware and software) is forcing/leading/encouraging people to loop. It is in the nature.

 

I think FL studio is a great piece of software and a great intro to computer music (not that it's not still great beyond the intro stage). I did spend quite a bit of time in it a long time ago. However, he will benefit a lot more in the long run from learning to use a piece of hardware as well. Maschine is ideal in my opinion because it's a great blend of both software and hardware. You can click away at everything and get things to line up perfectly in a GUI based step sequencer but you learn invaluable lessons on rhythm, timing and groove using your hands on those pads. The younger he is when he learns that, the easier it is for it to become effortless and "second nature." I certainly wish my parents were ready to drop cash on hardware for me back in the day. The hardware only came when I could afford it myself . You're doing a great thing for the little man by nurturing that interest.